PGA Tour getting a new look

July 27, 2026

Key points from this story:

• Two-track PGA Tour system
• Track 1: Championship Series
• Track 2: Challenger series
• Championship events: $20 million minimum
• Challenger purses around $4 million
• Match play decides champion in 2028

The tour in the past 19 years has featured the best golfers in the world competing for the Fed-Ex Cup, taking part in an autumn playoff system and, more recently, playing in big-money, no-cut 'signature' events, but is now entering a new phase that officials hope will streamline and improve the professional game.

New PGA Tour commissioner Brian Rolapp announced in mid-June the establishment of two distinct tours -- or 'tracks' as he called them. Track 1 is the Championship Series where 130 of the world's elite golfers will compete in 20 or so events with each tournament offering prize money of at least $20 million. Track 2 will be the PGA Tour's secondary series, or 'Challenger,' where more than 20 tournaments each year will be played for purses in the $4 million range. The Challenger series will be open to around 200 of the world's best golfers who aren't quite good enough for the Championship Series. Its tournaments will have fields of around 144 players and the top 20 point-getters each year will move up to the Championship Series for the next season.

Additional avenues of elevation to the Track 1 tour also exist: Win twice on the Challenger tour or win a major championship and a golfer will immediately move up. The new system is being referred to by the PGA Tour as a true meritocracy. Perform well and a golfer stays. Perform poorly and a golfer is relegated to the Challenger Tour. Only the best 90 point-getters on the big tour (out of about 130 golfers) will maintain their status annually on the Championship Tour.

The playoffs and Tour Championship for the FedEx Cup are also undergoing changes. A number of methods for the Tour Championship have been used in the past (starting strokes, etc.), but beginning in 2028, the season's champion will be determined by match play after preliminary playoff events in some of America's major cities such as New York, Boston, Philadelphia and San Francisco. Precise details on that have yet to be announced.

The meritocracy angle will be solidified by the announcement that sponsor's exemptions will no longer be allowed. There will also be no alternate lists. Some fields may be the full 120 (out of 130 eligible for Track 1 events) and some may be short. But with $20 million at stake for all Championship /Series events, it's unlikely fields will fall short of the 120 max.

Feeder tours such as Korn Ferry, PGA Tour university and the PGA Tour Americas (Canadian Tour and the Latino-America Tour) will continue to operate, providing stepping-stone opportunities for aspiring professional golfers.

The new system will eliminate some deadwood -- fan-favourite players whose games are no longer elite but still get into tournaments due to ticket-selling 'star power' (Rickie Fowler, Tony Finau and Jordan Spieth are three that come to mind) -- but golf's best show on earth should emerge even stronger and better than it has ever been.

- Shane Ryan of Golf Digest, on British fans responding favourably to Bryson DeChambeau after the major rules controversy in Round 2 of the Open Championship: "If this had happened on Long Island, Bryson would have been hog-tied and roasting over a spit with a big red apple in his mouth by the fifth hole."

Sports Comments

- Super 70s Sports: "Upon snapping a 16-match losing streak to Jimmy Connors in 1980, Vitas Gerulaitis observed 'Nobody beats Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row.'"

- A quote from the late football coach Lou Holtz: "On this team, we're all united in a common goal: To keep my job."

- Headline at fark.com: "What's the difference between a Fenway Frank and a Yankee Stadium hot dog? You can still buy a Yankee Stadium hotdog in October."

- Headline at theonion.com: "LeBron James Realizes He Left Brand-New Stick Of Deodorant In Lakers Locker"

- Another headline at fark.com: "MLB says the first games to be cancelled by lockout will be scheduled for March. 24."

- Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun: "The NBA is not releasing its schedule for next season until LeBron James has signed somewhere, so they know who to put on television on Christmas Day."

- Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel: "I guess we should have expected France to surrender without much of a fight at the World Cup."

- Another one from Bianchi: "New Orlando Magic coach Sean Sweeney revealed that his interview with the Orlando Magic lasted nine and a half hours. The Magic didn't hire a coach, they conducted a Congressional hearing."

- Janice Hough of leftcoastsportsbabe.com: "Lebron James says he is not ready to reveal next team, but it will be 'fun.' Just beginning to think that King James is a Drama Queen."

- Another onion.com headline: "World Cup Reinvigorates Nation's Interest In Kicking Things"