Tiger Woods said the sweeping changes made to the PGA Tour’s competitive structure will ultimately enhance the product for fans.

Last month, the PGA Tour announced plans to overhaul its ecosystem that include shrinking tournament field sizes, decreasing the number of available tour cards and tightening pathways to the tour membership and participation everywhere from the Korn Ferry Tour to Monday qualifying. The alterations were met with some criticism, especially from the rank-and-file pros, some of whom see the new system as catering to marquee names and pushing the average player to the periphery. But speaking Tuesday in the Bahamas at the Hero World Challenge, Woods, who is a member of the Policy Board that approved the changes, asserted the motions were more well-received than they’ve been portrayed and would benefit the tour in the long run.

“Well, I think the entire—I’ll say the majority of the tour felt the same way,” Woods said. “The PAC [Player Advisory Council] was involved, the subcommittees on the PAC were involved [before the proposal reached the Policy Board]. And it was unanimous across the board what we need to do to present a better product and something better for our fans, for our events, our sponsors. Redefining what a tour pro is, streamlining that.

“Yes, playing opportunities have been reduced at certain parts, but also then again we also have player equity in this as well … which has never happened before. So the players who are playing, they’re going to get well compensated going forward, which that was never the case.”

Among the changes that will be implemented starting in the 2026 season:

  • Only 100 players will keep their tour cards with fully exempt status off the FedEx Cup points list at year’s end, compared to 125 now. (Players who miss the cut in the 100-110 zone will receive conditional status and are still expected to earn upward of 15 full-field starts.)
  • Tour cards available for those graduating from the Korn Ferry Tour will decrease from 30 to 20.
  • Field sizes for many events will be reduced, and in some cases, including the Players Championship, to 120 players. As outlined in the proposal, most fields will see at least 12 fewer players in 2026.
  • A series of smaller adjustments to FedEx Cup points allocation, and a reduction in spots available in tour fields through Monday qualifying (when the field is 132 players or fewer).

Woods’ event, the Genesis Invitational, is a signature event. While other signature events are no-cut affairs with smaller field sizes, the Genesis still has a larger field with a reduction after 36 holes.

“Yeah, we decided that the player-hosted events, that the size of those events needed to be bigger than what they were,” Woods explained. “We cut out certain playing opportunities and where we could make up for the difference in some of that, the player-hosted events accepted that responsibilities and we’ve increased our field size.”

How much the sport will see of Woods going forward is uncertain. Last year Woods stated his intention of a once-a-month playing cadence, and the policy board passed a measure that will grant him exemptions into all signature events. However, Woods played just five times in 2024 and is sitting out this week’s Hero due to a recent back procedure.

“I didn’t think my back was going to go like it did this year,” Woods said. “It was quite painful throughout the end of the year and, hence, I had another procedure done to it to alleviate the pain I had going down my leg. So whether my commitment going forward is once a month, yeah, I could say that all over again, but I truly don’t know. I’m just trying to rehab and still get stronger and better and feel better, really give myself the best chance I can going into next year. This year was kind of … I had to toss it away and I wasn’t as sharp as I needed to be and I didn’t play as much as I needed to going into the major championships and I didn’t play well at them.

“Hopefully next year will be better, I’ll be physically stronger and better. I know the procedure helped and hopefully that I can then build upon that.”

Main Image: Tracy Wilcox