The PGA Tour has approved a “major shakeup to its model that effectively creates two tours, expanding the field for the elite tier and cutting in half prize money for the secondary tier,” according to Doug Ferguson of the AP. The new model starts in 2028 with around 15 events part of the “Championship Series” and 20 events being part of the lesser “Challenger Series.” The four major tournaments are not included in those event totals. The $20M signature events currently comprised of 72 players “will be part of the Championship Series and expanded to 120 players on average.” Players are not required to play all those events, and they “will not have sponsor invitations or an alternate list.” The Challenger Series will be a “path for players to earn their way to the top level.” Those events will have fields of 144 players with purses of at least $4M. The two series will take place on the same week “except for about seven times during the season” when Challenger Series events “would be elevated.” There is “no plan for players to move up to the Championship Series during the season unless they were to win twice.” Eligibility for the Championship Series will be determined by the top 90 players from the previous year, the top 20 players from the Challenger Series and “other exemption categories for tournament winners, injuries or career milestones” (AP, 6/23).
FILLING OUT THE SCHEDULE: ESPN’s Mark Schlabach reports the tour has “already identified 10 of its 15 Championship Series regular-season tournaments” for 2028. The eight current signature events -- AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational, RBC Heritage, Cadillac Championship, Truist Championship, Memorial Tournament and Travelers Championship -- are “expected to remain part of the future schedule.” Tour officials are “targeting larger markets such as Boston, Denver, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C., to fill out the remaining five spots in the calendar.” The tour is “beginning to finalize the markets, courses, dates and sponsors for the remaining tournaments.” The Tour Championship will stay at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta through 2027, after which the event will be “rotated to ‘prestigious courses,’ including many that the tour will play for the first time.” The fall schedule will include a “limited series of elevated international events with top players from Championship Series and will be co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour.” Players can only play in one series, though the Players Championship “will continue to have its own qualification criteria and might include golfers from both series” (ESPN.com, 6/23).
FROM THE TOP DOWN: Golf Channel’s Eamon Lynch said tour execs “want a much more concentrated top level of the PGA Tour.” Lynch: “That’s what they’re determined to get by narrowing the number of cards down to 90 and focusing on the guys who really sell tickets.” He said the new format should allow for the top players to compete against each other more often, though he noted, “How often is really the question here.” Lynch said, “They’re talking about 23-24 events out there in the Championship series, including major championships. The reality is Rory McIlroy played 15 times in the United States last year. … Scottie Scheffler? He played 19 times in that window between January and the end of August. So there’s a lot of potential weeks where even the best players in the world are going to take a week off.” Golf Channel’s Rich Lerner noted McIlroy and Scheffler, due to their career achievements, likely have “no threat of being relegated to that Challenger series.” However, Lynch noted that “depends on what the eligibility is,” which will be determined later in the year. Lynch: “It’s very possible in a few years that if Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler have bad years, they’re not going to be saved” (“Golf Central,” Golf Channel, 6/23).
CHANGE IS GOOD: GOLF’s Sean Zak reports longtime MLB exec Theo Epstein is a part of the Future Competition Committee, which put together the tour’s new structure, and he “served as an important voice reminding the Tour’s player directors where change, even in surprising areas, can be great.” Epstein in a letter offered an “impassioned, final argument sent to the Tour’s boards over the weekend” in which he brought up recent MLB changes like the pitch clock and putting runners on base in extra innings. He suggested that the changes which players ultimately approved offered the Tour “‘far greater opportunity and upside’ than even MLB’s raucous success.” The letter reminded the player directors “how their expertise and interest helped guide the FCC in specific ways.” Zak: “Limited-field, Signature Event-style tournaments were not big enough; they needed larger fields with wider access to those fields. The idea of promotion and relegation isn’t foreign to this group, but it couldn’t happen mid-season.” Epstein also wrote about how “increased ‘popularity, cultural relevance, and associated revenues,’ like what he witnessed with MLB, were on offer with this new model” (GOLF, 6/23).
NOT UNIVERSAL SUPPORT: Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard reports approval from the players regarding the changes was “not universal.” One player expressed his dismay with the changes but opted not to speak on camera the same day the changes were announced. Meanwhile, one European player wondered if he would keep his tour membership if he is not on the Championship series. Hoggard said, “That player was flat out with me. He said, ‘I would rather go home and play the European Tour, play this week in Italy, than play for a $4 million purse here on the PGA Tour.’” Hoggard: “That’s something that we’re probably going to have to deal with. My guess -- all of the Europeans are probably thinking the same thing. … When you’re asking a player who’s made the commitment to come to the United States to stick around for something they probably didn’t sign up for, it’s going to be issues” (“Golf Central,” Golf Channel, 6/23).
QUESTIONS REMAIN: Golf Channel’s Gary Williams notes there are a “lot of details that still need to be understood.” He mentioned that Texas has a “huge footprint on the PGA Tour,” but there currently are no tournaments based in the state that would appear regularly on the Championship series. Additionally, Rolapp did not delve into which new sponsors are “going to make up the construct of this top series and how many are going to be retained from what currently exists right now.” Williams: “Where are they trying to go with the final series in match play? That to me is fascinating” (“Golf Central,” Golf Channel, 6/23).
