PGA Tour star and two-time major champion Fuzzy Zoeller has passed away at the age of 74, according to ESPN. An immediate cause of death was not made available. He is survived by his three children, Gus, Miles, and Gretchen. Zoeller’s late wife, Diane Thornton Zoeller, previously passed away in 2021.
Zoeller remains the last golfer to win the Masters on his first attempt. He accomplished the feat back in 1979, defeating Ed Sneed and Tom Watson in a three-man playoff. Sneed bogeyed the final three holes, allowing Zoeller and Watson to catch him.
Five years later, Zoeller won the second major of his career. He famously waved the white flag at the 1984 U.S. Open, thinking the 40-foot putt Greg Norman sank on 18 was for birdie. As it turned out, it was only for par, which allowed Zoeller to equal his score.
The two men played an 18-hole playoff the following day, which Fuzzy won by eight strokes.
But the memory of Zoeller was tarnished 13 years later.
As a young Tiger Woods was in the process of decimating the Masters field, Zoeller made racist remarks that haunted him for years.
“That little boy is driving well, and he’s putting well. He’s doing everything it takes to win. So, you know what you guys do when he gets in here? You pat him on the back and say congratulations, and enjoy it, and tell him not to serve fried chicken next year,” Zoeller said.
As he was walking away, he turned and said, “Or collard greens or whatever the hell they serve.”
Zoeller later stated that he received death threats for years afterward. In 2008, the eight-time PGA Tour winner wrote it was “the worst thing I’ve gone through in my entire life.”
“If people wanted me to feel the same hurt I projected on others, I’m here to tell you they got their way,” Zoeller wrote. “I’ve cried many times. I’ve apologized countless times for words said in jest that just aren’t a reflection of who I am. I have hundreds of friends, including people of color, who will attest to that.
“Still, I’ve come to terms with the fact that this incident will never, ever go away.”

Only a few hours ago, Rory McIlroy addressed the PIF-PGA Tour merger issue. As the deal nears closure, the Irishman said there is too much animosity between both sides for the unification to go smoothly. And to everyone’s surprise, Bryson DeChambeau seems to agree with what McIlroy had to say.
In an interview with Fox Sports, DeChambeau told Ryan Morik, “Man, I wish something major would happen, but I don’t think it’s going to in the immediate future. I think there are too many wants on both sides and not enough gives on the other.”
Both LIV Golf and the PGA Tour are trying to negotiate the most profitable deal in the situation. Back in April 2025, Jay Monahan & Co. had already offered the PIF a $500 million credit to proceed with the merger. The low-ball offer had offended Yasir Al-Rumayyan, who was seen leaving the White House in frustration.
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LIV Golf has also tried to take advantage of the situation. They proposed an open door for both Tours to share players, which would give them access to top talents like Rory McIlroy & Scottie Scheffler.
DeChambeau also added, “I won’t speak for anybody, but I think there will be improvements for the game as time goes on. It’s a positive disruption, and it’ll take time to let the water settle and make a perfect scenario where we all come back together. Ultimately, I think it’ll be good for the game over time.”
LIV Golf is moving towards OWGR authorization. They will be able to attract golfers just like the PGA Tour. They have already standardized the event format to 72 holes. Scott O’Neil is also opening the gates for more talent through their Promotions Event.
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The league may be considered a disruption now. But the Crushers GC captain believes it is a positive one. As LIV Golf grows over the next few years, it will create new avenues for pros. Avenues that extend beyond tournaments in the United States, Europe, & Africa.
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All the rumors aside, things won’t move ahead if the leaders of both leagues aren’t ready for it. And it seems one side is not prioritizing the merger right now.
Is the PGA Tour not eager to move ahead with the merger?
Bryson DeChambeau & Rory McIlroy may have had their say. And they suggested that both the Tours will need some time before the unification could happen. However, the new PGA Tour CEO is also in no rush to work on it right now.
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His first course of action as the new CEO was to clear the air about the PIF-PGA Tour merger. In a press conference, Brian Rolapp confirmed that the PGA Tour is not prioritizing the issue at the moment.
Instead, the Tour has been focused on the growth of its best talent. The PGA Tour is not eager about the merger. LIV Golf is focused on its own growth. And the players are sorting out their differences. So this is probably not the right time for the merger to get through.

2025 was a year Max Homa fell further down the ladder. He missed 8 cuts instead of 4 that he did in 2024. He finished 111th on the FedEx Cup leaderboard, unlike the 46th place he achieved last season. That made him think that he needed to change things around. Back in April, he hired Scott Ran as his new swing coach.
But Homa realized that was not the issue. So now he’s back with Mark Blackburn. His old coach talked about what it is like working with his former boss again. Blackburn joined GOLF’s Subpar to discuss being back on the job again. That’s when Colt Knost asked him what it was like being back to working with Homa.
Speaking about how they parted ways, Blackburn told Knost, “I don’t really understand why you want to leave. But I respect it. Sometimes you need a different perspective. I wish you the best of luck. The door’s always open if you ever want to come back.”
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Mark expressed that he was surprised when Max wanted to part ways. But he was also stunned when Homa approached him after his trip to Japan. “I have a soft spot for Maxwell. So, here we are. 2.0,” said Blackburn as he announced their reunion after seven months.
Max Homa’s trip to Japan was not a pleasant memory. He managed two rounds of 2-over 73. The 35-year-old ended the tournament at T40. That was disappointing, considering he had been finding a bit of consistency in the last couple of events. And being back with his old coach helped him.
“There’s a difference between teaching and coaching. I know I can be hard on players, but it’s because I want the best for them. The methods, people might not like it at the time, but when there’s an absence from it, they realize there’s a method to the madness, and it’s actually pretty good.”
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Immediately after returning to duty, Blackburn helped Homa get into the right frame of mind. And right in the next tournament, he produced a positive result. No, he didn’t end his winless streak. But Homa did register the second top-10 finish of the season, a T9 in the Bank of Utah Championship.
However, as Blackburn mentioned, Homa’s goals had changed from what they were last year. Back then, he wanted to qualify for the Presidents Cup. So he focused on making the Team U.S. squad, and he did do that, despite the fury of the community. That’s where things got a bit “problematic” between them.
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As one would expect, that didn’t help him find consistency this year. Homa was really struggling at the beginning of the season. That’s what forced him to change his coaches. Nevertheless, Blackburn still acknowledged the efforts of Scott Ran & his team.
But coming back to working with Max Homa, Mark Blackburn said, “Now he’s come back and likes where we’re heading. I’m very optimistic that 26 will be really good. He’s a good player. I think sometimes a breakaway is healthy. It’s good. Excited to be helping him again.”
Mark Blackburn is anticipating a great season for Max Homa in 2026. But has he retained his status on the PGA Tour after a poor finish to the season?
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Will Max Homa’s bad finish in 2025 limit his opportunities next year?
Max Homa struggled throughout the 2025 season. In fact, things got so bad that he even went out to admit “grown men are like crying by their cars.” He may very well have been one of them after finishing 105th on the FedEx Cup leaderboard.
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However, unlike everyone else, Homa will still retain his PGA Tour status. Due to their winning record on the PGA Tour, he and Billy Horschel (116th) have retained their PGA Tour memberships for 2026.
He may not automatically qualify for Signature events or majors. But now that Max Homa is back with Mark Blackburn, he may slowly find his form back early in the season. A win or two before the Signature events begin, and he should be in the run on the biggest stages in professional golf once again.
The only question that remains is: Does Max Homa still have what it takes to win on the PGA Tour after enduring a two-year winless streak?

Thursday
At Royal Queensland GC
Brisbane, Australia
Purse: $1.6 million
Yardage: 7,085; Par: 71
First Round
Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez, Spain 32-31—63 Brett Rankin, Australia 31-33—64 Rocco Repetto Taylor, Spain 29-35—64 Daniel Gale, Australia 34-31—65 Marc Leishman, Australia 35-32—67 Clement Charmasson, France 36-31—67 Wenyi Ding, China 35-32—67 Ryan Fox, New Zealand 34-33—67 Tapio Pulkkanen, Finland 34-33—67 Anthony Quayle, Australia 34-33—67 Daniel Hillier, New Zealand 34-34—68 Christopher Wood, Australia 30-38—68 Cameron Davis, Australia 37-31—68 Sebastian Munoz, Colombia 33-35—68 Josele Ballester, Spain 34-34—68 Adam Brady, Australia 35-33—68 Alex Fitzpatrick, England 37-31—68 Josh Geary, New Zealand 36-32—68 Min Woo Lee, Australia 36-32—68 Curtis Luck, Australia 34-34—68 James Morrison, England 35-33—68 Wade Ormsby, Australia 35-33—68 David Puig, Spain 35-33—68 Adam Scott, Australia 34-34—68 Austin Bautista, Australia 35-33—68 Rafa Cabrera Bello, Spain 35-33—68 Ricardo Gouveia, Portugal 35-34—69 Geoff Ogilvy, Australia 34-35—69 Harrison Crowe, Australia 34-35—69 Jordan Gumberg, United States 35-34—69 Yuto Katsuragawa, Japan 36-33—69 Abraham Ancer, Mexico 34-35—69 Nathan Kimsey, England 35-34—69 David Law, Scotland 36-33—69 Renato Paratore, Italy 36-33—69 Shubhankar Sharma, India 36-33—69 Jonathan Broomhead, South Africa 34-35—69 Cory Crawford, Australia 36-33—69 Kazuma Kobori, New Zealand 36-33—69 James Marchesani, Australia 36-33—69 Jason Scrivener, Australia 35-34—69 Cameron Smith, Australia 36-33—69 Elvis Smylie, Australia 35-34—69 Maximilian Steinlechner, Austria 35-34—69 Tyler Wood, Australia 34-35—69 Sudarshan Yellamaraju, Canada 33-36—69 Lachlan Barker, Australia 37-32—69 Tom Vaillant, France 33-37—70 Andrew Martin, Australia 34-36—70 Jack Senior, England 36-34—70 Bernd Wiesberger, Austria 36-34—70 Nathan Barbieri, Australia 39-31—70 Davis Bryant, United States 34-36—70 Nicolas Colsaerts, Belgium 36-34—70 Joshua Berry, England 38-32—70 Sean Crocker, United States 35-35—70 Matthew Griffin, Australia 36-34—70 Stefano Mazzoli, Italy 36-34—70 Jake McLeod, Australia 38-32—70 Yannik Paul, Germany 34-36—70 Marco Penge, England 34-36—70 Robin Williams, South Africa 35-35—70 Gavin Fairfax, Australia 33-37—70 Matias Sanchez, Australia 38-32—70 Adri Arnaus, Spain 34-36—70 Connor McDade, Australia 32-38—70 Oliver Bekker, South Africa 34-37—71 Jack Buchanan, Australia 36-35—71 Tobias Jonsson, Sweden 38-33—71 Jack Munro, Australia 37-34—71 Ryan Peake, Australia 35-36—71 Freddy Schott, Germany 36-35—71 Michael Wright, Australia 35-36—71 Fabrizio Zanotti, Paraguay 35-36—71 Clement Sordet, France 35-36—71 Sam Bairstow, England 36-35—71 Haydn Barron, Australia 37-34—71 Jak Carter, Australia 37-34—71 Ugo Coussaud, France 39-32—71 Quinnton Croker, Australia 37-34—71 Gregorio De Leo, Italy 34-37—71 Joel Girrbach, Switzerland 36-35—71 Andreas Halvorsen, Norway 37-34—71 Matt Jones, Australia 35-36—71 Jason Norris, Australia 35-36—71 Carlos Ortiz, Mexico 37-34—71 Eddie Pepperell, England 36-35—71 Alex Simpson, Australia 37-34—71 Thomas Sims, Australia 36-35—71 Callum Tarren, England 35-36—71 Mako Thompson, New Zealand 33-38—71 Mike Toorop, Netherlands 37-34—71 Nick Voke, New Zealand 35-36—71 Matthew Baldwin, England 35-36—71 Jordan Doull, Australia 34-37—71 Joaquin Niemann, Chile 36-35—71 Denzel Ieremia, New Zealand 36-36—72 Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Thailand 38-34—72 James Conran, Australia 35-37—72 Fred Biondi, Brazil 37-35—72 Adam Bland, Australia 34-38—72 Andrew Campbell, Australia 37-35—72 Will Florimo, Australia 36-36—72 Jayden Ford, New Zealand 36-36—72 Jeffrey Guan, Australia 36-36—72 Cameron John, Australia 37-35—72 Douglas Klein, Australia 36-36—72 Christopher Malec, United States 34-38—72 Connor McKinney, Australia 37-35—72 Kerry Mountcastle, New Zealand 38-34—72 Blake Proverbs, Australia 36-36—72 Daniel Rodrigues, Portugal 35-37—72 Ryan Van Velzen, South Africa 37-35—72 Jack Yule, England 36-36—72 Aaron Cockerill, Canada 38-34—72 Daniel Young, Scotland 35-37—72 Jye Pickin, Australia 37-35—72 Kameron Williams, United States 36-36—72 Greg Chalmers, Australia 36-37—73 Rafael Campos, Puerto Rico 37-36—73 Filippo Celli, Italy 35-38—73 Benjamin Follett-Smith, Zimbabwe 38-35—73 Tim Hart, Australia 36-37—73 Simon Hawkes, Australia 39-34—73 Jediah Morgan, Australia 36-37—73 Brett Rumford, Australia 37-36—73 Mitchell Smith, Australia 38-35—73 Jack Thompson, Australia 38-35—73 Michael Hollick, South Africa 38-35—73 Peter Lonard, Australia 38-35—73 Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, Denmark 38-36—74 Darcy Brereton, Australia 37-37—74 Ben Eccles, Australia 38-36—74 Marcus Fraser, Australia 38-36—74 Andres Gallegos, Argentina 38-36—74 Tyler Hodge, New Zealand 37-37—74 Andrew Johnston, England 36-38—74 Hunter Logan, United States 38-36—74 Quim Vidal, Spain 37-37—74 Brendan Jones, Australia 36-39—75 Dylan Gardner, Australia 40-35—75 Cameron Adam, Scotland 41-34—75 William Bruyeres, Australia 38-37—75 Andrew Evans, Australia 37-38—75 Mason Lee, New Zealand 40-35—75 Rod Pampling, Australia 38-37—75 Jasper Stubbs, Australia 36-39—75 David Micheluzzi, Australia 36-39—75 Ben Henkel, Australia 43-33—76 Corey Lamb, Australia 36-40—76 Brady Watt, Australia 40-36—76 Jimmy Zheng, New Zealand 39-37—76 Jay Mackenzie, Australia 39-37—76 Phoenix Campbell, Australia 39-39—78 Brody Martin, Australia 36-42—78 Lachlan Chamberlain, Australia 38-41—79
Copyright © 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

Thursday
At Royal Queensland GC
Brisbane, Australia
Purse: $1.6 million
Yardage: 7,085; Par: 71
First Round
Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez, Spain 32-31—63 -8 Brett Rankin, Australia 31-33—64 -7 Rocco Repetto Taylor, Spain 29-35—64 -7 Daniel Gale, Australia 34-31—65 -6 Marc Leishman, Australia 35-32—67 -4 Clement Charmasson, France 36-31—67 -4 Wenyi Ding, China 35-32—67 -4 Ryan Fox, New Zealand 34-33—67 -4 Tapio Pulkkanen, Finland 34-33—67 -4 Anthony Quayle, Australia 34-33—67 -4 Daniel Hillier, New Zealand 34-34—68 -3 Christopher Wood, Australia 30-38—68 -3 Cameron Davis, Australia 37-31—68 -3 Sebastian Munoz, Colombia 33-35—68 -3 Josele Ballester, Spain 34-34—68 -3 Adam Brady, Australia 35-33—68 -3 Alex Fitzpatrick, England 37-31—68 -3 Josh Geary, New Zealand 36-32—68 -3 Min Woo Lee, Australia 36-32—68 -3 Curtis Luck, Australia 34-34—68 -3 James Morrison, England 35-33—68 -3 Wade Ormsby, Australia 35-33—68 -3 David Puig, Spain 35-33—68 -3 Adam Scott, Australia 34-34—68 -3 Austin Bautista, Australia 35-33—68 -3 Rafa Cabrera Bello, Spain 35-33—68 -3 Ricardo Gouveia, Portugal 35-34—69 -2 Geoff Ogilvy, Australia 34-35—69 -2 Harrison Crowe, Australia 34-35—69 -2 Jordan Gumberg, United States 35-34—69 -2 Yuto Katsuragawa, Japan 36-33—69 -2 Abraham Ancer, Mexico 34-35—69 -2 Nathan Kimsey, England 35-34—69 -2 David Law, Scotland 36-33—69 -2 Renato Paratore, Italy 36-33—69 -2 Shubhankar Sharma, India 36-33—69 -2 Jonathan Broomhead, South Africa 34-35—69 -2 Cory Crawford, Australia 36-33—69 -2 Kazuma Kobori, New Zealand 36-33—69 -2 James Marchesani, Australia 36-33—69 -2 Jason Scrivener, Australia 35-34—69 -2 Cameron Smith, Australia 36-33—69 -2 Elvis Smylie, Australia 35-34—69 -2 Maximilian Steinlechner, Austria 35-34—69 -2 Tyler Wood, Australia 34-35—69 -2 Sudarshan Yellamaraju, Canada 33-36—69 -2 Lachlan Barker, Australia 37-32—69 -2 Tom Vaillant, France 33-37—70 -1 Andrew Martin, Australia 34-36—70 -1 Jack Senior, England 36-34—70 -1 Bernd Wiesberger, Austria 36-34—70 -1 Nathan Barbieri, Australia 39-31—70 -1 Davis Bryant, United States 34-36—70 -1 Nicolas Colsaerts, Belgium 36-34—70 -1 Joshua Berry, England 38-32—70 -1 Sean Crocker, United States 35-35—70 -1 Matthew Griffin, Australia 36-34—70 -1 Stefano Mazzoli, Italy 36-34—70 -1 Jake McLeod, Australia 38-32—70 -1 Yannik Paul, Germany 34-36—70 -1 Marco Penge, England 34-36—70 -1 Robin Williams, South Africa 35-35—70 -1 Gavin Fairfax, Australia 33-37—70 -1 Matias Sanchez, Australia 38-32—70 -1 Adri Arnaus, Spain 34-36—70 -1 Connor McDade, Australia 32-38—70 -1 Oliver Bekker, South Africa 34-37—71 E Jack Buchanan, Australia 36-35—71 E Tobias Jonsson, Sweden 38-33—71 E Jack Munro, Australia 37-34—71 E Ryan Peake, Australia 35-36—71 E Freddy Schott, Germany 36-35—71 E Michael Wright, Australia 35-36—71 E Fabrizio Zanotti, Paraguay 35-36—71 E Clement Sordet, France 35-36—71 E Sam Bairstow, England 36-35—71 E Haydn Barron, Australia 37-34—71 E Jak Carter, Australia 37-34—71 E Ugo Coussaud, France 39-32—71 E Quinnton Croker, Australia 37-34—71 E Gregorio De Leo, Italy 34-37—71 E Joel Girrbach, Switzerland 36-35—71 E Andreas Halvorsen, Norway 37-34—71 E Matt Jones, Australia 35-36—71 E Jason Norris, Australia 35-36—71 E Carlos Ortiz, Mexico 37-34—71 E Eddie Pepperell, England 36-35—71 E Alex Simpson, Australia 37-34—71 E Thomas Sims, Australia 36-35—71 E Callum Tarren, England 35-36—71 E Mako Thompson, New Zealand 33-38—71 E Mike Toorop, Netherlands 37-34—71 E Nick Voke, New Zealand 35-36—71 E Matthew Baldwin, England 35-36—71 E Jordan Doull, Australia 34-37—71 E Joaquin Niemann, Chile 36-35—71 E Denzel Ieremia, New Zealand 36-36—72 +1 Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Thailand 38-34—72 +1 James Conran, Australia 35-37—72 +1 Fred Biondi, Brazil 37-35—72 +1 Adam Bland, Australia 34-38—72 +1 Andrew Campbell, Australia 37-35—72 +1 Will Florimo, Australia 36-36—72 +1 Jayden Ford, New Zealand 36-36—72 +1 Jeffrey Guan, Australia 36-36—72 +1 Cameron John, Australia 37-35—72 +1 Douglas Klein, Australia 36-36—72 +1 Christopher Malec, United States 34-38—72 +1 Connor McKinney, Australia 37-35—72 +1 Kerry Mountcastle, New Zealand 38-34—72 +1 Blake Proverbs, Australia 36-36—72 +1 Daniel Rodrigues, Portugal 35-37—72 +1 Ryan Van Velzen, South Africa 37-35—72 +1 Jack Yule, England 36-36—72 +1 Aaron Cockerill, Canada 38-34—72 +1 Daniel Young, Scotland 35-37—72 +1 Jye Pickin, Australia 37-35—72 +1 Kameron Williams, United States 36-36—72 +1 Greg Chalmers, Australia 36-37—73 +2 Rafael Campos, Puerto Rico 37-36—73 +2 Filippo Celli, Italy 35-38—73 +2 Benjamin Follett-Smith, Zimbabwe 38-35—73 +2 Tim Hart, Australia 36-37—73 +2 Simon Hawkes, Australia 39-34—73 +2 Jediah Morgan, Australia 36-37—73 +2 Brett Rumford, Australia 37-36—73 +2 Mitchell Smith, Australia 38-35—73 +2 Jack Thompson, Australia 38-35—73 +2 Michael Hollick, South Africa 38-35—73 +2 Peter Lonard, Australia 38-35—73 +2 Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, Denmark 38-36—74 +3 Darcy Brereton, Australia 37-37—74 +3 Ben Eccles, Australia 38-36—74 +3 Marcus Fraser, Australia 38-36—74 +3 Andres Gallegos, Argentina 38-36—74 +3 Tyler Hodge, New Zealand 37-37—74 +3 Andrew Johnston, England 36-38—74 +3 Hunter Logan, United States 38-36—74 +3 Quim Vidal, Spain 37-37—74 +3 Brendan Jones, Australia 36-39—75 +4 Dylan Gardner, Australia 40-35—75 +4 Cameron Adam, Scotland 41-34—75 +4 William Bruyeres, Australia 38-37—75 +4 Andrew Evans, Australia 37-38—75 +4 Mason Lee, New Zealand 40-35—75 +4 Rod Pampling, Australia 38-37—75 +4 Jasper Stubbs, Australia 36-39—75 +4 David Micheluzzi, Australia 36-39—75 +4 Ben Henkel, Australia 43-33—76 +5 Corey Lamb, Australia 36-40—76 +5 Brady Watt, Australia 40-36—76 +5 Jimmy Zheng, New Zealand 39-37—76 +5 Jay Mackenzie, Australia 39-37—76 +5 Phoenix Campbell, Australia 39-39—78 +7 Brody Martin, Australia 36-42—78 +7 Lachlan Chamberlain, Australia 38-41—79 +8
Copyright © 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Sebastian Garcia completed his weather-delayed first round early Friday at Royal Queensland to finish with an 8-under 63 and a one-stroke lead at the Australian PGA Championship.
The Spanish golfer had completed 15 holes at 7-under on Thursday before a mid-afternoon thunderstorm delay. The weather delay and suspension meant about half the 156-player field were forced to complete their first rounds on Friday morning.
Tied for second with 64s after completing their first rounds on Friday were Brett Rankin and Garcia’s countryman Rocco Repetto Taylor. Taylor shot 29 on his back nine which included a six-hole stretch where he had two birdies, two eagles and two birdies.
Before the storm hit, and fresh from an eight-week break after a season that included his first two tournament wins on the PGA Tour, Ryan Fox shot 67 and was among those tied for the lead among those who had finished their rounds.
The tournament is co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour of Australia and the European tour, which is starting its 2025-26 season just two weeks after Rory McIlroy won the Race to Dubai title.
Fox won this year’s Myrtle Beach Classic and Canadian Open on the PGA Tour.
Fox was level with Australian Anthony Quayle and 2024 Asia-Pacific amateur champion Ding Wenyi in a group at 4-under. Adam Scott, the 2013 Masters champion, and fellow Australian Min Woo Lee each shot 68.
Quayle had a familiar name as caddie — Steve Williams. On the bag for 13 of Tiger Woods’ major titles, Williams also caddied for Scott when he won the Masters in 2013.
“I met him at the New Zealand Open earlier this year … got on fairly well and I said, ‘Do you mind if we go grab a coffee afterwards, I’d love to pick your brain?‘” Quayle said after his bogey-free round Thursday. “He said ‘I’ll give you my number, I’ll come caddie for you.’”
Former British Open champion and LIV Tour regular Cameron Smith, winless in more than two years, shot 69, as did the defending champion Elvis Smylie.
Smith, who has won the Australian PGA three times and was runner-up last year, had five top-10 finishes in 13 regular LIV Golf events this season. But he missed his sixth straight cut at last week’s Saudi International in Riyadh.
Marco Penge, who won three times on the European tour this year and is the tournament’s highest-ranked player at No. 30, shot 70.
On Wednesday, the big-hitting Englishman withdrew from the pro-am and said he had been receiving physiotherapy treatment for a neck strain.
“No, it’s not great,” Penge, 27, said Wednesday at Royal Queensland. “The physios here are helping me out. I think I’ve had five physio sessions in the last 24 hours, so we’re doing everything I can to feel OK.”
There were two aces on Thursday — Kazumu Kobori’s wedge into the 17th party hole went for a hole in one before Daniel Gale won a sponsor’s car with his effort on the 11th.
McIlroy will highlight the field in next week’s Australian Open at Royal Melbourne beginning Dec. 4.
___
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
Copyright © 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

The official 2025 PGA Tour season is over, and golf nerds are getting impatient. Turning towards next year’s early rank predictions seems like the only viable choice. Early stats have rolled in, and many sit comfortably in the top 50. However, one name, Rickie Fowler, finds itself at the crossroads yet again.
For much of the past decade, Fowler has been one of golf’s most marketable faces. But stats by X’s Nosferatu indicate he will neither crack the top 50 in OWGR by this year’s end, nor qualify for the season’s first major event at Augusta. Fowler right now sits at 83. The 2026 edition will be his second consecutive miss.
In November, Rickie Fowler admitted to injuring his shoulder, which had forced him to take an extended break from competition. This hiatus couldn’t have come at a worse time. He couldn’t compete in the PGA Tour’s fall stretch, the only breathing ground for bubble players like him, and now, he is falling deep in the rabbit hole. This is a grim outlook for someone who was once likely to win the Green Jacket.
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Between 2014 and 2018, Fowler was among the most consistent performers at Augusta. He finished runner-up four times in five years and was a tough wall to crack. But that was a different era. An era when fancily clothed Fowler would be the favorite on the course. Now, there’s a drought with the last PGA Tour win in 2023 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. Surprisingly, there was still hope during the season.
Fowler posted three top-10 finishes from his side, including a T6 at the FedEx St. Jude Championship and a T7 at the BMW Championship. But those finishes could never turn into victories. Apart from the Masters, Rickie Fowler didn’t qualify for the US Open either and missed the cut at the PGA Championship. The only good major result was at The Open, where he registered a T14.
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Fowler qualified for the Royal Portrush event after winning a tiebreaker against Brandt Snedeker. That was the highest-finishing non-exempt spot via the Open Qualifying Series. Such flashes of brilliance showed a player who was resilient enough to persevere. But then came his injury. Hence, he sits far out of the top-50 cutoff criteria, which will close on December 31. The secondary cutoff will be on March 30, 2026.
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Can Rickie Fowler still make it to the Masters?
The secondary cutoff date for the master’s is on March 30, 2026. For Rickie Fowler to make a dent, he would have to show several top finishes in the early-season events. But will his lingering shoulder injury allow that? Nevertheless, Fowler is set to make a comeback in January 2026 at The American Express, if his injury permits.
But injury won’t be his only hurdle. His professional landscape has also seen some rust. Last year, his long-standing sponsorship with Grant Thornton ended, and he could not automatically qualify for this fixture event. He also missed an invitation to Tiger Woods‘ Hero World Challenge, which was also a fixture. A large part of his year was reliant on the sponsors’ exemption. Which, in retrospect, could be another way he could scramble in.
In the most far-fetched scenario, Rickie Fowler can earn a special invitation to Augusta National. That’s a privilege rarely granted to established professionals, so it’s highly unlikely. But the American has long been loved by his audiences and can generate good viewership for the event. His 2025 anyway saw him contesting due to such exemptions. A total of seven such exemptions, but they were also enough to cause significant murmurs in the golf community. That’s why a special invitation by a major event to Fowler is highly unlikely, but holds a little possibility.
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“This is a place you don’t want to miss. Sitting on the couch is one of the few events that you would watch as a fan and professional golfer, but it’s a lot better when you’re a part of it and actually playing,” said Rickie Fowler about the Masters once. He’ll be hoping he isn’t spending another Masters week on that couch again.

In 2007, Colt Knost swept the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Amateur Public Links. He then helped Team USA win the Walker Cup. Eighteen years later, he’s asking permission to compete as an amateur again.
The former PGA Tour pro and current CBS broadcaster confirmed the next chapter of his controversial journey in November 2025. Speaking on the Monday Q Info podcast, Knost revealed the USGA’s response to his October application. “I actually received an email last week, I believe from the USGA. It looks like 2028 at the earliest,” Knost said.
Then came the signature Knost humor. “The mid-world does not need to worry. I’m not coming to take over your sport or anything like that,” he added. The announcement landed weeks after his initial application sparked outrage. Critics flooded his DMs. Career amateurs accused him of stealing spots from lifelong weekend warriors. Knost absorbed the backlash with a shrug.
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“God forbid just a man just reach out and try to get some answers to some questions,” Knost remarked.
Behind the trolling lies a genuine motivation. Knost isn’t chasing trophies or backdooring his way into Augusta. He wants something far more personal.
“The Walker Cup has always meant so much to me. I don’t know if I even have a chance, but I was like, ‘Hey, if you’re an amateur, you probably have a little better chance than being a tour professional,’” Knost explained.
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He played on the victorious 2007 U.S. Walker Cup team at Royal County Down. He went 2-0-2 alongside future stars like Dustin Johnson. For Knost, that experience remains the pinnacle of his golfing life. Now 40, he dreams of returning as captain. There’s precedent here. Jim Holtgrieve, a reinstated amateur, captained the U.S. squad in 2011 and 2013. More recently, the R&A appointed former European Tour pro Dean Robertson as Great Britain & Ireland’s captain for 2025. The door is open.
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Billy Horschel publicly endorsed Knost’s aspirations on X: “You’ve got my vote for future Walker Cup Captain!” The USGA’s Rule 5 governs reinstatement for former professionals. The minimum waiting period for minor cases is 6 months. But for players with successful careers and significant earnings, that timeline stretches dramatically.
Knost checks every box. He made 199 PGA Tour starts between 2009 and 2020. He won twice on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2008. His career earnings exceeded $5 million across all circuits. The USGA requires roughly eight years from a player’s final professional appearance for someone with that pedigree.
His last competitive round came at the 2020 Waste Management Phoenix Open. He missed the cut, then walked away at 34.
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Do USGA Reinstatement Rules Create an Uneven Playing Field?
Knost’s application didn’t ignite the controversy. It poured gasoline on an existing fire.
The U.S. Mid-Amateur has become a battleground between career amateurs and reinstated professionals. Six of the eight 2025 U.S. Mid-Amateur quarterfinalists were former pros. Brandon Holtz, who regained amateur status in 2024 after six years on mini-tours, won the championship. His prize? Invitations to both the Masters and U.S. Open.
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Critics argue former pros possess a permanent structural advantage. Years of full-time training create skills that never fully erode. Knost fired back with characteristic bluntness. “I’ve tried to tell all these very reasonable, sensible people in my DMs that it’s not me here, okay? I’m not the one who made this up,” Knost said.
He has a point. The USGA allows reinstatement. Approximately 800 former professionals apply each year. Virtually none are denied. The rules aren’t the problem. Or maybe they are. Either way, Knost is simply following them. Here’s the twist he finds endlessly amusing. During his PGA Tour career, social media told him he wasn’t good enough. Now they insist he’s too good for the Mid-Am.
“I find it hilarious that when I was playing on the PGA Tour, Twitter always told me I was too shitty to be out on the tour. Now I’m talking about possibly becoming a mid-am and I’m too good to play the mid. So, you can’t win,” Knost quipped.
The 2028 timeline means Knost won’t compete in USGA amateur events anytime soon. But the Walker Cup captaincy remains his endgame. And in three years, the mid-am world might have to make room for him anyway.

The 2008 edition was the last time the Skins game was played. In 2009, LG backed out of the sponsorship, leaving the event without its financial backbone. The decision to cancel came quickly, and what had been a Thanksgiving weekend must-watch since 1983 simply disappeared from the calendar. However, sponsorship wasn’t the only reason.
Officials from the PGA Tour said that the TV ratings were going down, which became one of the major reasons. The data indicated that the event was losing audience interest, with officials referring to it as having “sagging ratings.”
The 2008 finale, 18 years ago, which starred K.J. Choi, Stephen Ames, Phil Mickelson, and Fred Funk, only got a 0.7 rating on Saturday and a 1.1 on Sunday. This was a long way from the event’s glory days. In the past, the Skins Game was often one of the most-watched golf tournaments of the year, and sometimes it even had ratings that were as high as the Masters. That decline didn’t go unnoticed.
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Well, now the landscape has changed! The event is returning on Black Friday, after 17 years, organized by Pro Shop in partnership with the PGA Tour and Propagate Content. “We’ve taken up the mantle to bring back The Skins Game and reclaim its rightful place on the sports calendar,” Chad Mumm announced.
Chris Wandell, the PGA Tour’s senior vice president of media, said, “Reimagining an iconic event like The Skins Game in a retro-modern way that engages today’s sports fans is exactly why the PGA Tour has partnered with Pro Shop.” The plan is to keep the tradition that made the Skins Game popular while updating the show to appeal to today’s audiences.
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This year, the format itself gets a fun twist. Every participant starts with $1 million, and the “reverse purse” takes money away when they lose skins instead of starting from scratch. The change aims to create immediate stakes; watching your total drop from a million to $900,000 on the sixth hole should spark some competitive fire.
We don’t know yet if this return can bring back what made the Skins Game so remarkable. But the basic notion is still there: great players compete in a high-stakes tournament on a weekend when everyone is enjoying holidays in the living room with family.
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Will fans get to see the Ryder Cup connection at the Skins game?
The 2025 Skins Game features four Ryder Cup golfers: Keegan Bradley, Tommy Fleetwood, Xander Schauffele, and Lowry.
Keegan Bradley was the captain of Team USA at the 2025 Ryder Cup held at Bethpage Black in September. Europe won the cup back with a score of 15-13. Now, Bradley is facing two of the Europeans who played a big part in that win: Tommy Fleetwood and Shane Lowry. Xander Schauffele, who was also on Bradley’s American team.
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At the press conference, Bradley talked about the expected trash talk. He said that if Fleetwood “talked trash to me seriously, I would curl up in a ball,” adding it would be “horrifying.” Bradley mentioned that his role this time is different from being a Ryder Cup captain. He said, “I won’t have a walkie-talkie in my hand on Friday; I’ll have a golf club,” describing it as his “chance to get back at these two maniacs down there.”
Lowry, who took the place of the injured Justin Thomas, joked about the atmosphere at Bethpage, saying, “I won’t have 50,000 New Yorkers in my ear.” He also noted that Bradley had “already paid me and Tommy [Fleetwood] extra to not talk about the Ryder Cup,” recognizing the recent tension between the players.
The 2025 Skins Game won’t be a quiet, buttoned-up event with Schauffele, Fleetwood, Lowry, and Bradley all mic’d up and ready. What happens on Black Friday morning will determine whether those factors can recreate the magic that once made the Skins Game an entertaining event.

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Australian Brett Rankin moved up a spot from second to first on Friday to take a one-stroke lead midway through the second round of the Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland.
Rankin, who completed his first round earlier in the day due to a thunderstorm suspension on Thursday, had a 2-under 69 Friday and a two-round total of 9-under 133.
French golfer Tom Vaillant had a 64 Friday to leave him in an early share of second place. Sebastian Garcia of Spain, who led Rankin by one stroke after the first round, had a 72 Friday and was in a tie for fifth.
Marc Leishman, who shot 68, was also in the group at 7-under along with fellow Australian Cameron Davis (67), two strokes behind Rankin.
“It’s been a good solid couple of days,” Davis said. “I don’t think it’s a side of the draw that really looks like it was easier than the other. So we’ll see how that plays out with the course as it dries up a little bit today. It was really wet this morning.”
Marco Penge, who won three times on the European tour this year and is the tournament’s highest-ranked player at No. 30, shot 70 in his opening round and had a later start Friday, as did Australians Adam Scott and Min Woo Lee.
The tournament is co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour of Australia and the European tour, which is starting its 2025-26 season just two weeks after Rory McIlroy won the Race to Dubai title.
McIlroy will highlight the field in next week’s Australian Open at Royal Melbourne beginning Dec. 4.
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Nov 27 (Reuters) – Spain’s Sebastian Garcia held a two-stroke lead at the European tour’s season-opening Australian PGA Championship before lightning halted play in the opening round at Royal Queensland on Thursday.
Garcia was seven-under through 15 holes, two strokes ahead of Australia’s Daniel Gale, who won a BMW from the event’s sponsor with a hole-in-one on the par-three 11th before play was suspended after his 12th hole.
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Sydney man Gale, playing with his first DP World Tour card after a strong domestic season, hit an eight iron off the tee which thudded into the bank of a greenside bunker on the right and rolled in.
The mullet-haired 29-year-old took off his trademark yellow bucket hat and pumped his fist in the air in celebration.
Players were allowed preferred lies on Thursday due to the amount of rain the course has taken from recent storms.
A group of four had the early clubhouse lead after shooting four-under 67s, including New Zealand’s Ryan Fox, China’s Ding Wenyi and Tapio Pulkannen of Finland.
They were joined by Colombian Sebastian Munoz and local golfers Nathan Barbieri and Jye Pickin, all of whom had yet to finish their rounds.
The local drawcards started well, with former Masters champion Adam Scott and Min Woo Lee shooting three-under, while British Open winner Cam Smith carded a two-under 69 after starting from the 10th.
Smith, a three-times winner of the event, had two bogeys with his four birdies but was happy with his putting in his first outing since coming back to his home state Queensland.

Only Brisbane’s wild weather could stop Sebastian Garcia from storming further clear at the Australian PGA Championship after the local stars all fired opening-round shots.
The in-form Spaniard thrust his famous golfing surname to the top of the pack on Thursday, Garcia seven-under through 15 holes and three clear before officials blew the horn with electrical storms approaching.
Patrons were asked to leave the venue with no further play likely as rain battered the riverside layout.
Garcia arrived fresh off a victory in China alongside two other top-five finishes in his last five starts.
With two par-fives remaining in his round a lower score threatens when he does resume his round, although with preferred lies in use the course-record, eight-under 63 is off the table.
New Zealand gun Ryan Fox, China’s Wenyi Ding, Finland’s Tapio Pulkkanen and Anthony Quayle, who had star caddie Steve Williams on his bag, had earlier shared the clubhouse lead at four under (67).
Drawcards Adam Scott, who bogeyed the last, and Min Woo Lee were a shot back after carding rounds of 68.
Three-time winner Cameron Smith made a long birdie putt on his last hole to finish two-under, along with defending champion Elvis Smylie.
Marc Leishman and Cam Davis were among a host of afternoon players stranded at two under with holes to play.
There were two aces as well, Kazuma Kobori’s wedge into the 17th party hole on the money before Daniel Gale won a BMW worth nearly $300,000 with his effort on the 11th.
Earlier, Smith revealed the relentless work he’s undergone in an attempt to rediscover his short game.
Three-time champion Smith, a former world No.2 and major winner without a title in more than two years, woke at 2.45am for his Thursday round and carded a two-under 69 to begin the $2.5 million event.
Smith’s sensational putting and chipping shone when he roared home to win the Open in 2022, but the Queenslander — the only player to miss all four major cuts this year — has been searching for that magic ever since.
On Thursday he made 10 one-putts and 26 in total and thought the hard work he’d put in since returning home to Brisbane might be paying off.

A packed summer schedule, rising stars, and returning contenders set the stage for one of the most anticipated weeks on the golfing calendar. The BMW Australian PGA Championship 2025 is all set to begin at the Royal Queensland Golf Club. It is the first event on the Opening Swing of the DP World Tour schedule. Thus, the 2026 DP World Tour season will get underway this week. There’s $2.5 million up for grabs at the event. It is the most in the 121-year history of the Australian PGA Championship.
Fans can see many popular names in the field, such as a handful of LIV golfers, including Cameron Smith, who is also the home favorite. He is all in for seeking his fourth victory at the Australian PGA Championship. He’s joined by fellow LIV pros, including Joaquin Niemann and Jose Luis Ballester.
The field carries plenty of intrigue, and several players have stepped forward with performances that demand attention as the first tee time approaches. Among them are some PGA Tour pros who are ready to make their mark on this DP World Tour event.
Let’s break down the five PGA Tour pros at the BMW Australian PGA Championship.
Adam Scott
The 14x PGA Tour pro is an Australian native. He has won the event twice, in 2013 and then in 2019. He has a long career filled with wins across the globe. And he continues to shape his reputation as one of the country’s most respected competitors. His 14 PGA Tour titles and dozens more victories worldwide give him an edge that few in the field can match.
On the PGA Tour, Scott has made his mark with wins at the 2020 Genesis Invitational, the 2016 Honda Classic, the 2013 Barclays, and more. Besides that, he also won the 2013 Masters, the biggest highlight of his career. That win made him the first Australian to wear the iconic green jacket at Augusta National. And it was Tiger Woods’ caddie, Steve Williams, on the bag when he won the major.
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His 2025 season shows that experience still translates into results, with solid showings in major events such as a T12 at the U.S. Open and T19 at the PGA Championship. In fact, he just missed 3 cuts in the 18 starts he has had on the PGA Tour this season. He now returns to Royal Queensland, a course he grew up playing, and the setting carries deep meaning for him. It is like a full circle moment, as he arrives with clear focus, strong preparation, and a determination to close the year with a performance that reflects everything he has built over the years.
Min Woo Lee
An impressive blend of athleticism and flair continues to define Min Woo Lee’s rise. He is the younger brother of the LPGA legend Minjee Lee, who recently finished her schedule at the 2025 CME Group Tour Championship.
Min Woo Lee wants to follow in the footsteps of his sister, and rise in the golf world. And he is already on his way. Turning professional in 2019, he has already collected a PGA Tour win. The Australian native won the 2025 Texas Children’s Houston Open by beating Gary Woodland and Scottie Scheffler by one stroke. His rounds of 66-64-63-67 helped him with a 20-under-par finish.
Besides that, he had another top-10 finish on the PGA Tour in 2025, which came at the Baycurrent Classic. Of the 19 events he played, he made it to the top 25 in 7 and missed the cut in only 5. Recent weeks have shown steady progress, highlighted by a T11 finish at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, a T5 in France, and a T10 in Japan. He has shown consistency despite his demanding schedule. He enters the week ranked No. 46 in the world and begins his opening round at sunrise from the 10th tee. Min Woo Lee is likely to be very confident of winning because of the impressive season he has had on the PGA Tour.
Ryan Fox
Another veteran playing at the BMW Australian PGA Championship 2025 is Ryan Fox. A strong surge across the 2025 season has pushed Fox further into the spotlight. The New Zealand star has played 78 events on the PGA Tour and won twice. And surprisingly, both his victories came in 2025. He won the RBC Canadian Open and the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic on the PGA Tour.
Both his victories came under intense pressure, as he had to defeat others in a playoff to win. At the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic, he was against Mackenzie Hughes and Harry Higgs. Thanks to his birdie in the first playoff round, he won his first PGA Tour title since turning pro in 2011. Soon after, he went against Sam Burns in the playoff. His ability to close under pressure came through clearly during the gritty four-hole playoff that delivered him his second PGA Tour title.
Momentum from those results has earned him a place in the upcoming U.S. Open. This reinforces the level of consistency he has found. His power, patience, and sharp competitive instincts make him one of the most dangerous players in any field.
Cameron Davis
A stretch of confident early-season form helped Cameron Davis set a solid foundation for 2025. His T5 at Pebble Beach stood out, along with several other strong finishes that kept him in contention throughout the first part of the year. Although Davis has not won any PGA Tour events in 2025, he has 2 wins under his belt. One of them was the 2021 Rocket Mortgage Classic, and the other was the 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic.
After a good start, mid-season brought a few setbacks. Yet he remained competitive and produced meaningful results, including a T19 in the PGA Championship. Overall, his 2025 PGA Tour season was balanced. Of the 23 starts, he made the cut in 12 and missed it in 11. Recent starts suggest that he is pushing to regain the rhythm that made him a constant presence on leaderboards earlier in the season.
Rafael Campos
Puerto Rico native Rafael Campos is another PGA Tour pro playing in the BMW Australian PGA Championship 2025. Despite no wins on the PGA Tour in 2025, he continues to build a steady profile based on sharp putting and reliable strokes gained numbers.
The 2024 Butterfield Bermuda Championship is ranked 177th in Strokes Gained: Total. He has played in 31 events on the tour in 2025. His performance at the Mexico Open in February showcased his touch on the greens. The 2024 Bermuda Championship win locked up his PGA Tour status through 2026. This gave him breathing room to refine his game across a busy 2025 schedule.
The mix of proven talent and rising form adds a compelling edge to this year’s BMW Australian PGA Championship 2025. With several players trending upward, the week ahead promises storylines worth watching from the first tee shot to the final putt.

It has been eight months since Wesley Bryan got suspended from the PGA Tour. Since then, he has tried to file a complaint against his former employer, collaborated with LIV Golf, & made quite a lot of content. Bryan also made a professional appearance in the International Series Philippines back in October 2025. Now, he and his brother George are discussing what went wrong with the PGA Tour back in April.
The Bryan Bros joined The Golfer’s Journal for an exclusive interview. That’s when Travis Hill asked them how they got in the crosshairs of the PGA Tour. And they had an interesting take on the situation.
Wesley told Travis, “We wanted to tell the story of the PGA Tour. We wanted to be an asset. We wanted to create the best possible content, and the PGA Tour gave us that avenue.”
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However, Bryan realized that the PGA Tour was trying to suppress their creative freedom instead of giving them a platform. But he admitted that they tried to do what they could to improve their content and show the PGA Tour in a good light.
“We’re trying to innovate in our space and do the best job that we can do to provide the best product for people to watch. There were just roadblocks after roadblocks. I was like, I don’t think that they [the PGA Tour] truly care about what I’m doing on that side.”
As Bryan had mentioned, this occurred 3-4 years ago. And YouTube golf wasn’t as successful a space back then as it is right now. So while the PGA Tour allowed them to make content, they didn’t particularly pay much heed to their efforts. In fact, they were more restrictive about the kind of content they made.
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In fact, Phil Mickelson had also accused the PGA Tour of restricting the players from creating content. As Michael McEwan from Bunkered mentioned, Lefty accused the PGA Tour of screwing its players out of billions worth of YouTube revenue. Such actions ended up pushing the Bryan Bros out as they looked for better content.
“The decision that I made to go was just an opportunity at an unbelievable YouTube video with people that we grew up watching win major championships.”
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While competing in the LIV The Duels: Miami, Bryan got to compete with some big names in golf. He was paired with the Masters Tournament champion, Sergio Garcia. He faced veterans like Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, Cameron Smith, & Phil Mickelson. That was much more lucrative than any opportunity he had received staying with the PGA Tour.
And as Wesley Bryan himself confessed, he would have won 10 more PGA Tour titles in his career had he stayed back. However, YouTube golf is something he would have loved doing all his life. So he chose his career as a content creator over being a professional golfer. And if that was his primary goal, then he certainly received his rewards.
Wesley Bryan’s exit from the PGA Tour has proved to be fruitful for him. While he may not be playing professional events as often anymore, he’s still doing what he loves.
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Wesley Bryan is making his own path in golf after exiting the PGA Tour
As woeful as he was during his exit, Wesley Bryan has been enjoying his life outside the PGA Tour. He has worked on a variety of projects that have gotten him a lot of attention recently.
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Back in June, Bryan made a unique record during a round of golf at The Club at SpurWing in Idaho. Holding the flag on the flagstick up, the former PGA Tour pro wrote, “🚨 HOLE-IN-ONE 🚨” in the post he shared on social media. He didn’t share a video of the ace along with the post, but it was included with one of his other posts.
As mentioned, Wesley Bryan also joined the field of the International Series Philippines recently. He finished T51st in the tournament with a 6-under par. It was his first professional appearance since leaving the PGA Tour. Judging by the way things are going, Wesley Bryan’s life certainly seems to have gotten back on track already.

Scottie Scheffler continues to prove himself to be the best golfer the game has seen since Tiger Woods, with the world number one winning six more times in 2025.
Scheffler has had another phenomenal year on the PGA Tour.
The 29-year-old did not finish outside the top eight during his last 15 events of the season, winning both the PGA Championship and The Open Championship.
He is now just a US Open triumph away from completing the Career Grand Slam.
The PGA Tour record set by Patrick Cantlay and Scottie Scheffler
Scottie Scheffler‘s consistency is largely unrivalled on the PGA Tour.
His highest score in a single round this season is 73.
And between the final day of Travelers Championship in June and the end of the Tour Championship, Scheffler managed to put together a run of 21 successive rounds in which he managed to break 70.
That is the joint-longest run since the PGA Tour began to keep track of the statistic in 1987.
Interestingly, it is Patrick Cantlay who set the record back in 2022.
Cantlay’s most recent win on the PGA Tour came that same year – when Scheffler had won just four times in his career.
Cantlay did manage to win two playoff events when the streak began in 2021. That included a victory at East Lake as he became the FedEx Cup champion.
The run would continue until The American Express, the second event of the following season. Cantlay posted a 72 in the third round as he went on to finish the week in ninth place.
Tiger Woods’ best run of consecutive rounds in the 60s on the PGA Tour
It may surprise some that Tiger Woods does not possess the record. In fact, he is tied for ninth, having managed to put 14 sub-70 rounds together.
Woods is actually tied with the likes of Rickie Fowler, Dustin Johnson and Johnson Wagner.
Meanwhile, it is Viktor Hovland who sits third on the list on 19.
But in truth, it would not be a shock to see Scheffler go on and set a new record in the coming years as his momentum does not appear to be stalling anytime soon.

A PGA Tour pro found himself at the center of an unexpected storm. A casual nine-hole YouTube project, filmed alongside well-known creators and familiar tour personalities, has sparked a debate bigger than the video itself. What began as a lighthearted shoot in Miami has raised questions about his dedication to the PGA Tour.
Wesley Bryan was in Miami in April 2025 to compete in a 9-hole scramble, The Duels: Miami. It included six teams of two golfers playing in a scramble match and creating YouTube content on it. Little did he know that this participation would cost him his PGA Tour membership.
After 7 months of the incident, Bryan called out Jay Monahan for his decision.
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“I made the decision, and the reason I made it is because I became so unbelievably well-versed in the PGA Tour rules and regulations that I felt like at the end of the day, I knew what Jay Monahan’s stance was on it. 100% knew what his stance was, but I also knew that there’s an appeals committee. Like there’s a chance for like, I got to trust that process because sure what I’m looking at just doesn’t necessarily make sense,” Wesley Bryan said on the TGJ Podcast.
The issue was that The Duels: Miami was a LIV-backed event. And as far as Jay Monahan’s stance on LIV goes, it’s widely known that the leaders of the two organizations don’t see eye-to-eye. Therefore, as soon as Wesley Bryan’s involvement was out, Monahan suspended him.
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“I have been suspended from the PGA Tour,” Bryan said in the video announcing the news.
“It’s been a difficult few weeks for us, it’s been an emotional rollercoaster for sure.”
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The suspended PGA Tour pro has come to terms with it. In fact, he no longer disagrees with the decision. Bryan understands that it was technically a LIV event. However, he emphasizes that he saw it just as a content creation opportunity.
“But all it ever was for us was a Grant Horvat 9-hole YouTube scramble. Something that we would have done anyway, off-site. Like, location doesn’t matter. That’s something that we would have done anyway. Jumped and had the chance to do it,” Wesley Bryan explained.
“LIV gave us a location for sure. But then it didn’t come with any obligations for me to go out and promote, like, wow, LIV is amazing. It’s so much better than the PGA Tour. There was none of that, right?”
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Bryan expressed understanding of the PGA Tour’s suspension decision based on its rules. However, he also questioned some aspects as they apply to content creation on platforms like YouTube, suggesting the rules may not have been intended for such scenarios.
But despite all this, Bryan has no hard feelings towards the PGA Tour. With that, he also appreciates the opportunity LIV gave him.
“All they wanted to do was give us an opportunity to create the best content to put out for Grant’s platform to enjoy because again, he’s got this 2v2 series with Phil. He’s featured all these LIV players because they’re relevant in the golf space. They’re good personalities, and they’re unbelievable golfers. And so, I didn’t want to be tied to only having to do stuff here,” Wesley Bryan added.
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Wesley heaped praise on LIV Golf and its members.
Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm, and many other LIV golfers are popular on YouTube golf. In fact, Mickelson and DeChambeau have their own YouTube channels.
Bryson DeChambeau has uploaded 240 videos on his YouTube channel. He has amassed over 492 million views across these videos. This means that he has an average of over 2 million views per video, which is an amazing feat.
Wesley Bryan simply wanted to be part of YouTube content, but faced suspension for it. Now, he commits fully to YouTube golf until he regains his PGA Tour membership.
And as part of his YouTube golf journey, he was present at the 2025 Internet Invitational by Barstool Sports and Bob Does Sports. In fact, people at the event even made fun of his suspension.
Wesley Bryan was made fun of at the Internet Invitational
Before the ban, Wesley Bryan had played 137 Tour events, winning one, making 68 cuts, and earning over $5 million. With the Tour door closed, he now relies on other income sources such as his YouTube channel. He even participated in non-PGA events like the International Series Philippines.
Amidst all this, some critics and commentators have mocked his predicament.
While at the Internet Invitational, sports broadcaster Robby Berger joked that many more golfers might soon face suspension for appearing in YouTube videos.
“Downside to it, Wesley could probably tell you, is we are all, as of tomorrow, probably suspended from the PGA Tour. So, if you have any questions on that, Wesley could tell you, and it’s a shame because, me and Duke, we are going to be in the John Deere Classic next year,” Berger said.
The hilarious jab left Bryan speechless at the event.

Skins Game is returning to the PGA Tour calendar for the first time in 17 years. Tommy Fleetwood, Xander Schauffele, Keegan Bradley, & Shane Lowry will battle for ultimate supremacy in the exclusive event. And it will all be streamed live on Prime Video.
The rules are simple: each player will get $1 million, and they will have 18 holes to lose that money. The person who loses the least money in the end is the champion. The reverse purse format will make the event a lot more exhilarating as the pros watch their money drop on the scoreboard.
But who will be covering the event? Skratch has already provided the list of experts who will be on the commentary team at the Panther National at Palm Beach Gardens in Florida. Here’s the crew of four who will analyze the match on November 28, 2025:
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Peter Jacobsen
Apart from being an expert analyst, Peter Jacobsen will bring a unique perspective to the commentary box. He was part of the field in the 2008 Wendy’s Champion Skins Game hosted at Royal Ka’anapali Golf Course in Maui, Hawaii. In fact, he and Fuzzy Zoeller actually won the event, as mentioned in the article by Skratch. He won 12 skins during the event and a total of $360,000.
During his years as a PGA Tour pro, Jacobsen earned quite a few honors. He played 662 events and was a seven-time champion. The 71-year-old also finished as a runner-up 15 times. However, his biggest losses would probably be the two third-place finishes he had in the PGA Championship in 1983 and 1986.
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However, don’t let that deceive you from his expertise as an analyst. Jacobsen had already begun working as an analyst long before he retired. In fact, his first role in the commentary box for NBC was for a Skins Game back in 1984. Since then, he’s been a mainstay for the network whenever he wasn’t in action.
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Andrew Catalon
Unlike Peter Jacobsen, Andrew Catalon became an analyst only a couple of decades ago. He started his journey as a freelance commentator for the NFL in 20oos. But he joined the CBS Network full-time in 2013.
He began working as a play-by-play expert in golf in 2020. Since then, he has covered some big events, including majors and PGA Tour Signature tournaments. He was even in the team of analysts who called the 2021 Masters Tournament.
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Colt Knost
Colt Knost is a well-known figure in the golf community. His knowledge & expertise in the sport doesn’t only come from working as an analyst. He was a professional golfer himself, who had played 199 PGA Tour events.
As far as his career in commentary goes, he has worked for CBS Sports and the Golf Channel. He also hosts Golf’s Sub-Par with Drew Stoltz, a popular YouTube podcast. More recently, Knost has expressed his desire to return to the amateur circuit to captain the Team U.S. Walker Cup squad. But that got him into a lot of controversy, as many, including Wesley Bryan, criticized him for trying to retain his status despite having the wealth of PGA Tour experience.
However, Colt Knost clarified that it won’t hinder his primary job as an analyst working for CBS Sports and the Golf Channel. Especially, considering all the controversy that it is carrying along with it.
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Dan Rapaport
Like Colt Knost, Dan Rapaport is one of the most recognized names in the golf analyst space. He is known for being one of the most prominent voices in the sport. Rapaport has also written many articles for the Golf Digest website and magazine over the years.
Alternatively, the analyst is also known for being quite active on social media channels like X and Instagram. He also hosts a podcast called Dan on Golf for Skratch, along with Ben Boskovich. Rapaport also used to work for Barstool Sports. However, his contract with them expired not long ago. He also had a tenure with Sports Illustrated in the past. Dan Rapaport has been in the golf analysis industry since 2018.
Apart from that, he also covers soccer and is a fan of the English Premier League club, Manchester United.

For a 19-year-old Australian pro grinding through domestic events, the dream of playing in Europe has always felt distant. That distance is about to shrink dramatically.
PGA of Australia CEO Gavin Kirkman dropped a significant revelation on the Talk Birdie To Me podcast this week. Active discussions are underway with the DP World Tour to co-sanction smaller Australian events with the HotelPlanner Tour. The move could reshape how young Aussie golfers climb the professional ladder.
“We’re in discussion at the moment. It’s something we haven’t looked at before.”
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The HotelPlanner Tour, formerly the Challenge Tour, rebranded in January 2025. It marked the first title sponsorship in the tour’s 36-year history. The feeder circuit now spans 29 tournaments across 18 countries. Total season prize money exceeds €9 million. For Australian pros, gaining access to this schedule would represent a quantum leap in competitive opportunity.
South Africa already runs four co-sanctioned events on this model. The SDC Open, CIRCA Cape Town Open, NTT DATA Pro-Am, and Jonsson Workwear Open all carry dual status. Players earn ranking points on both the HotelPlanner Tour and Sunshine Tour. Kirkman wants the same arrangement for Australia.
“There’s a lot of HotelPlanner events in South Africa. We want to see some of ours co-sanctioned down here as well.”
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The timing couldn’t be better. Guy Kinnings, CEO of the DP World Tour, arrives in Brisbane on Friday night. He will attend the BMW Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland Golf Club. Then he heads to Melbourne for further talks with Kirkman, his team, and PGA of Australia Chairman Ian Baker-Finch.
“When you get the CEO taking time out of their schedule at the end of their season to come down and see what we’re doing here in Australia, that’s a real positive.”
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This visit signals serious intent from the European circuit. Twenty years ago, Australian officials asked for similar support. The answer was no. Now the DP World Tour CEO is flying in personally.
PGA of Australia pathway expansion opens doors for young pros
The pathway expansion already underway makes co-sanctioning even more valuable. Previously, only the Order of Merit winner earned a DP World Tour card. That changed recently. Now the top player qualifies for the DP World Tour. Second and third place finishers earn full exemptions on the HotelPlanner Tour.
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Those exemptions unlock access to 20-plus events across three continents. The minimum prize money sits at £500,000 per event, according to Kirkman. That represents a massive upgrade for Australian pros stuck in the domestic grind.
“It’s a different ball game and a better playing opportunity.”
The proof already exists. Daniel Gale and Brett Coletta earned their DP World Tour cards through the Australasian Order of Merit pathway last season. They now compete against the best in Europe. More Aussies could follow if co-sanctioning brings international ranking points to home soil.
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The BMW Australian PGA Championship carries $2.5 million this week. It marks the richest purse in the tournament’s 121-year history. The event also marks the start of the 2026 DP World Tour season. Australian golf has never held more relevance on the global stage.
Kirkman and Kinnings will meet one-on-one before the week ends. Those conversations could determine whether Australian events join the HotelPlanner Tour schedule for 2026.
“That’s the dream,” Kirkman admitted when asked about co-sanctioning.
For young Australian pros chasing Europe, the dream just got closer to reality.

There isn’t anything better than a bit of sibling rivalry. Just look at Min Woo Lee and Minjee Lee, for instance. Personalities as different as fire and ice, the two never miss a chance to take a dig at each other. It doesn’t matter whether it’s in their living room or on a global stage. Like this time, when accepting the Greg Norman Medal on behalf of Minjee, Min Woo casually walked up on the stage with a straight face and delivered what many think is the best acceptance speech of all time.
“Wow. The Greg Norman Medal again. Fourth time. At this point, I should probably just ask them to engrave my name permanently on it so no one else gets their hopes up,” he said, with a comedically serious face. “Honestly, I’m starting to feel bad for everyone… You grind all year, you work hard, and you think, ‘This could be my time!’ And then I roll in like, ‘Hey guys, miss me?”
“I would like to thank the selection panel for continuing to make excellent choices. Your taste is impeccable. Truly elite,” he said, before doubling down on sarcasm. “To my fellow Aussie golfers, keep pushing, keep improving, because one day, maybe not soon, maybe one day, you might finish close to me.” Only if Min Woo Lee was done after this. What came after this was even more hysterical.
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“And, of course, shoutout to my team, to my family, and to everyone who supports me. You keep me grounded. Which is honestly impressive considering how high above the rest of the field I apparently keep finishing,” Lee said. As he ended the speech, he dropped in arguably the most important line of the night, “Anyway… I have the best brother ever. Cheers,” the PGA Tour pro concluded. The greatest acceptance speech of all time? Probably, yeah! Anyways, behind all this humor, though, the achievement Minjee accomplished is actually a serious one.
This win makes her the first four-time recipient of the Greg Norman Medal. That cements her as the most decorated player in the award’s decade-long existence, especially because it’s Australian golf’s highest individual honor. And with everything that Minjee has been put through, it is more than justified.
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Her previous year was as difficult as it could be, as she saw the exit door from the world’s top 20 for the first time in a decade. But resilient as she is, she bounced back and began this season with her third major championship at the KPMG Women’s PGA. That ended her 19-month winless drought, the last of which came in 2023 at the BMW Ladies Championship. What made it special was the scoring average at the brutal course. It exceeded 75, which was the highest for any LPGA major in over a decade!
From there on, the wins continued with a solo third at the Evian Championship. Awards rolled in, too, as she became the winner of the Rolex ANNIKA Major award. That achievement again wrote her name in the history books, as she is now the only player to win it twice. Her year ended well when she took her Team Australia to win their first-ever International Crown title. Minjee Lee now comfortably sits at No. 4 in the world, ending her once-nightmare.
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That’s why it’s only fitting that her brother stepped up to maintain Minjee Lee’s honor. But of course, Min Woo Lee had to stay true to his personality. And surely, everyone loved it. The now viral video has almost 10.5K likes on Instagram. The comment section is filled with users appreciating the cheekiness of Min Woo Lee. Let’s take a look at some of them.
PGA Tour pro Min Woo Lee is tagged as the best bro ever
A user wrote, “MinWoo is absolutely hilarious speaking on behalf of MinJee 😂😂😂 100% Aussie sarcasm.”
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If there was anything funnier than the speech, it was the comments directed at Lee. More comments were laughing at Min Woo Lee’s jokes than the ones actually congratulating Minjee Lee for her honor. Maybe that’s what Lee was aiming for? Who knows? But what he did end up doing was make people fall in love with his genius comedy.
On those lines, another fan writes, “He’s got such a great sense of humor. Congrats to Min Jee on her 4th Greg Norman award. 👏👏👏”
Indeed, if Lee is known for his golfing skills, he is also known for his comic persona. Assuming multiple alternate personalities like “The Chef” or “Dr. Chipinski,” Lee’s digital footprints are filled with his entertaining nature. He has enjoyed the attention, which was evident when he won a chef’s hat after winning the 2023 Australian PGA Championship. For Lee, he’s just trying to “make it fun and enlightening to make it good for the fans.” And he has been successful in that, as one fan types, “Best acceptance speech of 2025 👏😂.”
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At the same time, another comment says, “Your time is coming, Chef 👍🍻.” That time might be sooner than one thinks. If Minjee Lee had a successful year, so did her little bro. Min Woo Lee won his first PGA Tour victory at the Texas Children’s Houston Open in March, defeating marquee players like Scottie Scheffler and Gary Woodland. After that, his run was a mix, which led him to end the year at No. 46 with two top-10 finishes in 19 PGA Tour events.

Jay Monahan became the commissioner of the PGA Tour in January 2017. And over the last nine years, he has constantly been criticized for his strategic approach. Some of his biggest failures include the Player Impact Program, his scheme with the PIF, and the recent FedEx Cup fiasco. Now Brian Rolapp is being forced to sort it all out, and he revealed what made him take up the CEO position.
The new leader of the PGA Tour joined CNBC for an exclusive interview. That’s when Scott Wapner asked him what he thought wasn’t working in the PGA Tour.
Rolapp told Wapner, “I wasn’t looking for a job. I had the best #2 job in sports at the NFL. But the more I studied the golf industry and the PGA Tour specifically, I felt it was an extremely unique opportunity. It has grown tremendously. The last growth spurt started [during] COVID.”
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The new PGA Tour CEO worked as the Chief Media and Business Officer for the NFL. He played a vital role in leading the digital initiatives of the organization. Rolapp also explained that it was the perfect job because the spotlight wasn’t on him. But he was still able to execute impactful strategies that moved the needle in football.
But he still found the PGA Tour opportunity intriguing. It was a challenging role, one that would require him to clear a lot of mess. But the PGA Tour had still seen a lot of growth. Despite the rise of LIV Golf and the competition from the DP World Tour. That’s probably what impressed the new CEO. He also explained it with numbers.
“It was getting, on a Sunday afternoon, 3-5 million average viewers. That was higher than a first-round NBA game. That was four times the viewership of Sunday night baseball.”
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The PGA Tour’s average viewers per event are quite high. So much so that first-round NBA games and Sunday baseball matches aren’t able to compete with them. That shows that the Tour is sustainable despite all the problems. Reflecting on the problems and how he perceived them, Rolapp had something more to add.
“Yet, the entire narrative around golf was, it’s fractured, it’s messy. There’s some truth to that, but I look at that as an opportunity. No sport had become relevant without a crisis. If you do things right, it’s only opportunities after the crisis.”
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Yes, Jay Monahan may have created many roadblocks for Rolapp and his team. The PGA Tour is fractured to a certain extent. But he views the crisis as an opportunity. It can’t fall below this point. And under the right management, he believes that it will only make a strong comeback. That should open doors to many big opportunities.
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In fact, Brian Rolapp has already taken major steps to resolve some big issues on the PGA Tour. And some of them have received a lot of support from the golf community.
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Brian Rolapp’s efforts to resolve Jay Monahan’s mess are already being recognized
Greg Norman, Scott O’Neil, any of the PGA Tour players, and Brian Rolapp himself all had the same opinion. They believed that there were a lot of issues in the Tour. Not everyone has pointed fingers, but the general direction of the blame has gone to Jay Monahan. However, Rolapp hasn’t shied away from sorting a lot of it out.
There was a lot of tension between the PGA Tour & LIV Golf with regard to the merger. But Rolapp shifted the focus away from it by clarifying that it is not a priority.
He also set up a plan of action for the $700 million sitting in the treasury of the PGA Tour. Rolapp didn’t specify anything, but he did mention, “We need to go where the fans are. Increasingly, the fans are spending their time on digital, and I imagine a big priority of mine.”
There was also a lot of noise around the reduced field size from 2026. Brian Rolapp couldn’t overturn Jay Monahan’s decision. That’s because he was not the CEO when the changes were originally made. However, he recently announced compensation for players who get relegated from the PGA Tour through the Member Support Program. That should motivate them to stay loyal to the PGA Tour.
It has only been a few months since he joined as the CEO. It will be interesting to see what Brian Rolapp does next to improve the PGA Tour.

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Fresh from an eight-week break after winning his first two tournaments on the PGA Tour, Ryan Fox shot a 4-under 67 Thursday and was tied for the early lead at the Australian PGA Championship.
The 38-year-old New Zealander bogeyed the par-4 second hole but had five birdies the rest of the way at the Royal Queensland Golf Club.
The tournament is co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour of Australia and the European tour, which is starting its 2025-26 season just two weeks after Rory McIlroy won the Race to Dubai title.
Fox won this year’s Myrtle Beach Classic and Canadian Open on the PGA Tour.
“It’s hard to beat the year I had this year,” Fox said ahead of his first round in Brisbane. “Other than maybe making the (PGA) Tour Championship, I ticked every box that I wanted to tick.”
Fox was level with Australian Anthony Quayle and 2024 Asia-Pacific amateur champion Ding Wenyi in a group at 4-under. Adam Scott, the 2013 Masters champion, and fellow Australian Min Woo Lee each shot 68 and were a stroke behind the early leaders.
Former British Open champion and LIV Tour regular Cameron Smith, winless in more than two years, shot 69, as did the defending champion Elvis Smylie.
Smith, who has won the Australian PGA three times and was runner-up last year, had five top-10 finishes in 13 regular LIV Golf events this season. But he missed his sixth straight cut at last week’s Saudi International in Riyadh.
Marco Penge, who won three times on the European tour this year and is the tournament’s highest-ranked player at No. 30, shot 70.
On Wednesday, the big-hitting Englishman withdrew from the pro-am and said he had been receiving physiotherapy treatment for a neck strain.
“No, it’s not great,” Penge, 27, said Wednesday at Royal Queensland. “The physios here are helping me out. I think I’ve had five physio sessions in the last 24 hours, so we’re doing everything I can to feel OK.”
McIlroy will highlight the field in next week’s Australian Open at Royal Melbourne beginning Dec. 4.
___

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Fresh from an eight-week break after winning his first two tournaments on the PGA Tour, Ryan Fox shot a 4-under 67 Thursday and was tied for the early lead at the Australian PGA Championship.
The 38-year-old New Zealander bogeyed the par-4 second hole but had five birdies the rest of the way at the Royal Queensland Golf Club.
The tournament is co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour of Australia and the European tour, which is starting its 2025-26 season just two weeks after Rory McIlroy won the Race to Dubai title.
Fox won this year’s Myrtle Beach Classic and Canadian Open on the PGA Tour.
“It’s hard to beat the year I had this year,” Fox said ahead of his first round in Brisbane. “Other than maybe making the (PGA) Tour Championship, I ticked every box that I wanted to tick.”
Fox was level with Australian Anthony Quayle and 2024 Asia-Pacific amateur champion Ding Wenyi in a group at 4-under. Adam Scott, the 2013 Masters champion, and fellow Australian Min Woo Lee each shot 68 and were a stroke behind the early leaders.
Former British Open champion and LIV Tour regular Cameron Smith, winless in more than two years, shot 69, as did the defending champion Elvis Smylie.
Smith, who has won the Australian PGA three times and was runner-up last year, had five top-10 finishes in 13 regular LIV Golf events this season. But he missed his sixth straight cut at last week’s Saudi International in Riyadh.
Marco Penge, who won three times on the European tour this year and is the tournament’s highest-ranked player at No. 30, shot 70.
On Wednesday, the big-hitting Englishman withdrew from the pro-am and said he had been receiving physiotherapy treatment for a neck strain.
“No, it’s not great,” Penge, 27, said Wednesday at Royal Queensland. “The physios here are helping me out. I think I’ve had five physio sessions in the last 24 hours, so we’re doing everything I can to feel OK.”
McIlroy will highlight the field in next week’s Australian Open at Royal Melbourne beginning Dec. 4.
___
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The PGA Tour is rolling out new financial-support programs for players who fall off full status–a sign that the sport’s top circuit recognizes the volatile nature of pro golf and is adjusting to protect its players. The changes come as the Tour shrinks its fully exempt membership from 125 to 100 cards for the first time in 2026.
Many professionals fall just outside those thresholds despite doing enough to stay busy, and without full status their ability to schedule events, earn prize money, and sustain a career can be severely impacted. The new initiative acknowledges that gap.
What It Means for Players Who Lose Status
Two major initiatives are in place: the Member Support Program, which guarantees that players who finish the prior season outside the top 125 (i.e., 126 and beyond) but hold full exemption will earn at least $150,000, so long as they participate in at least 12 events on the PGA or Korn Ferry Tour.
And the Pathways Player Achievement Grant, which gives $15,000 grants to exempt Korn Ferry Tour members ranked 21-75 the previous season (no minimum events required), plus top graduates from touring bodies like PGA Tour Americas and PGA Tour University.
These efforts are tied to the existing earnings-assurance framework (launched in 2022) which already guarantees advances to fully-exempt Tour members.
For a pro golfer who finishes a season just outside full-status thresholds, the consequences are steep: fewer tournament starts, travel uncertainty, lower earnings, and tougher sponsorship deals.
In effect, players who were on the bubble now have a more stable base from which to rebuild. They won’t have to scramble for starts nearly as much or chase every minor event hoping to maintain income.
The Broader Implications for Tour Structure
Reducing the number of fully exempt cards to 100 tightens competition dramatically. That means more players will inevitably fall outside and need alternate routes back in. The Tour’s new financial programs reflect an understanding that without some kind of buffer, many professionals could be squeezed out entirely.
It also signals that the Tour is thinking long-term about player retention, not just rewarding winners. By establishing a floor for players who would otherwise have very little, the Tour helps maintain a depth of talent, and keeps careers alive longer.
From a business standpoint, having a healthier bottom of the playing field matters. It sustains field strength, maintains broadcast quality, and keeps emerging players invested. The move also may help counter criticism that the Tour system is too brutal on players who are good enough to be professionals, but not yet winners.
What’s Next on the 2025-26 Calendar
As the Tour rolls out these new protections, players are also turning their eyes to the final stretch of the 2025 schedule and the first high-profile events of the next season. Notably: the Hero World Challenge (Dec. 4-7).
This invitational event returns to the Albany Golf Course in the Bahamas, featuring a small elite field of roughly 20 of the world’s top-ranked golfers.
The 2025 field is headlined by Scottie Scheffler, the two-time defending champion and world No. 1.
Despite being unofficial (it doesn’t count toward FedExCup standings), the Hero World Challenge offers prestige, strong competition, and a $5 million purse.

The 2026 DP World Tour season officially kicks off with the 2025 BMW Australian PGA Championship at the Royal Queensland Golf Club in Brisbane. The players will battle for the historic Joe Kirkwood Cup and a record AUD $2.5 million prize purse starting on November 27. Designed by Mike Clayton, the Royal Queensland Golf Club will host the Olympic Games in 2032. Elvis Smylie shocked everyone by winning here last year with -14. But the dominant 2023 champion, Min Woo Lee, wants that trophy back and looks good in his last few starts. The field includes 156 world-class players, a mix of DP World Tour regulars, LIV Golf stars, and local Australian heroes this week. It is the perfect recipe for a dramatic showdown in Brisbane. Now, look at the three players who stand above the rest.
Joaquin Niemann (+800)
The Chilean favorite brings serious heat, entering the week as the clear betting favorite at 8-to-1 odds. Niemann destroyed the LIV Golf competition throughout 2025 with five reported victories. So, his confidence will be sky high, and his game copes perfectly with Australian conditions. He already proved this by winning the Australian Open back in 2023.
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His low flight balls trait is essential for controlling spin into Royal Queensland’s firm greens. Niemann creates elite ball-striking numbers that few players in this field can match. But bettors can also note that Niemann’s last #1 finish came in July. Since then, he has only managed a T4 at Indianapolis and finished in 55th position at the Open de España presented by Madrid.
Min Woo Lee (+900)
The Chef is back in the kitchen. Min Woo Lee dominated this event in 2023 with a -20 score and loves the energy of the rowdy home crowd in Brisbane. The pressure of playing at home usually melts some players, but not Lee.
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Lee played 19 PGA Tour events this season with 1 win and 2 top 10 finishes. And he misses the cut at only 5 of these events. And during his most recent participation, he finished tied for the 5th and 11th positions at the FedEx Open de France and BMW PGA Championship with -13 and -14 scores. Lee’s driving distance is a massive weapon on Royal Queensland’s reachable par-5s and currently sits second on the odds board at 9-to-1 (900+) odds.
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Marco Penge (+1000)
Marco Penge might be the smartest value bet on the entire board, finishing second in the Race to Dubai and winning three times in the 2025 DP World Tour, including big titles in Spain and Denmark. Penge’s aggressive style suits a birdie-fest tournament like the BMW Australian PGA Championship. Penge, who recently won the Open de España presented by Madrid last month, enters the week with generous 10-to-1 odds to win. Plenty of other sharks are swimming in these waters, ready to strike. Ryan Fox at 20-to-1 is a massive steal. The Kiwi won twice on the PGA Tour in 2025, including the Canadian Open.
And don’t sleep on the young Josele, aka Jose Luis Ballester. He just turned pro and joined LIV Golf’s Fireballs GC team. He enters fresh off a crushing -22 victory at the PIF Saudi International. His confidence is overflowing, and he knows he can beat elite fields. And even veteran Eddie Pepperell, who saved his career at Q-School with a clutch-19 finish, presents a fascinating case as well. Even stars like Adam Scott and Cameron Smith loom large over the field.

The 2025 PGA Tour season is already in the books, with names like Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, and Tommy Fleetwood grabbing most of the headlines. However, other players have also been the talk of the town, for far less glamorous reasons.
These are the players who had a performance to forget, some of them with dramatic drops in the rankings from one year to the next. Several of them lost their PGA Tour cards for 2026, while others saved their necks only thanks to their successes in previous years.
Let’s look at some examples
1. Max Homa
Max Homa had already been struggling since 2024, when he barely finished in the top 50 of the FedEx Cup (he finished ranked 46th). However, after missing eight cuts in 24 tournaments and finishing in only two top 10s in 2025, he fell more than 50 places to finish outside the top 100 (105th).
His card is secure until 2028 thanks to his six titles between 2019 and 2023, but his golf needs a lot of work if he wants to return to the PGA Tour’s top tier.
2. Tony Finau
Tony Finau went from tying for 23rd in the FedEx Cup rankings in 2024 to 83rd in 2025. This was the result of finishing in only one top 10 during the year, in which he also missed five cuts in 20 tournaments.
His PGA Tour card is not at risk, but he will have to fight to qualify for the majors and Signature Events. It is undoubtedly a difficult pill to swallow for the six-time PGA Tour winner who, on the other hand, has plenty of tools at his disposal to regain his place on the circuit.
3. Adam Scott
Adam Scott is the only major winner on this list and one of the PGA Tour’s fan favorites, but that doesn’t change the fact that his 2025 season was pretty poor. He went from fourth in the FedEx Cup rankings in 2024 to 112th in 2025.
The Australian will also have to rise from the ashes to play in the main events of 2026. Being, as he is, a player with a lot of history on the PGA Tour, fans will want to see him on the big stages.
4. Joel Dahmen
Joel Dahmen has been walking a tightrope for the last couple of seasons and ultimately failed to retain his card in 2025. He had one second-place finish and two other top-10 finishes on the season, but missed the cut in 16 of the 28 events he played.
That performance left him ranked 122nd in the FedEx Cup standings. He will be able to continue playing at the highest level with a Conditional Status, but he’ll need some great results to improve his situation.
5. Nick Dunlap
When he won the 2024 American Express as an amateur, it seemed that Nick Dunlap would be the next big star on the PGA Tour. Even more so when he went on to win the Barracuda Championship that same year.
However, the “sophomore slump” hit him hard, and with 12 missed cuts in 25 tournaments and just two top-10 finishes, he ended 2025 ranked 135th in the FedEx Cup. His card is secure, but he has a lot of ground to make up in his professional career.
6. Adam Hadwin
Adam Hadwin had never lost his card since joining the PGA Tour in 2015. That bad moment came this season, when he missed 12 cuts in 29 tournaments and recorded just one top 10, leading to a 139th-place finish in the FedEx Cup rankings.
7. Sahith Theegala
Sahith Theegala was another player who went from one extreme to the other from one year to the next: from finishing third in the FedEx Cup rankings in 2024 to 146th in 2025. In the recently concluded season, he failed to achieve any top 10 finishes and had only two top-25 finishes in 23 tournaments played (six missed cuts).
Theegala retains his PGA Tour card thanks to his victory in the 2023 Fortinet Championship, but he is also forced to regain ground if he wants to maintain his membership beyond 2026.

The PGA Tour canceled The Sentry 2026 because of drought conditions in Hawaii. Ever since the decision came out, debates about the tour’s opening schedule have started in the golf world. Many golf analysts and even pro golfers said that this might not be the only event off the schedule going forward. Some speculated that the PGA Tour’s new CEO, Brian Rolapp, would want to start further later in January. Ryder Cup star Harris English also commented on the same.
Reflecting on the same, the host at the CNBC CEO Council Experience Forum in Florida asked Brian Rolapp his take on the rumors and if there’s any truth to them. Rolapp brought in Tiger Woods to address the question. He hinted at how the Future Competition Committee, chaired by Woods, is working on the very same issue. Woods and the members of the committee are tasked with determining what the stakeholders of the PGA Tour, including fans, sponsors, media partners, and others, want. And based on that, the committee needs to find out if the PGA Tour should start later. If yes, then how can they pack the events on the calendar to make it understandable to golf fans?
“No. No. Nothing’s been decided,” Brian Rolapp said. “If you go further upstream, what Harris is also referring to is, when I was not in long, the first thing I decided to do was announce, a new committee called the Future Competition Committee, which is chaired by Tiger Woods and is made up of a handful of players and some outside advisers, which is aimed at looking at the competitive product with the idea of how do we make it better for players and for fans and our partners.”
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The PGA Tour CEO created the Future Competition Committee in August 2025. “The goal is not incremental change,” Rolapp said. “The goal is significant change.” Besides Tiger Woods as chairman, the committee includes Patrick Cantlay, Adam Scott, Camilo Villegas, Maverick McNealy, Keith Mitchell, and others as members. As Brian Rolapp pointed out, the aim is to make golf more competitive and engaging for fans and partners. However, the PGA Tour usually has lower viewership in January because of the NFL playoffs. This has led to rumors about a later start.
The Future Competition Committee is working to come up with a solution for this. And discussions are already underway. The committee is actively discussing how the schedule should look, how to make events bigger, and how to fit those major events together in a single season. “Nothing’s been decided, but that’s the committee’s job. It’s trending that way,” Brian Rolapp said.
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Being the chairman of the Future Competition Committee, it’s Tiger Woods’ job to work with the committee’s members and come up with a solution. While the PGA Tour has not decided anything yet, it’s obvious that competing with the NFL is close to impossible for golf. So in some aspect, it does make sense to make the move. But if Tiger Woods & company decide to make this change, there’s also the task of squeezing in these events canceled from the start of January into the calendar.
Rolapp also admitted that the PGA Tour willingly gave the Future Competition Committee a lot on their plate. “Yeah. I could see that. I think, you know, I think there’s a lot of common themes. One thing we did in this committee, which is important, is we launched it with more questions than answers. And we did that on purpose because we want it to be informed by data, research, and our partners,” the CEO said.
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To come up with the solution, Tiger Woods & co. were part of several meetings with media partners and sponsors. Moreover, the PGA Tour surveyed fans to know what they want to see. The committee is actively weighing feedback from all these stakeholders while shaping the schedule for the PGA Tour in 2027 and beyond.
Many golf analysts, including Taylor Zarzour, have said that the PGA Tour should make this move. However, when it comes from professional golfers like Harris English, it carries more weight.
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Harris English’s comments on a later start
Harris English admitted that having a later start to the PGA Tour will be a good idea. He even hinted that instead of having eight signature events, there should be 20 to 22 events on the PGA Tour and each should be of the same caliber. “They’ll have 20, 22 events that are all the same. I think that’s a good model to have. That’s where you’ll see all the top players play every single event because you can’t really afford to take one off,” English said.
He said this considering Brian Rolapp’s aim. Rolapp has stated his intention to have elite golfers play all events. And if that’s what Rolapp is after, English’s comments make perfect sense. If the PGA Tour wants to have its elite golfers play all the events, make all of them important. When all events are of the same caliber, just like the signature events, golfers won’t be able to skip them. And if more elite golfers enter the field, viewership will likely go up, too.
CEO Brian Rolapp and Strategic Sports Group investors want a competitive, streamlined model. The Tour is already moving toward fewer cards and smaller fields in 2026. Instead of 125, only 100 golfers get fully exempt status. The field sizes for certain events are also shrinking. Fewer events on the PGA Tour could add to this and make the PGA Tour more competitive.
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Tiger Woods and the committee face a complex puzzle. But the pressure to strengthen the product has pushed these conversations to the forefront. Whatever direction they choose, the decisions will shape the future of the PGA Tour.

The 2025 season will be forever remembered as a significant year in the career of Rory McIlroy as the Northern Irishman clinched The Masters title and became the sixth male player to complete the Career Grand Slam.
Not only did McIlroy win The Masters, but he also managed to win The Players Championship for a second time.
The 36-year-old also shone as Europe won the Ryder Cup in New York. And to round off the year, McIlroy clinched a seventh Order of Merit title on the DP World Tour.
But it would be wrong to suggest that McIlroy was consistently successful throughout 2025.
Rory McIlroy was the fourth worst player on the PGA Tour in 2025 in one category
Rory McIlroy seemed to struggle for motivation in the weeks after his triumph at Augusta National.
He missed the cut at the Canadian Open while he only managed to finish inside the top 20 at the US Open after a stunning round of 67 on Sunday at Oakmont.
That mid-season slump may have contributed to McIlroy ending the season as the fourth-worst player on the PGA Tour in one particular category.
It turns out that McIlroy hit just 51.24 per cent of his fairways throughout the year. Only Nick Dunlap, Peter Malnati, and Frankie Capan III performed worse.
Rory McIlroy’s other driving statistics on the PGA Tour this season
It is a remarkable statistic when you consider just how much of a strength driving has been throughout McIlroy’s career. There are few sights in golf which are more impressive than the five-time major champion with the driver in his hand.
In fact, McIlroy is fourth on tour for strokes gained off the tee. He is also second for driving distance at 323 yards.
That just shows that, in the modern game, hitting fairways is less important than making sure you are well down the hole and have a shorter club into the green.
But it is still quite a surprise to see McIlroy be one of the worst players on the PGA Tour when it comes to finding the short grass off the tee.

The PGA Tour will provide a financial safety net for some of its full-time pros through two initiatives starting next year, according to a memo sent to players on Tuesday and reported by multiple media outlets.
As the tour will reduce from the traditional 125 to 100 tour cards for earning elite status in 2026, the new programs will assist former fully exempt PGA Tour members and fully exempt Korn Ferry Tour members.
The Member Support Program awards $150,000 in earning assurance to players ranked No. 126 and beyond — based on the prior season’s FedEx Cup points standings — who were exempt during that season. It guarantees any player who competes in 12 events (combined) on the PGA and Korn Ferry tours a base salary, in a sense, of $150,000 for the entire season. If a player falls short of earning that total by the end of the tours’ seasons, the program makes up the difference.
The second program, called the Pathways Player Achievement Grant, is not based on winnings. Instead, exempt members of the Korn Ferry Tour, which is one step below and annually graduates 20 players to the PGA Tour, receive $15,000 grants at the beginning of the season. Designated for the Nos. 21-75 on the previous season’s points list, there is no minimum number of events to be eligible, and the players can use money however they want, as compensation or expenses.
Also eligible for this stipend are players Nos. 1-10 on the PGA Tour Americas points list, and the top five available players in the PGA Tour University standings.
The PGA Tour policy board, according to the memo, approved the programs for player development,

USGA’s Rule 6-7: The player must play “without undue delay and in accordance with pace-of-play guidelines.” A group is out of position when it completes play on a hole later than the maximum allowable time under those guidelines. If a group gets out of position due to a ruling or some other legitimate delay, the group is expected to regain its position within a reasonable time.
Slow play plagues golf. We all agree. But what have authorities done to curb it? The LPGA Tour imposed fines and a tiered penalty system. And the PGA Tour has sent out a memo outlining a new rule before the 2026 season commences on January 15, with the Sony Open.
The KFT allowed rangefinders last season to see if they work, and as per the memo, the feedback was positive. Hence, the rangefinders will be allowed for the 2026 season. Although it is debatable if they help pros speed up, curbing slow play, they can be a sensible move for KFT since many golfers don’t have full-time caddies. They work with family or friends, and a rangefinder can help an amateur caddie in finding accurate yardage fast.
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The PGA Tour also confirmed that last season’s pace-of-play rules will continue in 2026. Under this system, a player receives a one-stroke penalty for their first overtime once they are put on the clock. The goal is to keep rounds moving and encourage faster decision-making. Other important elements were also discussed in the memo, like a new 2-part initiative, “Member Support Program.”
For the first part, the Tour will give a $15,000 “Achievement Grant” to players who finish 21st-75th on the 2025 KFT Points List, the 10 players graduating from the Americas Tour, and the Top Five from PGA Tour U Rollover. With the first five KFT events happening internationally, this bonus helps players manage a costly start to the season. The memo stresses that this money is a true bonus and does not require repayment. The second part supports PGA Tour members who finished outside the top 125 this year.
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These players will have a $150,000 earnings assurance for next season, as long as they play at least 12 events across the PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour. If a player earns less than that amount, the Tour will cover the difference. The memo explained it simply: “Player A earns $90,000 for the season; he would be given a $60,000 check at the end of the year.”
Another notable update is a restructure of the Americas Tour. So, instead of being split into two parts, it will now run as one continuous season with short breaks. Q-School will, moreover, move to March, happening before the season begins instead of between the Latin and Canadian swings.
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While none of these changes are massive, they are meaningful improvements for players. As the memo suggests, these updates show the Tour is trying to move in the right direction, after so many golfers have been heavily called out for pace of play.
Bad play instances on the PGA Tour
During the final round of the 2025 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, on the par-5 sixth hole, Tom Kim took a long time to line up his second shot, and when he finally hit, his shot went out of bounds. Watching the golfer waggling over the ball for more than a minute, analysts Jim Gallagher Jr. and Frank Nobilo roasted the golfer. “One less waggle would have helped,” said Gallagher Jr., while Nobilo shared, “It wasn’t worth the wait.”
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At the WM Phoenix Open, during the third round, Tom Kim again witnessed slow-play allegations. Foster, who caddies for Matt Fitzpatrick, didn’t hold back on his thoughts. “Yeah, I’ve fallen asleep on my headcovers leaning on the bag waiting for him to hit a shot now and again, yeah… He’s as slow as they come; get on with it, will you?” he told Sky Sports.
Maybe a range finder can help pros be faster? We will see how 2026 turns out.

Nelly Korda wrapped up her 2025 season with a light-hearted moment that fans instantly adored. Fresh off a third-place finish at the CME Group Tour Championship and a year without a win, the former world No. 1 still found a reason to smile when she finally mustered the courage to ask Tommy Fleetwood for a photo.
Posting the picture on Instagram, she joked, “Wasn’t scared to ask for a photo this time 😆.” Tommy Fleetwood was seen holding a cap in his hand, which was signed by Nelly Korda. And nobody celebrated the picture more than her sister, Jessica Korda, who chimed in with the perfect comment in three words: “The confidence grew 🔥.”
It was a full circle moment for both Fleetwood and Nelly Korda as she even shared an older snapshot from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where a much more shy Nelly posed with Fleetwood. This time, though, she owned it, and her sister made sure the world knew.
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This is a developing story…

Since 1929, the Australian PGA Championship has crowned 95 champions. This year, someone will write Chapter 96. Royal Queensland hosts the season-opener for the 2025-26 DP World Tour from November 27-30, and the field is loaded—156 players, nine from LIV Golf, all chasing AUD $2.5 million.
Last year, it was Australian teenager Elvis Smylie who took the title. Can he do it again? Will an American claim it? Or does a LIV star leave Brisbane with the trophy? Let’s take a look at three star golfers who are looking strong to win the historic Kirkwood Cup.
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Joaquin Niemann
Niemann is one of the biggest names in the field this week at the Australian PGA Championship. The numbers tell you everything you need to know. In 2025, he won five times on LIV Golf. He came in second in the individual standings, only missing out on the championship to Jon Rahm in a thrilling game at Indianapolis.
His Australian experience is a plus. Joaquin Niemann has already won the 2023 Australian Open, so he knows how to win in Australia. He’ll be playing with the kind of confidence that comes from always winning. Royal Queensland’s tough greens and narrow fairways might be good for his accurate ball-striking.
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Carlos Ortiz
Then there’s Carlos Ortiz from Mexico. This year, he achieved the best major championship performance of his career. At the U.S. Open held at Oakmont, he tied for fourth place. During that week, he ranked second in strokes gained on approach shots and first in greens in regulation. This wasn’t just luck; it showcased his exceptional ball-striking skills.
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Ortiz ranked seventh in the 2025 LIV Golf standings and consistently finished in the top ten in every event he played. Last year, he won his first LIV event in Houston, and in the 2024-25 season, he secured two more victories on the Asian Tour. At 34 years old, he is in peak form. His short game and accuracy around the greens make him a formidable competitor on any course, particularly at Royal Queensland, which is a layout that highlights those strengths.
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David Puig
At 23, Puig is the wild card who could surprise everyone at the Australian PGA Championship. In 2025, he was the fourth-best player in LIV Golf in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, making him one of the circuit’s fiercest drivers. His length gives him chances to make birdies that most people can’t. In 2025, 27% of his rounds were below par, which was the second-best in the league.
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He’s in ninth place in LIV’s individual standings, ahead of big winners like Patrick Reed and Brooks Koepka. In his first seven LIV events of 2025, he finished in the top 10 three times, including two fourth-place finishes in a row in Adelaide and Singapore. The young Spaniard is still looking for his first LIV win, but there’s no denying his skill. And let’s not forget he is “regarded to be among the brightest prospects in the game.”

When Stewart Cink hoisted the 2025 Charles Schwab Cup Championship trophy alongside the coveted Schwab Cup, another PGA TOUR Champions season officially came to a close. His thrilling come-from-behind win over points leader Steven Alker was his third victory of the year.
The season conclusion marked the end of an era and the beginning of a significant change that will impact the over-50 circuit for years to come.
School’s Out
Traditionally, the season finale coincides with preparations for PGA TOUR Champions Qualifying Schol (Q-School) held in December. It’s a brutal path to the Tour, consisting of two stages of competition, culminating in a final 72-hole, stroke play tournament. The top five finishers (and ties) at the Final Stage earn fully exempt PGA TOUR Champions membership for the following season. Players finishing between sixth and 30th place earn entry into weekly Monday tournament qualifiers.
In late September, the Tour announced the elimination of Q-School, a decision met with both enthusiasm and disappointment among PGA TOUR Champions players.
A spot on PGA TOUR Champions is notoriously difficult to earn, with a limited field of just 78 players. After reflection and discussion, a decision was made to allot the Q-School places to PGA TOUR veterans who have made 300 or more starts on the PGA TOUR, but don’t have enough career money, wins or total points to qualify for PGA TOUR Champions.
Over the last three years, nine of the 15 Q-School graduates were from outside the United States. In 2024 and 2025, for example, the ratio was 4:1, with Shane Bertsch and Mark Walker the lone Americans.
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Explained 6-time PGA TOUR and 11-time PGA TOUR Champions winner Padraig Harrington, “Obviously, what they’re worried about is if there’s four or five internationals coming in every year, it’s cutting out too many of the guys who have played for 10-15 years on the PGA TOUR and deserve their four or five years on the Champions Tour.”
Harrington, a World Golf Hall of Fame member who made a combined 416 starts on both tours, understands the rationale behind the change, but added, “Yeah, maybe five was too deep but I personally probably would have kept a spot or two (for Q-School). I can see both sides. It’s very subjective.”
PGA TOUR Champions President Miller Brady further explained the decision-making process, “For instance, we have individuals that had a long, significant career on the PGA TOUR and they were struggling to get into our tournaments. And I think a lot of the players asked themselves was that right or wrong? And at the end of the day, they wanted to continue to benefit members who had played the PGA TOUR, and that’s ultimately the reason why.”
He added, “Our player Advisory Council and our Player Directors ultimately felt that if you played and you supported the PGA TOUR career for a significant number of years, you deserve a chance to have access to play this tour.”
Steve Flesch, one of four Player Directors, said the decision was made after intense deliberation.
“We toiled and labored over it for about 3-4 months because we weren’t convinced,” he recalled. “I don’t think any of us thought that it wouldn’t come without any resistance when we voted on it. But ideally, and we agreed with our president, we need to protect and look out for the guys who supported the PGA TOUR for years.”
According to Flesch, 11 of the top 36 players competing at the Schwab Cup Championship never played the PGA TOUR full-time, taking eligibility spots that might have gone to veteran Tour players.
“So the guys who would normally get in, who have had two and three and four PGA TOUR wins, nice career money, Ryder Cups, supported the Tour forever, they’re not getting in.”
Flesch was finally convinced by a fellow Player Director he called an “influential voice,” a foreigner who left home at 21 to move to the States and play the PGA TOUR. That golfer was actually the biggest proponent of eliminating Q-School.
It’s not that the Q-School grads are not excellent players. As a matter of fact, seven of the top 36 in the Schwab Cup Championship earned their tour membership via that path.
Brady agreed, with a caveat.
“It’s not really an issue of quality. It’s an issue of trying to make sure that we’re benefiting members that played the PGA TOUR . I know I sound like a broken record, but that ultimately is the whole reason behind it.”
Flesch concurred, adding “All the guys who come play and finish top 36, they’re great players. They did nothing wrong. It’s just one of those things where we’ve got too many guys who played for so many years who weren’t getting in, who deserved it.”
He also brought up an interesting point of non-reciprocity.
“Let me tell you, the Japanese tour, the DP, the European Tour, Legends Tour over there, they aren’t wanting any of us to come play their tours,” he insisted. “They aren’t offering us spots. So why should we offer them spots? Everybody thinks they should be able to play our tour.”
Increasing the number of members is not an option, according to Brady who said, “We’re 78 every week. We feel like that’s the right number, especially because it allows us to do a 1 and 10 tee start without guys hitting a wall and then playing a six-hour round, which we’re not going to do.”
Monday Monday
With no more Q-School, Monday qualifying is the only door left open for players who have lost their card or had hoped to gain entry through the Final Stage. While Steven Alker and Tommy Gainey both transformed their Monday qualifiers into wins that in turn propelled them to success on PGA TOUR Champions, they remain the exceptions.
Just three tournament spots are available for Monday qualifying, making it even tougher to earn full TOUR membership, especially for international players. Travel expenses will be prohibitive for many.
“But,” said Harrington, “If you’re good enough, you will get through. There’s no doubt about that.”
Point / Counter Point
Players at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship were vocal about the direction being taken by their tour. All agreed that it’s a complicated issue, and most admitted they can see both sides, even while expressing disappointment in the change.
Steven Alker | former Monday qualifier with 10 wins on PGA TOUR Champions, including two Schwab Cups | member of the Player Advisory Group
“So ultimately, I thought we were going down the route of like at least 2-3 spots for tour school, you know, reduce the numbers, give the members who supported the tour more help if you like, more access to the tour.
“Eliminating Q-School takes away some Cinderella stories. But at the same time, we’re looking after the people, the members who have supported the tour for a long, long time, giving access to those who are still playing competitively.”
Steve Allen | 2024 Q-School, T3 | Australia
“I clearly would have kept Q-School. You know, the Champions Tour runs a fine balance between getting the best players of all time playing, and having the best golfers.
“A little disappointing for sure, because I mean, obviously without the Q-School I would have not had this opportunity. So I think there’s a lot of golfers out there like me that are, you know, plenty, plenty good enough. And I think it gives everyone a chance and I think it’s good for the tour. So it’s a little disappointing.”
Cameron Percy | 2024 Q-School, winner | Australia
“Its terrible. Terrible. It’s always been if you play good, your golf will take care of itself. Now they don’t want that. There’s less Americans on the tour, so they want more.”
Freddie Jacobsen | 2025 Q-School, solo 2 | Sweden
“I can see both arguments for it. It’s tricky. It’s a little bit of a continuation of the PGA TOUR and the players that have been committed for many, many years to that tour.
“But it’s also nice with the balance of fresh blood and people that stayed healthy and stayed at it and have the drive to kind of peak late.
“To look on the bright side, it’s not completely shot, which is good. I think the players that are top, top players, they will probably always find a way to get through but it certainly, has been made a lot, lot harder.”
Tag Ridings | 239 PGA TOUR events | PGA TOUR Champions Rookie
“Half the players are from other countries, so who cares if they didn’t play the PGA TOUR ? You’re drawing all the talent from everywhere around the world. That’s what we’re basing our marketing on anyway. So that doesn’t seem like the real reason for it. People want to reward the PGA TOUR players? Good. That’s what you’re doing, right? Then reward more of them. Give more starts, give more players access, right? Increase the field to 90 players a week.”
Mark Hensby | 193 PGA TOUR starts | moved to U.S. from Australia in 1994
“I think that when you got guys who played the tour for 20 years and they can’t get a spot, I mean, sure, they could go and earn a Q-School spot, but if you played, made $20 million on the PGA TOUR , I mean, I thought that’s what this tour was all about.
“Now, in saying all that, it’s always been a closed shop, but now they’re really closing it up. It’s really tough, but all tours are doing it now.
“And you know, I think that to sell pro am spots, they probably need some name players that people are familiar with.”
Identity Crisis?
A key issue is how to brand PGA TOUR Champions. It was initially established to keep legends like Jack Niklous, Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson and Gary Player relevant in the game at a time there was no Tour pension. It has since evolved with large purses, sponsors and important charitable components.
Said Harrington, “It is a seriously complicated issue, you know, how do you see the Champions Tour? As a regular tour? It certainly isn’t.”
According to Flesch, the first player meeting in Hawaii last January focused on Tour identity and mission statement.
“What are we?” he recalled asking. “We were like, are we the most over-50 competitive tour in the world or are we ambassadors for the PGA TOUR ?
They ultimately decided that “best over-50,” in his words, “wasn’t going to cut it.”
To sustain selling two Pro Ams each week requires “name” golfers that sponsors know and want to partner with.
“Do they want to watch on TV and do they have some level of recognition?” asked Barber. “Which in turn, you know, if you’re trying to sell this tour, I’m not saying it makes it easy, but it makes it a little easier.”
Flesch noted that Wednesdays and Thursdays are the biggest days of the week for PGA TOUR Champions, and that they have found their niche in smaller and mid-sized markets where the PGA TOUR doesn’t compete.
The identity debate – PGA TOUR retirement reward or performance reward regardless of Tour – is reminiscent of the classic Saturday Night Live skit in which Dan Akyrod and Gilda Radner argue ferociously about whether New Shimmer is a floor wax or a dessert topping. Chevy Chase solves it all with “Calm down, you two. New Shimmer is both a floor wax AND a dessert topping!”
Perhaps PGA TOUR Champions will find it can be both.

With the last event of the PGA Tour wrapped up for 2025, the schedule is now being set for next season. This includes the Signature events. The tournaments with larger purses and limited field sizes of some of the best players on the Tour. There are a few ways to get into a Signature event. However, for 2026, Jordan Spieth will be relying on sponsorship exemptions. Something that is generating a lot of criticism for Spieth and the Tour.
Why Is Jordan Spieth On Sponsorship Exemptions?
When it comes to the Signature Events, the paths into the roster are built to gather the best players on Tour. To start, the top fifty from the previous FedEx Cup are in. Then it goes to the top 10 for the current FedEx rankings. Next are the top 30 in the OWGR, and then, the PGA event winners in the current season. Spieth is just beyond the top 50 for the 2025 FedEx. He stands at No. 72 on the OWGR, and the rest is dependent on how 2026 will go. Due to those factors, Spieth will need to rely on the sponsorship exemptions for at least the first two Signatures of 2026. Something that is maligned by fans and commentators.
Sponsorship Exemption Criticised
Going onto the Golf Channel Podcast, Rex Hoggard had a lot to say about the sponsorship exemptions. Part of his criticism is that Spieth didn’t play any tournaments in the Fall Series. The fall series helps to fill in positions that would otherwise not be addressed until the next season is well underway.
“These guys play all year long, they play a really gruelling schedule. It’s only going to become more gruelling next year. You deserve the time off, but it is tough when you’re in that category, and you didn’t play once in the fall. You didn’t even give it one shot… I just don’t understand why he made the choice of not even playing if all he needed to do was make one cut and he would have finished in that category, and he wouldn’t even be in this conversation.”
Hoggard went on to say that he is pretty tired of talking about sponsorship exemptions. Only a few players ever take them at a time, yet the conversation comes up every time. He is giving Spieth some leeway as he became a father of three this year.
Spieth On The Exemptions
Jordan Spieth has previously spoken about being on a sponsorship exemption. It had to do with the exemptions he had this year. Spieth doesn’t like asking for such exemptions. He was glad to be able to play in the signatures, but he just didn’t like the path he took to be part of them. Spieth would describe the events as something that he couldn’t just miss.
Spieth Exemptions In 2026
For the first Signature of 2026, Spieth will have an exemption. His sponsor also happens to be AT&T, which hosts the Pebble Beach event. For Spieth to avoid any ire for the sponsorship exemptions for 2027, he’ll need to improve his game or play in the fall series.