The PGA Tour is still working out all the details for its new two-tiered schedule beginning in 2028.
The Championship Series will encompass the top 120-130 players competing in about 16 $20-million events plus the majors, Players Championship and playoffs leading to the Tour Championship. The Challenger Series will concurrently operate 144-player events with $4 million purses. Championship players cannot compete in Challenger events, and vice versa (unless a player wins two Challenger events in a season and earns immediate promotion).
This system will make it difficult for two highly regarded national opens that currently reside on the PGA Tour schedule – the RBC Canadian Open and the Genesis Scottish Open – to continue to operate as is. Both deserve to have the flexibility to draw more diverse fields than the Championship Series will allow and both deserve better than being Challenger Series events.
Something has to give, and that give needs to be PGA Tour Enterprises stepping up to create a special tier of events for historic national opens. It should be a third tier that allows co-sanctioning with home circuits, boosted investment the PGA Tour Enterprises and an incentive for top players to compete. Qualified players from all the world’s tours, including both the Championship and Challenger Series, would be eligible to compete in these full-field events.
Call it the International Open Series – a collection of 12 historic national opens (in addition to the U.S. and British majors) spread across all continents and the entire year. Augusta National already stepped up last year to recognize the winners of six national opens (Scottish, Spanish, Japan, Hong Kong, Australian and South African) as automatic qualifiers for the Masters. With the PGA Tour’s planned 2028 transition, there should be room for the Masters to distribute more invitations to select national open winners if it so chooses.
“We looked at that decision we made this year independent of other schedules, but we also realize that those schedules and those criteria can change over time,” Masters chairman Fred Ridley said in April. “So we really wanted to take our own step by identifying those six national opens. The purpose, as I mentioned, is really to honor the history and the significance of those championships. I do think there might be other national opens that should be considered. Because we say over and over again that we review our criteria every year, we’ll be looking at that next year and the coming years, and possibly we would do that.”
The International Open Series would give all the majors a good reason to make that choice and it would cast a spotlight on historic events that deserve attention. An overall International Open Series points system could even crown its own champion and hand out lucrative bonuses, provided players participate in at least half of the selected events. This would encourage marquee players to show up in places they may never have competed before and show the game’s greatest in underserved markets.
It’s a win-win.
“I would love to be able to play more internationally. Like Australia. New Zealand is a place we would love to be able to go to.”
scottie scheffler
The International Open Series would extend from January through December, with particular emphasis on the September-January stretch when the PGA Tour’s Championship Series is not in session. The only “in-season” opens would fit nicely into the buildup to both the U.S. Open and the Open Championship as options for any players who like to play their way into form for the biggest stages.
Rory McIlroy endorses the momentum to elevate national opens.
“I think for like these strong national opens, this, to me, is the blueprint of what it can be and what can happen,” he said of the Scottish Open. “Yeah, I think this is a perfect – it’s a perfect lead-in to the Open Championship. You know, I’ve thought could the Canadian Open become co-sanctioned, as well, leading into the U.S. Open? That could be interesting, as well, trying to build out this series of national opens that have a bit more meaning behind them.”
McIlroy also noted that these can’t be treated like closed Championship Series events, leaving plenty of room to embrace qualified regional players from the home nations and tours of each event. It’s the “open” part of these national opens that matters.
“We’ve got to be careful with that because then these national opens lose the fabric of what they are, right?” McIlroy said. “So that’s – you can’t call yourself a national open anymore if it’s a closed-off tournament and there’s a certain number of guys. I think these events need to be treated differently than, you know, the Travelers Championship or RBC Heritage or whatever else that are going to be in the [Championship] Series. These tournaments need to have – there’s a little bit more nuance with these tournaments for sure.”
Here’s a rough idea of what the International Open Series calendar could look like:
• January: Dubai Open; South African Open
• June: Canadian Open; U.S. Open
• July: Scottish Open, Open Championship
• September: Irish Open, French Open
• October: Spanish Open; Japan Open
• November: Hong Kong Open; Argentine Open
• December: New Zealand Open; Australian Open
Count world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler among those who see value in playing more international events amid the PGA Tour’s schedule transition.
“It definitely interests me. I’d like to see how it shapes out the next couple of years. There’s a lot of places I think I’d like to play,” Scheffler said in Scotland.
“There’s always just, you know, the time and the place for me. I’m at a time in my life where I have a young family at home and young kids. Those are times – the fall is a special time for our family. It’s where we can really check out and be together, and I get to spend a lot of time with my kids. So I hold those moments pretty sacred.
“But at the same time I love golf and I would love to be able to play more internationally. Like Australia. New Zealand is a place we would love to be able to go to. My wife has always wanted to go to New Zealand. … Going to play the Sandbelt in Australia would be pretty special as well. Hopefully I can find the time. It’s definitely an intriguing part of the schedule and yeah, it definitely interests me, as well.”
This should be a message to PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp and his Future Competition Committee – make it happen.
The tour already announced a foothold by partnering with Golf Australia and the DP World Tour to elevate the 122-year-old Australian Open from 2027-29. Don’t stop there.
Plant the flag of the International Open Series on every continent. Endorse the six national Opens that the Masters already recognized and build on their historic significance. The Japan Open turns 100 next year. The South African Open is 123. The Open de España is 114. The Hong Kong Open is 67.
Elevate the Argentine Open from Korn Ferry Tour status to a place more befitting its 121 years and roster of winners that includes 11 major champions. Same for the 120-year-old Open de France, the Irish Open that was first played in 1927 and the New Zealand Open that started in 1907.
Dubai’s Desert Classic is a relative newbie going back only to 1989 and isn’t technically an “open,” but it has deep pockets and a coveted January spot already on the DP World Tour calendar and has been won by 12 major champions in its young life, from Seve to Ernie to Tiger to Rory. Another option for January could be the Indian Open, which Australian great Peter Thomson helped launch in 1964.
Commit now before LIV Golf has a chance to swoop in and take over the concept as it tries to rebrand itself. Golf fans across the world will thank you for it.
Top: Fans cheer for Rory McIlroy during the 2025 Irish Open.
Richard Heathcote, Getty Images
