After debuting the concept in 2023, the PGA Tour has solidifed the idea of Signature events for the 2026 PGA Tour season, which will run from January through the end of August as part of a calendar-year cadence.
There will be nine PGA Tour Signature events in 2026: The Sentry, AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, The Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational, RBC Heritage, Cadillac Championship, Truist Championship, the Memorial Tournament and Travelers Championship. (Ultimately, The Sentry was not played in 2026.)
The majors, The Players and the FedEx Cup playoff events are not considered Signature events, and they'll stand on their own as huge tournaments on the PGA Tour schedule. They have their own qualifying criteria that will not be determined largely by the prior year's FedEx Cup standings. (Though the top 30 in the prior year FedEx Cup effectively get in all four majors and The Players, and the top 70 who get into the playoffs get into The Players.)
The field for each of the eight Signature events will largely be determined by the top 50 finishers in the 2026 FedEx Cup final standings. Every player who qualified for the second stage of the playoffs at the BMW Championship will be in every Signature event.
Five of those Signature events will not have a cut, while The Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Memorial Tournament will all have a 36-hole cut to the top 50 players and ties. Those three player-hosted Signature events also award 20 percent of the total purse to the champion, meaning the winner gets $4 million for first place instead of $3.6 million at the Signature events outside of The Sentry.
Beyond the top 50 in the FedEx Cup from the prior year, there will be other ways to get in the field based on the current season and the most recent string of events prior to the next Signature event.
In 2026, the Signature events, outside of The Sentry, all have a minimum field size of 72 players. If necessary to reach that minimum number, the Tour will go down the Aon Next 10 standings -- which is the top 10 players in the current-season FedEx Cup standings not already exempt into a Signature event -- to add players to the field.
Also new is an exemption for any player with at least 80 PGA Tour wins. There's only one: Tiger Woods.
Who qualifies for the PGA Tour Signature events
- The top 50 players from the previous year’s FedEx Cup points list
- The top 10 players not otherwise eligible using the current FedEx Cup standings in the week prior to the Signature event
- The top five players not otherwise eligible earning the most FedEx Cup points between Signature events
- PGA Tour members in the top 30 Official World Golf Ranking
- Current year PGA Tour winners with at least 500 FedEx Cup points to the champion, not otherwise eligible through the above criteria
- All events (excluding The Sentry) have four sponsor exemptions available to them to add to the field
- Tiger Woods, or any player with at least 80 PGA Tour wins
- One-player special exemptions for The Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Memorial Tournament
- Aon Next 10 standings to reach the field minimum
