The PGA Tour Participant Advisory Council is recommending sweeping adjustments to discipline sizes, exemption standing and the variety of PGA Tour playing cards that may be obtained every season via 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 adjustments, which would not take impact till the 2026 season, have to be authorized by the PGA Tour coverage board at its subsequent assembly on Nov. 18.
The PGA Tour Participant Advisory Council unveiled the proposed adjustments to golfers in a 23-page government abstract, a duplicate of which was obtained by ESPN on Tuesday.
Among the many proposed adjustments:
The PGA Tour would alter the utmost variety of gamers in a beginning discipline of an open one-course, full-field match from 156 to 144, with an additional discount from 132 to 120 as required by circumstances reminiscent of darkness.
Within the government abstract, the PAC famous that 28% of tournaments in 2024 (12 of 43) had not less than one spherical that wasn’t accomplished on the scheduled day resulting from darkness.
“Area sizes which might be too massive make it tough to complete the competitors on schedule every day and trigger delays within the general tempo of play, growing the typical spherical occasions on tour,” the manager abstract stated.
Beneath the proposed plan, as an illustration, the sphere for the Gamers Championship can be decreased 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 Categorical, would keep fields of 156 golfers.
The PAC stated it thought-about adjusting the smaller restricted fields of the tour’s profitable signature occasions, such because the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Memorial Event, 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 keep 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 wherever from 101 to 125.
The Korn Ferry Tour, which usually awards 30 PGA Tour playing cards per season, would now award solely 20 playing cards underneath the proposed adjustments. 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 influence of discipline measurement adjustments on the present membership,” the PAC additionally proposed a plan that would cut back or eradicate open qualifying (or Monday qualifying) positions for occasions with a discipline measurement smaller than 144 gamers. This could not apply to the FedEx Cup Fall occasions.
In accordance with the manager abstract, a assessment of open qualifying metrics revealed that 65% to 75% of gamers who make the sphere by way of a Monday qualifier don’t make the minimize. The tour stated it plans to work with the PGA of America — whose sections run the native Monday qualifiers — ought to the proposed adjustments be authorized.
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 preserve unrestricted sponsor exemptions.
The PAC can be proposing slight changes to the FedEx Cup factors distribution system to account for elevated energy of discipline underneath 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 adjustments that will be proposed to the PGA Tour Coverage Board for approval.
“Lately, we’ve got needed to rapidly implement substantial adjustments to the PGA Tour’s aggressive construction and schedule,” Villegas stated within the letter. “Now, we see a possibility to shift our focus to deal with sure points which might be getting in the best way of a good and preferrred participant expertise, stopping us from reaching the best stage of competitors.”
