The PGA Tour structure and schedule will get a complete overhaul in 2028, and after a year of discussion and debate over what the Tour’s new competitive model would look like, we finally have details for CEO Brian Rolapp’s new vision for the Tour. On Tuesday, the PGA Tour unveiled its new two-series structure that will split players among the PGA Tour Championship Series and the PGA Tour Challenger Series, with a formalized promotion and relegation structure to allow players to move from the Challenger Series to the Championship Series. Both series will feature 20+ events, but with very different purse sizes. “From day one, the focus of the Future Competition Committee has been to build the best version of the PGA Tour, and to do so in a way that reflects the voice of our players and the expectations of our fans,” Rolapp stated. “The result is a new competitive model grounded in meritocracy, with clearer pathways, higher stakes and more consistency when the best players compete together.”Perhaps the most exciting news for fans is that the Championship Series will now conclude with a brand new postseason structure, which will finally feature match play and move the Tour Championship around to different courses rather than stay permanently at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. Fans have been clamoring for match play to return to the PGA Tour in the playoffs, and now that is set to become a reality in 2028.
“Today’s announcement is a positive step for professional golf. As more details emerge, it is encouraging to see the PGA Tour reaffirming the importance of meritocracy and creating a structure that will serve both players and fans well into the future,” Rory McIlroy stated in a release.”I’ve always been proud to compete around the world, and the collaboration between the PGA Tour and DP World Tour is one founded in the betterment of the game globally. The commitment to elevate some of these historic international tournaments and national opens is incredibly important for the game and something I’m very supportive of. “Over the last few years, golf has faced a period of uncertainty and division, which has not been in the best interests of the players, or the fans of the game. Today, we are putting the fans first, and I am excited about the future of our sport.”
Below you can find a more complete breakdown of the PGA Tour’s new structure, starting with the Championship Series. PGA Tour Championship SeriesFormat and structureThe newly created Championship Series will feature a structure very similar to the ideas that were laid out by Rolapp months ago at The Players. The top series will feature approximately 130 eligible players playing a planned 23-24 events, including The Players, the four majors, the playoffs and, interestingly enough, the Ryder Cup, Olympics and Presidents Cup. The main schedule, aside from the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup, will run from February to August as the PGA Tour moves on from its traditional starting events in Hawaii in January.Championship Series events will all feature 120-player fields and purses of at least $20 million — as is the case for current signature events — and will be 72-hole events with a 36-hole cut of the top 65 and ties. Every player on the Championship Series will be eligible to start each event and there will be regularly scheduled off weeks to create breaks in the schedule for players.
There will be 15 “regular season” events, and the PGA Tour already has 10 of those set for 2028 — the expectation being they are the current signature events. The other five will be filled by either existing events or new events in large markets, with Boston, Denver, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C. all under consideration. Match play Tour ChampionshipThe details on the new Tour Championship structure are still being finalized, with the PGA Tour promising more information “in the first quarter of next year,” but the big news is that the Tour Championship will be going to a match play format. That’s something that’s been discussed and debated for years, but we are finally getting match play not only returning to the PGA Tour, but in an event with genuine stakes. The Tour Championship will also no longer be contested annually at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, instead moving to a rotation of “prestigious venues” that will be unveiled at a later date. On Tuesday, Rolapp explained that they want to celebrate the regular season champion and have the postseason and Tour Championship as a separate, but prestigious, entity. Instead of the current three-week playoff format, the Tour Championship will be a two-week event with a group stage and then a bracket to determine the champion.
“We thought, and the players thought, it was important to have the season finale culminating in a regular season winner at the end of the regular season,” Rolapp stated. “And I could probably argue that if you beat the best 120 golfers over a series of a season, that is the most impressive accomplishment in the sport because you’re consistently beating those. It was important to do that. At the same time it was always important to set up a separate competition after that regular season culmination where a subset of those best players can compete in a separate, but also prestigious competition bringing back match play. That’s one thing we heard a lot from our fans, from our partners, how do we embrace match play more and we thought this separate competition was a great way to do it.” Promotion and RelegationOne of the big questions of the new structure was how players would flow from one series to the other. Midseason promotion will be possible for those on the Challenger Series, but it will require a player to win multiple times on the Challenger Series or qualify for and win a major championship. Otherwise, the two series will remain separate until the end of the season. After the end of the season, the top 90 on the points list for the Championship Series will earn their spot back the next year, while the top 20 from the Challenger Series will get promoted. The rest of the spots on the next season’s Championship Series will be filled by looking at various criteria, including tournament winners, medical extensions, career milestones and a new “last chance” series.
The last chance series will take the place of what is currently known as the FedEx Fall, offering players who finished from 91-130 on the Championship Series and those outside the top 20 on the Challenger Series a chance to either retain or gain Championship Series status across 4-6 events. Fall International EventsPlayers from the Championship Series will also have eligibility to play in a new series of international events. These will include a handful of prominent national opens as part of the Tour’s strategic alliance with the DP World Tour, such as the Australian Open, which the PGA Tour already unveiled its new partnership. While the international series won’t count towards points for the next season, the Tour will sell players on the opportunity to play in new markets in front of a new international audience — while also competing in prestigious national championships. PGA Tour Challenger SeriesFormat and structure The Challenger Series will feature 20+ events with purses of at least $4 million. At least seven of those events being played on the Championship Series off weeks that will offer “increased competitive consequence, benefits and exposure.”
Each event will be a 72-hole event with a 144-player field that has a 36-hole cut to the top 65 and ties. The points system for the Challenger Series will be completely separate from the Championship Series, and players will only earn points for one series. The Challenger Series points system will offer bonus points for the events played on Championship Series off weeks, as well as for major championships. The Challenger Series will feature a similar membership structure to the current PGA Tour system, with fully exempt members who have priority to all Challenger Series events and conditional members who will fill out fields. Promotion and RelegationThe top 20 players on the Challenger Tour at the end of the season will earn promotion to the Championship Series, while the rest will have the opportunity to play their way in via the last chance series. There will also be relegation out of the Championship Series, which will be unveiled at a later date. Players can also earn a battlefield promotion straight to the Championship Series by winning multiple Challenger Series events in the same season — or a major championship.
Q-SchoolQ-School will continue, offering a chance to earn a spot on the Challenger Series. Q-School will take place prior to the last chance series, providing players with access to the Challenger Series and the Tour’s other developmental pathways.
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