A handful of proposed changes may come to the PGA Tour, but that doesn’t mean everyone approves. Here’s Padraig Harrington’s take.
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Big changes are (likely) coming to the PGA Tour.
The PGA Tour Players Advisory Council sent a 23-page document to the Tour membership last week detailing the proposed changes for 2026. The Tour’s Policy Board – a group of 12 that includes Tiger Woods and five other professionals – will vote on the changes later this month and they are likely to be approved.
The proposal includes items such as smaller field sizes, a smaller number of outright members, modified paths for Tour membership, a reduction in Monday qualifiers and more.
You can read more about all of them it changes herebut for now we’ll take a three-time major winning opinion on the proposal.
So what does Padraig Harrington think?
“Terrible,” he said, shaking his head. “Just terrible. It really is.”
Harrington explained his thoughts on Wednesday’s episode of “Golf Today” on the Golf Channel. In short, he is not a fan of reducing pitch sizes, among other things.
“At the end of the day, the people who are inside are voting to keep the thing tighter and tighter,” Harrington said. “Sure, why don’t we just have 12 people at the event if I’m in and everyone else can go home?
“The tour is going well. I know there’s a bit of time pressure to finish the pitches when they go to 156 (players) at certain times of the season, but the players will deal with it, they’ll deal with it. They know early in the year, hey, I might miss some tournaments because of the light. The slow game issue is like driving in rush hour traffic. There are a lot of people on the golf courses and practice times are very tight. So, yes, this is a way to solve one of the big issues in golf, pace of play, but you want to give everybody a chance.”
Harrington said he would have been more in favor of the proposal if there was a stronger “secondary” tournament after the PGA Tour in which underperforming players would be relegated, adding that perhaps one day DP World Tour will play that role.
Although the proposal that really did it annoy you?
“Don’t have a Monday qualifier?” he said. “Come on! That’s one of the most exciting things about the tour.”
The proposal wouldn’t completely eliminate Monday Tournament qualifiers — which have long been an integral part of a tournament week and can offer great stories and career-changing opportunities — but they would take a hit . They will be eliminated for fields of 120 or less and only two points (instead of four) will be awarded for fields of 132 players.
Harrington said he’s always enjoyed these qualifiers because it’s a great way to gauge a young player’s swing.
“When I look at a young pro and if he’s going to be successful, if he’s just driving down the road to local events, he’s not really pushing himself,” Harrington said. “If he travels, plays on Monday qualifies, goes to South Africa and goes to Europe and goes to all those tour schools, I know that guy wants to make it. So it’s a way to divide people. Do they? really Want to do it like a pro? Or they would HOW to do it like a pro?
The policy board will vote on the proposed changes on November 18.
