Six-time PGA Tour winner Lucas Glover called the circuit’s recently announced changes to reduced field sizes and the number of fully exempt cards “bad.”
In an interview with Golfweek, Glover said the PGA Tour Player Advisory Council and policy board are “hiding in the speed of play” to ensure major changes.
“They think we’re stupid,” Glover said.
Matt Fitzpatrick, who won the 2022 US Open, appeared to support Glover’s position in a post on his X account on Monday: “You’re right, you’re upset that the pace of play is good. [spoken] almost every year and nothing happens. “
Regardless, the PGA Tour will be smaller starting in 2026. The number of golfers with full-time memberships will be reduced by 25; only the top 100 finishers in the FedEx Cup points standings will have full status the following year.
The tour will also have smaller field sizes for most tournaments starting in 2026.
With 170 golfers trying to capture a full card out of 100, the PGA Tour rankings will be more competitive than ever.
“If you’re one of those guys who feels like you’re going to be affected by it, you’re upset about it, and I understand that,” said 2023 Open Championship winner Brian Harman. “I would feel the same way. But there are a lot of different ways to look at it.”
Here’s a closer look at some of the most important changes.
PGA Tour cards
With only 100 full-time cards each season, the tour is reducing its membership by about 20%, making cards harder to come by than ever before. First reduction of full cards since 1983.
Golfers who finish 101-125 in the FedEx Cup standings will receive conditional status beginning in 2026.
The winners of the competition will still receive an exemption for two years.
“We’ve had a lot of changes over the last four or five years,” PGA Tour tournament director Tyler Dennis told ESPN. “It really was about the definition of having a PGA Tour card. What comes with that is an equal amount of playing opportunities for all the different categories that are issued.”
Dennis noted that Puerto Rico’s Rafael Campos, who earned his first PGA Tour victory at last week’s Butterfield Bermuda Championship, made just one tour start in January and February, after finishing among the 30 Korn Ferry Tour graduates who earned PGA Tour 2023 cards.
“That’s not what we want the definition of a PGA Tour card to be,” Dennis said. “That’s not equal opportunity against all the other guys. A big part of this was getting your card and coming out as a freshman, whether you’re coming from the DP World Tour, Korn Ferry Tour, PGA Tour U. or Q-School, we think you should be confident of the program.
“All these changes will allow these guys to enter almost every full field event.”
Six-time winner Chris Kirk, who is 27th in FedEx Cup points, said opportunities are there for everyone on the tour — if they play good golf.
“I’ve found over the years that if you play really well, it doesn’t matter what the travel policy board decides, things will work out for you,” Kirk said. “When you’re not playing well, that kind of makes those things less important.”
Sizes of tournament fields
In two years, full-court events on the tour with plenty of summer sunshine, such as the RBC Canadian Open and 3M Open, will have 144 players, instead of 156 players.
Some tournaments in the winter and fall with fewer hours of daylight, including the WM Phoenix Open and the Shriners Children’s Open, will be reduced from 144 or 132 golfers to 120.
The Players Championship, played at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, in mid-March, will go from 144 to 120 golfers.
In an executive summary sent to golfers in October, the PAC noted that 28% of tournaments in 2024 (12 of 43) had at least one round not completed on the scheduled day due to darkness. Dennis said there were at least a dozen more who were killed in the dark.
“A large number of tournaments, a significant number of rounds,” said Dennis. “It always is, but it’s not the product we want to produce.”
In a tournament reduced from 156 to 144, there will be a small group that will go from the front and back to nine in the morning and afternoon waves in the first two rounds.
Journey hopes that changes enough to speed up play.
Glover, Fitzpatrick and others have argued that speeding up play by enforcing the tour’s speed-of-play rules can help golfers get around courses faster.
“You get a better pace of play policy or enforce the one you have better,” Glover said. “If I’m walking slowly and the official comes and says, ‘You guys are behind, it’s not a warning – you’re all waiting and if you get a bad time, that’s a penalty shot,’ guess who’s running on their ball that’s what we have to do.”
PGA Tour golfers aren’t usually caught playing slow, but Dennis said an unspecified number receive “significant penalties” for falling behind their opponents in shots.
Dennis declined to say how many golfers have been fined by the PGA Tour for underplaying in recent years.
“There’s a lot of focus, but it’s not as simple as, ‘Are people getting penalties outside of the course?'” Dennis said. “It has a lot to do with the number of players on the course, and it has a lot to do with the playing habits of each player.”
Pathways to the PGA Tour
Field sizes and full membership aren’t the only things that will be cut from 2026. There will also be a few full-time cards awarded to the top Korn Ferry Tour golfers (30 to 20), Q-School graduates (top five and tie to five only) and Monday qualifiers (two in the 132-player field and four of 144 player fields), making it difficult for golfers to reach the PGA Tour.
The top 10 golfers from the DP World Tour who have not been released will continue to earn all-time status.
Sponsorship exemptions that were previously limited to golfers from the DP World Tour, Korn Ferry Tour and Q-School and those reserved for PGA Tour members will also be allocated to the following players on a priority basis. Open events will still have four sponsor exemptions available to anyone.
“I don’t hesitate to cut the odds, right?” said Harman, a member of the Players Advisory Council. “It’s not something I’m good at and it doesn’t go down well with anyone who was in those discussions. But all these decisions that are being made are not good or bad.
“We look at all the pro’s and con’s of every move and try to find a balanced, fair way to have a great product while at the same time giving everyone enough opportunities to play.”
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