PGA TOUR announces changes from 2028, launch of the PGA TOUR Championship and Challenger Series, revolutionized postseason and Global 'fall' series

3 years and 17 days after the PGA TOUR announced it was merging with the DP World Tour and LIV Golf, Brian Rolapp has made perhaps the most significant announcement in the modern history of the PGA TOUR. Speaking to members of the assembled media at TPC River Highlands ahead of the Travelers Championship, the newly appointed PGA TOUR Commissioner confirmed the long-anticipated changes to the structure of the PGA TOUR in the wake of the rivalry with LIV Golf.

“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,” said PGA TOUR CEO Brian Rolapp. “The result is a new competitive model grounded in meritocracy, with clearer pathways, higher stakes and more consistency when the best players compete together. This model positions the PGA TOUR for the future, and our focus now shifts to finalizing the details and preparing for implementation in 2028.”

Formed in August 2025, the Future Competition Committee undertook a comprehensive review of the existing competitive model, guided by three strategic priorities: (1) increasing the consistency and quality of fields across the season, (2) creating a clear system for players to earn and retain status and (3) delivering a more structured and competitive experience for fans and partners—all in an e ort to strengthen meritocracy and enhance the PGA TOUR. The nine-member committee is made up of six player representatives – Patrick Cantlay, Maverick McNealy, Keith Mitchell, Adam Scott, Camilo Villegas and Tiger Woods (Chairman) – and three strategic business advisors – Joe Gorder, John Henry and Theo Epstein.

“The Future Competition Committee conducted a thorough and highly collaborative process, with meaningful engagement from players, leadership and partners,” said Joe Gorder, Chairman of the PGA TOUR Boards.

“Brian and his team led this work with clarity and discipline, ensuring the outcome reflected a player-driven approach that addressed the evolving sports landscape. The Boards are confident this model is the right path forward for the PGA TOUR and solidifies the foundation of the organization moving ahead.”

“This work was bigger than any one player or person—it was about designing the strongest possible version of the PGA TOUR for the future generations of fans and players,” said Tiger Woods, Chairman of the Future Competition Committee.

“From the beginning, the Committee’s focus was on delivering a better experience for our fans, while creating a model that best sets up the TOUR, its players and its partners for long-term success and stability.”

The Boards approved the core elements listed below, with additional details to be evaluated and presented to the Boards later this year for approval. PGA TOUR Championship Series Structure and Eligibility: The PGA TOUR Championship Series will feature the PGA TOUR’s top performers competing head-to-head across the season.

PGA TOUR Championship Series Structure and Eligibility: The PGA TOUR Championship Series will feature the PGA TOUR’s top performers competing head-to-head across the season. There will be approximately 23-24 events, inclusive of THE PLAYERS Championship, major championships, season-ending events and international team events (Presidents Cup, Ryder Cup) with the season running approximately February through August.

• PGA TOUR Championship Series regular season events will be contested as 72-hole stroke play events with a 36-hole cut to the top 65 (and ties), with consideration for special formats (i.e. pro-am), and a purse of at least $20 million.

• The PGA TOUR Championship Series will feature fields of 120 players, on average, without an alternate list.

• PGA TOUR Championship Series membership will consist of a minimum of 90 players retained from the prior season’s points list and 20 players promoted from the PGA TOUR Challenger Series. Full eligibility criteria will be finalized by the Boards later this year, including select additional exemptions for categories like tournament winners, medical extensions and career milestones. There will be no sponsor exemptions.

Players will not be mandated to play in every event, but having a concentrated field of the best players playing more regularly across a top tier of tournaments can only improve the product, and having season-long jeopardy makes every event more meaningful. For me, the PGA TOUR should determine eligibility for the launch season in 2028, and then status should be determined solely by a players ranking on the PGA TOUR Championship Series, as it is any of the major football leagues around the world, and relegation means relegation.

PGA TOUR Championship Series Markets: The PGA TOUR will begin finalizing the PGA TOUR Championship Series schedule, markets, courses and sponsors, optimized around major championships and including o weeks at regular intervals.

• The PGA TOUR has already lined up an initial set of 10 of its expected 15 PGA TOUR Championship Series regular season events for 2028, in addition to THE PLAYERS Championship, four major championships, the postseason and the Presidents Cup.

• The remaining events will either be filled by existing events or new markets under consideration such as Boston, Denver, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C.

For the PGA TOUR to not have an event in the New York Metropolitan area is a crime, and detrimental to the tour. For decades they played at Westchester, and even following the launch of the FedEx Cup, they played at the likes of Liberty National, Bethpage, Ridgewood and Plainfield for many years. The Met Open is one of the oldest professional tournaments in the USA, first played in 1905, and has been won by the likes of Sarazen, Hagen and Nelson. The Met Open was a PGA TOUR event for many years in the first half of the 20th century, and if it was brought back and played on a rota of great courses in the area, it would be one of the great additions to a new PGA TOUR.

Imagine the Met Open rotating across National Golf Links of America, Baltusrol, Liberty National, Bethpage State Park, Bayonne Golf Club, Winged Foot, and the Links at Ferry Point among others.

Revolutionizing the postseason is an astute move

Enhancing the Postseason is a big part of the changes being made by the PGA TOUR, and the TOUR has said: The Boards approved a new structure for a season-ending model that includes retention and relegation for the following season, recognition for the season-long points leader and the introduction of match play into the postseason. A new-look TOUR Championship will be contested across a rotation of prestigious courses, many of which the PGA TOUR would play for the first time. Details on the format and expected location(s) will be provided at a later date.

ESPN are reporting that courses like Pine Valley, Cypress Point and Seminole are being considered for the TOUR Championship and postseason, which would be a gigantic moment for the PGA TOUR. So often the TOUR receives justifiable criticism for the courses they play at, but Pine Valley is one of the truly iconic golf courses in the world, and would be one of the most anticipated event hosts in the history of the sport.

Detaching the postseason from the regular season in golf is an astute move, because the last 20 years has shown that connecting it together has never worked. They tried to contrive end of season drama and only a few occasions in the years since the first FedEx Cup have we seen a dramatic finish to the season. Rewarding the season-long champion at the conclusion of the regular season is the right and proper thing to do.

The return of Match play to the sport on a regular basis is also something to celebrate, along with the fact that the TOUR is looking to rotate the postseason around different courses. The entire postseason could be called the TOUR Championship, with week one being called Round One, week two being called Round Two and week three being the TOUR Championship Finals.

Questions over where the Scottish Open and Canadian Open stand within the proposed structure

The Genesis Scottish Open is a co-sanctioned event, and both the PGA TOUR Championship Series and Challenger Series would not fit with a co-sanctioned field playing in a National Open. So could the PGA TOUR create their own event in Scotland, and see the Scottish Open move to the autumn? Scotland already has a significant event in the autumn - the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, so is there room for another and would the best golfers in the world really want to add another links event in the autumn when they are not preparing for The Open?

Perhaps the Scottish Open could return to Gleneagles as an autumn event, with a New Links event on the PGA TOUR in the week preceding The Open, OR, the PGA TOUR takes a week off during the week of the Scottish Open, and the DP World Tour runs the event as a sole-sanctioned Rolex Series event, and invites the best players from the PGA TOUR to play in the Championship.

Renaissance Club is confirmed as the host venue for the Genesis Scottish Open through 2030, but with the PGA TOUR a movable feast there is every chance that the event itself returns to being sanctioned solely by the DP World Tour.

It is clear that National Opens do not fit with the new regular season model of the PGA TOUR, so the TOUR and Golf Canada should look to move the Canadian Open back to September, and co-sanction it with the DP World Tour. It was played in September in 2000 when Tiger Woods hit his iconic bunker shot at Glen Abbey, and has been played in September in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006.

You cannot restrict the ability of Canada's top professionals and amateurs to play in their National Open, so there isn't any way the Canadian Open can be part of either the PGA TOUR Championship Series, or PGA TOUR Challenger Series. So, a co-sanctioning with the DP World Tour could see it become the first event of the Elevated International Tournaments.

What could the limited series of International Events look like?

Today's announcement confirmed that the PGA TOUR is still working on an extension to its Strategic Alliance with the DP World Tour, and a couple of key things came out of Rolapp's press conference. Firstly that the DP World Tour was completely absent when he discussed pathways to the PGA TOUR Championship Series and PGA TOUR Challenger Series. This suggests that the Strategic Alliance could look slightly different after 2027, and players may not be able to earn their place on the PGA TOUR via the DP World Tour.

Secondly, the TOUR stated that they are working on creating a limited series of elevated international events with top players from the PGA TOUR Championship Series, with the intent to deliver in partnership with the DP World Tour as part of the Strategic Alliance.

One of the disappointing elements of today's press conference was that nobody in the room asked Rolapp what the term limited meant in regard to the elevated international events, does it mean 3, 4, 5, 6 or 8 events? Brian Rolapp did say that they would existing prestigious events around the world and they would include National Opens and staged in partnership with the DP World Tour.

Two weeks ago the PGA TOUR and DP World Tour announced they were committed to elevating the Capital.com Australian Open, and they have stated that the event will receive a significant boost in prize money, a distinct window in the global golf calendar and optimise the opportunity to attract the world’s best players.

With these two announcements it is clear that the Australian Open will be part of the elevated series of international events, alongside some of the other premier National Opens co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour. Currently the DP World Tour stages the Amgen Irish Open, FedEx Open de France, and Open de Espana in the autumn, alongside the BMW PGA Championship, Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, DP World India Championship and Nedbank Golf Challenge in this window.

That is a total of 8 Premier events, alongside the likes of the OMEGA European Masters and the Husqvarna British Masters, played over approximately 16 weeks. it is clear that limited elevated international events will not be 10, so below is how I see the series panning out.

• I see the DP World Tour's calendar being amended, with the season starting and finishing in the same calendar year, and the end of season Abu Dhabi and Dubai events moving to the start of December, possibly with the DP World Tour Championship concluding on the weekend of 10 December 2028.

• This would give the PGA TOUR, DP World Tour and partner tours September, October and November to fit the the as yet unnamed series into the calendar

• It is likely that 2-3 events per month is the optimum number over those months, and that would give the best golfers in the world which are solely PGA TOUR members, at the very least the whole of December and January off from tournament golf

• The DP World Tour will not want to further marginalise the BMW PGA Championship, so I anticipate that being an event which the European Tour Group will push to ensure is part of the series

• This leaves 7 National Opens, and I believe they will be the RBC Canadian Open and Amgen Irish Open in September, FedEx Open de France and Open de Espana in October, Hero Indian Open, Investec South African Open and Capital.com Australian Open in November

• The 8 tournaments will more than likely have prize funds similar to the level of the existing Rolex Series, which sees the BMW PGA Championship offer $9million, and I would imagine an addition of a bonus pool to incentivise the best players in the world to play as many of these events as possible

• I see these 8 tournaments being added to a larger Rolex Series on the DP World Tour which would also include the Hero Dubai Desert Classic in January, the Genesis Scottish Open in July, and the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and DP World Tour Championship in December

If the PGA TOUR and DP World Tour get this right, get the buy-in from the players and market it correctly, the 'elevated international events' otherwise known as the Rolex Series, could be the most consequential element of the changes announced by Brian Rolapp today. Will they grasp the opportunity? Forgive me for being cynical but I wouldn't bet on it happening.

SHANK, by Matt Hooper

Matt Hooper is an Associate Member of the Sports Journalists Association