CROMWELL, Conn. — The PGA Tour has accredited suggestions from the Future Competitions Committee that may dramatically reshape the tour’s competitors construction beginning in 2028, the tour introduced Tuesday.
The modifications really useful by the Future Competitions Committee had been accredited by the PGA Tour Coverage Committee and the PGA Tour Enterprise Committee at a gathering in West Hartford, Conn., on Monday.
Amongst different modifications, the tour’s new mannequin consists of two separate match sequence, the PGA Tour Championship Sequence and the PGA Tour Challenger Sequence, held concurrently through the season. The Challenger Sequence would be the major path to the Championship Sequence, the place golfers will compete to advance to the highest monitor, together with promotion with two wins through the season.
The PGA Tour hopes the sweeping modifications will convey “readability to competitors and improved outcomes” and “ship a stronger and extra participating expertise for followers, gamers and companions.”
At present, I am honored to face alongside @brianrolapp at @TravellersChamp as we unveil @PGATOUR’s new fashions for 2028 and past. That is an thrilling second for the sport of golf.
It’s an honor to steer the Future Competitors Fee and I’m happy with our work… https://t.co/ERD16AkuJV— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) June 23, 2026
Tour CEO Brian Rolup introduced the change Tuesday throughout a press convention at TPC River Highlands, website of this week’s Vacationers Championship.
“I feel each sport has traditions, and golf isn’t any exception,” Lollup stated. “Golf is a wealthy factor. We have stated from the start that it is our job to respect that custom however not be too constrained by it. I feel the very best sports activities and the very best organizations on this planet function that means. The explanation for the change may be very I feel it is clear to me that should you speak to the followers, should you speak to the companions, they’re all on the lookout for enchancment. And one factor I’ve discovered in my earlier jobs is that innovation is essential. The PGA Tour is totally different.”
The Championship Sequence options as much as 24 occasions, together with 16 signature occasions, The Gamers Championship, 4 main championships, a season-ending occasion, and the Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup. Every of the 16 occasions is a 72-hole stroke play match with a mean area measurement of 120 golfers and 36 holes of competitors for the highest 65 and ties. Every could have a pockets of no less than $20 million. The season runs from round February to round August.
Gamers in no less than the highest 90 on the Championship Sequence factors listing will retain their membership for the upcoming season. An extra 20 people are promoted from the Challenger Sequence every year. Further classes akin to match winners, medical extensions and profession milestones are but to be finalized. There are not any exemptions for sponsors.
The revamped Tour construction employs a “single, constant factors construction” and goals to “reward wins, emphasize high finishes, stress the significance of passing, and create a clearer, extra compelling storyline from occasion to occasion and all through the season,” the discharge states.
The present FedEx Cup factors system awards 700 factors for signature occasions, 500 factors for non-typical occasions, 300 factors for on-ground tournaments, and 750 factors for majors, Gamers Championships, and FedEx Cup Playoffs.
“This job was larger than any participant or particular person: to design the strongest PGA Tour doable for future generations of followers and gamers,” Tiger Woods, chairman of the Future Competitions Committee, stated in an announcement. “From the start, the committee’s focus has been on delivering a greater expertise for our followers whereas making a mannequin that finest constructions our tour, gamers and companions for long-term success and stability.”
Woods, who had sought therapy overseas after being arrested on drunken driving costs in Florida in late March, returned dwelling in time for the board to approve sweeping modifications. Woods attended a press convention in Cromwell however didn’t communicate past a gap assertion praising the modifications.
Factors will enhance in main championships in future seasons as properly.
“In some methods this can be a massive change, however in different methods it is going to be the PGA Tour you already know and love,” stated Maverick McNeely, a member of the Future Competitions Committee. “We’re simply going to know the place to seek out it. We will know when it’ll begin and when it’ll cease. We will just about know who’s going to play every week and I feel this can be a nice alternative to enhance on what we’re already doing properly and have the very best competitors in golf.”
The PGA Tour stated in a launch that it has already recognized 10 of the 15 common season tournaments for the Championship Sequence for the 2028 season. The present eight signature occasions – AT&T Pebble Seaside Professional-Am, Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational, RBC Heritage, Cadillac Championship, Truist Championship, Memorial Match and Vacationers Championship – will stay on the long run schedule.
The tour is focusing on bigger markets akin to Boston, Denver, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington DC to fill the remaining 5 spots on the calendar. The tour is starting to finalize markets, programs, dates and sponsors for the remaining tournaments.
The restructuring will even embody a brand new end-of-season mannequin that “consists of retention and relegation subsequent season, season-long factors leaders recognition, and the introduction of match play into the postseason.”
“It doesn’t matter what sport we placed on, if it does not really feel genuine to the athletes, it will not really feel genuine to anybody, together with the followers,” Rolup stated. “I feel in that dialogue, the gamers thought it was vital to have a season finale on the finish of the common season that culminates with an everyday season winner. And I might argue that should you can most likely beat the very best 120 golfers all through the season sequence, that is essentially the most spectacular accomplishment within the sport.”
The Tour Championship will proceed to be held at Atlanta’s Eastlake Golf Membership this yr and in 2027, with plans to maneuver to different venues thereafter. The tour is focusing on programs it has by no means performed earlier than, together with Pine Valley Golf Membership in New Jersey, Cypress Level Membership in California and Seminole Golf Membership in Florida, with Eastlake doubtlessly remaining within the rotation.
The upcoming fall schedule will embody an unique sequence of high-level worldwide occasions that includes high Championship Sequence gamers and will probably be co-sanctioned with the DP World Tour.
As anticipated, gamers can solely compete in both the Championship Sequence or the Challenger Sequence, however not each. They do not need to play in each championship sequence match. Nevertheless, the Gamers Championship will nonetheless have its personal eligibility standards and should embody golfers from each sequence.
The Challenger Sequence will encompass a minimal of 20 tournaments, and the tour expects to incorporate “rising expertise alongside gamers competing for the highest.” Throughout the off-weeks of the Championship Sequence season, roughly seven superior Challenger Sequence occasions are held to extend factors and outcomes.
The Challenger Sequence is a 72-hole stroke-play occasion with a 36-hole lower to the highest 65 and no less than $4 million in prizes and prizes. The capability of 144 folks consists of amateurs, and the quantity might lower because of components akin to daylight.
Rolup pushed again towards solutions from reigning Masters champion Rory McIlroy that the second monitor of the match was nothing greater than a “wonderful Korn Ferry” occasion. Mr. Rolup stated he spoke with Mr. McIlroy on Tuesday.
“We simply organized the identical tour right into a extra attention-grabbing and aggressive system,” Lollup stated. “If you happen to take a look at a Challenger Sequence occasion, it is at a well-recognized venue. It is for a wholesome pockets. It consists of the identical subset of 200 folks it has immediately, and the gamers change. It’s totally totally different than immediately’s Korn Ferry Tour.”
Two Challenger Sequence wins earns quick promotion to the Championship Sequence.
The coverage committee continues to be finalizing membership and exemptions for the Challenger Sequence, together with entry for DP World Tour and PGA Tour school golfers, in response to the discharge. These classes are anticipated to be finalized earlier than the beginning of the 2027 season.
Golfers who don’t preserve their eligibility for the Championship Sequence and are liable to being demoted will have the ability to compete within the “Final Likelihood” sequence after the common season ends. The sequence will embody 4 to 6 occasions within the U.S. within the fall. The sphere consists of high Championship Sequence finishers, gamers going through demotion, Challenger Sequence gamers, and a restricted variety of spots in different classes that haven’t but been finalized.
Golfers who fail to regain Championship Sequence standing and advance by way of the “Final Likelihood” occasion will probably be eligible to compete within the Challenger Sequence subsequent season.
The tour stated it can proceed to function Q Faculty to supply a developmental pathway into the ecosystem.
“Though no vote was taken on the main points of the PGA Tour’s improvement pathway, the board acknowledged that the institutional improvement pathway (beneath the present mannequin, consisting of the Korn Ferry Tour, PGA Tour Americas and PGA Tour College) stays crucial to figuring out and making ready the subsequent technology of gamers to make sure the Tour’s long-term success and sustainability,” the tour stated in a information launch.
Along with Woods and McNeely, Patrick Cantlay, Keith Mitchell, Adam Scott and Camilo Villegas served on the Future Competitors Committee, as did strategic enterprise advisors Joe Gorder, John Henry and Theo Epstein.
“The Future Competitions Committee carried out a radical and extremely collaborative course of with significant engagement from gamers, coaches and companions,” PGA Tour Board of Administrators Chairman Gorder stated in an announcement. “Brian and his workforce led this work with readability and self-discipline, making certain outcomes that mirrored a player-led method to addressing the evolving sports activities panorama. The Board of Administrators is assured that this mannequin is the best path for the PGA Tour and solidifies the inspiration of the group shifting ahead.”
