Masters exempts FedEx top 30

The PGA Tour is hoping the U.S. and British Opens will follow.

ATLANTA (AP) — The PGA Tour earned a small victory when the Masters agreed to offer invitations to the top 30 in the final FedEx Cup standings, along with the top 30 from the final money list.

Whether the U.S. Open and British Open follow suit remains to be seen.

The U.S. Open exempts the top 30 from the money list, while the British Open exempts the top 20. The tour recently sent letters to both organizations asking the money list and FedEx Cup standings be used, believing that it would strengthen both fields.

“Discussions are ongoing,” said Andy Pazder, the tour’s vice president of competition.

The FedEx Cup standings were frozen after the Tour Championship, but the money list resumes this week at the Turning Stone Resort Championship and will not be final until the Disney Classic ends Nov. 4. Someone who is 90th on the money list could win Turning Stone this week and move into the top 30.

USGA executive director David Fay said he expects a decision at the October meeting of the championship committee. When contacted Tuesday morning, he happened to be studying the FedEx Cup standings and money list in the newspaper.

Over 50 percent qualify

“One thing that drives us perhaps more than the other events is the number of entries we have,” Fay said. “We expect 9,000 to 10,000 for the next few years. How we philosophically look at the Open is we like to have 50 percent come to the field by qualifying.”

At Oakmont, 54 percent of the U.S. Open field came through qualifying, while 20 players qualified exclusively by their finish on the 2007 money list.

“One can assume we’re not looking to add exempt players,” Fay said.

Royal & Ancient chief executive Peter Dawson was in a meeting Tuesday afternoon and could not be reached for comment. The R&A previously has shown support of the PGA Tour by offering a three-year exemption for The Players Championship winner. The U.S. Open and PGA Championship has offered only a one-year exemption.

Drug policy

The PGA Tour will make it official this week that it will have a drug policy in 2008.

Golf has been under increasing pressure to come up with a policy against performance-enhancing drugs, and PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said earlier this year that while there is no evidence of steroids, drug testing in sports has become a reality and it was prudent for all golf organizations to deal with them collectively.

“I think we’re at a point where to maintain confidence in the public and the fans, we have to take this step, even though there’s great speculation about the extent to which substances can help you in this game,” Finchem said two weeks ago in Boston.

A conference call to discuss the policy was planned as early as Thursday, although it was not clear what Finchem would announce. He has said any policy would start with an education plan and a list of banned substances, although testing might not begin until at least the second half of next year.