Exploring the latest proposed changes to PGA Tour fields, eligiblity

The PGA Tour on Tuesday morning informed its membership via memo that its Player Advisory Council had proposed several changes, mainly to field sizes and eligibility, that, if approved by the policy board next month, would be implemented for the 2026 season.

The changes include cutting the number of fully exempt players and Korn Ferry Tour graduates, reducing field sizes of a majority of open tournaments and further rewarding top amateurs chasing Tour status through PGA Tour University.

After a deep dive into the 17-page memo, here is a closer look at the big proposals and what they will mean:

Change: Decrease number of fully exempt players from top 125 to top 100 in FedExCup

What it means: For those wanting a more cutthroat Tour, they get it. The number of fully exempt PGA Tour members will be reduced by approximately 20-25%, according to the Tour’s memo, with only the top 100 players on the FedExCup points list retaining full status. That will then shift the conditional category from Nos. 126-150 to Nos. 101-125, and that amended category will be slotted on the priority list below the reorder category (DPWT/KFT/Q-School grads), PGA Tour University grads, top-70 non-members, career-money exemptions and life members. Major medicals and three-time KFT or DPWT winners (battlefield promotion) will split the Nos. 101-125 category into two (Nos. 101-110 and Nos. 111-125).

With these changes going into effect for 2026, that means that the first top-100 cutoff will happen on the final 2025 FedExCup points list. This isn’t great news for the 2024 KFT and Q-School grads, as they will be playing by current rules in 2025 – rules that significantly disadvantaged those further down the initial reorder category, whether it be starts afforded to them, especially early in the year, or points available at the events they do get into – yet those players must now finish 25 spots higher in points to earn fully exempt status. Currently, only five KFT/Q-School grads who started the year in the reorder category sit inside the top 100 in points.

Change: Number of Korn Ferry Tour graduates lowered from 30 to 20 players, and capping Q-School graduates at five

What it means: The number of fully exempt players wasn’t the only group that was cut. The Korn Ferry Tour grads, which two years ago switched to the top 30 in season-long points race will be cut by a third, meaning 20 players will not graduate from the KFT, beginning with the 2025 season. The 10 DP World Tour grads will still be prioritized above Nos. 2-20 in KFT points while Q-School’s final stage will now have a playoff to determine who gets the five PGA Tour cards, a change from the top-5-and-ties model rolled out last year.

Change: Reduce maximum field sizes for most open tournaments

What it means: With an increasing number of tournaments experiencing darkness suspensions and slow pace of play, a widespread reduction of field sizes will help alleviate those concerns. While the decrease was not uniform from event to event, the highlights are: The Players going from 144 players to 120 players; most of the pre-Masters tournaments decreasing to 120 players with the exceptions including the AmEx (156) and Farmers (144); the opposite-field events through Myrtle Beach going down to 120 players; and the majority of the summer events having 144-player maximums. The fields for the signature events will remain status quo, though those were part of initial discussions. Still, minimum field sizes of 72 players were approved for those events last June.

With the number of exempt players also being cut, these changes won’t exacerbate a problem that we saw in 2024, where many reorder-category players couldn’t get into several full-field events in the first few months of the season. In fact, the initial thought is that beginning in 2026, every KFT and Q-School grad should get starts in every open tournament except for Phoenix. Nos. 101-125 finishers should also get into a handful of tournaments.

Change: Eliminate or reduce the number of open qualifying spots for events with fewer than 144 players

What it means: This change is already receiving the most blowback. While Monday qualifiers in the summer and fall will still award four qualifying spots, the first half of the calendar will experience a seismic shift. Based on the Tour’s new guidelines, which would eliminate open qualifiers for all non-fall events with fewer than 144 players, these tournament would no longer have Monday qualifiers: Sony, WMPO, Mexico, Cognizant, Puerto Rico, Puntacana, Myrtle Beach. Furthermore, these three events – Valspar, Houston and Valero – would go from four open-qualifying spots to two.

Change: Limit restricted sponsor exemptions to next eligible members on priority list

What it means: It’s important to note that this does not pertain to the unrestricted sponsor exemptions that tournaments are afforded. However, for the restricted invites that traditionally go to two PGA Tour members and two Korn Ferry Tour graduates, those will now be doled out based on the priority list. So, let’s say if Phoenix cuts off with six KFT grads on the alternate list; the two sponsor exemptions would go to the next players up, not necessarily whomever the tournament wants to select from that group.

Change: Adjust FedExCup points distributions for majors, The Players and signature events

What it means: This is another important change for the reorder category. This past season, players who were eligible for the signature events had the opportunity to play for vastly more FedExCup points than, say, a Korn Ferry Tour graduate who had trouble getting early starts – and this is reflected on the points list, where even the worst performances from top-50 players were still good enough to make the playoffs. That points gap is closed by the Tour’s decision to slightly decrease points given to finishers outside the top 10 in majors and The Players and outside the top 6 in signature events. For example, a player who finishes solo seventh in a signature event in 2026 will earn 25 fewer points. At the same time, runner-up finishers in majors will earn 100 more points.

Change: Amateurs now eligible for top-10 exemptions

What it means: This one comes too late for Florida State’s Luke Clanton, who posted three top-10s on the PGA Tour this summer, though he was not eligible to use an exemption that normally exempts players who finish among the top 10 and ties in a Tour event into the next open-field event. Not only will amateurs like Clanton be able to use such exemptions beginning in 2026, but college underclassmen will also receive an additional point toward PGA Tour Accelerated for posting a top-5 finish. Currently, those players can earn one point for making a PGA Tour cut and another point for finishing in the top 10. The threshold for earning PGA Tour membership remains 20 total points.

Change: Signature events to be excluded from strength-of-field requirement

What it means: Currently, exempt PGA Tour members must play at least one tournament per season that they have not played in the previous four seasons. The four majors, The Players, three playoff events, Ryder Cup, Presidents Cup and Olympics don’t count toward this rule. Moving forward, the eight signature events will not count, either, though players will now have to play a tournament that they have not played in the previous three seasons.