2027 Calendar Shifts and the 2028 Two-Tier Tour Model

Golfing Bible · 2026-10-06

2027 Season: The Big Picture

The 2027 regular season starts January 21 with The American Express at PGA West in La Quinta, California. The biggest headline is the absence of Hawaii; for the first time in 56 years, the Tour will not play there, removing both the Sentry and Sony Open from the opener slot. Drought conditions at The Plantation Course at Kapalua forced the change. There are 33 regular-season events on the slate. The period between the Masters and the PGA Championship holds seven tournaments, which is one fewer signature event than in 2026. The regular-season finale runs August 5–8 as the GO by Raymond James in Greensboro, North Carolina, marking a new title sponsor for the closing event.

Key Date Swaps and Venue Moves

January 27–30:: The event following The American Express is at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego, California. Earlier reports called this unnamed due to sponsorship changes, but the update confirms it is The Sentry.
Pebble Beach and Phoenix:: The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (February 4–7) and WM Phoenix Open (February 11–14) swap dates compared to last year. The move helps the Pebble Beach event avoid a head-to-head clash with the Super Bowl.
Cadillac Championship:: This event shifts to March 4–7 at Trump National Doral. The earlier date sidesteps a nearby Formula 1 race and takes advantage of historically better golf weather in Miami during March. It now sits right before The Players Championship.
Arnold Palmer Invitational:: Bay Hill hosts from March 18–21, taking the date the Valspar Championship used to hold. This slot overlaps with the start of the NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments.
Valspar Championship:: Moves to May 6–9 at Innisbrook Resort, picking up the date previously held by the Truist Championship.
CJ Cup Byron Nelson:: Shifts three weeks earlier to April 29–May 2, filling the Cadillac's former May slot.
Truist Championship and PGA Championship:: Both push one week later. The Truist runs May 13–16, and the PGA Championship is May 20–23.
PGA Championship Venue:: The championship debuts at the Fields Ranch East course at PGA Frisco, Texas. This marks a return to North Texas for the event after six decades and leverages the newly completed course.
Sompo Championship:: The Rocket Classic ends after eight years in Detroit. It is replaced by the Sompo Championship at Silverado Resort's North Course in Napa, California, serving as the penultimate regular-season event.

2028 Two-Tier Competitive Structure

Starting in 2028, the Tour moves to a two-tier system. The names "Championship Series" and "Challenger Series" are currently working titles. This structure replaces the signature event model entirely.

Championship Series: This is the elite tier. The calendar includes the four major championships, The Players Championship, team events like the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup, and a reimagined playoff. The regular-season portion will initially feature 10 events, with the rest of the 23–24 total events filled by existing tournaments or new markets such as Boston, Denver, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington D.C.
Challenger Series: This tier consists of 20 tournaments and serves as the primary feeder circuit to the upper level.
Shared Calendar: Both series run on a shared calendar but operate with separate fields, purses, and points systems.

Tour leadership cites recent years of uncertainty and division as the catalyst for this shift, aiming to put fans first by restoring meritocracy, providing clearer competitive pathways, and ensuring consistency when top players are on the same course.

Field Sizes, Cuts, and Player Status

The mechanics for the new tiers are strictly defined:

Championship Series: Events feature 120-player fields with a 36-hole cut.
Challenger Series: Events feature 144-player fields with a 36-hole cut.
Retention: The top 90 players on the season-long Championship Series points list keep their status for the following year.
Promotion: At least 20 players move up from the Challenger Series each year. Players who win multiple times on the Challenger Series in a single season earn immediate status into Championship Series events.
No Midseason Moves: There are no midseason promotion opportunities, such as relying on Aon points lists, to reach the Championship Series.
Relegation: Players finishing outside the top 90 face relegation to the Challenger Series. They can also try to earn back status through a "last chance" series featuring four to six fall events with limited top-tier access.
Restrictions: Championship Series-eligible players cannot compete in Challenger Series events. There are no sponsor invitations or Monday qualifiers on the Championship Series; qualifiers remain on the Challenger Series. Players are not required to play in every Championship Series event.

Playoff Format and International Play

The 2027 FedExCup playoffs, consisting of the St. Jude Classic, BMW Championship, and Tour Championship, will be the final year of the current three-event format. The 2028 model introduces a reimagined playoff that incorporates match play, crowns a regular-season champion before the playoffs begin, and rotates the Tour Championship course, ending its long run at East Lake. Additionally, a limited international fall series partnered with the DP World Tour will be introduced for top players, including the Australian Open.

Timeline and Open Questions

An initial memo outlining the 2027 changes went out in May 2026, and the full regular-season schedule was released on August 26, 2026.
Policy boards officially approved the new competitive model in June 2026.
The complete 2028 two-tier schedule, running from February through August, is expected to be announced early next year.
Tour leadership is scheduled to provide more structural details at a press conference during the Travelers Championship.
Roles for the Korn Ferry Tour, PGA Tour Americas, and Q-School under the new system have not yet been announced.
There is some ambiguity regarding the Sompo Championship venue for 2028. While the 2027 event is set at Silverado Resort, documents note the 2028 venue is yet to be revealed, with expectations pointing toward the Pacific Northwest.