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NEWS PGA Tour Approves Changes

JB

JB

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This is a press release and most are going to skim it

The PGA TOUR Policy Board today approved competitive changes supported by the Player Advisory Council (PAC) that will deliver a stronger and more competitive and entertaining PGA TOUR to fans, players, tournaments and partners.

The initiative addresses key areas of feedback from the membership over the course of 2024, most notably the need to provide equitable playing opportunities and certainty of schedule for members who have earned a PGA TOUR card. Other changes include field size adjustments to account for events with limited daylight and minor changes to the FedExCup points structure.

Eligibility and field size changes will take effect for the 2026 season, while adjustments to the FedExCup points system will be implemented beginning in 2025.

“Today’s announced changes build on the competitive and schedule enhancements incorporated over the last six years in seeking the best version of the PGA TOUR for our fans, players, tournaments and partners,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan. “This was a true collaborative effort, and I’m extremely proud of the PAC for the time and effort they put into evaluating how we build a stronger PGA TOUR.”

“The PAC discussions were based on a number of guiding principles, including our belief that PGA TOUR membership is the pinnacle of achievement in men’s professional golf,” said PGA TOUR Policy Board Player Director Adam Scott, a member of the PAC’s Competitions Subcommittee. “The player representatives of the PGA TOUR recognize the need to be continually improving its offerings to enhance the golf fan experience. The changes approved today will provide equitable playing opportunities for new young talent to be showcased, and positively refine the playing experience for our members.”

Eligibility and membership​

  • Exempt status to change from top 125 to top 100 in the FedExCup standings with conditional status for finishers 101-125. This change was incorporated for players who receive their cards via the Korn Ferry Tour/DP World Tour/Q-School to have a greater certainty of schedule and equitable playing opportunities for Full-Field Events.
  • The number of PGA TOUR cards available to the top finishers on the Korn Ferry Tour to be decreased from 30 to 20 while maintaining 10 from the DP World Tour and capping PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry at five (rather than five and ties).
  • Adjustments for Open qualifiers at Full-Field Events to include:
    • 144-player fields (4 – unchanged)
    • 132-player fields (2)
    • 120-player fields (0)
  • Restricted sponsor exemptions currently used for players in the DP World Tour/Korn Ferry Tour/Q-School category as well as those restricted to PGA TOUR members to be removed and reallocated to the next eligible members on the Priority Ranking; Open events maintain unrestricted sponsor exemptions which are typically a standard of four.
“It was important to redefine PGA TOUR membership as we build on the aspirational nature of earning a PGA TOUR card,” said PGA TOUR Chief Competitions Officer Tyler Dennis. “Once on TOUR, members will have an equitable opportunity to retain their membership and qualify for the FedExCup Playoffs. For our fans, this added competitive drama will in turn create stronger fields and leaderboards throughout the season.”

Field sizes​

  • Reducing maximum number of players in a starting field of an Open tournament played on one course from 156 to 144 players; a reduction to 120 or 132 as required by circumstances such as daylight.
  • THE PLAYERS Championship will move to a field size of 120 players.
  • The majority of tournaments played on multiple courses would maintain a field size of 156 players, the exception being the Farmers Insurance Open, which would play with a field size of 144.
“These field size adjustments, which also promote a better flow of play, improve the chances of rounds being completed each day with a greater ability to make the 36-hole cut on schedule under normal weather conditions," said Dennis. "For our fans, this certainty sets up weekend storylines much more effectively and will make the PGA TOUR easier and more enjoyable to follow."

FedExCup points system​

The following adjustments were made to the FedExCup points distribution table and will go into effect in 2025:
  • Majors and THE PLAYERS: slight increase to second-place points and a slight decrease to points for positions 11 and beyond.
  • Signature Events: slight decrease to points for positions 7 and beyond.
“While the FedExCup points system operated as projected and met key objectives that were modeled for the season, player feedback indicated we needed to study specific areas of the points system,” said Dennis. “Input from the membership and the collaboration with the Player Advisory Council were instrumental in developing an equitable points system.”

Other approved items​

  • The top 10 finishers and ties, including amateurs, to be granted access to the next Open event, rather than the top-10 professionals. Additionally, to recognize elite performance in PGA TOUR events, an extra point for a top-five finish to be awarded in PGA TOUR Accelerated.
  • Invitational eligibility adjustments for THE PLAYERS, Charles Schwab Challenge and Genesis Scottish Open to align with the revised standard eligibility structure.
 
Okay, okay.

I didn't skim, I promise. Here we go though, it'll be great to see some slightly smaller events so we don't have to worry about the event going long or into the next day. I know it's been a THP topic to just make sure people move more quickly.

If it's top 5 instead of top 5 and ties are they just going to do a playoff to get to the top 5?

Losing 25 cards, if I understand correctly, is going to help bring new talent into the scene since the event numbers are not going down by the equal amount - so that's nice.

I'm not sure how much it matters to have FedEx cup points adjusted, is it usually that big of an issue? The reality (in my mind) only the top 10 really have a shot at anything major and they tend to have a number of top 5 finishes throughout the season anyways.
 
I'm not sure this really changes the fan experience all that much
 
Looks like they’re hoping for a quicker product that also gets rid of the typical current fringe players who hover at the last few spot of the leader boards.
 
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Golfers Anonymous said:
Looks like they’re hoping for a quicker product that also gets rid of the typical current fringe players who hover at the last few spot of the leader boards.
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It is funny that they have to remove 8 threesomes instead of getting people to speed up.
 
MtlJeff said:
I'm not sure this really changes the fan experience all that much
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My thoughts exactly.

Not only that instead of making guys play faster they are removing players from fields. And still no changes to the stupid playoffs
 
Lucas speaking truth.

 
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JB said:
His last quote is spot on.
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yep. There are some things I actually agree with regarding the changes and reduced field sizes. But, that does not change that he is 100% correct.
 
MtlJeff said:
I'm not sure this really changes the fan experience all that much
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I was thinking this as well.

Also what does going from 125 to 100 really do?
 
All this instead of addressing pace of play. Even with reduced fields it’s still going to take 6 plus hours. This solves nothing.
 
Seems like a lot of "look what we did" for stuff focusing on the wrong thing. Pretty typical. Not sure this makes the fan experience any better..
 
outlawx said:
I was thinking this as well.

Also what does going from 125 to 100 really do?
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The PGA tour is nepotistic to the extreme. They do everything they can to protect old fading players rather than promote young rising players. It is really dumb. No other sports league protects washed up stars like the PGA tour does.
 
I am more in favor of leaving fields as is but enforcing pace of play with penalties and thus providing more opportunities for less top tier players. From my perspective, the whole issue of not getting play done icould be fixed by just enforcing speed of play.
 
Templet0n said:
The PGA tour is nepotistic to the extreme. They do everything they can to protect old fading players rather than promote young rising players. It is really dumb. No other sports league protects washed up stars like the PGA tour does.
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I’m in favor of going to 0. Might make the tour more interesting
 
Can’t wait till these changes bite some of the policy board members right square on the ass.
 
The only changes that really make sense to me are the fedex cup points. They were over rewarding points for the limited field events. Relatively a top finish in an alternate field event is rewarded better.
 
I don't see anything there that's going to matter much to fans/viewers. Smaller fields with the same pace of play means events will still last 6 hours, they'll just have more time to show more commercials. Yay.
 
Reducing the number of full cards granted based on points to 100 could be positive if it gives more opportunities for up and coming players to get into the field. It sounds like a lot of players have gotten screwed in the last couple of years with having status that should have gotten them a lot of opportunities to play but reality was the full fields prevented that from happening.

Then they pair it with less players in the field and it’s confusing to me what this is going to accomplish
 
leftybob said:
Reducing the number of full cards granted based on points to 100 could be positive if it gives more opportunities for up and coming players to get into the field. It sounds like a lot of players have gotten screwed in the last couple of years with having status that should have gotten them a lot of opportunities to play but reality was the full fields prevented that from happening.

Then they pair it with less players in the field and it’s confusing to me what this is going to accomplish
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The problem in this is the no cut signature events give more points than they should. So it makes it easier to hold on to a card and stay in that top 70 when you are getting guaranteed points.
 
Templet0n said:
The problem in this is the no cut signature events give more points than they should. So it makes it easier to hold on to a card and stay in that top 70 when you are getting guaranteed points.
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Yep. Overall I’m not a fan of the no cut events.
leftybob said:
The only changes that really make sense to me are the fedex cup points. They were over rewarding points for the limited field events. Relatively a top finish in an alternate field event is rewarded better.
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I dislike the reduced field. This is going to impact some guys just grinding hard to make it. If they are trying to manage pace of play, they could enforce the rules they already have about timers
 
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