Not every day you have a full-time PGA Tour card and find yourself left out of a supposedly full-field event. But that’s what has happened with Dylan Wu. The 29-year-old was hoping to tee off at the WM Phoenix Open, but due to the PGA Tour’s policy changes, Wu is stuck as a sixth alternate. 

Lashing out about how he has been left out of the WMPO field, Wu pointed out, “The WMPO is back to a regular full field event, and for some reason they’re “special” and the Tour says they’re allowed to be the only full field event that doesn’t include ALL Fully exempt members.”

The WM Phoenix Open was announced as an elevated event back in 2022. The Tour subsequently increased the purse size to $20M. However, in 2024, the Tour dropped WMPO from its ‘Signature’ event status and reverted to a regular full-field event, as Wu pointed out. But the field size remained disproportionate.

Even in 2024, when the PGA Tour announced a massive overhaul in field size, only 132 players were eligible for WMPO as opposed to 156 for the Farmers Insurance Open, American Express, and 144 for the Sony Open in Hawaii. The Tour further trimmed the field size to 120.

This year’s WMPO, however, has 123 players as Brooks Koepka’s entry forced the Tour to add two more players so that no golfer plays as a single. That has done little to improve Dylan Wu’s chances, however.

“It’s my 5th season on Tour, 3rd with FULL status and only played once,” Wu added in the tweet.

He is 72nd in the FedEx Cup standings and currently not eligible for any Signature events. So, for Dylan Wu, full-field events remain the biggest chances to improve his rankings, and he was denied one. The pro golfer’s comment came in response to a self-identified PGA Tour data analyst, Ron Klos’s tweet.

“I’m sorry, but there is no world where Lee Hodges, who has eight top-11 finishes in the last 15 months, should be 10th alternate behind the likes of Pontus Nyholm, A.J. Ewart, and Marcelo Rozo.”

Lee Hodges secured four top 10 finishes and six top 25 finishes to round off an impressive 2025. The 30-year-old netted a T6 at the Sony Open this year. However, he stands as the final name on the list of alternates for WMPO.

Meanwhile, Wu finished at T31 at the Sony Open and T44 at the American Express this year. He missed the cut at the 2026 Farmers Insurance Open.

Interestingly, while Dylan Wu is angry at the PGA Tour for missing a chance to tee off here, a bunch of eligible pros decided to skip the tournament altogether.

Star-studded absences headline 2026 WM Phoenix Open field

WMPO is one of the most celebrated tournaments on the PGA Tour. However, the lack of a ‘Signature event’ tag usually fails to attract big names to TPC Scottsdale. While two-time champion Scottie Scheffler will be teeing it up in the field, plenty of other top players will be missing.

The prominent names that are missing from the field are Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose, Robert MacIntyre, Justin Thomas, Keegan Bradley, Ludvig Aberg, and Russell Henley. Interestingly, Henley was a regular at the tournament from 2013 to 2023. However, his name has been missing from the field ever since.

Similarly, Keegan Bradley played here last in 2023, when it still boasted the elevated event status. Notably, the WM Phoenix Open comes right before two limited-field signature events, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational. A key reason the field is missing a few big names.

But the fans can still watch other former winners. Namely, Xander Schauffele, Hideki Matsuyama (another two-time champion), Cameron Young, Viktor Hovland, JJ Spaun, Jordan Spieth, and Rickie Fowler will be teeing off in Arizona from tomorrow.

Moreover, the classic event will also welcome two-time winner Brooks Koepka, who makes his second start since his PGA Tour return. The five-time major winner’s last PGA Tour victory came at this venue in 2021.