PGA Tour’s Aon Next 10, Swing 5 proves successful; Justin Thomas among those applauding it

ATLANTA — Throughout last season, PGA Tour broadcasts Aon Next 10 and Swing 5helped establish a 70-player field in the lucrative signature event.

Aon provides analytics to help the PGA Tour and other companies make better decisions, so it was only natural that the company helped create this initiative.

Fans, pundits and some players initially expressed confusion about Aon Next 10 and Swing 5, which were announced in August 2023 as part of the 2024 Tour schedule announcement. No one knew how they would work until they were actually implemented.

“At the beginning of the year I wasn't sure what to think about Aon 5 and Aon 10 and whether a lot of players would benefit from it, but I'm one of the players who has benefited a lot from it,” explained South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout, who will be making his Tour Championship debut this week.

“I started the year off well with a runner-up finish at the American Express earlier in the year which put me in a great position to play in all the signature events for the rest of the year. It's good to see the system the PGA Tour has put in place is working and I've been fortunate to be able to benefit from it and this season has gone well so far.”

Players who finished in the top 50 in the 2023 FedEx Cup standings or qualified for the 2023 BMW Championship gained direct entry into all eight signature events in 2024. But the remaining 20 spots were open to other players.

Enter Aon Next 10 and Aon Swing 5 to help fill that void.

The Next 10 guarantees the best 10 players of the season an entry into the signature event field, and it ranks the top 10 FedEx Cup points earners who are not exempt from these high-profile tournaments.

Swing 5, on the other hand, helps identify the most in-form players. Typically there are two or three full-field events between Signature events, and from that set of tournaments, the five most in-form players earn an invite to the Signature event through Swing 5.

For example, after the season-opening Sentry at Kapalua, the top five finishers from the Sony Open in Hawaii, the American Express in Palm Springs and the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines qualified for the second signature event of the season, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Bezuidenhout, Grayson Murray, Stefan Jaeger, Mathieu Pavon and Kevin Yu all qualified for Pebble Beach as swing fives this year.

“Swing 5 and Next 10 are data-driven player inspirations, and Aon played a big role in analysing that, but essentially they're both structures that mean you have the top stars, but you also have the next generation of the top stars that are aspiring to play in these signature events,” explained PGA Tour Chief Competition Officer Tyler Dennis.

Photo: Mike Mulholland/Getty Images

“Aon Next 10 is made up of players like Ludvig Aaberg. And Swing 5 is fun because they're the popular players. You can be a top player and still be a popular player.”

Oberg has skyrocketed to stardom over the past year, graduating from Texas Tech University to play on the Ryder Cup team and winning the RSM Classic, the final tournament of the FedEx Cup fall season, last November.

The top 10 players ranked 51st through 60th in the FedExCup Fall Tournament rankings will receive invitations to the first two signature events of the season, which means a lot to a young player like Oberg.

“[The Aon Next 10 and Swing 5] Because I didn't make it into the top 50 [last year’s playoffs. I had a chance to play my way into the fall schedule, propelling me throughout the season. Suddenly, I got into Maui, and I got into the elevated events that I didn’t have a chance to play in before,” Åberg explained at the BMW Championship, where he finished two strokes behind Keegan Bradley in a tie for second.

“Then it spiraled from there. I was super fortunate to have those experiences, which is what’s so great about the fall season. Good golf is always going to get rewarded, and I was fortunate to be able to take advantage of that.”

Åberg went on to have a stellar season, finishing runner-up to Scottie Scheffler at Augusta National and recording seven other top-10 finishes. He finished atop the Next 10 rankings by nearly 500 points.

But another star player took advantage of the Next 10, finishing eighth in the Next 10. Justin Thomas, who had a poor 2023 by his standards, turned things around in 2024, mainly because of these opportunities.

“I think the fact that the guys in the top 50 have earned [spots in Signature Events] “It's great. Also, I felt the pressure to play this year to qualify, which was a huge motivator. I didn't want to rely on an exemption. It was weird and uncomfortable,” Thomas explained.

Photo: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

“They may be upset or frustrated that they're on that team, but they have the opportunity to make their own way, just like me and everybody else. [through the Aon Next 10]That's what we signed up for with golf. You can go out and get it. So I think that's great.”

Thomas also praised the PGA Tour's efforts in launching Aon Next 10 and Swing 5.

“They did a very good job for a first attempt,” Thomas added.

“Like I said, this tournament gives the players who aren't in the tournament a chance to prove themselves and gives them a chance to play their way in these big tournaments. We want the best and hottest players in these areas.”

Amazingly, nine of the 30 players who competed in the Tour Championship at East Lake this week qualified for their signature event via the Next 10 and Swing 5 stages.

The goal for every PGA Tour star is to make it to Atlanta for the final round, and to do that they need to play well in their signature events.

“We've been incredibly pleased with the impact we've made in year one and are excited to keep the momentum going in year two and into next season,” explained Taylor Strick, head of partnerships at Aon.

“This was a new opportunity that came about on the heels of all the changes the Tour made to the competitive structure. There wasn't really a playbook to follow. But on the flip side, I think there was a fantastic opportunity to test, learn, continue to collaborate with our partners on Tour and find, tell and amplify the stories of these unique players that came out of both Aon Next 10 and Swing 5.”

The 2025 PGA Tour season will likely look similar to the one that concluded this week in Atlanta, which includes the highly successful Aon Next 10 and Swing 5 events during their inaugural seasons.

But now that we've been through it, players, reporters and fans will all have a better understanding of how it all works next season.

Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation Playing Through. Follow For more golf articles, follow us on Twitter Jack Mirko In the same way.