“Tell Tiger he can’t play?”

In the world of professional golf, which has a long history of operating as a meritocracy in which submissions are few and perks are earned, sponsor exemptions can be a touchy subject — especially since the advent of limited-field, no-cut Signature Events, which boast purses of $20 million.

Signature events now make up a significant portion of the tour calendar and getting into the field can be a difficult prospect. Unless, of course, you are granted an exemption by sponsors.

In typical PGA Tour events, sponsor exemptions (usually four) are generally awarded to anyone the tour sponsor deems worthy of entry. This could be a “deserving” professional who is not otherwise qualified for the field, a local or aspiring touring amateur, or even a celebrity. PGA Tour Signature Events may also designate four sponsor exemptions, but they must be members of the PGA Tour. Otherwise, there are no defined selection criteria. This condition – or perhaps the lack of it – has caused a bit of controversy over the past couple of years. At the 2024 Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the players were upset that three of the four sponsor exemptions – Peter Malnati, Webb Simpson and Adam Scott – were PGA Tour board members. At the time, Malnati and Simpson’s world rankings were 245 and 225 respectively.

At its core, sponsor exemptions are intended to give opportunities to young players or an opportunity to play for otherwise deserving professionals. There have been many players over the years who have used sponsor exemptions as a launching pad for their professional careers, including Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. In October, Michael Brennan won the Bank of Utah Championship as a sponsor’s exception in just his third PGA Tour start. President Trump’s granddaughter, Kai Trump, was granted a sponsor exemption on Annika’s field last fall, though her inclusion resulted in a flurry of additional media coverage, interest and viewership for the tournament, which tournament organizers and sponsors often hope for with these invitations.

So which players are most deserving of these coveted exemptions? This conversation is ongoing, with plenty of reasonable arguments on each side. And at this week’s Valspar Championship, two-time major champion Justin Thomas became the latest voice to enter the fray.

Thomas has been one of the best players in the world for more than a decade, but a slump in 2023 pushed him outside the FedEx Cup top 70 for the first time in his career and his world ranking fell outside the top 30 for several weeks. Suddenly, he said, he found himself outside watching events for which he had previously been excluded.

“It was extremely stressful,” Thomas said Wednesday in Florida. “But I’m also extremely proud of the fact that I, it was a big deal for me that I didn’t have to rely on an exception that year. I played in all of them. That was a big goal of mine. Because, first of all, I hated to ask, but I asked. It’s like I’m not shy or like above. I want to play in most of the tournaments. The tournaments, they were nice and said, yeah, if you need one, we’ll have one, but I I didn’t get exceptions on some, so knowing I got to play them was comforting, but also good.

While Thomas expressed pride in his ability not to use an exception to gain entry to the field, he said he can also see both sides of the issue.

“It’s tough, man, because I understand the argument, you know, to give it to the same guys, whatever. But how do you tell the company that’s investing $15, $20 million that they can’t have somebody on tour because they think it’s better for the ratings and better for their ticket sales and better for the event in general, I see it a hundred percent overall.

“But I just think that the sponsor exemptions are part of — I mean, it’s a massive part,” he continued. “What, you’re going to tell Tiger Woods he can’t play if he wants to play? I’m sorry, but you’re an idiot if you think that. Like, he should play whatever he wants to play, and that’s better for the golf tournament and the game of golf. So it’s hard to work on perfecting it.”

Fortunately for Thomas, his ranking is back to No. 14, and he found his way back into the winner’s circle at last year’s RBC Heritage, a signature event.