The Zurich Classic’s status as a premier PGA Tour event is in jeopardy.
Starting in 2028, New Orleans’ longstanding professional golf tournament could be relegated to de facto secondary status in the new tournament model announced Tuesday by PGA Tour officials.
The new system will be divided into two tiers: a championship series of 23-24 events, featuring the Tour’s premier players that includes the four majors (the PGA, the Masters, the U.S. Open and British Open), the Players Championship and international team events (Presidents Cup, Ryder Cup); and a challenger series of 20 or so events, which would feature smaller purses and lower-profile players and future stars.
The new model was among a series of recommendations from the Tour’s Future Competition Committee approved by members of the PGA Tour boards on Monday, PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp said in a release Tuesday. It will be built upon “a foundation of meritocracy,” the release said, with players moving between the two series through a formalized structure of promotion and relegation.
The Tour has already lined up 10 of the 15 remaining regular-season championship series events for 2028, the release said. The remaining events will either be filled by existing events, with the Zurich as an outside possibility, or new markets under consideration, such as Boston, Denver, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C.
What that means for the Zurich Classic remains to be seen. Since championship series players will not be eligible to participate in the challenger series events, a relegation to secondary status for the Zurich would mean the end of elite players like Rory McIlroy, Matt Fitzpatrick, Xander Schauffele and Jon Rahm, who have competed in and won the tournament in recent years.
Zurich officials were still gathering information when contacted Tuesday morning after the release was issued. Steve Worthy, the CEO of the Fore!Kids Foundation which operates the tournament for the PGA Tour, is expected to release a statement later on Tuesday.
“From day one, the focus of the Future Competition Committee has been to build the best version of the PGA Tour, and to do so in a way that reflects the voice of our players and the expectations of our fans,” Rolapp said. “The result is a new competitive model grounded in meritocracy, with clearer pathways, higher stakes and more consistency when the best players compete together.”
Every regular season event will feature 120-player fields on average and a cut with minimum purses of $20 million per event, Rolapp said at a press conference Tuesday.
“Ultimately, when fans tune into the PGA Tour Championship Series, they know they will see the best players in the world competing head-to-head,” he said.
If the Zurich Classic is relegated to the secondary challenger series it would be one of the most significant developments in the 88-year history of the event in New Orleans. The Zurich switched to a two-man team format in 2017, marking the first time an official FedEx Cup points-paying event used a team format since the 1981 Walt Disney World National Team Championship.
The challenger series will feature a slate of at least 20 events with purses of at least $4 million as players seek to earn promotions to the championship series. The tournaments will be played at traditional PGA Tour courses and run concurrently with the championship series events. They will feature fields of approximately 144 players, and be played across 72 holes with a 36-hole cut to the top 65 and ties.
Approximately seven of the challenger series events will be played during championship series off weeks, with increased consequence, benefits and exposure.
Players earn promotion from the challenger series to the championship series by winning two events during the season or by finishing the season in the top 20 on the points list.
Among the other changes and additions announced Tuesday:
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A reimagined season-ending championship event that will rotate among venues featuring the top championship series players. This will include courses the Tour has never visited before.
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A new postseason match play event.
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A designated regular season champion, determined by the Tour’s points system.
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A defined PGA Tour card retention system that rewards the top 90 finishers at a minimum on the championship series points list with cards for the following season. Players that finish outside that number face relegation to the challenger series.
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A later start date to the annual Tour schedule, which will run approximately from February to August.
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A strategic alliance with the DP World Tour, which will allow top players from the championship series to play in a limited series of elevated international events each fall.
“This model positions the PGA Tour for the future,” Rolapp said. “… At its core, this work was driven by a simple objective: To build the best version of the PGA Tour, something that could endure and outlive us all. Our focus now shifts to finalizing the details and preparing for implementation in 2028.”
(This story will be updated throughout the day.)
