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PGA Tour commissioner Brian Rolapp announced Tuesday more details surrounding the Tour's new two-track system that's set to officially take place in the 2028 season.
Track 1 will be called the PGA Tour Championship Series, featuring 23-24 events offering purses of $20 million and fields of 120 players. The top 90 on the season-long points list will keep their status for the following season.
Meanwhile, for those wanting to make the Championship Series, they'll have to earn their way via the Challenger Series.
Running concurrently with the Championship Series schedule, the Challenger Series will feature a minimum of 20 events. The Challenger Series will be played on distinguished venues that have traditionally hosted PGA Tour events. About seven Challenger Series events during Championship Series off weeks will be elevated with increased consequence, benefits and exposure.
Challenger Series regular-season events will be contested as 72-hole stroke play events with a 36-hole cut to the top 65 and ties, including amateurs, and purses of at least $4 million. Fields will feature 144 players, with the ability to reduce when necessary, due to constraints such as daylight.
Challenger Series membership eligibility and exemption criteria will be finalized by the boards later this year.
Championship Series and Challenger Series members will be eligible to compete only within their respective series, meaning those in the Championship Series will not be eligible to compete in the Challenger Series. However, events such as the Players and major championships may maintain eligibility criteria specific to their respective events.
Twenty players will be promoted from the Challenger Series each season. A minimum of 90 players will retain Championship status. Players who fail to retain status will face relegation (with the chance to regain Championship Series membership in a “last chance” series). Two-time winners on the Challenger Series will earn immediate promotion to the Championship Series.
Players relegated from the Championship Series will have the opportunity to compete in a “last chance” series, and if they are unable to regain Championship Series membership, they will be eligible for the Challenger Series the following season.
More: PGA Tour’s bold overhaul live updates: 2 tracks, fewer cards, radical finale shift
Complete eligibility criteria for both series – including access for the DP World Tour as part of the Strategic Alliance and PGA Tour University – will be finalized prior to the start of the 2027 season.
The boards approved the implementation of new points systems across the PGA Tour ecosystem, designed to be more intuitive for fans and media partners, while maintaining competitive outcomes and retention rates consistent with the current structure. The system will reward winning, emphasize top finishes and reinforce the importance of making the cut, creating clear and more compelling storylines on an event-by-event and season-long basis.
The Championship Series and Challenger Series will operate separate points systems, with points earned only within each respective series. The Challenger Series will reward points in a consistent manner for all co-sanctioned events, while also rewarding elevated points for Challenger Series events contested in the Championship Series off weeks and major championships.
At the conclusion of each season, the respective points lists will be used to identify promotion, retention and relegation across both series. More details on the points systems for each series will be shared at a later date.
Cameron Jourdan is a staff writer and digital producer for Golfweek, focusing on college and amateur golf for the website and magazine.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Challenger Series to fuel promotion into PGA Tour’s Championship tier
Continue reading...
Track 1 will be called the PGA Tour Championship Series, featuring 23-24 events offering purses of $20 million and fields of 120 players. The top 90 on the season-long points list will keep their status for the following season.
Meanwhile, for those wanting to make the Championship Series, they'll have to earn their way via the Challenger Series.
Running concurrently with the Championship Series schedule, the Challenger Series will feature a minimum of 20 events. The Challenger Series will be played on distinguished venues that have traditionally hosted PGA Tour events. About seven Challenger Series events during Championship Series off weeks will be elevated with increased consequence, benefits and exposure.
Challenger Series regular-season events will be contested as 72-hole stroke play events with a 36-hole cut to the top 65 and ties, including amateurs, and purses of at least $4 million. Fields will feature 144 players, with the ability to reduce when necessary, due to constraints such as daylight.
Challenger Series membership eligibility and exemption criteria will be finalized by the boards later this year.
Championship Series and Challenger Series members will be eligible to compete only within their respective series, meaning those in the Championship Series will not be eligible to compete in the Challenger Series. However, events such as the Players and major championships may maintain eligibility criteria specific to their respective events.
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Twenty players will be promoted from the Challenger Series each season. A minimum of 90 players will retain Championship status. Players who fail to retain status will face relegation (with the chance to regain Championship Series membership in a “last chance” series). Two-time winners on the Challenger Series will earn immediate promotion to the Championship Series.
Players relegated from the Championship Series will have the opportunity to compete in a “last chance” series, and if they are unable to regain Championship Series membership, they will be eligible for the Challenger Series the following season.
More: PGA Tour’s bold overhaul live updates: 2 tracks, fewer cards, radical finale shift
Complete eligibility criteria for both series – including access for the DP World Tour as part of the Strategic Alliance and PGA Tour University – will be finalized prior to the start of the 2027 season.
The boards approved the implementation of new points systems across the PGA Tour ecosystem, designed to be more intuitive for fans and media partners, while maintaining competitive outcomes and retention rates consistent with the current structure. The system will reward winning, emphasize top finishes and reinforce the importance of making the cut, creating clear and more compelling storylines on an event-by-event and season-long basis.
The Championship Series and Challenger Series will operate separate points systems, with points earned only within each respective series. The Challenger Series will reward points in a consistent manner for all co-sanctioned events, while also rewarding elevated points for Challenger Series events contested in the Championship Series off weeks and major championships.
At the conclusion of each season, the respective points lists will be used to identify promotion, retention and relegation across both series. More details on the points systems for each series will be shared at a later date.
Cameron Jourdan is a staff writer and digital producer for Golfweek, focusing on college and amateur golf for the website and magazine.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Challenger Series to fuel promotion into PGA Tour’s Championship tier
Continue reading...
