PGA Tour advisory council mulling big changes for 2026

The PGA Tour Player Advisory Council (PAC) is mulling changes for the 2026 season that could include reduced fields, relegation and majors on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Three members of the council shared the ideas with Golfweek in a story published Tuesday.

"We started talking and spitballing ideas about what things could look like. There were some ideas that seemed very good and would bring some consistency and true competitiveness to the top players in the world and still give a soft landing and a hopeful resurgence and opportunity if you fall off," Kevin Streelman told Golfweek.

One idea is to reduce field sizes down from 156 to 120 regardless of type of event, regular or signature. That would require reducing the number of exempt players from 125 down to as low as 100.

"I think it'd be gradual, so that's 125 to 120, 120 to 115 to slowly push lower and have less Q-School and Korn Ferry graduates," PAC member Lanto Griffin told Golfweek.

Tied to that would be an opportunity for in-season promotion to the Tour if some tournaments were designed as majors on the Korn Ferry circuit.

"In an ideal world, the PGA Tour should be 20-22 tournaments from January to August," Griffin told the outlet. "Then have some tournaments go to the Korn Ferry Tour; just throwing random names -- (Cognizant), a Valero, a Dominican, those are Korn Ferry majors. You win one of those and you get promoted (in-season). It's just an idea of having it where two signature events in a row, week off, three on, whatever it needs to be to where the top guys don't have to play every week."

Streelman told Golfweek he was "stoked" by the ideas and direction of the PAC.

"I'd say we're diligently working to try to appease the top players, our marketing partners, our fans and the integrity of the Tour and their competitions to deliver the greatest product and highlight the best players week after week," Streelman said.

Said PAC player director Peter Malnati, "How can we hang on to the traditions that are really important while making the product the best it can be?"

--Field Level Media