CABO SAN LUCAS, MEXICO – NOVEMBER 10: Austin Eckroat of the United States reacts after his round on the 18th green during the final round of the World Wide Technology Championship 2024 at El Cardonal at Diamante on November 10, 2024 in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. (Photo by Hector Vivas/Getty Images)
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The PGA Tour regular season comes to an end following the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club, but for some players, including Austin Eckroat, the fall series can make a huge impact.
A win in the fall may no longer qualify players for The Masters, but it can make a significant impact on the World Golf Ranking and FedExCup points. A change in the PGA Tour’s structure in 2028 will split the top 90 players into a higher-paying, higher-ranking Champions Tour.
To ensure players can earn the points necessary to make the Champions Tour, players during the 2026 season will need to qualify for the larger Signature Events to rack up points and prize money. Eckroat looks to have a strong fall to earn invitations to these events in 2027.
Balancing life on the road with family time can prove challenging for a professional who plays frequently. The travel can be isolating, with players spending six or seven days at a time in a city. Eckroat manages the travel with the support of his friend and caddie, “Stone,” his swing-coach father and his wife, Sally. This fall, things will change.
The family is expecting its first child in October, a girl. The newborn will change Eckroat’s approach, as his wife and father will likely spend more time at home in Edmond, Oklahoma, than they have before, getting acquainted with their new family life.
Eckroat’s first task: fixing his strokes gained off the tee.
“Starting in Detroit, I was getting a little more bent over, hinging the hips, and then we have been working on getting the club out there,” Eckroat said in an interview with Break80.
The PGA Tour Fall Season is an opportunity for PGA Tour members to earn points, win prize money and set up their 2027 season for success.
Austin Eckroat and his family head into the fall with a few more changes in store. Eckroat and his wife, Sally, are expecting their first child in October, a girl. An exciting change for the family, it will also impact his traveling core, as Sally and his father frequently join Eckroat on the road.
“My parents live 10 minutes from me, and my wife’s family lives 25 minutes away,” Eckroat said in an interview with Break80. “With a kid on the way, it’s going to be huge. Even now, we have a dog and a cat, and they kind of switch off on whose house they go to when we leave town.”
Eckroat, who won twice in 2024 at the Cognizant Classic and the World Wide Technology Championship, fell to 120th in FedExCup points this year and 186th in the World Golf Ranking. Despite making 15 of 20 cuts, Eckroat noted a loss of strokes off the tee in his finishes this year, ranking 124th in the category.
Where Eckroat capitalized was in strokes gained: approach and putting, where he ranked 46th. He said it was a good putting year but has started to incorporate more statistical analysis into how he approaches his practice.
“The putter has been something I’ve tinkered with, but this year I played with the same putter from San Antonio throughout the whole season and putted fantastic this year,” Eckroat said. “Although the results weren’t great, the putter was really good.”
Eckroat, along with fellow professionals Taylor Moore, Qade Cummins, Max McGreavy and Zach Bochou, opened their private sports compound a few months ago. The warehouse-turned-practice facility has a golf simulator, weights and fitness equipment, and a basketball hoop.
Oklahoma has fostered the growth of many eventual PGA Tour players. Viktor Hovland, Matthew Wolff and Eckroat were part of an Oklahoma State team that won the NCAA Team Championship.
“We can play 11 months out of the year, but it gets cold. It will be 48 degrees and windy,” Eckroat said. “There is a benefit to getting used to all the conditions. We would go to a tournament in January, and it would be great to feel our hands again and that it’s not blowing 30. I felt like you couldn’t miss shots after that.”
In a sea of change surrounding the PGA Tour schedule, its point system and bifurcated tour, with a baby girl on the way, Eckroat will lean back on the support of his home state, Oklahoma.
Timothy is a founding member of Break80 Golf and a contributing golf and sports writer for Forbes with PGA Tour and LIV Golf media credentials. Timothy can be reached at break80podcast@gmail.com for inquiries or story leads.
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