One PGA Tour, two compelling series.
That was CEO Brian Rolapp’s message as the Tour unveiled a revolutionary competitive structure that will see the circuit move to two tracks, Championship and Challenger, starting in 2028. The Championship series will consist of approximately 130 members, while the Challenger series will likely have at least a couple dozen more members who will fill its 144-player fields.
“If you look at the math,” Rolapp said, “we think we will deliver very, very strong fields week in and week out, and that’s the entire point.”
While we know that at least 90 players will be relegated from the Championship and 20 players will be promoted from the Challenger, still to be determined is how the Tour will determine the initial eligibility coming out of 2027.
It would make sense for the Tour to initially take more from next year’s final FedExCup standings and fewer from its pathways, such as the DP World Tour and Korn Ferry Tour. It could also offer status via the fall since that segment will soon become the Tour’s last-chance series. Tournament winners who still have active exemptions will probably need to be included, as will PGA Tour University’s No. 1. The tricky part will be what the Tour does with its medical extensions; if the Challenger series is still considered the PGA Tour, it’s possible those players go there. And as for Tiger Woods, well, we know he’ll be Championship eligible if he’s able to play.
Until we get more details, it’s time to have some fun: What if the Championship and Challenger membership was determined immediately, and what would those fields look like?
Using the current points standings on the PGA Tour, KFT and DPWT, and including tournament winners whose exemptions run through 2027 and active medical extensions, here is a mock list of Championship and Challenger membership:
(Note: player’s Official World Golf Ranking is listed in parentheses.)
Championship
TOP 100 IN FEDEXCUP (100 SPOTS)
Scottie Scheffler (1)
Matt Fitzpatrick (4)
Cameron Young (3)
Wyndham Clark (8)
Si Woo Kim (21)
Collin Morikawa (9)
Ludvig Aberg (14)
Rory McIlroy (2)
Jacob Bridgeman (25)
Sam Burns (15)
Tommy Fleetwood (7)
Chris Gotterup (13)
Akshay Bhatia (31)
Xander Schauffele (11)
Russell Henley (5)
Kristoffer Reitan (26)
Justin Rose (6)
Alex Smalley (43)
Ryan Gerard (27)
Alex Fitzpatrick (67)
J.T. Poston (32)
Gary Woodland (41)
Min Woo Lee (39)
J.J. Spaun (12)
Aaron Rai (16)
Sepp Straka (22)
Nicolai Hojgaard (35)
Kurt Kitayama (33)
Adam Scott (52)
Rickie Fowler (42)
Bud Cauley (40)
Jake Knapp (44)
Hideki Matsuyama (28)
Ben Griffin (18)
Robert MacIntyre (19)
Justin Thomas (17)
Sahith Theegala (73)
Nico Echavarria (53)
Eric Cole (66)
Ryo Hisatsune (62)
Matt McCarty (56)
Patrick Cantlay (37)
Harris English (24)
Maverick McNealy (36)
Keith Mitchell (68)
Sudarshan Yellamaraju (100)
Sam Stevens (46)
Alex Noren (23)
Pierceson Coody (57)
Jordan Spieth (49)
Daniel Berger (50)
Harry Hall (70)
Patrick Rodgers (84)
Shane Lowry (45)
Tom Kim (64)
Viktor Hovland (30)
Aldrich Potgieter (74)
Ryan Fox (54)
Nick Taylor (65)
Sungjae Im (79)
Matti Schmid (77)
Michael Kim (51)
Ricky Castillo (96)
Andrew Putnam (88)
Jason Day (47)
Austin Smotherman (101)
Jordan Smith (78)
Max Homa (111)
Michael Thorbjornsen (80)
Brian Harman (58)
David Lipsky (106)
Brandt Snedeker (121)
Brooks Koepka (113)
Tom Hoge (112)
Tony Finau (110)
Keegan Bradley (38)
Stephan Jaeger (99)
Mac Meissner (90)
Taylor Moore (140)
Andrew Novak (63)
Corey Conners (55)
John Parry (85)
Johnny Keefer (74)
Zach Bauchou (158)
Matt Wallace (83)
Max Greyserman (71)
A.J. Ewart (184)
Jackson Suber (130)
Kevin Roy (134)
Billy Horschel (142)
Davis Thompson (148)
Chandler Blanchet (115)
Christiaan Bezuidenhout (98)
Taylor Pendrith (93)
Steven Fisk (120)
Marco Penge (48)
Doug Ghim (177)
Mark Hubbard (122)
Denny McCarthy (103)
Matthieu Pavon (264)
WINNERS OUTSIDE TOP 90 (10 SPOTS)
Michael Brennan (59)
Brian Campbell (127)
Nick Dunlap (356)
Austin Eckroat (176)
Garrick Higgo (102)
Joe Highsmith (174)
William Mouw (129)
Adam Schenk (169)
Sami Valimaki (69)
Karl Vilips (196)
TOP 5 FROM DP WORLD TOUR (5 SPOTS)
Patrick Reed (29)
Jayden Schaper (76)
Casey Jarvis (82)
Eugenio Chacarra (87)
Andy Sullivan (126)
TOP 10 FROM KORN FERRY (10 SPOTS)
Ian Holt (147)
Doc Redman (123)
Alistair Docherty (193)
Cole Sherwood (194)
Hunter Eichhorn (226)
Ben Kohles (168)
Jeremy Gandon (178)
Cooper Dossey (234)
Michael Johnson (255)
Taylor Dickson (269)
PGA TOUR UNIVERSITY (3 SPOTS)
Jackson Koivun (217)
Ben James (680)
TBD, No. 1 in 2027 class
TIGER EXEMPTION (1 SPOT)
Tiger Woods (5,073)
Total members: 129
Average world rank (excluding Tiger): 88.32
Average world rank of this week’s Travelers Championship: 56.44
Challenger
NOS. 101-150 IN FEDEXCUP (43)
S.H. Kim (151)
Adrien Dumont de Chassart (163)
Rico Hoey (92)
Emiliano Grillo (107)
Jesper Svensson (160)
Max McGreevy (94)
Haotong Li (95)
Rasmus Hojgaard (81)
Brice Garnett (241)
Seamus Power (195)
Chandler Phillips (172)
Joel Dahmen (209)
Beau Hossler (159)
Zecheng Dou (191)
Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (86)
Chad Ramey (170)
Jimmy Stanger (340)
Lucas Glover (109)
Lee Hodges (157)
Mackenzie Hughes (139)
Kristoffer Ventura (304)
Hayden Springer (285)
Jhonattan Vegas (154)
Kevin Yu (125)
Pontus Nyholm (261)
Hank Lebioda (238)
Takumi Kanaya (152)
Sam Ryder (229)
Chris Kirk (108)
David Ford (293)
Davis Riley (167)
Erik van Rooyen (181)
Dan Brown (119)
David Skinns (271)
Ben Kohles (168)
Matt Kuchar (179)
Luke Clanton (257)
Keita Nakajima (136)
Paul Peterson (247)
Ben Silverman (273)
Danny Walker (249)
Lanto Griffin (223)
Jeffrey Kang (256)
NEXT 5 FROM DPWT (5)
Dan Bradbury (146)
Shaun Norris (89)
Mikael Lindberg (132)
Daniel Hillier (97)
Bernd Wiesberger (185)
NOS. 11-30 FROM KFT (20)
Davis Lamb (156)
Blades Brown (105)
Alvaro Ortiz (225)
Dylan Menante (219)
James Nicholas (278)
Zack Fischer (298)
Ben Carr (309)
John Pak (213)
Ian Gilligan (243)
Logan McAllister (239)
Carson Young (182)
Caleb VanArragon (266)
Zac Blair (187)
Jorge Fernandez Valdes (270)
Ross Steelman (250)
Roger Sloan (418)
Sandy Scott (287)
Adam Hadwin (250)
Cole Hammer (365)
Ryo Ishikawa (305)
NOS. 151-200 IN FEDEXCUP (44)
Patton Kizzire (375)
Kensei Hirata (282)
Kevin Streelman (420)
Dylan Wu (379)
Trace Crowe (232)
Patrick Fishburn (202)
Ben Martin (479)
Thorbjorn Olesen (133)
Vince Whaley (162)
Peter Malnati (587)
Gordon Sargent (717)
Adam Svensson (428)
Webb Simpson (463)
Padraig Harrington (549)
John VanDerLaan (297)
Adrien Saddier (117)
S.Y. Noh (334)
Will Zalatoris (399)
Justin Lower (263)
Chan Kim (253)
Davis Chatfield (321)
Jeremy Paul (301)
Neal Shipley (190)
Paul Waring (330)
Rafa Campos (546)
Isaiah Salinda (291)
Alejandro Tosti (379)
Christo Lamprecht (258)
Carson Young (182)
Camilo Villegas (495)
Danny Willett (383)
Tyler Duncan (513)
Ryan Brehm (1218)
Harry Higgs (320)
Nick Hardy (589)
Luke List (537)
Vijay Singh (1529)
Emilio Gonzalez (198)
Marcelo Rozo (539)
Troy Merritt (554)
Fabian Gomez (421)
S.T. Lee (316)
Cam Davis (313)
Zach Johnson (416)
TOP Q-SCHOOL FINISHERS (5)
TBD
NOS. 2-10 FROM PGA TOUR UNIVERSITY (9)
TBD
NOS. 31-50 FROM KFT (18)
Jay Card III (199)
Mitchell Meissner (281)
Davis Shore (350)
Mason Andersen (444)
Kyle Westmoreland (342)
Trent Phillips (292)
Joseph Bramlett (326)
Ben Taylor (374)
Norman Xiong (446)
Matt Atkins (514)
Hayden Buckley (464)
Nicolo Galletti (306)
Chris Korte (541)
Rayhan Thomas (474)
Justin Hastings (429)
Trevor Cone (312)
Taylor Montgomery (235)
Carson Bacha (361)
MEDICAL EXTENSIONS (14)
Brendon Todd (1,286)
K.H. Lee (803)
Aaron Wise (1,708)
Scott Stallings (NR)
Michael Thompson (2,234)
Nate Lashley (526)
C.T. Pan (901)
Tyler McCumber (2,483)
Vincent Norrman (1,238)
John Huh (NR)
David Lingmerth (1,478)
Aaron Baddeley (1,144)
Nicholas Lindheim (2,877)
Parker Coody (2,163)
Total members: 158
Average world rank (excluding medical category): 296.92
Average world rank of this week’s KFT event: 687.97