A handful of proposed adjustments could possibly be coming to the PGA Tour, however that does not imply everybody approves. This is Padraig Harrington’s take.
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Huge adjustments are (possible) coming to the PGA Tour.
The PGA Tour’s Participant Advisory Council despatched out a 23-page doc to Tour membership final week detailing proposed adjustments for 2026. The Tour’s Coverage Board — a gaggle of 12 that features Tiger Woods and 5 different professionals — will vote on the adjustments later this month, they usually’re prone to be permitted.
The proposal contains objects resembling smaller subject sizes, a smaller variety of absolutely exempt members, tweaked pathways to Tour membership, a discount of Monday qualifiers and extra.
You may learn extra about all the adjustments right here, however for now we’re going to get a three-time main winner’s tackle the proposal.
So, what does Padraig Harrington assume?
“Horrible,” he stated, shaking his head. “Simply horrible. It truly is.”
Harrington defined his ideas on Wednesday’s episode of “Golf At the moment” on Golf Channel. In brief, he’s not a fan of shrinking subject sizes, amongst different issues.
“On the finish of the day the people who find themselves on the within are voting to maintain the factor tighter and extra closed,” Harrington stated. “Positive, why don’t we simply have 12 individuals within the occasion if I’m entered and everyone else can go house?
“The Tour was operating simply superb. I do know there’s just a little little bit of strain on time to get fields completed after they go to 156 [players] at sure instances of the season, however gamers will take care of that, they’ll deal with that. They know in the beginning of the 12 months, hey, I would miss out on a couple of tournaments trigger of sunshine. The slow-play challenge is like driving in rush hour site visitors. There are too many individuals on the golf programs and the tee instances are too tight. So sure this can be a manner of fixing one of many large points in golf, the tempo of play, however you wish to give everybody the chance.”
Harrington stated he would have been extra in favor of the proposal if there was a stronger “secondary” Tour behind the PGA Tour to which underperforming gamers could be relegated, including that perhaps sometime the DP World Tour play that function.
Though the proposal that actually irked him?
“Not having a Monday qualifier?” he stated. “Come on! That’s probably the most thrilling issues on the Tour.”
The proposal wouldn’t utterly banish the Tour of Monday qualifiers — which have lengthy been an integral a part of a Tour week and may present nice storylines and career-changing alternatives — however they might take successful. They’d be eradicated for fields of 120 or fewer and solely two spots (as an alternative of 4) will probably be awarded for 132-player fields.
Harrington stated he’s at all times beloved these qualifiers as a result of it’s an effective way to guage a younger participant’s drive.
“Once I have a look at a younger professional and whether or not he’s going to achieve success, if he simply drives down the street to the native occasions, he’s not likely pushing himself,” Harrington stated. “If he travels, performs Monday qualifies, goes to South Africa and goes to Europe and goes to all these tour colleges, I do know that man needs to make it. So it’s a manner of me separating individuals out. Do they actually wish to make it as a professional? Or would they like to make it as a professional?
The coverage board will vote on the proposed adjustments on Nov. 18.
