The PGA Tour announced today that it is making some dramatic changes to its competitive structure, starting with the 2028 season.
Here are six key ways the Tour model will change.
1. There will be two levels of players
The new tournament model will include two separate tournament series – the PGA Tour Championship Series and the PGA Tour Challenge Series – that will run concurrently during the season.
The Championship Series is home to the top dogs. It will feature up to 24 events, including 16 signature events, The Players Championship, four major championships, end-of-season events and the Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup.
Each of the roughly 16 signature events will be 72-hole stroke-play tournaments, with an average field size of 120 players with 36-hole cuts to the top 65 and tiebreakers. Each will have a purse of at least $20 million. The season will last from February to August.
The Challenger Series will be the main route to the Championship Series, with players competing to advance to the best track, including promotion to the season if a player wins twice.
There will be around 20 events in the Challenger Series with fields of 144 people. Seven of the 20 events will be played during weeks when the Championship Series is closed. The other 13 events will be played against the Championship Series.
How players will qualify at these levels to start the 2028 season is still being decided.
Some of the finer details of eligibility such as major medical exemptions, career achievement exemptions, etc. are still being processed. However, we know that if you’re in the Championship Series, you’ll stay the entire season and be eligible for all those events. And if you’re in the Challenger Series, you’re eligible for every event at that level.
The player will only be allowed to compete in either the Championship Series or the Challenger Series, but not both. They will not be required to compete in any Championship Series tournaments.
However, the Players Championship will continue to have its own eligibility criteria and may include players from both series.
Think of it like European football. The best performers retain their place in the top division and the worst performers are replaced.
The Championship Series will maintain a minimum of 90 players at the end of the season. Meanwhile, the Challenger Series will send its top 20 players to be promoted to the Championship Series at the end of the year.
In-season promotion will exist in the form of winning multiple Challenger Series events in the same season or winning a major championship. Otherwise, the promotion will take place at the end of the year.
Golfers who fail to maintain their eligibility in the Championship Series and face possible relegation will be able to compete in a “last chance” series after the conclusion of the regular season. The series will include four to six events in the US in the fall.
Fields will include a limited number of spots for the top finishers in the Championship Series, as well as players facing relegation, Challenger Series players and other yet-to-be-finalized categories.
3. The Tour Championship will look completely different
The match is coming.
The Tour Championship, long a maligned and irrelevant event, is getting a new makeover with a game format to decide the champion.
And in what seems like a dream, the tournament championship will be rotating venues. You won’t believe who’s on the wish list.
The event will continue to be played at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta this year and into 2027 before switching to “prestige courses,” including the potential for many Tour first-timers such as Pine Valley Golf Club, Cypress Point Club and Seminole Golf Club.
While these courses don’t have the bandwidth to host a major championship or major Tour event, the match play component—which doesn’t require the same level of construction given the small field size and lack of players on the course at all times—allows these courses to be hosted.
4. The tour will be directed to several new markets
I mentioned earlier that we’re getting up to 24 Championship Series events.
If you subtract the major championships, team events and the players’ championship, there will be about 16 regular season Championship Series events.
The tournament has already decided on 10 of them. That includes the eight current signature events — the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational, RBC Heritage, Cadillac Championship, Truist Championship, Memorial Tournament and Travelers Championship expected to remain part of the upcoming schedule.
Who else will join them?
As previously reported, the Tour is targeting larger markets such as Boston, Denver, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, DC, to fill the remaining five spots on the calendar. They are starting to finalize the markets, courses, dates and sponsors for the remaining tournaments.
Longtime PGA Tour courses, sponsor exemptions are being eliminated.
If you’re in the Championship Series, you’re in the Championship Series. If you’re in the Challenger Series, you’re in the Challenger Series.
No worries about qualification. Has not played at a level or below a level. There is no responsibility on sponsors to select players who may attract interest.
This removes the possibility for a guy like Jordan Spieth to get preferential treatment (not by choosing him, but he has taken advantage of this route several times in recent years).
6. Developmental pathways will still exist – but they will look different
The policy board is still finalizing membership eligibility and exemptions for the Challenger Series, including access for DP World Tour and PGA Tour University players, according to the release. These categories will be finalized before the start of the 2027 season.
The tour said it will continue to operate the Korn Ferry Tour and its Q-school to provide avenues for development in its ecosystem.
But it’s only logical that the Challenger Series will largely replace the Korn Ferry Tour in spirit given the number of players in the first two tiers.
“While the specifics of the PGA Tour’s development pathways were not voted on, the Boards acknowledged the organized development pathways — comprised of the Korn Ferry Tour, PGA Tour Americas and PGA Tour University in the current model — remain critical to identifying and preparing the next generation of players (to) ensure the tour’s long-term success and sustainability,” it said.
Taking Sean
It’s hard to argue with any of these changes. I am very excited.
This new competitive structure is not being officially introduced until the 2028 season, but many of the foundations are already in place. You can see it coming together.
Isn’t it wild that the tour will go to places like Pine Valley and Cypress Point? Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine something like this happening.
And now we’re moving into an era of total clarity and structure within the tournament. It will not swell. It will be heavier.
In the end, it will be about competition. You can’t wait for career achievements. If you can’t compete at the highest level, you will be sent down.
You don’t like it? Earn your way back.
I am particularly shocked by the elimination of sponsor exemptions. I have been on this block for a long time now.
If I had to point out one criticism, it would be the Tour’s insistence on reaching out to bigger markets. I get the idea, but it’s not necessarily a slam dunk. There is danger for him. Many times it’s the smaller markets that can rally around a tournament.
We’ll see how it all goes, but I’m flying with excitement.
What do you think about all this? Let me know below in the comments.
Top Photo Caption: Tour CEO Brian Rolapp keeps cooking. (GETTY IMAGES/Orlando Ramirez)
