This 62-year-old is rejoining PGA Tour. Here’s the rule that enabled it

Vijay Singh has made 648 career PGA Tour starts. That doesn’t sniff the haul of Mark Brooks, who made a record 803 Tour appearances, but it’s still a ton of golf.

Singh’s first Tour start came when Bush 41 was still in office, at the 1992 Memorial, where the then relative unknown 29-year-old Fijian played on a sponsor’s exemption and tied for 7th. Over the next three-plus decades, Singh compiled a resume that elevated him to a place among the all-time greats: 34 wins, 28 runners-up, a staggering made-cut percentage of nearly 80% and — generational wealth alert! — more than $71 million in on-course earnings, which ranks 6th on the career winnings list behind only Tiger, Rory, Scottie and two gilded J’s (Justin Rose and Jim Furyk).    

That last accolade comes with a fun and, until this week, little-talked-about perk: a golden ticket back to the Tour. As decreed in the Tour’s eligibility rules, players who have lost Tour status but are among the top 50 all-time earners may regain full membership for a season of their choice. The ultimate get-out-of-jail-free card.    

This year, Singh, who turns 63 next month, is cashing in.

A soon-to-be 63-year-old golfer rejoining the world’s most competitive tour is not as wild as, say, the hypothetical of Michael Jordan (who is 62) resigning with the Bulls or Roger Clemens (who is 63) returning to an MLB mound, but it’s still a comeback at which to marvel, especially in an era in which the Tour has been getting leaner and playing opportunities scarcer.

But the rules are the rules and beginning with the Sony Open in Honolulu next week, Singh will be back pacing Tour fairways for the first time (non-Masters division) since the 2021 Honda Classic, where he shot 74-73 and missed the cut. Singh’s last made-cut on Tour came at the 2020 Memorial, where he tied for 62nd. The last time he played 10 or more events in a season was in 2017-18.

Singh won’t have carte blanche playing privileges; the designated events will, of course, be off limits. But a Tour spokesperson said that Singh “will likely be eligible for the vast majority of full-field events” in 2026. The spokesperson did not know how many of those tournaments Singh intends to enter.

Singh has battled injuries in recent years, notably a balky back. In April, he withdrew from the Masters, citing an undisclosed injury, which snapped his run of 31 consecutive Masters starts. In 20 appearances on the PGA Tour Champions last year, he had 6 top 10s and finished 23rd on the money list.

Singh is known for his tireless work ethic and marathon range sessions, and he still has pop; his 292.4-yard average driving distance in 2025 ranked 16th on the Champions circuit. But there’s long and then there’s PGA Tour long. That driving average would have ranked 164th on the PGA Tour in 2025, a couple of ticks above the likes of Lucas Glover and Russell Henley.

Singh knows what he’s up against. He said as much when he played in the 2019 Players Championship as a 57-year-old. “Playing the regular Tour is a lot more pressure, I think, to play well,” he said. “There’s a lot more work required to go out there and be ready to play. I practice more when I play the regular Tour. The preparation is a little bit different.

“Playing the Champions tour, it’s a lot more relaxing for me. When I started playing there, I don’t want to come back here. Like, it’s so easy to play there, you get practice rounds in the cart and pro-am in the cart. Over here, it’s a full four days, plus two extra days of playing and walking.”

News of Singh’s return to the young-guys tour, where he’ll be playing against opponents four decades his junior, has drawn the ire of at least some members of the golf Twitter peanut gallery, who have alleged that Singh, essentially on a lark, will be taking away precious playing spots from more deserving or needy players. Singh weathered similar criticism when he entered a Korn Ferry Tour event in 2020; so intense was the blowback that he withdrew.

In response to Singh’s 2026 return, Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee said his beef is not so much with Singh as it with the exemption itself. “This is what happens when you give into or give too much power to players,” Chamblee wrote on X. “If the PGA Tour is going to claim to be a sport based upon meritocracy, you can’t allow players to monetize their performances of a decade or decades ago, through current exemptions. Sport must always answer the question: why are you here rather than someone else? And the answer can never be because I was great ten or twenty years ago.”

Could Singh still be great? Highly unlikely. Could he still make cuts? Certainly. He did so at the 2024 Masters, where he opened 75-73 before a third-round 82 derailed him. The oldest player to make a PGA Tour cut in an individual stroke-play event is Sam Snead, who, at 67, played the weekend at the 1979 Westchester Classic. Jack Nicklaus and Fred Funk both made PGA Tour cuts at 64, and Tom Watson did so at 65. On the right course, on the right week, it’s not unthinkable that Singh could find himself within shouting distance of the lead.

If he’s not, you’ll probably find him on the range.