‘Would Certainly Suck’: PGA Tour Pro Sounds Alarm on Potential Flaw in Tour’s Two-Track Plan

Big changes are coming to the PGA Tour, and honestly, it’s shaping up to be the biggest shake-up we’ve seen in a long time. The plan? A two-track competitive model, dividing tournaments into an elite upper tier and a secondary pathway. Closed-door briefings have already been held with the Player Advisory Council, with implementation targeted for around 2028. Tiger Woods is leading the charge on the Future Competition Committee while CEO Brian Rolapp has been behind the scenes all along. There have already been 14 full meetings on the proposal, and let’s just say, not everyone’s thrilled with what’s coming out of those talks.

One of the sharper concerns came not from a boardroom, but from a press conference at TPC Toronto. Nick Taylor, a Canadian PGA Tour pro, was asked a tough one: could a Canadian PGA Tour player actually miss out on playing their own national championship because of these new tracks? His answer was blunt.

“Yeah, that would certainly suck. I talked to a lot of guys that are on the PAC, a lot of people with the TOUR, I think the goal in mind is to have the best product possible.”

Taylor’s concern is clear. If the RBC Canadian Open becomes a Track 2 event and the final rules restrict Track 1 players from competing down a tier, Canada’s best PGA Tour professionals will get locked out of their own national open. The tournament currently runs with a 144-player field, and 16 sponsor exemptions are reserved largely for Canadian amateurs. These are what make it a true national championship. Remove them, and the tournament loses its open status.

May 1, 2026; Miami, Florida, USA; Nick Taylor walks up the seventh fairway during the second round of the Cadillac Championship golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Romance-Imagn Images

Track 1 would feature 15 to 18 elite events alongside the four majors and The Players Championship, with fields limited to 120 to 130 players and purses of $20 million per event. Track 2 would house roughly 20 events with 140-player fields and prize money between $8 million and $10 million. The top 90 players keep Track 1 status at season’s end, with the rest filled by top Track 2 performers and the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai top 10. Sponsor exemptions for Track 1 events are set to be removed.

The top 90 players would retain Track 1 status at season’s end, with the remainder filled by top performers from Track 2 and the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai top 10. Sponsor exemptions for Track 1 events are also planned for elimination. The recent scheduling conflict that led Scheffler to skip a $20 million event shows how the Tour’s structure is already under strain.

Rolapp calls these changes a return to meritocracy. Taylor accepts the reasoning but does not ignore the negative consequences.

“I think it would probably obviously lose the Open name of it because nobody can essentially earn their way into it or play into it.”

He also made clear the problem isn’t Canada’s alone.

“I know there’s a lot of guys that maybe have their local events that that might be a possibility as well.”

The RBC Canadian Open stands out as one of the few Tour events where national identity still matters. Any Canadian can qualify through rounds held across the country, and the support from local fans is unmatched. Taylor is focused on preserving that identity. The event’s future classification remains undecided.

How the PGA Tour’s two-track model reshapes golf’s competitive pyramid

The broader restructuring runs well beyond the Canadian border. The DP World Tour still gives its top 10 Race to Dubai finishers a shot at the PGA Tour every year, so that pathway is safe. And with all the talk about the Florida Swing changes, it’s clear folks are already planning ahead for what’s coming in 2028.

The Korn Ferry Tour shifts beneath Track 2 in the new hierarchy, its top finishers feeding into the secondary tier rather than receiving a mixed bag of full and conditional cards. You can still make it to the top, but there’s an extra step in the climb now.

Nothing is finalized yet, with the policy board yet to receive a formal recommendation; June 22, the board meeting at the Travelers Championship, is the next critical date. Taylor said he’ll cross that bridge when it comes. The bridge, for Canada, carries more weight than most.

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