How it works: PGA Tour Championship Series
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PGA TOUR announces new competitive model for 2028 season, including the PGA TOUR Championship Series featuring the game’s top players competing together on a consistent basis. (David Cannon/Getty Images)
Designed to bring the best players in the world together to compete against each other on a consistent basis, the PGA Tour Championship Series represents the next chapter in elite competition on the PGA Tour.
Approved by the PGA Tour boards among a series of recommendations from the Future Competition Committee, the PGA Tour Championship Series will begin with the 2028 season as the upper echelon of a two-series competitive model. It will run concurrently with the PGA Tour Challenger Series, creating a true meritocracy to help identify the best golfers in the world.
Let’s dive into the details on how the PGA Tour Championship Series will operate – and how it will create increased stakes and heightened clarity for players, fans and partners.
Schedule
The PGA Tour Championship Series will feature 24 event weeks, with the regular season running from approximately February to August. That group will include 15 regular season events in addition to the THE PLAYERS Championship, four majors, the TOUR Championship as part of a reimagined postseason and an annual international team event (Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup). In 2028, when the PGA Tour Championship Series debuts, it will also include the Men’s Olympic Golf Competition. PGA Tour Championship Series members will not be eligible to play PGA Tour Challenger Series events.
While the THE PLAYERS and four major championships will continue to maintain eligibility criteria specific to their respective events, PGA Tour Championship Series members will otherwise have access to all regular season events, creating consistent, competitive fields.
The PGA Tour Championship Series schedule will be optimized around the major championships and will include off weeks at regular intervals. The full 2028 PGA Tour Championship Series schedule will be announced in February, but the pieces are coming together on which events will be included. For the most up-to-date info, visit the 2028 schedule tracker.
Format
Approximately 130 players will be eligible for the PGA Tour Championship Series each year, with 120-man fields expected on average for each regular season event. Importantly, that number will be flexible: PGA Tour Championship Series events will have no alternates or designated exemptions.
The membership criteria will include:
- Retained players – Top 90 players who retain PGA Tour Championship Series membership.
- Promoted players – Top 20 players who are promoted from the PGA Tour Challenger Series.
- Two-time winners – Players who win twice during the PGA Tour Challenger Series season.
- Two-year winner exemptions – Winners of PGA Tour Championship Series events, inclusive of THE PLAYERS and majors, receive PGA Tour Championship Series membership for the current season and the following two seasons. Winner exemptions do not extend beyond two years for multiple wins in a season.
- Medical extensions – Medical Extensions will be granted on a limited basis for injury or conditions that materially prevent competition, as determined by an outside review committee of independent medical experts.
- Career milestone exemptions – Players with exceptional PGA Tour careers – currently recognized through the Career Money List – will be eligible to use a one-time exemption on the PGA Tour Championship Series in 2029 and beyond. In order to do so, (1) the player must hold PGA Tour Championship Series membership the season prior and (2) the exemption must be used in the year immediately following loss of PGA Tour Championship Series membership. Career Milestone Exemptions for 2028 are listed below in transition-year eligibility
- Pathways – Future stars of the PGA Tour Championship Series will be captured through the Tour’s Pathways, including PGA Tour University and a “last chance” series.
- The No. 1 player from PGA Tour University following that season’s NCAA Championship will be eligible for the PGA Tour Championship Series that season and the following season.
- Three cards will be available via a “last chance” series.
Access available to top performers from the DP World Tour is being considered as part of the ongoing discussions regarding the future of the Strategic Alliance.
Importantly, 2027 will be a transition year for membership and eligibility, featuring slightly different implications as the PGA Tour sunsets its existing competitive structure. To view those specific criteria, click here.
Each PGA Tour Championship Series tournament will boast a prize purse of at least $20 million. Another key element will be the inclusion of a 36-hole cut, with each regular season event outside of the majors played across 72 holes with a cut to the top 65 and ties after 36 holes (with consideration for special formats, like a pro-am)
Structure
In order to remain in the PGA Tour Championship Series for the following year, players will need to play well. A single, consistent points structure will be utilized for all PGA Tour Championship Series events.
| PGA TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES POINTS DISTRIBUTION | |
| Place | Points |
| 1st | 300 |
| 2nd | 200 |
| 3rd | 150 |
| 4th | 130 |
| 5th | 125 |
| 6th | 120 |
| 7th | 115 |
| 8th | 110 |
| 9th | 105 |
| 10th | 100 |
| 11th | 84 |
| 12th | 83 |
| 13th | 82 |
| 14th | 81 |
| 15th | 80 |
| 16th | 79 |
| 17th | 78 |
| 18th | 77 |
| 19th | 76 |
| 20th | 75 |
| 21st | 74 |
| 22nd | 73 |
| 23rd | 72 |
| 24th | 71 |
| 25th | 70 |
| 26th | 69 |
| 27th | 68 |
| 28th | 67 |
| 29th | 66 |
| 30th | 65 |
| 31st | 64 |
| 32nd | 63 |
| 33rd | 62 |
| 34th | 61 |
| 35th | 60 |
| 36th | 59 |
| 37th | 58 |
| 38th | 57 |
| 39th | 56 |
| 40th | 55 |
| 41st | 54 |
| 42nd | 53 |
| 43rd | 52 |
| 44th | 51 |
| 45th | 50 |
| 46th | 49 |
| 47th | 48 |
| 48th | 47 |
| 49th | 46 |
| 50th | 45 |
| 51st | 44 |
| 52nd | 43 |
| 53rd | 42 |
| 54th | 41 |
| 55th | 40 |
| 56th | 39 |
| 57th | 38 |
| 58th | 37 |
| 59th | 36 |
| 60th | 35 |
| 61st | 34 |
| 62nd | 33 |
| 63rd | 32 |
| 64th | 31 |
| 65th | 30 |
At minimum, the top 90 players will be retained from the prior year’s points list. Those players who fail to retain membership will face potential relegation to the PGA Tour Challenger Series.
A minimum of 20 players from the PGA Tour Challenger Series will be promoted each year, with remaining spots determined through multiple criteria including tournament winners, medical extensions, career milestones and a new “last chance” series. Full eligibility criteria will be finalized later this year.
Reimagined season-ending structure
The top 90 players on the points list will qualify for the PGA Tour Championship Series Finale, where a season-long winner will be recognized. The top 32 players after that tournament will qualify for the TOUR Championship, a separate, standalone competition which will feature two weeks of match-play competition across different venues.
Week 1 of the TOUR Championship will see the 32-man field split into eight groups of four, with the top two players from each group advancing. Week 2 of the TOUR Championship will feature head-to-head matches, as all 16 participants play all four days of competition, with the last two undefeated players battling it out on the final day to be crowned Tour Champion. The TOUR Championship will rotate among a series of prestigious venues, some of which have never hosted a Tour event.
More information on changes to the season-ending structure for 2028 can be found here.
'Last chance' series
A key component to how the PGA Tour Championship Series will work in conjunction with the PGA Tour Challenger Series will be the structured element of promotion and relegation. That includes a new-look “last chance” series, made up of at least four events to determine some of the final spots on the PGA Tour Championship Series for the following season.
Contested in the fall, three players will earn PGA Tour Championship Series membership. Players must participate in all events in the series to earn a PGA Tour Championship Series card, pending any medical exclusion. The series will be contested after the annual Qualifying Tournament (Q-School) and will begin in the fall of 2028.
The field will include players who failed to retain PGA Tour Championship status, plus those from the PGA Tour Challenger Series who failed to earn an automatic promotion. Eligible players are as follows:
- PGA Tour Championship Series Relegated
- Players relegated from the PGA Tour Championship Series the season immediately preceding a “last chance” series.
- PGA Tour Challenger Series Retained
- Nos. 21-90 from the PGA Tour Challenger Series Points List in the season immediately preceding a “last chance” series.
- Twenty (20) players promoted from Korn Ferry Tour
- The 20 players promoted from the Korn Ferry Tour.
- PGA Tour University current season
- Nos. 2-5 in the PGA Tour University Ranking in the current season, following the conclusion of NCAA Championship.
- PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament (Q-School)
- The top five finishers from the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament immediately preceding a “last chance” series.
Fall international events
Following the TOUR Championship, the top players from the PGA Tour Championship Series will also be eligible for a limited series of elevated international events, played in the fall. Announced at a later date and intended to be delivered in conjunction with the DP World Tour as part of the Strategic Alliance between the two organizations, these events will include prominent national opens. The fall calendar of events will not count toward the points race to determine eligibility for the following season, but it will give the world's best players an opportunity to shine in front of new audiences on an international stage.
