PGA Tour approves promotion-relegation overhaul starting in 2028

The PGA Tour boards approved a sweeping two-tier competition model on Monday in West Hartford, Connecticut, setting up promotion and relegation for the 2028 season. The overhaul splits men’s golf into a Championship Series and a Challenger Series, with the top tier running from February through August and carrying 23 to 24 events with purses of at least $20 million.

The new Championship Series will have about 120 players, no sponsor exemptions and no alternate list, and each regular-season event will be 72 holes with a 36-hole cut to the top 65 and ties. At least the top 90 players on the Championship Series points list will keep their membership for the following season, while a minimum of 20 players will be promoted up from the Challenger Series each year. Players who win multiple Challenger events, or win one of the four majors, can move up immediately.

The Championship Series will include the four majors, THE PLAYERS Championship, and team events such as the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup. The Challenger Series will run at the same time with at least 20 events, each with purses of at least $4 million. Brian Rolapp, who became PGA Tour CEO in June 2025 after a 22-year NFL career, said, “The objective was simple: to build the best version of the PGA Tour and create something that can endure for future generations of players and fans,” he said. Tiger Woods, who chaired the nine-member Future Competition Committee and introduced Rolapp in Cromwell, Connecticut, said the sport had to “look forward and over the horizon.”

Rory McIlroy, who had worried that a two-track setup could turn some stops into developmental-tour fare, called the changes a positive step after LIV Golf disrupted men’s professional golf. Wyndham Clark also backed the plan, praising its meritocracy and easier-to-follow structure.

The model is designed to sharpen competitive clarity, raise the stakes, and strengthen sponsorship and media value by concentrating elite talent into fewer premium events. It has already identified 10 of the expected 15 Championship Series regular-season events for 2028, with the rest potentially coming from existing tournaments or new markets including Boston, Denver, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C. The package also adds a reimagined postseason with match play and a rotated TOUR Championship venue.