Written by 
Christian Petersen/Getty Images
The PGA Tour’s advisory council has proposed several changes that if approved by the PGA Tour policy board would take effect starting with the 2026 season.
Per ESPN’s Mark Schlabach and Paolo Uggetti, the proposed changes include reducing the maximum number of players in a starting field for tournaments from 156 to 144; reducing the number of players who maintain their Tour card and full status from the top 125 finishers in the FedEx Cup to the top 100; reduce the number of Tour cards awarded annually to players on the Korn Ferry Tour from 30 to 20, and capping the Q-school cards at five.
There is also the possibility for reduced fields in certain circumstances when a tournament could be impacted by certain natural forces.
The example cited by the advisory committee in the executive summary noted that 28 percent of tournaments during the 2024 season had at least one round that wasn’t completed on the scheduled day due to darkness.
In those particular instances, tournament fields would be reduced from 132 players to 120. One tournament that would be impacted by that proposed change is the Players Championship, which currently features a 144-player field and would be reduced to 120.
Another proposed change would be to eliminate the open qualifying positions during the week of a tournament to fill any open spots in the field because 65 to 75 percent of those qualifiers don’t make the cut in the actual event.
Schlabach and Uggetti noted PGA Tour player advisory council chairman Camilo Villegas recently sent a letter to members in which he mentioned an “opportunity to shift our focus to address certain issues that are getting in the way of a fair and ideal player experience” that is preventing the “highest level of competition.”
It’s unclear if the PGA Tour policy board will approve the changes, but they will be discussed at the group’s next meeting on Nov. 18.