Every single one of the top guys on some level of a downward trend. The group of guys in the top 50 have more missed cuts than top 10s in the last year.
The most obvious was Phil, he got an insane amount of money. he’d likely never win another tournament on tour.
Bryson’s body might not allow him to be competitive on tour on a consistent basis.
Rickie, assuming he joins, might lose is pga tour card on his own.
Reed has gone from 7th to 36th in the last 2 years and has 4 missed cuts to to top 10s (7, 3).
Bubba is down to 70th.
all of those guys are bigger name guys that are struggling for big payouts on tour and presumably got huge payouts to jump over because of their name.
If you’re struggling on tour and get offered a huge paycheck to finish top 10 by beating a small handful of scrubs, why not take it? It’s good for your bank account, good for your ego, and potentially better for the perception of your current golfing ability
Add in a bunch of fading internationals, a bunch of no-names outside the top 200 and a few amateurs that are facing the grind of working up through the KF tour.
For DJ it was just a big paycheck. He seems to not give a fuck about anything other than the economics of it.