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February 1, 2024; Pebble Beach, California, USA; Nick Dunlap hits his chip shot on the 15th hole during the first round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am golf tournament at Pebble Beach Golf Links. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
USA Today via Reuters
February 1, 2024; Pebble Beach, California, USA; Nick Dunlap hits his chip shot on the 15th hole during the first round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am golf tournament at Pebble Beach Golf Links. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
In collaboration with the DP World Tour, the PGA Tour hosts the Barracuda Championship at Tahoe Mountain Club’s Old Greenwood annually, which gives lesser-recognized talent from both leagues a chance at victory. While many top players are teeing up at the 152nd Open Championship, 106 pros from the PGA Tour and 50 from the DP World Tour went to grace the Tahoe greens.
The field now has been shortened to the top 60 and tied; the golfer with the highest score leads the club. Yes, the highest scorer leads. Unlike all the other golf events, the Barracuda Championship is unique. Instead of low scores, high scores are counted because it follows a Stableford scoring system wherein the winner with the highest score will be decided and receive a check of $720,000 from the $4 million total prize purse, as per the PGA Tour.
Moreover, the winner of the Barracuda Championship will also get 300 FedExCup points, 3,000 Race to Dubai points, and 27.34363 Official World Golf Rankings points. As an alternate event on the PGA Tour 2024 schedule, the Barracuda Championship offers a comparatively lower prize purse and OWGR points to the golf’s oldest major, The Open, which is also underway at Royal Troon. The latter has a total purse of $17 million with 700 FedExCup points and 100 OWGR points.
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USA Today via Reuters
Jan 21, 2024; La Quinta, California, USA; Nick Dunlap holds his championship trophy after the final round of The American Express golf tournament at PGA West Stadium Course. Mandatory Credit: Ray Acevedo-USA TODAY Sports
The detailed prize money breakdown is as follows:
| Pos. | Pct. | Amount |
| 1st | 18% | $720,000.00 |
| 2nd | 10.90% | $436,000.00 |
| 3rd | 6.90% | $276,000.00 |
| 4th | 4.90% | $196,000.00 |
| 5th | 4.10% | $164,000.00 |
| 6th | 3.63% | $145,000.00 |
| 7th | 3.38% | $135,000.00 |
| 8th | 3.13% | $125,000.00 |
| 9th | 2.93% | $117,000.00 |
| 10th | 2.73% | $109,000.00 |
| 11th | 2.53% | $101,000.00 |
| 12th | 2.33% | $93,000.00 |
| 13th | 2.13% | $85,000.00 |
| 14th | 1.93% | $77,000.00 |
| 15th | 1.83% | $73,000.00 |
| 16th | 1.73% | $69,000.00 |
| 17th | 1.63% | $65,000.00 |
| 18th | 1.53% | $61,000.00 |
| 19th | 1.43% | $57,000.00 |
| 20th | 1.33% | $53,000.00 |
| 21th | 1.23% | $49,000.00 |
| 22th | 1.13% | $45,000.00 |
| 23th | 1.05% | $41,800.00 |
| 24th | 0.97% | $38,600.00 |
| 25th | 0.89% | $35,400.00 |
| 26th | 0.81% | $32,200.00 |
| 27th | 0.78% | $31,000.00 |
| 28th | 0.75% | $29,800.00 |
| 29th | 0.72% | $28,600.00 |
| 30th | 0.69% | $27,400.00 |
| 31st | 0.66% | $26,200.00 |
| 32nd | 0.63% | $25,000.00 |
| 33rd | 0.60% | $23,800.00 |
| 34th | 0.57% | $22,800.00 |
| 35th | 0.55% | $21,800.00 |
| 36th | 0.52% | $20,800.00 |
| 37th | 0.50% | $19,800.00 |
| 38th | 0.48% | $19,000.00 |
| 39th | 0.46% | $18,200.00 |
| 40th | 0.44% | $17,400.00 |
| 41st | 0.42% | $16,600.00 |
| 42nd | 0.40% | $15,800.00 |
| 43rd | 0.38% | $15,000.00 |
| 44th | 0.36% | $14,200.00 |
| 45th | 0.34% | $13,400.00 |
| 46th | 0.32% | $12,600.00 |
| 47th | 0.30% | $11,800.00 |
| 48th | 0.28% | $11,160.00 |
| 49th | 0.27% | $10,600.00 |
| 50th | 0.26% | $10,280.00 |
| 51st | 0.25% | $10,040.00 |
| 52nd | 0.25% | $9,800.00 |
| 53rd | 0.24% | $9,640.00 |
| 54th | 0.24% | $9,480.00 |
| 55th | 0.24% | $9,400.00 |
| 56th | 0.23% | $9,320.00 |
| 57th | 0.23% | $9,240.00 |
| 58th | 0.23% | $9,160.00 |
| 59th | 0.23% | $9,080.00 |
| 60th | 0.23% | $9,000.00 |
| 61st | 0.22% | $8,920.00 |
| 62nd | 0.22% | $8,840.00 |
| 63rd | 0.22% | $8,760.00 |
| 64th | 0.22% | $8,680.00 |
| 65th | 0.22% | $8,600.00 |
| Total | $4,000,000.00 |
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Nonetheless, the field of the Barracuda Championship does have a great opportunity to use and gain a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour while securing a place at the Sentry, the season’s first signature event. As it stands, the Barracuda Championship is the lone event on the PGA Tour with the Stableford format, so how does the scoring work?
What is the modified Stableford format of the Barracuda Championship?
Unlike counting the stroke to the par, in the modified Stableford format, each shot stands for a certain point. For the Barracuda Championship, two points are given for birdie, five for eagle, and eight for double eagle. On the other hand, one point will be deducted in the case of a bogey and two in the case of a double bogey.
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However, the unique feature of the Stableford format is that the players cannot lose more than two points on any hole as, after taking two strokes more than par, they can just pick up the ball and move on to the next hole. This allows the players to take more risks and earn better points.
After following the system, Mac Meissner took the 36-hole lead at the Barracuda Championship as he shot eight birdies in his second round and accumulated +16 points, his two-round point scores coming to +26, with a point lead over J. J. Spaun. Benefiting from the unique format, the leaderboard of the Barracuda Championship has many players contending for the $720,000 winner’s payout. Who will successfully conquer the Tahoe Mountain Club’s Old Greenwood and emerge victorious? Stay tuned to find out!
