PGA Tour has big changes on the horizon. What doesn't change is players having to earn it: Analysis

The reason behind such a big change to PGA Tour eligibility is not much different from what it was some 40 years ago. Both were about trying to make the tour more competitive and to give real value to having a card. Of course, it involved money, too. That never changes. The PGA Tour board later this month will vote on whether to reduce the number of fully exempt players from 125 to 100, along with cutting from 30 to 20 the tour cards awarded to top finishers on the Korn Ferry Tour. It sounds even more cutthroat than golf already is, especially since it was in 1983 when the PGA Tour went the other direction. It used to be only the top 60 on the money list the previous year were exempt from qualifying for PGA Tour events. That changed to the top 125 in what became known as the all-exempt tour. Anyone who had a tour card could expect to tee it up just about wherever he wanted, instead of having to qualify every Monday. Those who didn't make it through qualifying put their clubs in the trunk and headed to the next stop. Back then, getting a PGA Tour card was the easy part. So the change wasn't about the rich getting richer. It was having a reasonable chance to make a good living. "Really, when you get down to it, there aren't very many of us who make any money out here," the late Tom Weiskopf said at the start of the 1982 season. Craig Stadler wound up leading the money list that year with $446,462. Only 37 players topped $100,000 in earnings. "The all-exempt tour will give more people a chance to play more tournaments," Weiskopf said. "There will be more people making money and, with 150 players able to play any time they want to, you're going to see the competitive level of the game go up." That's the idea behind the proposal the PGA Tour board is considering — and is likely to approve — when it meets in two weeks. With such a bloated membership, having a tour card often meant waiting until there was room to play. The regular season is three months shorter, so there is more urgency to play. Now factor in 125 cards, plus two-year exemptions to players who win, plus 30 cards for the Korn Ferry Tour, 10 cards for leading European tour members, five cards from Q-school, career money exemptions, medical exemptions. Whew. Not to be overlooked were the eight signature events with even smaller fields. More waiting. The reduction in cards — the change would take effect in 2026 — should be beneficial, at least for those who finish in the top 100 to keep full status. There is still the concept of meritocracy. Justin Thomas went from winning a major in 2022 to failing to qualify for the postseason in 2023. Matt McCarty started this year on the Korn Ferry Tour, won three times for an instant promotion and then won the Black Desert Championship in Utah to earn a two-year exemption and a spot in three majors next year. It's not going to be easy, nor is it supposed to be. There's an advantage for players who finished in the top 50 — a perk for success is another way to look at it — because they are guaranteed spots in all the signature events with a $20 million purse and elevated FedEx Cup points. The answer, of course, is to play better. It's a phrase no one likes to hear because it's true. "Trust me, players hate hearing that," said Camilo Villegas, chairman of the 16-member Player Advisory Council that put forth the proposed changes. "But go to any sport, go to the business world, you've got to perform. If we perform, there's an opportunity to make an unbelievable living. You just keep working on your dream like you did when you were a kid." J.T. Poston, who won three weeks ago in Las Vegas, put a different spin on "play better." He was curious at the start of 2023 about how the signature events were going to work. For Poston, it was all about having the ball in his hand and his name on a tee sheet. "As long as there's a way you still have to perform to stay in, and there's an avenue for guys who aren't in to play their way in, I don't think there's an issue," Poston said. Golf still remains a mess. Top names have defected to Saudi-funded LIV Golf, meaning all the stars are together only four times a year at the majors. Even as the PGA Tour and the Public Investment Fund get closer to an investment deal, getting everyone back together more often remains complicated. With golf, it's always something. Even as the PGA Tour was moving to the all-exempt tour in 1983, one of the proposals was for a "super tour" of 20 or 25 events with big purses (back then it was in the $400,000 range, which sounds like chump change in today's golf economy). A group of Dallas business contemplated a rival circuit for champions 40 and older, which never got off the ground. The tour created the "Tournament Players Series" for players who didn't have full cards and for PGA club pros who had lost access to those Monday qualifiers. For such a virtuous sport, strife is never far behind. What hasn't changed is the best players find a way. All they need is a tee time. They still have that.