The PGA Tour’s proposal to cut down the number of Monday Qualifiers hasn’t sat well with most. On top of it, a recent memo from Camilo Villegas hints at sweeping changes in the FedEx Cup structure as well. Resultantly, from 2026, the field is expected to be smaller in regular tournaments. Billy Horschel explains why a change was necessary. 

The pressing need for an overarching (and unpopular) change was giving sponsors the ROI. To increase the value to the sponsors, the field needed to be stronger, Horschel explained. And, competition, more cutthroat.

The eight-time PGA Tour winner, in a chat with Ryan French of the MondayQInfo, said, “We had to, you know, provide somewhat of a better product because I felt like we’re getting [to a] threshold of the returns on, on that for sponsors. And I think one thing that, you know, trying to look at it from every perspective possible, the one thing I’ve never, you know, fully agreed upon was that if you were a full PGA Tour member the PGA Tour, you weren’t able to play in every open event.”

What Horschel was referring to was that all the full-time cardholders – some 200 golfers – were not eligible for all the 156 field events. Currently, the tour has multiple criteria to fill the 156-man field. The eight-time PGA Tour winner argued reducing the number of cardholders was the only solution to end that irony.

For the record, this is not the first time Horschel has put forth the idea. Back in November 2021, a good few months before the first LIV Golf Invitational kicked off, the Ponte Vedra resident said, “Instead of giving out 125 cards every year, we cut it down to 100. And if we cut down the Korn Ferry cards from 50 to 30, you make the fields 120. Now you’re getting the better players week in and week out.”

The Tour brought that change and currently, only 30 KFT graduates earn PGA Tour cards. Per a recent memo from Camilo Villegas, the Ponte Vedra-HQ Tour is mulling over a proposal to reduce that number. Likely only 20 players will earn a full-time PGA Tour card. From 2026, the regular field size is expected to swing between 120 and 144, instead of 156.

There is obviously a counterargument to this. With a lesser field, what happens to ‘growing the game’? Creating opportunities for rookies, and Korn Ferry Tour graduates? More so, when the eight signature events are already restricted to 80 players.  PGA Tour, since its establishment in 1968, has thrived on meritocracy. The latest changes come dangerously close to posing a threat to that.

The 37-year-old, who earned his Tour card through PGA Tour Q-School in 2012,  feels the contrary. Horschel opined it would create more nail-biting competition in the opposite field events. On the other hand, only the top 100 or so players in a field will make regular events stronger. 

The PGA Tour pro added, “You know, a lot of those guys [lower rung golfers] are maybe only getting 18 to 20 events, and five of those events are opposite-field events, which are great opportunities. But unless you’re finishing top five, possibly top 10, you’re not getting the benefit of of the FedEx cut points. And so it makes it even more of a challenge.”

Now, if regular season tournaments are only for the top 100 players in the FedEx Cup points list, there is even less of a chance of a Nick Dunlap winning American Express. Or,  an Akshay Bhatia to break through. Nevertheless, this is not the first time we have heard this. Only a few months back, Horschel’s good friend, Rory McIlroy shared a similar idea. Where Horschel and McIlroy differ slightly is in the implementation of it.

Echoes of Rory McIlroy in Billy Horschel’s words, and something more

McIlroy and Horschel had a common ground in reducing the field size in the PGA Tour. “I’m all for making it more cutthroat, more competitive. Probably won’t be very popular for saying this, but I’m all for less players and less Tour cards, and the best of the best,” said the four-time major winner at the 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational. Where McIlroy subtly differed was the process of trimming the field down. 

Rory McIlroy’s idea was to reduce the number of exemptions in the field. “I just feel like there’s a lot of categories on Tour that people are sort of still benefiting off what they did like five or ten years ago. I feel like the most competitive professional golf tour in the world, you should have to come out and prove yourself year after year after year.”

Currently, the overarching changes will reduce the number of cards now being on offer to up-and-coming golfers. Not the ones who are resting on their laurels as the Ulsterman felt. It should be noted that the Tour is still in the process of finalizing the finer details. Regardless, the wind of change is blowing strong.