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PGA Tour offering cash advances to top 150 players in FedEx Cup standings

Ryan Young / PGA TOUR / Getty

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The PGA Tour is offering cash advances to the top 150 players in the FedEx Cup standings amid golf's hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to an email obtained by Golf Digest's Daniel Rapaport.

Players are allowed to take up to 50% of their projected FedEx Cup bonuses based on the standings as of March 8. Advances are capped at $100,000, which will only affect the top 30 players after last year's 31st place finisher received $200,000.

Sungjae Im, for example, is currently leading the points race and is therefore on track to earn the $15-million first-place prize. But he's only eligible to receive $100,000, not $7.5 million.

Additionally, players who plummet in the standings may be required to eventually repay a portion of the money. Players taking cash advances that exceed the value of their final-standing bonuses would have the difference deducted from future paychecks.

"From the start, we have pledged to listen and be responsive to the needs of our players in this unprecedented time, when events are canceled and our members' ability to compete on the field of play - their livelihood - is on hold," a Tour official said in a statement.

"Through the support of our policy board and player advisory council, we're pleased to have found a creative solution to advance payments to players for current and future performance and/or services, which is consistent with our business model."

The PGA Tour added in the email that it still intends to resume its season with the Charles Schwab Challenge. The event is slated to begin May 21 at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas.

Two of golf's four majors - the Masters and the PGA Championship - have already been postponed due to the pandemic, with reports indicating a third, the U.S. Open, has also been put on hold.

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