CROMWELL, CONNECTICUT | A two-tiered PGA Tour structure will go into effect in 2028 after sweeping changes were formally approved Monday evening, fundamentally altering the structure of the tour.
Since Brian Rolapp became CEO of the tour in June, 2025, he and the tour’s leadership have plotted the adjustments which are intended to bring the top players together more often with a schedule of 23 or 24 tournaments including the four majors, the Players Championship and an as-yet undetermined end of season structure.
The alterations, presented by the future competitions committee chaired by Tiger Woods, and formally approved by the tour policy board, will establish two levels of competition, broken into the PGA Tour Championship Series and the PGA Tour Challenger Series.
The new structure is intended to underpin the concept of meritocracy with promotion and relegation built into the structure of the two series which will run concurrently. The Tuesday announcement focused on the overall concept while acknowledging many details have yet to be finalized.
“At its core, this work was driven by a simple objective: To build the best version of the PGA Tour, something that could endure and outlive us all,” said Rolapp, who was also elected the fifth commissioner in tour history, succeeding Jay Monahan when he retires at the end of 2026.
The nine-member future competitions committee is made up of six player representatives – Patrick Cantlay, Maverick McNealy, Keith Mitchell, Adam Scott, Camilo Villegas and chairman Tiger Woods – and three strategic business advisors – Joe Gorder, John Henry and Theo Epstein, who drove the process forward.
Woods attended the Tuesday news conference, his first public appearance since stepping away from golf to deal with personal issues. He made a brief statement but did not take questions.
“Over the past eight months, the Future Competition Committee has spent a lot of time on a very important and fundamental question: How do we build the strongest possible version of the PGA Tour?” Woods said.
“We have to look forward and beyond today and over the horizon to set up the PGA Tour and our sport for the future generations of players and fans.” – Tiger Woods
“This work was never about any one player or person. It was about bringing together different perspectives, having honest, hard conversations, and thinking boldly about what is best for the game that we all love.
“It has been a privilege to work with all the committee members and especially my fellow player directors. I’m proud of the work we’ve done and am grateful to everyone who’s contributed along the way.
“We have to look forward and beyond today and over the horizon to set up the PGA Tour and our sport for the future generations of players and fans.”
The Championship Series will run approximately from February through August featuring 72-hole stroke-play events with fields of approximately 120 players without an alternate list and a 36-hole cut, meeting Rolapp’s initial concept for condensing the primary competitive window to enhance its visibility.
The final eligibility criteria will be established later this year with 20 players eligible to advance from the Challenger Series each year.
There will be no sponsor exemptions into Championship Series events though there are expected to be a few special exemptions for medical extensions, career milestones and past tournament winners.
The Championship Series will also have built-in off weeks during the season. In announcing the changes, the tour said 10 of the expected 15 Championship Series events have been identified with the remaining spots filled by existing events or potential new events in major markets under consideration including Boston, Denver, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C.
The eight signature events this year are expected to be among the Championship Series events beginning in 2028.
A key provision in the new structure prohibits players from playing in both series in the same year. If, for example, the CJ Cup Byron Nelson in Dallas is not a Championship Series event, Scottie Scheffler would not be allowed to play in his hometown event.
There is also no minimum number of events required for players to play in the Championship Series. The intention is to simplify the structure for both players and fans.
“We also understand that PGA Tour members cannot play every week, nor are we requiring them to do that. So we aren’t changing the model. They’re not under contract. We’re not going to force them to play anything. But we do think we’ve designed a model that will allow them to take some tournaments off and still compete for the regular season title and other things,” Rolapp said.
Without offering specifics, the tour also announced the postseason format will change to include a match-play element for the Tour Championship while moving the season-finale to a rotation of prestigious courses, some of which have not been part of the PGA Tour previously. Rolapp promised more details on the format when he meets with the media at East Lake in August.
“The players thought that it was important to have the season finale culminating in a regular season winner at the end of a regular season, and I could probably argue that if you beat the best 120 golfers over the series of a season, that is the most impressive accomplishment in the sport. I could argue that because you’re consistently beating those, and it was important to do that.” – Brian Rolapp
Additionally, the tour will recognize and reward its “regular-season” champion, with a follow-up competition in the postseason. Rolapp declined to say whether FedEx will remain as the title sponsor for the season-long competition as its contract is set to expire at the end of 2027.
“The players thought that it was important to have the season finale culminating in a regular season winner at the end of a regular season, and I could probably argue that if you beat the best 120 golfers over the series of a season, that is the most impressive accomplishment in the sport. I could argue that because you’re consistently beating those, and it was important to do that,” Rolapp said.
“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 fans, from our partners is how do we embrace match play more, and we thought this separate competition was just a really compelling, great way to do that.”
The Challenger Series will have a schedule of at least 20 events typically with 144-player fields and minimum purses of $4 million. Described by Rory McIlroy last week as “a glorified Korn Ferry Tour,” Rolapp pushed back on that narrative.
There are 47 PGA Tour events this year and he said there will be 47 events in 2028, both serving approximately 230 players. The two-tier system is designed to increase competitiveness and lean into the game’s historic meritocracy model.
“If you look at the Challenger Series events, they’ll be at venues you recognize. They’ll be for healthy purses, which we announced today. They’ll include a subset of the same 200 and change players that we have today. That is much different than what the Korn Ferry tour is today,” Rolapp said.
Each of the two series will have their own revised points systems.
A minimum of 90 players will retain their status on the Championship Series each year and those who fail to retain their status will be eligible for the Challenger Series the following year.
There will be a “last chance” series of four to six events in the fall that would allow players in danger of losing their Championship Series status to regain their privileges while also including players from the Challenger Series and other pathways.
The fall will also include a limited series of elevated international events open to Championship Series members in conjunction with the DP World tour.