The PGA Tour shared with its players a letter on Tuesday morning detailing a range of eligibility proposals that will be voted on in November by the Board of Directors and would impact field sizes and number of Tour cards beginning in 2026.
Golfweek was first to report that these changes were in the works in June. The proposal, a copy of which Golfweek has obtained, indicates that maximum field size for a one-course full-field event would be 144 players, down from 156; change exempt status from top 125 to top 100 in the FedEx Cup and add a conditional category for finishers 101-125; reduce the number of Tour cards being given to Korn Ferry Tour grads while maintaining the number of grads from the DP World Tour and capping the number of Q-School grads at 5; reduce or eliminate the number of open qualifying positions at regular season events with fewer than 144 players.The FedEx Cup points distribution table will be massaged and restricted sponsor exemptions will be reallocated to the next eligible members on the priority ranking.
Full-field events played prior to daylight saving time generally would have a field size of 120 players. Full-field events played after daylight saving time goes into effect up until the Masters would have a field size of 132 players.
Field sizes for special events, such as those played on multiple courses and invitationals, are dependent on circumstances such as format and eligibility.
It has become a growing concern that field sizes of 144 and 156 are causing too many occurrences of failing to make a cut on Friday, and shortening fields should rectify that but it also removes playing opportunities for the membership.
Changes to its priority ranking
The Tour also is proposing changes to its priority ranking for membership. Tournament winners remain at the top of the food chain, but the biggest change is breaking up the top 125 finishers into several sub-categories with the top 70 in the FedEx Cup standings through the Tour Championship being next in importance, followed by finishers 71-100 in FedEx Cup through the fall portion of the schedule. The leading 10 finishers, not otherwise exempt, in the Race to Dubai Ranking are ahead of a slimmed-down number of the Korn Ferry Tour grads, which has been reduced from 30 presently to 20.
Finishers 101-110 in the FedEx Cup through the fall are several more rungs below and there are three exemption categories, including major medical extensions, ahead of Nos. 111-125 on the FedEx Cup.
Some qualifers would be eliminated
Monday qualifiers would no longer be held at the Sony Open, WM Phoenix Open, Mexico Open at Vidanta, Cognizant Classic, Puerto Rico Open, Corales Puntacana Championship and Myrtle Beach Championship, and the qualifiers at the Valspar Championship, Texas Children’s Houston Open and Valero Texas Open would be reduced from fours spots to two spots available.
The Tour also is proposing to adjust the FedEx Cup points distribution table with a slight increase to second-place points for majors and the Players and a slight decrease to points in positions 11 and beyond and a slight decrease to Signature event points in positions seven and beyond. Alongside these changes, the Tour also proposed adjustments to the Players Championship, reducing the field from 144 to 120 players, and tweaks to exempt categories for the Charles Schwab Invitational and Genesis Invitational.
Pace of play, fines
Additional discussion items at the Board meeting include pace of play and adjustments that could in some cases reduce fines and in others will double them from $5,000 to $10,000. The Rules Committee “feels that there needs to be an additional policy to provide an immediate incentive for the very slowest players to play more quickly,” and have proposed an “Excessive Average Stroke Time” penalty. At the conclusion of a tournament, if a player has an average stroke time of 12 seconds or more above the field average and played in all four rounds, an Excessive Average Stroke Time infraction would be received. There would be no fine associated with the first two excessive violations, but the third infraction would result in a fine of $5,000 and subsequent offenses would be an additional $10,000 per infraction.
The Tour’s Policy Board is scheduled to meet ahead of the RSM Classic on Nov. 18.
