‘Not the End of the World’: Internal PGA Tour Unrest After Jay Monahan & Co’s Move Is Not What Players Want, Per Insider

The PGA Tour announced new changes for 2026 a few weeks ago. The changes are intended to make the Tour more competitive and tackle issues like slowplay. The aforesaid changes are yet to be approved by the PGA Tour board at its November 18 meeting. These alterations have been a source of debate in the golf world, with some finding them appalling, and some, okay! Take field size restriction, for instance. The field sizes for regular tournaments would start at 120 players before Daylight Savings Time, increase to 132 players, and reach a maximum of 144 during the summer.

In the latest episode of The Smylie Show, the hosts talked about how pros reacted to the proposed changes.“One of the you know one of the main reasons they talked about was uh not being able to finish on Thursdays and Fridays I don’t think that’s the end of the world right I think guys don’t they just want to play.” The former golfer mentioned how golfers just want to play maximum and reaching the weekend isn’t what everyone is looking for. Kaufman said he disagrees with the negativity towards the proposed changes. 

“200 plus members you are trying to appease with fields that are tightening, a different world in the professional golf landscape,” Kaufman said on the episode. Once being part of the Tour and the game, and now being a part of the media, he has seen both sides. And according to him, if he were still playing, he would want, ‘every opportunity to play’. However, he believes now is not the case.

“So when it comes to daylight, I get it can be used as an excuse, I think the players on the Korn Ferry or whatever will be like ‘we don’t care, just give us a tee-time’”, he concluded. Charlie Hulme, on the other hand, has never played on the PGA Tour. And this gives him not have a stance as good as the other players on the Tour. He started stating how Michael Kim could lose his Tour card in 2024 because of his ranking in FedEx Standings and Camilla Villegas won the Butterfield Bermuda Championship, which earned him an exemption for the next two years, and if he does not win next year, with the changes implemented, he will not be having a Tour card. 

“If there are guys on this tour who are in a position that stands to lose from this proposal and they’re still saying I think this is a good thing because of what is what they’re trying to address”. This makes him disagree with Kaufman, and he states that handing out too many Tour cards to get guys into events is good. But to hand out the 125 cards, and ask thirty of them to come and play on the Tour when they show up, asking them to wait for another year, that’s where he thinks things went wrong. 

 

Pretty much like the different stances on the same show, there are debates ongoing on the entire PGA Tour. While for some, the changes are agreeable, others do not seem to understand it.

The unrest between PGA Tour Pros

Michael Kim is currently ranked 115th in the FedEx Fall Rankings, placing him 15 spots behind the top 100 players who will be eligible for PGA Tour events under the new proposal. With the risk of dropping further below 125th, Kim could face losing his PGA Tour card. Given his current standing, his perspective on the issue may come as a surprise. However, still agreeing with how changes would help slow play, he said, “Just because you tell certain drivers to go faster doesn’t mean there isn’t going to be traffic during rush hour.” 

Speaking with Eamonn Lynch on the Golf Channel on the other hand, Padraig Harrington criticized

the proposals, suggesting they were an attempt to create a closed-off system for the top players in the game. “Just terrible, it is. I can’t think how bad it is. At the end of the day, the people who are inside are voting to keep things tighter and more closed.” the three-time major winner said. Giving a mockery of how they are only focusing on keeping the events close, he even stated that they would rather just keep twelve players for every event. “I know there’s a little bit of pressure to finish on time when fields go to 156 at certain times of the season or 144, but players will deal with it,” he added.

What are your thoughts on the 2026 proposed changes? Let us know in the comments section below!