PGA Tour’s Player Advisory Council meets to discuss possible reductions in field sizes, exemptions

Field sizes and exemptions — with momentum building for a reduction in the total number of exempt players — were the main topics at Tuesday’s meeting of the PGA Tour’s Player Advisory Council.

As first reported by Golfweek.com, the 16-player council met at Castle Pines Golf Club or via Zoom for those players who didn’t qualify for the season’s second playoff event, to continue a discussion that began earlier this summer on field sizes.

The concern is that some full-field events struggle to make cuts on Friday because of 144- or 156-player field sizes, which has prompted the circuit to consider moving to 120-man fields at all full-field tournaments. Such a move would require the Tour to reduce the total number of exempt players.

There had been support for reducing some field sizes if those playing opportunities could be replaced by larger fields at signature events, which will have minimum field sizes of 72 players starting next year. That trade off, however, seems to be a non-starter for Tour officials.

According to one PAC member who requested anonymity, the Tour is considering reducing the number of full exemptions from the previous season’s FedExCup points list (currently 125) as well as the number of exemptions from the Korn Ferry Tour (currently 30).

If approved by the policy board, the changes could be implemented as early as 2026. The year’s final policy board meeting is scheduled for November at the RSM Classic.