The PGA Tour will restructure into two parallel competition tiers beginning in 2028, CEO Brian Rolapp announced on June 23 at TPC River Highlands during the Travelers Championship. The new model creates a top-level Championship Series and a lower Challenger Series linked by promotion and relegation, replacing the current schedule framework.

The tour’s policy board approved the recommendations on June 22, following months of work by the Future Competitions Committee chaired by Tiger Woods. The committee includes player directors Patrick Cantlay, Adam Scott, Camilo Villegas, Maverick McNealy and Keith Mitchell, along with independent board members.

“This is not a closed shop. We are aiming to create a more cohesive schedule with a simpler points system, one where the best players compete against one another more frequently.”

Brian Rolapp said

Championship Series

The upper tier is slated to include 23 or 24 events, among them the four majors and The Players Championship. Fields would be set at 120 to 130 players, with cuts after 36 holes and purses of $20 million for each event. The Players is projected to carry a $25 million purse.

The bulk of Championship Series fields, around 90 players, will be drawn from a season-long points list. Roughly 20 additional spots will go to players promoted from the Challenger Series based on their performance in the lower tier. Sponsor exemptions from the Challenger Series into Championship events are not part of the current plan, and Championship players will not be permitted to enter Challenger tournaments.

The season is expected to run from late January or February through to early September, with built-in off weeks after majors and The Players. The schedule will incorporate current signature-event venues alongside tournaments in new major U.S. markets such as New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., according to ESPN.

Golfers who finish outside the top 90 at season’s end could have access to a fall “last-chance” series to keep their upper-tier status, though those details are still unfinished.

Challenger Series

The Challenger Series will run concurrently as a 20-event schedule, with 13 tournaments held in the same weeks as Championship events and seven standalone weeks, Sports Business Journal reported. Season-long performance will determine which players earn promotion to the Championship Series the following year.

“Play well and you earn the opportunity to compete in our biggest events and for more money,” Rolapp said. “When you watch any one of those tournaments, you’ll know exactly what the stakes are.”

The lower tier will also have qualifying tournaments for entry, and PGA Tour University graduates are expected to earn status there. Separately, around 10 players from the DP World Tour could gain access to the PGA Tour through the new structure, though the exact pathway has not been finalized.

Tour Championship and Postseason

The Tour Championship will leave its long-time home at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta and rotate among courses, some of which the PGA Tour would use for the first time. The event is set to become match play.

The postseason could also shrink from three events to two. Rolapp framed the changes as a response to audience demand: “We have heard from our fans and our partners, they want more drama. Bringing the win-or-go-home moments to the conclusion of our season.”

However, exact postseason formats are still being determined. “There are all sorts of models that are being talked about: Medal match play, other things. Nothing has been decided,” Rolapp said.

Scale of the Change

The current PGA Tour calendar includes 45 events when majors, The Players, eight signature events, FedExCup playoffs and the FedExCup Fall are counted. The existing postseason narrows from 70 players to 50 to 30 across three playoff rounds. The 2028 model consolidates the top level into fewer, larger-field events with a defined second tier underneath, a significant departure from the recent small-field signature format.

Rolapp acknowledged the process is not complete.

“I can’t emphasize this enough, nothing has been finalized. We are still doing our work and gathering input from our players, our partners, and other key stakeholders.”

Final recommendations have not yet gone to the tour’s player-led boards, and detailed rules around midseason promotion and relegation numbers are still being resolved ahead of the 2028 launch.