What you need to know about the PGA Tour eligibility changes

Six-time PGA Tour winner Lucas Glover called the circuit’s recently announced changes to smaller field sizes and the number of fully exempt cards “terrible.”

In an interview with Golfweek, Glover said the PGA Tour Player Advisory Council and policy council “hid behind the pace of play” to justify the radical changes.

“They think we’re stupid,” Glover said.

Matt Fitzpatrick, the 2022 US Open winner, appeared to back Glover’s position in a post to his being done.”

Either way, the PGA Tour will be smaller starting in 2026. The number of golfers with a full-time membership will be reduced by 25; only the top 100 spots in the FedEx Cup points standings will have full status next year.

The tour will also have smaller field sizes in most tournaments from 2026.

With 170 golfers trying to win one of the 100 full-time cards, the PGA Tour is more competitive than ever.

“If you’re one of the guys that you feel like it’s going to affect you, you’re very upset about it, and I understand that,” said 2023 Open Championship winner Brian Harman. “I would think exactly the same way. But there are lots of different ways to look at it.”

Here’s a closer look at some of the most important changes.

PGA Tour Cards

With only 100 full-time tickets available each season, the tour’s membership is reduced by approximately 20%, making tickets more difficult to obtain than ever before. It is the first reduction in the number of full-time cards since 1983.

Golfers who finish 101-125 in the FedEx Cup standings would receive conditional status starting in 2026.

Tournament winners still receive a two-year exemption.

“We’ve seen a lot of changes in the last four or five years,” PGA Tour chief competition officer Tyler Dennis told ESPN. “It was really about the meaning of having a PGA Tour card. What comes with that is a fair amount of playing opportunities for all the different categories that are exempt.”

Dennis noted that Puerto Rico’s Rafael Campos, who earned his first PGA Tour victory last week at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship, made just one start on tour in both January and February after finishing last among 30 Korn Ferry Tour players. graduates who earned PGA Tour cards in 2023.

“That’s not what we want the meaning of a PGA Tour card to be,” Dennis said. “That’s not a fair shot against all the other guys. Most of this was when you got your card and started as a new player, whether you’re on the DP World Tour, Korn Ferry Tour, PGA Tour U. or Q -School, we believe that you should have certainty about the planning.

“All of these changes will make it possible for these guys to compete in virtually all full-court events.”

Six-time winner Chris Kirk, who ranks 27th in FedEx Cup points, said there are opportunities for everyone on tour if they play good golf.

“I’ve found over the years that if you play really well, it doesn’t really matter what the tour policy council decides, things will work out pretty well in your favor,” Kirk said. “When you’re not playing that well, those things matter a little bit more.”

Tournament field dimensions

In two years, full-court events on tour with ample sunlight in the summer, such as the RBC Canadian Open and 3M Open, will have 144 players, down from 156.

Some winter and fall tournaments with fewer daylight hours, including the WM Phoenix Open and the Shriners Children’s Open, will be reduced from 144 or 132 golfers to 120.

The Players Championship, to be played in mid-March at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, will go from 144 golfers to 120.

In a summary sent to golfers in October, the PAC noted that 28% of 2024 tournaments (12 of 43) had at least one round not completed on the scheduled day due to darkness. Dennis said there were at least a dozen more that were completed in the dark.

“It’s a significant number of tournaments, a significant number of rounds,” Dennis said. “That has always been the case, but it is not the product we want to bring to the market.”

In a tournament that is being reduced from a 156-man field to 144, there will be one fewer group teeing off on the front and back nine in both the morning and afternoon waves in the first two rounds.

The tour hopes this is enough change to speed up the game.

Glover, Fitzpatrick and others have argued that speeding up play by enforcing the tour’s pace of play rules would help golfers get on the course faster.

“You get a better pace of play policy or better enforce the policy that you have,” Glover said. “If I’m in a slow pair and a referee comes up and says, ‘You’re behind, this isn’t a warning. You’re all on the clock and if you have a bad time it’s a penalty.’ “Guess who’s running to their ball?”

PGA Tour golfers rarely receive strokes for slow play, but Dennis said an unspecified number face “potentially significant fines” for falling behind their competitors in average stroke times.

Dennis declined to say how many golfers have been fined by the PGA Tour in recent years for slow play.

“It’s a huge focus, but it’s not as simple as, ‘Do people get penalty strokes on the course?’” Dennis said. “It has a lot to do with the number of players on the court, and it has a lot to do with each player’s individual playing habits.”

Paths to PGA Tour

Field sizes and full memberships aren’t the only things that will be reduced from 2026. Fewer full-time cards will also be given to the top Korn Ferry Tour golfers (30 to 20), Q-School graduates (top five and ties). to just five) and qualifying tournaments on Mondays (two for 132-player fields and four for 144-player fields), making it harder for golfers to make it to the PGA Tour.

The top 10 golfers on the DP World Tour who have not yet been exempted will continue to receive full-time status.

Sponsorship exemptions that were limited to golfers on the DP World Tour, Korn Ferry Tour and Q-School and those reserved for PGA Tour members will be reassigned to the next players in the priority rankings. For open events, there are still four sponsor exemptions that can be granted to anyone.

“I’m not numb to the fact that we’re cutting away opportunities, right?” said Harman, a member of the Player Advisory Council. “It’s not something that sits well with me, and it doesn’t sit well with anyone who was in one of those discussions. But all these decisions that are made are not all good or all bad.

“We look at all the pros and cons of every piece that moves and try to find the fairest and fairest way to have a great product while providing enough play opportunities for everyone.”