PGA Tour Unveils Two-Series Model Competitive Schedule from 2028

An initial 10 regular-season events have already been lined up by the PGA Tour. The remaining events will either be filled by existing competitions or tournaments in new markets under consideration, such as Boston, Denver, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C.

Each PGA Tour Championship Series event is set to have a prize pot of at least $20 million, featuring fields of around 120 players with no alternate list and no sponsor exemptions. Each regular season event will feature 72 holes with a 36-hole cut to the top 65 and ties, with consideration for special formats (i.e. pro-am).

In a reimagined postseason, a new-look Tour Championship match play will be introduced, taking place on rotation across a range of the tour’s most prestigious courses.

PGA TOUR Challenger Series

Meanwhile, the PGA Tour Challenger Series will serve as the second tier and primary pathway to the PGA Tour Championship Series. Overall, the Series will feature at least 20 events with prize pots of at least $4 million, as players compete for promotion to the top tier.

Tournaments in the Challenger Series will be played concurrently with those in the Championship Series, and will include fields of around 144 players. Each tournament will be played across 72 holes with a 36-hole cut to the top 65 and ties.

Seven Challenger Series events are set to be played during PGA Tour Championship Series off-weeks to increase exposure for the second tier. At the same time, Championship Series players will not be eligible to participate in Challenger Series events.

New Points Systems

The PGA boards also approved the implementation of distinct and “intuitive” points systems on both the Championship and Challenger Series, providing added clarity and maintaining competitive outcomes on each. More details about the points systems are expected to be revealed in due course, with Rolapp saying that elements of the project still had to be “refined.”

In the Championship Series, the top 90 finishers at least (out of 130) will be exempt from relegation to the Challenger Series.

In the Challenger Series, at least 20 players will be promoted to the Championship Series for the following season.

They can earn immediate promotions to the Championship Series by winning either multiple Challenger Series events within the same season or a major championship. Otherwise, there will be a ‘last chance’ series of four to six events in the fall, where a number of spots will remain open for the Championship Series through high finishes.

The PGA Tour will maintain its annual Qualifying Tournament (Q-School) to provide access to Tour competitions, including the Challenger Series, the ‘last chance’ series and further developmental pathways.

“We will continue refining elements of the model and sharing public updates as we move toward implementation,” said Rolapp.

Promotions and Relegations

The PGA Tour will inevitably have looked at the English soccer pyramid as a sample case where promotions and relegations make leagues more entertaining and compelling for fans and partners.

Although Major League Soccer does not have promotion or relegation, it was announced in January that the top division of the United Soccer League would be branded as USL Premier in 2028, and would launch with a U.S.-first promotion/relegation model.

PGA Tour Evolution

Rolapp, who previously spent more than two decades in media and operations positions at the NFL, will succeed Jay Monahan as PGA Tour commissioner on January 1, 2027. He will become only the fifth commissioner in the history of the tour, having also been appointed the first ever CEO of the PGA Tour only a year ago.

Now, the PGA Tour is pursuing an aggressive expansion strategy by introducing new formats and models to attract new audiences.

Its position has been helped by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund’s withdrawal of funding for competing tour LIV Golf back in April. It was reported that the league had losses of around $100 million after struggling to secure major broadcast deals and sponsorships, while PIF was downsizing some of its investments to instead focus on building the local Saudi economy.

PIF is said to have invested an estimated $5 billion in the venture over the course of four years, and the league is now seeking new funding revenues.