The PGA Tour is confronting a structural challenge regarding its national open tournaments as it prepares to implement a two-track system for the 2028 season. The proposed model divides events into Track 1, known as the Championship Series, and Track 2, referred to as the Challenger series. Track 1 fields will consist of 120 players who are all exempt, eliminating sponsor invitations and open qualifiers. Approximately 130 members will be restricted to Track 1 and barred from competing in Track 2 events, which will maintain fields of 130 to 144 players and include sponsor invites and qualifiers.
This division creates a conflict for national opens currently on the schedule, specifically the RBC Canadian Open, the Genesis Scottish Open, and the VidantaWorld Mexico Open. If these tournaments are designated as Track 1 events, they would exclude many international players who typically compete in open qualifiers. Conversely, if they are classified as Track 2 events, they would be absent the top 130 PGA Tour members, including prominent homegrown stars such as Corey Conners and Nick Taylor for the Canadian Open.
The situation is further complicated by the Genesis Scottish Open, which is co-sanctioned with the DP World Tour. Current fields include numerous European circuit regulars alongside a small number of Scottish players. Rory McIlroy emphasized that national opens require different treatment than standard Championship Series events like the Travelers Championship or RBC Heritage. He argued that a tournament cannot legitimately claim to be a national open if it is closed off to a significant number of players from that nation.
Robert MacIntyre, Scotland’s top-ranked golfer, suggested the Scottish Open should return to being a full-time DP World Tour event within its Rolex Series. However, he noted that if the tournament remains part of a PGA Tour international series, it must retain its current calendar position before The Open championship. McIlroy expressed interest in expanding a series of national opens with greater significance, potentially running from late August through the end of the year.
A proposed solution involves the Scottish Open reverting to a DP World Tour event while the Canadian Open becomes a Challenger event. PGA Tour members could participate in the Scottish Open during the week before The Open, with the tournament allotting sponsor exemptions to Tour players. Championship members would be permitted to accept sponsor invites for the Canadian Open without earning points for either track. Players competing in both national opens would accumulate points toward the international series, which could conclude at the Australian Open or Tiger Woods’ Bahamas event with significant prize money for top performers. It remains unclear which specific tournaments will be assigned to each track.
