My friend Peter Jacobsen says players come and players go. For something to endure it has to be bigger than any player or any group of players.
Brian Rolapp asked players on the Future Competitions Committee to set aside what may be beneficial to them personally and create a meritocracy that outlives their own time between the ropes. The challenge would be difficult for any group of active players. But, at least on first read, the committee does not seem to have done half bad. One might even say it has created an intriguing—dare I say—framework.
If you’re an aspiring PGA Tour player beginning your climb up the ladder, you want a fair system that rewards exceptional play. Start in the same place as your competitors, shoot the lowest scores consistently and advance.
The two-tiered system proposed for 2028 gets the broad mechanics of advancement and relegation right (you know America is bewitched by the World Cup when golf has adopted the word “relegation”). In an age of bad news, let’s take a moment to applaud what is good here: fields are larger at the top, cuts are back, players can set a reliable schedule, what they play for and who they compete against will be clearly defined. For too long, new PGA Tour members wondered whether they’d get into early-season events, often showing up to tournaments as alternates with contingency plans to fly across the country—or across the world—if they didn’t get into the more prestigious event they were waiting on.
This has come to be accepted among players throughout the ecosystem; a necessary evil and part of the grind. Like my Grandpa Sam once said, “do every lousy, stinking, no good job that nobody wants.” I think he meant cleaning bathrooms to get your foot in the door, which at various times in my career, would have paid better. As someone who has been stuck in tour limbo and made exhaustive, exorbitantly expensive trips to get to tournaments last minute when an opportunity called, I can definitely say, this part of the job won’t be missed.
The Signature Event and LIV era helped us realize just how much cuts matter to tournament drama. Players who have grinded late on a Friday and holed a slippery putt to make the weekend already knew. Fridays on the Championship Series will have those compelling scenarios.
The days of nebulous decision making to determine sponsor exemptions at the highest level are over. While Monday qualifiers for the Championship Series no longer exist, there will be qualifying for every Challenger Series event. Successful Q-School graduates will know where they’re playing and when.
There’s still some gray area here, especially at the bottom of the Championship fields. 90 of the 130 Championship Series players will retain their status each season, the rest will be relegated to the Challenger Series. There, 144 players will compete for $4 million purses, with the top 20 earning promotion back to the Championship Series at season’s end. It may feel ruthless for those who get relegated and have to claw their way back for 2003 money, but that’s the point (for the record, 2003 purses look great from where I sit). The big names that get cut from the Championship Series will help elevate the profiles of the rising stars destined for the next level.
As a player, you hope the opportunities for the greatest advancement come when you’re playing your best golf. If a Challenger Series pro wins two events, they automatically advance to the Championship Series. Reasonable minds can debate what should qualify for an immediate promotion and whether there should be more flow between tiers, but the tour has always weighted wins in its developmental ranks far higher than consistently-high finishes. Two wins at the PGA Tour level–Signature Event or not–demonstrates you’re a force, as anyone who has watched Chris Gotterup this season can attest to.
It’s confidence-building to win a state open by seven shots, but with better timing, that performance could secure a job and your finances for years. Ben Kohles won the Korn Ferry Tour’s BMW Charity Pro-Am earlier this month, sprinted to U.S. Open qualifying, finished T2 without a practice round, and tied for 23rd at Shinnecock Hills. In sixth position on the season-long Korn Ferry Tour points list, the 36-year-old has a real shot at earning his PGA Tour card. Kohles’ hot play is a compelling story lately. At any level of this structure, that is the kind of stretch that should matter most: can a player’s best golf change his life?
I was encouraged that Rolapp mentioned the importance of investing in the Korn Ferry Tour and developmental ranks. Some players we’ve heard from at Monday Q Info are skeptical that the Korn Ferry Tour will continue to operate in its current form. In light of Rory’s comments calling Track 2 a “glorified Korn Ferry Tour,” the concern of differentiation and appeal is real. A test of this structure will be whether the players below the Challenger Series still get enough opportunities to excel in the heat of competition.
If the Korn Ferry Tour becomes the Double-A of pro golf and has fields between 120-144 with at least the same purses, it's likely more players will earn a living under the PGA Tour umbrella. This, again, would be welcomed.
Michael Brennan proved the value of the Americas Tour last year by winning on the PGA Tour a month after picking up his third win on Americas. Brennan leaped over an entire tier of the system and reminded everyone how little separates the best players on developmental tours from those establishing themselves on the PGA Tour.
Which tournaments end up in the Championship Series and Challenger Series will be determined by sponsor interest. As we’ve seen recently with Rocket Mortgage ending its sponsorship of Detroit’s PGA Tour event, this is where the rubber meets the road. Would a company like Rocket Mortgage or John Deere, who may not see the value in putting up a $20 million purse, be interested in continuing their partnership at a discount on the Challenger Series? How does a Challenger event benefit the local community and region? The Canadian Open is in the precarious position of not being a traditional Open if they move into the Championship Series or losing the best Canadian players if they move into the Challenger Series.
Rolapp said players would have to set aside their own personal interests for the good of an enduring system. The lens through which sponsors will view the changes, however, is entirely different.
How these questions are answered will determine more than the branding of each event. They’ll determine the sustainability of a new structure.
Let’s hope the structure is built as solid at the bottom as it is at the top.
