The 2024 Zozo Championship is heating up with a star-studded field vying for the $8.5 million prize pool. Golf fans are thrilled to watch the likes of Xander Schauffele, Sahith Theegala, and defending champion Collin Morikawa battle it out on the course. As the PGA Tour event gains popularity, more and more people are tuning in to catch the action.

However, the DP World Tour’s Genesis Championship is facing a tough challenge this week. The conflicting schedule with the PGA Tour event has led to lower viewership and fewer top-tier players participating. But the impact goes beyond just viewership. Well, there is a reason why most top pros have opted for the Zozo Championship over the Genesis Championship.

The debate surrounding Jay Monahan’s event

As the season is nearing its end, every pro around the globe is fighting to secure top-place finishes. While many players are restricted by only having access to one tour, it’s not the case for the best of the best. The likes of Morikawa, Theegala, Schauffele, Hideki Matsuyama, and many more can also be featured on the DP World Tour. So what made every one of them choose the PGA event over its European counterpart?

Both the Zozo Championship and the Genesis Championship are scheduled for the same days. But the biggest difference between the two events is the OWGR points awarded to the winners. A victory at the Jay Monahan & Co.-led PGA Tour event will award the players a projected point total of 40.46562. This is a major upgrade from the 2023 Zozo Championship, which only rewarded Collin Morikawa with around 30 points.

On the other hand, the Genesis Championship can only amount to a projection of 15.55230 points. That means if the best professionals had chosen to participate in the DP World Tour event, then even after winning it, they would have still secured about 2.66 times fewer points than their adversaries in the 2024 Zozo Championship.

That’s quite unfair for anyone who is trying to close in on Scottie Scheffler. The world no. 1 is sitting comfortably at the top 280 points away from his closest competitor, Xander Schauffele.

However, the disparity between PGA Tour and DP World Tour events wasn’t always as stark. So how did the points awarded in the past few events of these two tours compare?

DP World Tour vs. PGA Tour

The difference in points between events from both tours has gradually grown to the 25 points that we see now. The battle of the Week 42 events between Shriners Children’s Open and the Andalucía Masters had a point difference of 12, with the former giving 35 points while the latter awarded 23 points. A week prior to that, the point difference was even lower. The Black Desert Championship gave its best players 28 points, while its European counterpart, the FedEx Open De France winner, received 22 points.

The week 41 events favored the DP World Tour, with Alfred Dunhill Links Championship leader receiving a 37-point OWGR boost. On the other end, participants of the Sanderson Farms Championship 2024 were only competing for 30 points. As we can see, there is a healthy mix of points given on both sides of professional golf.

As the season nears its end, it will be interesting to see which events are favored more, as the awarded points might determine who will be a part of the finale.