PGA Tour Unveils Two-Tier System with Promotion and Relegation for 2028

The PGA Tour has announced sweeping changes to its competitive structure, approving a two-tier system with promotion and relegation to take effect in 2028. The elite-tier PGA Tour Championship Series will run from February to August and feature 23-24 events with $20m (£15m) purses, while the $4m events on the Challenger Series will provide a path for players to earn their way to the top level.

“At its core, this work was driven by a simple objective: to build the best version of the PGA Tour, something that could endure and outlive us all,” PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp told a press conference in Cromwell, Connecticut, ahead of this week’s Travelers Championship.

The Championship Series will include the four majors, Players Championship, season-ending events and team events such as the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup. It will feature 120 players, on average, and will be contested as 72-hole stroke play events with a 36-hole cut. The new structure introduces true promotion and relegation, with a minimum of 90 players retained on the Championship Series and 20 promoted from the Challenger Series each season.

Tiger Woods, making his first public appearance since his DUI charge in March, was part of the nine-member committee that recommended the changes and introduced Rolapp at the press conference. “We have to look forward and beyond today and over the horizon to set up the PGA Tour and our sport for the future generations of players and fans,” Woods said.

Rolapp said there were new markets under consideration for the events yet to be filled on the Championship Series, including Boston, Denver, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington DC. Full eligibility criteria will be finalised by the PGA Tour later this year, including select additional exemptions for tournament winners, medical extensions and career milestones. There will be no sponsor exemptions.

The Challenger Series, which will run concurrently to the Championship Series, will have a minimum of 20 events and feature emerging talent along with players fighting their way back to the top. Fields will be filled to 144 players. Two-time winners on the Challenger Series will earn immediate promotion to the Championship Series.

There will also be a “last chance” series of four-to-six events where a limited number of spots on the Championship Series will be available.

World No 2 Rory McIlroy, who recently suggested that a two-track system would turn some tournaments into “glorified Korn Ferry events” in a reference to the tour’s developmental circuit, called the changes a positive step for professional golf after the arrival of LIV golf shook up the sport. “Over the last few years, golf has faced a period of uncertainty and division, which has not been in the best interests of the players, or the fans of the game,” McIlroy said in a statement. “Today, we are putting the fans first and I am excited about the future of our sport.”

In a separate announcement, the PGA Tour said Rolapp, who began his tenure as CEO last July, had been approved as the US-based circuit’s next commissioner from January. Rolapp will take over from Jay Monahan, who will conclude his 10-year tenure on 31 December.