Will trimming excess make PGAT better?
Proposed exemption/field limits are business decisions disguised as competitive ideas
From Deane Beman (center) to Tim Finchem (right) to Jay Monahan, the commissioner’s job used to be about creating more player opportunities. Not anymore. (Stan Badz/PGA Tour)
It’s a simple concept: Take 125 exempt players and cut the list by almost 20 percent — or more specifically, 25 guys will lose their cards in 2026.
That is part of a larger proposal for significant changes that the Player Advisory Committee presented to the PGA Tour Policy Board this week.
Could you please explain why? The reason is simple: when any company or organization gets bloated, the knife comes out, and the bloating is eliminated.
In 1982, the last year before the All-Exempt Tour, the exempt player list included only 60 players. The rest, called rabbits, had to qualify on Monday if they wanted to play the following event.
The system could have been more robust and fair depending on who you believe.
Gary McCord, then a journeyman pro, came up with the simple solution of making the exempt list longer and eliminating the Monday qualifier.
The PGA Tour Commissioner Deane Beman agreed, and the All-Exempt Tour was born.
Of course, there were fits and starts, but it’s been the practice of the PGA Tour since 1983 and will likely continue until 2026 if the policy board votes on cutting it to the top 100.
Another significant change will be the reduction of sizes for full-field events from 156 to 144 players during Daylight Saving Time, with a decrease to mostly 120 or a maximum 132 as required by daylight.
The reasons for the changes are simple: The PGA Tour is in a total makeover mode in an effort to make it more competitive. The powers-that-be believe these changes will make the product more palatable to fans, corporations and television.
Let’s not be fooled; the days of creating as many playing opportunities as possible for its players — which was the cornerstone of the commissioner’s job for decades — are gone.