The PGA Tour’s policy board approved eligibility changes Monday that eliminate 25 cards through the FedEx Cup in the first reduction in operations since the liberal tour began in 1983.
Starting in 2026, only the top 100 in the FedEx Cup are guaranteed full status the following year.
The board voted on the proposals of the 16-member Players Advisory Council aimed at giving everyone who receives a full PGA Tour card the opportunity to enter enough tournaments to have a fair chance of keeping their card.
It also mandated smaller field sizes — a limit of 144 players, down from 156 — for tournaments on one course with enough daylight hours. Another change was to eliminate the four restricted sponsor exemptions, allocating that amount to another list.
Open tournaments still get unlimited sponsor exemptions (usually four) that they can give to whomever they want.
Since the changes don’t take effect until 2026, that makes next year even more limited with more than 170 card-carrying players trying to finish in the top 100.
“The PAC negotiations were based on a number of guiding principles, including our belief that PGA Tour membership is the pinnacle of success in men’s professional golf,” said Adam Scott, director of player policy on the board and on the tournaments subcommittee. PAC.
“The changes approved today will provide equal playing opportunities to showcase new talent, and positively improve the playing experience for our members.”
It will be harder than ever to get a PGA Tour card.
As well as top-100 finishers — tournament winners still receive a two-year exemption — the tour will award only 20 cards to the Korn Ferry Tour, as well as cards to the top 10 unreleased European players. visit and five from Q-school.
Players who arrived via Korn Ferry and Europe are behind the top 100 and tournament winners on the important list. Before, they had to travel for weeks when they had no place to play.
Until the early 1980s, only the top 60 were exempt and everyone had to pass. Because players had a card that did not guarantee entry, the PGA Tour switched to a top 125 exempt tour in 1983. That has been the number since then.
It is the latest major change on the tour since the disruption of Saudi-backed LIV Golf, which began in June 2022. In the past two years, the tour has created $20 million signature events with limited fields and a postseason for only the top 70 players. .
“The truth is that we are all playing under different conditions than we did four years ago,” said PAC Chairman Camilo Villegas three weeks ago when the changes were proposed. “We didn’t have competition. We were ahead of the curve. All of a sudden we’re competitive and there are small shifts. The changes we propose make a better product. What does it mean to have a PGA Tour card?”
The tour also announced changes to the FedEx Cup points distribution starting in 2025, giving extra points to second place and dropping points from 11th place on down. In signature events, the drop-off starts after seventh place.
Monday’s qualifying will offer just four spots in the 144-player field, reducing the number to two spots in the 132-player field and none if there are only 120 players in the field.
There was also the ongoing issue of pace of play, a rule that officials have argued for years is largely due to too many players on the course. Field sizes will be 120 players before daylight saving time, then 132 players and up to 144 in the summer.
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