The PGA Tour is splitting into two tiers come 2028, with the Championship Series and the Challenger Series.
The Championship Series will feature some 15 PGA Tour-run events with a purse of at least $20 million, as well as the four major championships (which are run by outside organizations) and the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup, based on the year.
While qualifying criteria for the Championship Series is not finalized, the tournaments will mostly feature 120-player fields, with a cut after two rounds. The worst-performing players will be relegated at the end of the season, though there is the intention of a last-chance qualifying series for some of those players to retain their Championship Series access.
The Challenger Series will feature closer to 24 total events, all run by the PGA Tour and featuring a purse of $4 million. These tournaments will have full fields, and they'll mostly be played opposite Championship Series events and shown on cable TV. Championship Series players will not be able to play in Challenger Series events, and the only way that a Challenger Series player can move up during the season is by winning multiple events.
The PGA Tour has been starting a trickle of tournaments that will comprise the Championship Series, based on existing events, as well as those that they co-sanction. While the exact schedule and the location for every event isn't known, all but one tournament announced so far is already on the schedule. The new tournament, sponsored by insurance firm Sompo, will start in 2028, with a location and date to be announced.
2028 PGA Tour Championship Series schedule
Projected order
- The Sentry, Torrey Pines Golf Courses, La Jolla, Calif.
- Sompo Championship, TBD
- Arnold Palmer Invitational, Bay Hill Club and Lodge, Orlando, Fla.
- The Players Championship, TPC Sawgrass, Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
- Masters Tournament, Augusta National Golf Club, Augusta, Ga.
- Cadillac Championship, Trump National Doral, Doral, Fla.
- PGA Championship, The Olympic Club (2028), San Francisco, Calif.
- Travelers Championship, TPC River Highlands, Cromwell, Conn.
- US Open, Winged Foot Golf Club (2028), Mamaroneck, New York
- The Open Championship, Royal Lytham and St. Annes (2028), Lytham St. Annes, England
- Presidents Cup, Kingston Heath Golf Club (2028), Melbourne, Australia
The other existing Signature events are the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, The Genesis Invitational, RBC Heritage and Truist Championship. If all four are added to the Championship Series, the PGA Tour would still need to identify seven or eight additional events to round out the schedule.
The PGA Tour's deal with FedEx to sponsor the season-long FedEx Cup ends after next season, and we know the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis will not be part of the new Championship Series. The PGA Tour could potentially shorten the length of the playoffs down to two tournaments, with one playoff event and the Tour Championship. The Tour Championship is expected to continue on in some fashion, though that hasn't been formally announced.
