Is the PGA Tour about to have a national-open dilemma?
One of the glaring concerns after the Tour rolled out its two-track model for 2028 is that the national opens currently on the Tour’s schedule – RBC Canadian Open, Genesis Scottish Open and to a less extent, VidantaWorld Mexico Open – risk losing even more of their openness.
The Tour’s plan calls for Track 1 events, part of the new Championship Series, to feature 120-player, all-exempt fields, meaning no sponsor exemptions or open qualifiers. Track 1 members, approximately 130 of them, will also be prohibited from competing in Track 2, or Challenger, events, which figure to still include sponsor invites and qualifiers among their 130- to 144-player fields.
While no tournaments have been tabbed as either track, the national opens would stand to lose either way. If the Canadian Open, for example, is a Track 2 event, it wouldn’t feature any of the best 130 players on the PGA Tour, including homegrown stars like Corey Conners and Nick Taylor. And if the Canadian is Track 1, it will shut out many Canadian players, including young talents who have gotten opportunities to compete for their national championship.
Add in the Scottish currently being a co-sanctioned tournament with the DP World Tour, and things get more complicated. This year’s Scottish field features six Scots among dozens of European-circuit regulars; a move under the Tour’s new model would drastically alter the tournament’s fabric.
One of the glaring concerns after the Tour rolled out its two-track model for 2028 is that the national opens currently on the Tour’s schedule – RBC Canadian Open, Genesis Scottish Open and to a less extent, VidantaWorld Mexico Open – risk losing even more of their openness.
The Tour’s plan calls for Track 1 events, part of the new Championship Series, to feature 120-player, all-exempt fields, meaning no sponsor exemptions or open qualifiers. Track 1 members, approximately 130 of them, will also be prohibited from competing in Track 2, or Challenger, events, which figure to still include sponsor invites and qualifiers among their 130- to 144-player fields.
While no tournaments have been tabbed as either track, the national opens would stand to lose either way. If the Canadian Open, for example, is a Track 2 event, it wouldn’t feature any of the best 130 players on the PGA Tour, including homegrown stars like Corey Conners and Nick Taylor. And if the Canadian is Track 1, it will shut out many Canadian players, including young talents who have gotten opportunities to compete for their national championship.
Add in the Scottish currently being a co-sanctioned tournament with the DP World Tour, and things get more complicated. This year’s Scottish field features six Scots among dozens of European-circuit regulars; a move under the Tour’s new model would drastically alter the tournament’s fabric.
26 days ago
