Never has the beginning of a season meant so much to PGA Tour players.
Next January and February will be the beginning of the end of what has been the PGA Tour. After that, everything will change, except points for winning tournaments, of course. Yes, there will still be points.
“We set out to preserve the meritocracy that makes our sport unique by creating a system where performance dictates opportunity,” PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp said in a well-phrased statement on Tuesday. “The new competitive model is designed to reward excellence and ensure there is always a clear path for top performers at every stage of their career.”
Here’s what’s going to happen. As we've known for a little while now, there are going to be tournaments for those at the top as part of the PGA Tour Championship Series and for those at the next level down in the PGA Tour Challenger Series, possibly happening at the same time.
Movement down from one level to the other has been added for golfers at the top. In other words, if Scottie Scheffler wants to play the PGA Tour event in Dallas and that tournament is part of the Challenger Series and not the Championship Series, he can do it. Good decision.
The inability for golfers to move up from Challenger to Championship during the season unless they win multiple times will make tournaments tense for Tour players and compelling for fans. And at the end of every season, the top 20 players from the Challenger Series will be elevated to the Championship Series.
However, this new program also means if a golfer falls out of the top 90 at the end of the year, unless he plays his way forward in a new so-called “last chance” series, he is in the Challenger Series for the entire next season with no way back to the top tier for 12 months unless, as mentioned, he wins multiple times. The “last chance” program will award three Championship cards each year. We will find out more details of that later. Better a last chance than no chance.
The Tour anticipates that the Challenger Series will be comprised of golfers who may be past PGA Tour winners, who may be PGA Tour University competitors, who may be PGA Tour Championship level players who want to play in the “last chance” series to retain their playing privileges. The biggest issue for professional golfers is going to be getting to and staying at the top level of the PGA Tour, which has an increasingly smaller top tier. There’s going to be no slacking off.
At the beginning of this transition, there will be room at the top for golfers who earned exemptions that were good through 2028 in the old system. They will still be able to play in the Championship Series through that year. To stay at the top after 2028, though, they will need to perform. They will need to stay in the top 90.
Now, for at least the first season and perhaps longer, Medical Extensions “will be granted on a limited basis for injury or conditions that materially prevent competition.”
A player is likely to need something from physicians with review by experts to qualify.
There will also be a category for “Career Milestones.” That designation can be used once, and it has to be in the season immediately after a player has fallen out of Championship Tour status. It appears that the 20-victory lifetime exemption is gone, but there were never very many of those. Sorry, Davis Love III.
There’s more. This thing is detail on top of detail.
Those who finish in 21st through 90th in the Challenger Series will stay in the Challenger Series for the next season.
The top five from Q-School will be eligible for the Challenger Series. In addition, those who finish in places two through five on the PGA Tour University system, will be given membership on the Challenger Tour.
Unlike the Championship Series, there are up to two exemptions that may be given by tournaments hosting Challenger events.
The top we-don’t-have-a-number-as-yet Korn Ferry grads will be able to play on the Challenger Series the next season.
The PGA Tour “Boards” (with no explanation of which ones) is still considering how to add members of the DP World Tour to the mix. The decision is in the list of items to be discussed in the strategic alliance between the two Tours. Negotiation chip.
There is more detail. There is always more detail in these kinds of things. But it will come over time, and we will all get adjusted to the changes. However, the “Boards” have done what appeared to be the impossible.
They have shortened up the fields for the top players to allow for faster play and perhaps avoid five-plus-hour rounds. They have found a way to allow movement from one level to the next, albeit not immediately. They have provided an opportunity for those who are up and coming to challenge with good play. They have preserved most of the good things about the PGA Tour, generally.
Yes, there’s a two-tier system in place. There was always a two-tier system, but it was nameless and was not designated one thing or another. This clears all that up. It also puts a price on them.
Although the purses for the Challenger Series are significantly smaller than the Championship Series, that lower level may allow more latitude for sponsors to choose what they can endorse. Not every company has a giant sports budget, and the separation of the PGA Tour into two levels allows multiple sponsorships to exist, something many of the sponsors probably wanted. They may even get an umbrella sponsor for the Challenger Tour that was unaffordable for the Championship Tour. And that’s probably what we will call them in the future.
This new structure still allows the players who are really the very best, the Tiger Woodses of the future, to be able to achieve their PGA Tour dreams. Those whose skills are probably just good enough to play on the PGA Tour, not dominate it, will find a place, too. And the grand thing about the Tiger Woodses of the world is they don’t become who they are without having a strong supporting cast of players to beat. They need determined and unafraid individuals who are willing to challenge the Goliaths of the sport.
There’s no doubt 2027 will be one of the most interesting years ever for the PGA Tour, its players, and its fans, as the tiers for 2028 start to take shape. Can’t wait to see how it turns out.
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