To the casual observer, not much has changed on the PGA Tour in 2025. The Tour is still haggling with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia about a deal that may or may not end the strife in the game with LIV Golf. The season began in sunny locales such as Hawaii, Palm Springs, San Diego and Phoenix. And Scottie Scheffler remains the unquestioned No. 1 player in the world.
But a new plan announced in December is simmering beneath the surface, as the players head toward the Masters. The PGA Tour decided to get leaner and meaner, a move that has merits but also some real-world implications, all in the name of a cleaner look, faster play and undoubtedly another deference to the name players.
As we’ve seen in the past few years, there’s been a shift in men’s professional golf from looking out for the masses to taking care of the stars.
What was approved at the PGA Tour’s Policy Board meeting in November and will be implemented next year is no small tweak. And it impacts this season as the larger group of players will have a smaller number of spots next year, significantly altering the dynamics of the all-exempt Tour which dates to 1983, when it first put in play the 125-player exemption category off the money list, now the FedExCup points list.
Among the changes: exempt cards going from 125 to 100 starting next year. Field sizes reduced to as low as 120 players in some cases, but down from 156 in the summer to 144 or to 132. While it won’t impact the John Deere Classic in July of this year, the tournament will see a change that will drop at least 12 players from its field and possibly as many as 24 in 2026. The Korn Ferry Tour is going from 30 to 20 exempt spots.
There is no doubt this will make the Tour more competitive, making the fight for playing cards more intense.
“I just think the direction they are going is magnifying the value of having a PGA Tour card,’’ said Peter Malnati, a member of the Policy Board. “The membership of the Tour is too big. Our events are too big. And there are people at the bottom who are supposed to be fully exempt players on Tour who don’t know the value of the card.”
The tradeoff is impacting opportunities. Fewer exempt spots, smaller fields.
“To be honest, I don’t love the changes but that’s probably because I feel threatened by the number of cards going down from 125 to 100,’’ said Michael Kim, a PGA Tour player whose lone career victory came at the 2018 John Deere Classic, in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “It’s my job to improve and continue to get better and make sure I’m not [in the position I was in].”
Falling short, a player could go to the PGA Tour Q-School to try and get one of five exempt spots. Or he could try and play out of the 101 to 125 category, which will allow for decent access, just as the 126 to 150 category does now.
It can be argued that the Tour could have leaned into this a bit more slowly. Gone from 125 to 110, for example, and see how things work out.
Of note, for example, is that in 2023 Wyndham Clark was 110th in FedExCup points in the 2020 season, which would have left him without full status the following year if the new format was in place. (It’s also fair to point out that had the new proposed rules been in place, Clark might have played more to try and move up.)
“I think it would be amazing if our Tour was 100 guys, and we have 20 guys that get relegated every time, every year, doesn’t matter who you are,” Clark said last year. “It would be exciting. Because you come down to the end of the year, people are looking at who is going to win the FedExCup, and then you’re looking at who is not going to be here next year. I don’t know what that number is, but I think it’s just nice to elevate the product and make it to where the best players are playing on TV more often and against each other.”
Rory McIlroy, who also is not worried about losing his card, expressed a similar sentiment.
“I’m all for making it more cutthroat, more competitive. I won’t be popular for saying this but I’m all for less players and less Tour cards, and the best of the best.’’
Whether the tradeoff is worth it is still to be determined.
