Matt Kuchar spent more than a month researching his best option and concluded he would not be using a one-time exemption for being in the top 25 on the PGA Tour career money list.
Kuchar, 47, finished at No. 118 in the FedExCup in the first year the tour reduced full cards to the top 100 (instead of 125). Even with rising purses, he was in no danger of falling out of the top 25 in career money this year.
Kuchar is at No. 13 with $61,538,738, which is just over $18 million more than Tommy Fleetwood at No. 26 in career money. He has conditional status at No. 118, though he will be subject to being reshuffled in his category of Nos. 111 through 125.
He figures he can get into somewhere around 18 to 20 tournaments, that using his one-time exemption would only be the difference of four or more events. If necessary, he could use one of his career money exemption the year he turns 49 and the other when he turns 50.
The tour said one player signed up for a career-money exemption — Vijay Singh, who turns 63 in February. As a testament to his career, Singh still is No. 6 on the career money list even though he has not played a full schedule since 2020.
How much he plays remains to be seen. Except for the Masters, the big Fijian has not played a PGA Tour events since the 2021 Honda Classic. He is an early commitment for the Sony Open, a week before the PGA Tour Champions starts on the Big Island.