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It’s one of golf’s most contentious issues and it’s never likely to go away.

The debate around sponsor’s exemptions reignited earlier in the week when it was noted that Joel Dahmen and Gary Woodland – 129th and 137th respectively in the PGA Tour standings – were invited to play in the limited-field, no-cut Zozo Championship as players battle to make the top 125 and earn their tour card for next season.

And while some, like Michael Kim, decided to poke fun at the likes of Justin Thomas and Max Homa for rocking up to the FedEx Cup Fall Series event, others were not so understanding.

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Lou Stagner, a data analyst for the Arccos Golf, the official game tracker technology of the PGA Tour, posted on X that “sponsor’s exemptions should be eliminated”.

His argument?

“Amazon paid $11 billion to carry Thursday night [American] football for 11 seasons,” he added. “Because Amazon wrote a big cheque, do they get to pick a few of the players that play on Thursday night? Of course not. That’s silly.

“Yet that is how some think sponsors exemptions on the PGA Tour should work.”

Phil Kenyon – one of the game’s finest putting coaches who, as well as Woodland, has worked with the likes of Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood – disagrees.

“Woodland [is] coming off a top 10 in Vegas [and has] played the season recovering from brain surgery,” he wrote. “Rather than take a medical he competed when he probably shouldn’t have. I think that warrants a sponsors invite.”

The Englishman added: “Also, being a major champion you have earned the chance to be considered too.”

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One thing’s for sure, the merit of sponsor’s exemptions in golf will be debated for as long as they exist.

And whatever your thoughts on them, they do create some incredible stories.

You only have to go back a couple of weeks to Jay Don Blake’s week at the Black Desert Championship to find that out.

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Alex Perry is the Associate Editor of bunkered. A journalist for more than 20 years, he has been a golf industry stalwart for the majority of his career and, in a five-year spell at ESPN, covered every sporting event you can think of. He completed his own Grand Slam at the 2023 Masters, having fallen in love with the sport at his hometown club of Okehampton and on the links of nearby Bude & North Cornwall.

Associate Editor

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