Explaining the PGA Tour's New Championship, Challenger Series Pathways

On Tuesday, the PGA Tour sent out a press release detailing how its new points system will work starting in 2028, and who will be eligible for its two tournament tiers. Much of what was in the press release was already known or widely anticipated, but this was a chance to nail down the specifics.

The Championship Series will have 90 players eligible, plus another 20 who have been promoted by finishing in the top 20 on the lower Challenger Series the previous year. The Challenger Series fields will be made up of 144 players, and if you win twice in the Challenger Series, you earn an immediate promotion to the Championship Series.

If you’re a legend, you can use a one-time money list exemption to gain entry into the Championship Series, but there is a catch. You can only do so if you had Championship Series status the year prior. That means it could apply to someone like Adam Scott, but not Tiger Woods. He’d need a waiver of some kind. There will be some medical exemptions granted, but decisions will be made by an outside review board based on an examination of medical records.

Twenty players each year will be promoted to the Challenger Series from the Korn Ferry Tour, and the winner of PGA Tour University will get a spot on the Championship Series. Players who finish 2-5 in PGA Tour University will get a spot in the Challenger Series. There will be some sort of pathway for DP World Tour members to earn a spot in the Championship Series, but the Tour is still working out those details and referred to them as part of “ongoing discussions regarding the future of the Strategic Alliance."

{{inline-article}}

The release also spells out how a win — even though it will earn a two-year exemption on the Championship Series — won’t be worth as many points as it previously was. In the past, a win was the equivalent of four 10th place finishes. Going forward, it will be the equivalent of two 10th place finishes or four 45th place finishes. It puts an emphasis on showing up and playing consistent golf.

The most interesting aspect of the press release, however, might have been what wasn’t in there.

There is still no easy pathway for LIV Golf players to rejoin the PGA Tour.

For years, a widespread assumption existed that the PGA Tour would make room for players like Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau when the time was right. After all, it would be what’s best for the product, and PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp seemed like a whatever-is-best-for-the-product guy.

{{related-articles}}

It has not played out that way. Rolapp seems (at least for now) resolute in his position that the opportunity to reconcile has come and gone. Brooks Koepka took advantage of the Returning Member Program back in January. Rahm, DeChambeau, and Cameron Smith passed on it. Rolapp keeps reiterating there will be no second opportunity, even with LIV’s future unlikely.

“In terms of where we are today, we are not currently contemplating a Returning Member Program like the one you saw in January,” Rolapp said in a conference call with reporters. “Everyone at the PGA Tour, myself included, has been focused on what is best for the organization. The items approved by the boards yesterday are part of the progression in building the optimal competitive model for the future. So it was really with a broader lens of: How do we build the best tour? It was not really looked at specifically on any one particular — on LIV or any other consideration."

It’s possible LIV players, particularly recent major winners like Rahm, DeChambeau, and Smith, could earn their way back to the Tour if they’re willing to serve a one-year suspension (the path Patrick Reed is currently pursuing), but that’s only if they don’t move forward with LIV 2.0.

Rolapp has repeatedly made his intentions clear. We are doing just fine without you.