Six-time PGA Tour champion Lucas Glover called the tour's recently announced changes to reduce field size and fully exempt cards “scary.”
In an interview with Golfweek, Glover said the PGA Tour Player Advisory Council and Policy Committee “hid behind the pace of play” to justify the sweeping changes.
“They thought we were stupid,” Glover said.
Matt Fitzpatrick, the 2022 U.S. Open champion, appeared to support Glover's stance in a post on his X account on Monday: “He's right, sadly the pace of the game is too slow.” [spoken] Happens almost every year and nothing gets done. “
Regardless, the PGA Tour will be smaller starting in 2026. The number of golfers who are full-time members will be reduced by 25; only the top 100 teams in the FedEx Cup standings will be fully qualified next year.
Beginning in 2026, most PGA Tour events will also have smaller fields.
With 170 golfers trying to win one of the 100 full-time cards, competition on the PGA Tour is more intense than ever.
“If you're one of those people who feels like you're going to be affected, you're going to be very frustrated about it, and I understand that,” said Brian Harman, the 2023 Open champion. “I would be too. It’s the same feeling. But there are so many different ways to look at it.”
Here's a closer look at some of the most important changes.
PGA Tour Card
With only 100 full-time cards available each season, the Tour has reduced its membership by about 20%, making it more difficult than ever to obtain a full-time card. This is the first time since 1983 that the number of full-time cards has been reduced.
Beginning in 2026, golfers ranked 101-125th in the FedEx Cup standings will receive conditional status.
The tournament winner will still receive a two-year exemption.
“We've gone through a lot of changes over the last four or five years,” PGA Tour chief competition officer Tyler Dennis told ESPN. “It's really about what it means to have a PGA Tour card. And with that comes the equal number of opportunities to compete in all the different exemption categories.”
Dennis noted that Puerto Rico's Rafael Campos, who earned his first PGA Tour victory at last week's Butterfield Bermuda Championship, is among the 30 Korn Ferry Tour players who won a PGA Tour card in 2017. Ranked last among tournament graduates, he played in just one tournament in January and February. 2023.
“That's not what we want the PGA Tour card to be,” Dennis said. “It's not a fair opportunity for all the other players. The bottom line is, if you get your card and come on as a rookie, whether you're from the DP World Tour, the Korn Ferry Tour, the PGA Tour U-game or Q-School, we think you should have a definite schedule.
“All of these changes will allow these guys to play almost all full games.”
Six-time winner Chris Kirk, tied for 27th in the FedEx Cup standings, said everyone on tour has a chance – if they play well.
“What I’ve found over the years is that when you’re playing really well, the decisions of the Tour Policy Committee don’t matter and things work out in your favor,” Kirk said. “When you're not playing well, those things become more important.”
Competition venue size
In two years' time, full-field tour events in the summer's sunshine, such as the RBC Canadian Open and 3M Open, will feature 144 players instead of 156.
Some tournaments with shorter daylight hours in the winter and fall, including the WM Phoenix Open and Shriners Children's Open, will see field sizes reduced to 120 golfers from 144 or 132 golfers.
The Players Championship will be held in mid-March at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, and the field will increase from 144 golfers to 120.
In an executive summary sent to golfers in October, the PAC noted that 28% of 2024 tournaments (12 of 43 events) had at least one round not completed on the scheduled date due to darkness. At least a dozen more were done in the dark, Dennis said.
“It's a lot of games, a lot of possessions,” Dennis said. “It's always been that way, but it's not the product we want to launch.”
In a tournament where the number of participants is reduced from 156 to 144, the front nine and back nine tee groups will be reduced by one in the morning and afternoon rounds during the first two rounds.
The PGA Tour hopes this will be enough to speed up play.
Glover, Fitzpatrick and others believe speeding up the game by enforcing the Tour's pace-of-play rules will help golfers get around the course faster.
“You can get a better pace-of-game policy or enforce a better policy that you have,” Glover said. “If I'm in a slow dual and an official comes up and says, 'You're behind, this isn't a warning — you're all on the clock, and if you don't do well, it's a penalty,' and guess who's running towards them. The ball? That’s what we need to do.”
PGA Tour golfers rarely get pinned for playing slowly, but Dennis said there are some unspecified golfers who have been hit with “potentially large fines” for having an average shot time that lags behind their competitors.
Dennis declined to say how many golfers have been fined by the PGA Tour in recent years for playing slowly.
“It's a huge focus, but it's not as simple as, 'Are people taking penalty strokes on the course?'” Dennis said. “It has a lot to do with the number of players on the court and a lot to do with each player's individual playing habits.”
Pathway to the PGA Tour
Course size and full membership aren't the only things that will be reduced starting in 2026. There will also be a reduction in the number of full-time cards for the Korn Ferry Tour's top golfers (30 to 20), Q-School graduates (top five and ties) and Monday qualifiers (two for the 132 player tournament, four tournaments against 144 players), making it more difficult for golfers to enter the PGA Tour.
The top 10 golfers on the DP World Tour who have not yet received exemptions will continue to receive full-time status.
Sponsor exemptions limited to DP World Tour, Korn Ferry Tour and Q-School golfers and those reserved for PGA Tour members will be reassigned to the next player in the priority rankings. Open events will still have four sponsor exemptions available to anyone.
“I'm not numb to the fact that we're cutting opportunities, right?” said Harman, a member of the Player Advisory Council. “It's not something that I like, and it's not something that anyone involved in any of the discussions likes. But all of these decisions that were made were not good or bad.
“We’re looking at the pros and cons of each piece and trying to figure out the fairest and most equitable way to create a great product while giving everyone enough opportunity to play.”