The PGA Tour is considering sweeping changes that would eliminate 25 cards through the FedEx Cup and shrink the size of fields, part of a plan to make golf’s biggest circuit even more competitive while reducing the time it takes to play and making it easier to watch.
Proposed changes include reducing by 10 the tour cards awarded to Korn Ferry Tour players and limiting the four Monday qualifying spots for fields smaller than 144 players. There would be two open spots for 132-man fields, none for regular tournaments of 120 players.
The proposal sent to players Tuesday, and obtained by The Associated Press, was developed by the 16-member Player Advisory Council that has been crafting the changes since May. The driving force was to make a full PGA Tour card have real value.
With so many eligible players — 125 from the FedEx Cup (or money list) had been the standard since 1983 — newcomers from the Korn Ferry Tour or Q-school often had to wait to see if there was room for them in tournaments.
If approved by the PGA Tour board at its Nov. 18 meeting, changes would start in 2026.
It would be the latest significant adjustment to the tour since the disruption of Saudi-backed LIV Golf, which began in June 2022. In the last two years, the tour has created $20 million signature events with limited fields and a postseason for only the top 70 players.
“The reality is that we’re all playing under different circumstances than we were four years ago,” PAC Chairman Camilo Villegas said in a telephone interview. “We had no competition. We were the best. All of a sudden we have competition and there are little shifts. The changes we’re proposing make a better product. What does having a PGA Tour card mean?”
Champions Tour adds team tourney >> The three main U.S. tours now all have tournaments for teams.
The latest edition is the American Family Insurance Championship, hosted by Steve Stricker and moving next year to the TPC Wisconsin in Madison, a course Stricker co-designed in the city he lives.
The leading 38 players on the PGA Tour Champions will choose their partner for the 54-hole event that features two days of better ball with a scramble format in the second round. The tournament is June 6-8 and has a $3 million purse.
College football
Michigan QB steps away >> Michigan quarterback Jack Tuttle is retiring from football following a fifth concussion.
Tuttle made the announcement on social media Monday night, pointing to a string of injuries that have plagued his college career. He said he never fully recovered from ligament damage in his throwing elbow.
“And unfortunately, the recent experience of enduring my fifth concussion has brought forth the painful truth: that I need to start prioritizing my health,” he wrote.
Soccer
Man U pursues Lisbon coach >> Manchester United appears to be closing in on hiring Ruben Amorim after expressing a willingness to pay the release clause for the Sporting Lisbon coach.
In a statement to the Lisbon Stock Exchange on Tuesday, Sporting said it has told United that Amorim has a release clause worth 10 million euros ($10.8 million) in his contract.
The Portuguese champions said United “has shown interest” in paying that amount for Amorim.
Amorim said Tuesday his future “hasn’t been decided yet.”
“Nobody knows if this was my farewell match, or if there will be a farewell match,” Amorim said in quotes reported by Portugal’s sports daily A Bola after Sporting’s 3-1 win over Nacional in the Portuguese League Cup quarterfinals.
United is looking to replace Erik ten Hag, who was fired on Monday with the team languishing in 14th place in the Premier League.
Hockey
Women’s league to add teams >> The six-team Professional Women’s Hockey League is launching its expansion process with plans to add as many as two franchises for the start of the 2025-26 season, a league executive announced Tuesday.
Speaking at the ESPNW Summit in New York, senior vice president of business operations Amy Scheer said the league will begin sending requests for proposals to several markets starting as early as next week, while also accepting applications.
”(We’re) looking for the right market size, right fan base, right facilities, right economic opportunity — so a lot of research to be done over the next couple months,” Scheer said, without specifying which markets the league might be targeting. “But yeah, looking to continue to build the league and grow the number of teams.”
Among the U.S. expansion candidates are Detroit and Pittsburgh, where the PWHL hosted neutral site games during its inaugural season last year. Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Denver and Seattle are also considered potential candidates.
Baseball
World Series tops ‘MNF’ >> The World Series beat “Monday Night Football” in the battle for television viewers.
The Los Angeles Dodgers’ 4-2 victory over the New York Yankees in Game 3 of the Fall Classic averaged 13.64 million viewers on Fox, Fox Deportes and streaming according to early numbers by Nielsen. That beat the 13.4 million that tuned in for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 26-18 win over the New York Giants on ABC, ESPN, ESPN Deportes, ESPN2 and streaming.
The audience for Yankees-Dodgers peaked at 14.25 million from 6-6:15 p.m. It was the most-watched Game 3 since 2018, when the Dodgers’ 18-inning victory over the Red Sox averaged 13.3 million.
Fan ejected from Game 4 >> A fan at Yankee Stadium was ejected from Game 4 of the World Series after prying a foul ball out of the glove of Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts on Tuesday night.
Betts leaped at the wall in foul territory and initially caught Gleyber Torres’ pop up in the first inning, but a fan in the first row with a gray Yankees’ road jersey grabbed Betts’ glove with both hands and pulled the ball out. Torres was immediately called out on fan interference.