This article is part of our Golf Draft Kit series.
This article covers international players who did not have a PGA Tour card last season but earned one for 2017-18. These are players who as non-members finished with the equivalent points to the top 125 on the 2016-17 FedExCup Points List. Earnings include money from PGA Tour events and WGC events.
Tommy Fleetwood
2017-18 Projected Earnings: $2,700,000
2016-17 Earnings: $2,094,454
2016-17 Events: 10
Fleetwood showed last season that he can compete on the biggest stages in the world. He won twice (Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, Open de France), finished second twice (WGC-Mexico Championship, Shenzhen International) and had five other top-12 finishes, including a T4 at the U.S. Open, which earned him his 2017-18 PGA Tour card after playing last season on Special Temporary Member status. Fleetwood, who ranked first in greens in regulation on the European Tour, enters this season 17th in the OWGR rankings and is the leader in the Race to Dubai.
Thomas Pieters
2017-18 Projected Earnings: $2,600,000
2016-17 Earnings: $2,058,000
2016-17 Events: 12
Pieters backed up his impressive performance at the 2016 Ryder Cup with a big year last season on both sides of the Atlantic. A T2 at the Genesis Open, fourth-place finishes at the Masters and WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and a T5 at WGC-Mexico Championship earned him a 2017-18 PGA Tour card as he led non-members with 727 FedEx Cup points, the equivalent to 52nd on the points list. Just how much Pieters plays stateside is uncertain, though. He said he is committed to the European
This article covers international players who did not have a PGA Tour card last season but earned one for 2017-18. These are players who as non-members finished with the equivalent points to the top 125 on the 2016-17 FedExCup Points List. Earnings include money from PGA Tour events and WGC events.
Tommy Fleetwood
2017-18 Projected Earnings: $2,700,000
2016-17 Earnings: $2,094,454
2016-17 Events: 10
Fleetwood showed last season that he can compete on the biggest stages in the world. He won twice (Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, Open de France), finished second twice (WGC-Mexico Championship, Shenzhen International) and had five other top-12 finishes, including a T4 at the U.S. Open, which earned him his 2017-18 PGA Tour card after playing last season on Special Temporary Member status. Fleetwood, who ranked first in greens in regulation on the European Tour, enters this season 17th in the OWGR rankings and is the leader in the Race to Dubai.
Thomas Pieters
2017-18 Projected Earnings: $2,600,000
2016-17 Earnings: $2,058,000
2016-17 Events: 12
Pieters backed up his impressive performance at the 2016 Ryder Cup with a big year last season on both sides of the Atlantic. A T2 at the Genesis Open, fourth-place finishes at the Masters and WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and a T5 at WGC-Mexico Championship earned him a 2017-18 PGA Tour card as he led non-members with 727 FedEx Cup points, the equivalent to 52nd on the points list. Just how much Pieters plays stateside is uncertain, though. He said he is committed to the European Tour in hopes of earning a place on the 2018 European Ryder Cup team.
Tyrrell Hatton
2017-18 Projected Earnings: $1,900,000
2016-17 Earnings: $1,103,224
2016-17 Events: 13
Hatton had a great six weeks last season with four consecutive top-10s worldwide, starting with a T3 at the Dubai Desert Classic in February before sandwiching T4s at the Honda Classic and the Arnold Palmer around a T10 at the WGC-Mexico Championship. He tacked another top-20 at the WGC-Match Play (T17) event a week later. But then things turned sour as he missed five of eight cuts on the PGA Tour, including trunk slams at all four majors, and three of five on the European Tour. His only bright spot was a T3 at the season-ending European Masters. That one great run, though, was enough to earn him a 2017-18 tour card as he totaled 448 non-Member FedEx Cup points, the equivalent to 99th on the FedEx Cup points list.
Alex Noren
2017-18 Projected Earnings: $1,800,000
2016-17 Earnings: $1,205,516
2016-17 Events: 11
Noren missed only three cuts worldwide last season, but they came at the deep-field Masters, U.S. Open and Scottish Open. On the other hand, he captured the BMW PGA Championship, carded T6s at the Open Championship and the European Masters and a T10 at the Players Championship. Ranked 14th in the world, the Swede is fifth in the Race to Dubai. His 424 non-member FedEx Cup Points equaled Luke Donald, who was 107th on the points list. It seems reasonable for Noren to surpass last season's earnings significantly.
Ross Fisher
2017-18 Projected Earnings: $1,300,000
2016-17 Earnings: $1,258,083
2016-17 Events: 10
The 36-year-old Fisher enjoyed a career renaissance last season, rattling off six top-10s, including three in a row, by early July. But then the dark ages returned as he finished no higher than 36th in his last six events, missing the cut at the European Masters and the PGA Championship and dropping 10 spots to 53rd in the world. He'll at least have more opportunities on the PGA Tour this season.
