PGA Tour gamers suggest adjusted area sizes, fewer tour playing cards

The PGA Tour Participant Advisory Council is recommending sweeping modifications to area 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, 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 modifications to golfers in a 23-page government abstract, a replica of which was obtained by ESPN on Tuesday.

Among the many proposed modifications:

• The PGA Tour would modify the utmost variety of gamers in a beginning area 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 at the very least one spherical that wasn’t accomplished on the scheduled day resulting from darkness.

“Area sizes which can be too giant make it troublesome to complete the competitors on schedule every day and trigger delays within the total tempo of play, rising the common spherical instances on tour,” the manager abstract mentioned.

Underneath the proposed plan, for example, the sphere for the Gamers Championship could be diminished 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 keep fields of 156 golfers.

The PAC mentioned it thought-about 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 could be disruptive and will improve fan confusion.”

• The PAC proposed lowering 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 beneath the proposed modifications. The DP World Tour would proceed to award 10 PGA Tour playing cards, and Q-school playing cards could be capped at 5.

In exploring methods to “decrease the impression of area measurement modifications on the present membership,” the PAC additionally proposed a plan that would scale back or eradicate open qualifying (or Monday qualifying) positions for occasions with a area measurement smaller than 144 gamers. This may not apply to the FedEx Cup Fall occasions.

Based on 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 reduce. 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 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 maintain unrestricted sponsor exemptions.

• The PAC can also be proposing slight changes to the FedEx Cup factors distribution system to account for elevated energy of area beneath 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, now we have needed to rapidly 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 can be getting in the way in which of a good and perfect participant expertise, stopping us from attaining the very best stage of competitors.”