The PGA Tour Participant Advisory Council is recommending sweeping modifications to discipline sizes, exemption standing and the variety of PGA Tour playing cards that may be obtained every season by way of the Korn Ferry Tour and Q-school, in addition to a slight adjustment to the FedEx Cup factors allocations for main championships, the Gamers Championship and signature occasions.
The modifications, which would not take impact till the 2026 season, should be authorised by the PGA Tour coverage board at its subsequent assembly on Nov. 18.
The PGA Tour Participant Advisory Council unveiled the proposed modifications to golfers in a 23-page government abstract, a duplicate of which was obtained by ESPN on Tuesday.
Among the many proposed modifications:
The PGA Tour would alter the utmost variety of gamers in a beginning discipline of an open one-course, full-field event from 156 to 144, with an additional discount from 132 to 120 as required by circumstances resembling darkness.
Within the government abstract, the PAC famous that 28% of tournaments in 2024 (12 of 43) had no less than one spherical that wasn’t accomplished on the scheduled day attributable to darkness.
“Subject sizes which are too giant make it tough to complete the competitors on schedule every day and trigger delays within the total tempo of play, rising the typical spherical occasions on tour,” the chief abstract mentioned.
Beneath the proposed plan, as an illustration, the sector for the Gamers Championship can be lowered from 144 gamers to 120 and the RBC Canadian Open and Genesis Scottish Open would go from 156 to 144.
Tournaments performed on a number of programs, such because the American Specific, would preserve fields of 156 golfers.
The PAC mentioned it thought of adjusting the smaller restricted fields of the tour’s profitable signature occasions, such because the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Memorial Match, however concluded that “any modification at this stage can be disruptive and will improve fan confusion.”
The PAC proposed decreasing the variety of gamers who would preserve their PGA Tour card and full standing from the highest 125 finishers in FedEx Cup factors to the highest 100, whereas including a brand new conditional class for these gamers who end anyplace from 101 to 125.
The Korn Ferry Tour, which generally awards 30 PGA Tour playing cards per season, would now award solely 20 playing cards below the proposed modifications. The DP World Tour would proceed to award 10 PGA Tour playing cards, and Q-school playing cards can be capped at 5.
In exploring methods to “reduce the impression of discipline measurement modifications on the present membership,” the PAC additionally proposed a plan that would cut back or get rid of open qualifying (or Monday qualifying) positions for occasions with a discipline measurement smaller than 144 gamers. This is able to not apply to the FedEx Cup Fall occasions.
In response to the chief abstract, a overview of open qualifying metrics revealed that 65% to 75% of gamers who make the sector by way of a Monday qualifier don’t make the lower. The tour mentioned it plans to work with the PGA of America — whose sections run the native Monday qualifiers — ought to the proposed modifications be authorised.
Restricted sponsor exemptions, which embody two reserved PGA Tour spots and two DP World Tour spots, will now be awarded to the subsequent eligible members on the proposed precedence rating. Tournaments will nonetheless hold unrestricted sponsor exemptions.
The PAC can also be proposing slight changes to the FedEx Cup factors distribution system to account for elevated energy of discipline below the brand new schedule mannequin. Second-place finishes on the Gamers Championship and the majors would obtain a slight improve (100 extra factors), whereas gamers who end eleventh and past would obtain a slight lower (10 factors for eleventh, 20 factors for twelfth and so forth) in factors gained. Throughout signature occasions, gamers who end seventh or worse would obtain a slight lower in factors.
Lower than two weeks in the past, PGA Tour Participant Advisory Council chairman Camilo Villegas despatched a letter to members alluding to the modifications that will be proposed to the PGA Tour Coverage Board for approval.
“Lately, we’ve got needed to shortly implement substantial modifications to the PGA Tour’s aggressive construction and schedule,” Villegas mentioned within the letter. “Now, we see a possibility to shift our focus to handle sure points which are getting in the best way of a good and splendid participant expertise, stopping us from attaining the very best degree of competitors.”
