The final opposite-field event on the PGA Tour's 2025 schedule is this week at the Barracuda Championship.
The final opposite-field event on the PGA Tour's 2025 schedule is this week at the Barracuda Championship. It's been the launching pad for several Tour pros, with many of them earning their first victory among the pines at the Old Greenwood course at Tahoe Mountain Club in Truckee, California.
A year ago, Nick Dunlap won the tournament. It was his second PGA Tour but first as a pro. The year before that, Akshay Bhatia won his maiden tournament at the Barracuda. In 2021, it was Erik van Rooyen winning for the first time.
Because of the tournament's opposite-field status, however, many times the defending champion doesn't return by virtue of having gained access into the British Open. That's not true this year, as Dunlap will return to defend.
Two golfers who were originally scheduled to play – Chris Gotterup and Matti Schmid – withdrew Sunday night after earning spots on the tee sheet at Royal Portrush. There were three spots left open to the British for the top three finishers at the Scottis Open who were not already in the British field. Gotterup won the Scottish and Schmid was also top three.
"It's great. I'm happy to be playing my first Open next week. It's great," Gotterup said after winning in Scotland on Sunday. "There's nothing other to say than I'm excited to go up to Portrush and get back to playing some tournament golf next week. But I'm happy I'm not flying from here to California, that's for sure."
Notables in the Barracuda Championship field
Adam Hadwin was added to the Barracuda field Friday. On Saturday, more changers were announced: Jake Knapp WD / Trace Crowe IN; David Ford WD / Ben Martin IN. On Sunday, along with Gotterup and Schmid changing their plans, the PGA Tour announced Henrik Norlander WD / Zac Blair IN and Trace Crowe WD / Austin Cook IN.
Max Homa is in the tournament this year for the first time since 2017. He's 98th in the latest FedEx Cup standings. Hadwin is 129th. Both are among the many working to improve their status as the cutoff for making the FedEx Cup Playoffs in 2025 is top 70.
The Barracuda field will be 156 and there are 50 golfers from the DP World Tour playing. Other notables include Hayden Buckley, Rafael Campos, Cameron Champ, Joel Dahmen, Austin Eckroat, Emiliano Grillo, Kurt Kitayama and William Mouw, who is fresh off his first PGA Tour win at the ISCO Championship.
Barracuda Championship format uses Modified Stableford scoring
It's the lone event on the PGA Tour schedule to deploy this scoring method and it rewards aggressive play.
- Albatross: 8 points
- Eagle: 5 points
- Birdie: 2 points
- Par: 0 points
- Bogey: -1 point
- Double bogey or more: -3 points
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Barracuda Championship 2025: Nick Dunlap, Max Homa headline field
Category: General Sports