Earlier this week, the PGA Tour rolled out its eligibility criteria for its revamped two-tier system launching in 2028. The top-tier “Championship Series” will feature fields of roughly 120 players and there will be cut-and-dry promotion and relegation at the end of each season.
In other words, things will be simple. They just aren’t just yet.
One surprising thing is just how many players have already secured their spots in the 2028 season. Because this is happening in real time, some exemptions are being grandfathered in, which makes the details of the “transition year” that much more compelling. Even ignoring the “Career Milestone” category (more on that later) there are roughly 40 players already eligible. Let’s run through 10 we know are in — plus a couple giant question marks — to make some sense of what’s to come.
Shoutout to Twitter super-user Robopz, who compiled this handy chart of exemptions and is well worth a follow.
1. Alex Smalley
Is Alex Smalley a recent tournament winner, which would make him the more familiar owner of a two-year exemption? He is not. But Smalley made it to the 2026 Tour Championship; cracking that top 30 gave him a two-year exemption, which ensures that he (and Patrick Cantlay, and Ryan Gerard, and Si Woo Kim, and others…) will be there for Year 1 of the new series.
2. Brooks Koepka
Brooks Koepka‘s departure from LIV Golf appears to have been a masterclass in timing. Because Koepka left when he did and cut a deal with the PGA Tour, he was able to rejoin in real time — and preserve future eligibility even as LIV plunges into bankruptcy.
So how is Koepka in for 2028? He can take advantage of his five-year exemption for winning the 2023 PGA Championship. He’ll also have a Career Money List exemption in his back pocket (again, more on that later) which all but guarantees we’ll see him in 2029, too.
3. Brian Campbell
Under the revamped future system, winners will get two-year exemptions but you won’t be able to “stack” wins. Under the current system, though? Brian Campbell‘s surprising two-win 2025 earned him three years’ exempt status — which gets him on to 2028.
4. Max Homa
Speaking of exemption-stacking: Max Homa hasn’t won since the 2023 season, but because he was winning so often at that point he racked up enough eligibility to hit the maximum five years, which qualifies him for 2028, too — lowering the pressure he’ll face next season.
5. Alex Fitzpatrick
The win that keeps on winning: Alex Fitzpatrick and his older brother Matt teamed up for a dramatic Zurich Classic win this year that gave him PGA Tour status, yielded entry into this year’s Signature Events and now entry into the 2028 Championship Series, too.
6. Steven Fisk
Because of the way the rules are written, every PGA Tour winner from 2026 will get into the top tier for 2028 — even winners of the alternate events. That means Steven Fisk, who won this year’s ISCO Championship, is in. So is Ricky Castillo, winner of the Puerto Rico Open, plus Brandt Snedeker, who took down the Myrtle Beach Classic.
7. Whoever wins this week
This fall’s winners can get in on the good times parade, too; beginning with this week’s Biltmore Championship, each winner this FedEx Cup Fall will earn a spot in that 2028 Championship Series, too.
8. Aaron Rai
It’s not surprising to see Rai’s name on this list but it is noteworthy just how long he’s exempt: the maximum five years, through 2031.
Rai picked a good year to win his first major championship. Under the new system, winning major championships will earn players just a two-year exemption, the same perk as winning any other event on the Championship Series schedule. But Rai’s five-year exemption gets grandfathered in. That’s true for fellow 2026 major champs Rory McIlroy, Wyndham Clark and Ryan Fox — who all have better job security than whoever wins the majors in 2028. (They’ll only be exempt through 2030.)
9. Jordan Spieth
I could have made an entire list purely based on this category — the Career Money Leaders carve-out — but let’s let Jordan Spieth serve as a stand-in here to explain that any player inside the top 50 on the Tour’s career money list who competes in 15 PGA Tour events in 2027 can then use a one-time waiver to ensure they have a spot on the 2028 Championship Series.
Spieth is unlikely to need this waiver — we expect he’ll crack the top 95 and earn his way on in that fashion — but at No. 10 in career earnings, he can hang onto that one-time get-out-of-jail-free card for future use.
It’ll be fascinating to see how other players inside the top 50 all time handle this rule. Will Tony Finau (No. 23 all time) need to use his exemption, given he’s been out of form? Will Webb Simpson (No. 24) add a few more events (he’s played just 11 and 10 the last couple years) to hit that minimum of 15 to qualify for the big Tour? Any chance Luke Donald (No. 43) gets some extra Ryder Cup scouting in and plays 15 events stateside in 2027 to earn his spot? Will Vijay Singh really let loose and make 15 starts on the PGA Tour just to punch his ticket to 2028? (No, but it would be kinda fun…)
Most won’t need it, but I do expect this carve-out to serve as a lifeline to at least a few big-name players. Among those not otherwise exempt for 2028: Spieth, Jason Day, Matt Kuchar, Rickie Fowler, Zach Johnson, Tony Finau, Webb Simpson, Lucas Glover, Billy Horschel, Harris English, Sungjae Im, Luke Donald…
10. Tiger Woods
I mentioned Singh mostly in jest, given the (ridiculous) controversy around his Sony Open start this season. But what about Tiger Woods? Given his health, his ongoing recovery and his work helping re-shape the Tour, Woods has plenty of non-golf stuff going on. But it is worth wondering whether the most iconic golfer of his generation will have a spot in the league he helped reimagine.
You’ll recall there was a specific carve-out for Woods in the Signature Event model; 80-time winners got a free pass for life. That’s gone, which leaves Woods facing a 15-event minimum in 2027 to be able to use his career-money free pass for 2028.
But that’s where Woods could lean on a medical evaluation from an independent panel to earn an exemption — which could have him playing his pick of 2028 events, after all.
And then there’s…
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3 players with murky status
While we’re talking eligibility it’s worth spending a moment on the players in limbo, including these three:
1. Jon Rahm
Jon Rahm‘s strange golf at Wentworth — a 78-77 missed cut, arguably the worst showing of his career — matched the strangeness of his current circumstance. He’s the largest creditor in LIV’s bankruptcy case, he faces an uncertain future and PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp was less than clear about additional LIV golfers’ paths back. Some signs have Rahm interested in a PGA Tour return, but there may be several mountains of paperwork between here and there.
(But if he did return, he could lean on the five-year exemption he earned from his 2023 Masters title to play the Championship Series.)
2. Bryson DeChambeau
Bryson DeChambeau is in the same general boat as Rahm, just with one extra year of hypothetical eligibility (DeChambeau won the 2024 U.S. Open) and slightly more expressed enthusiasm for LIV 2.0. DeChambeau’s future is one of the biggest unanswered questions in golf.
3. Kevin Na
Here’s a particularly murky case; Na is No. 42 on the Career Money list and has been reinstated on that list after rejoining the PGA Tour following his removal from LIV. That means, if he competed in 15 events next season, he could tap into that exemption and play the Championship Series in 2028. But could he play 15 events next season? Na hasn’t yet returned to PGA Tour play, and when I asked the Tour’s comms team here was part of their answer:
His membership has been reinstated; however, he is currently subject to disciplinary action for violating the PGA Tour Regulations.
I couldn’t get any more detail about Na’s specific violation nor when this “disciplinary action” will expire. But you can add his file to the oddities that come with starting a new league while one with layers of complex history — and exemptions — plays on in real time.
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