Tiger Woods’ ex-coach Hank Haney on why PGA Tour is reducing the field size. (Image via IMAGN)
Tiger Woods’ ex-coach Hank Haney is active on social media and regularly shares his views on golf. He recently posted about the Player Advisory Council’s proposed changes to the PGA Tour, which include reducing fines for slow play and smaller field sizes.
Haney claimed the Tour wants to pay fewer players so they can ‘pay more money to the top players’. He wrote on X (formerly Twitter):
“Paying fewer players so they have more money to pay the top players is on the list somewhere hidden behind eliminating slow play.”
He posted this in response to Golf Today sharing a link to their YouTube video regarding these proposed changes.
Haney has worked in professional golf since he joined Tiger Woods in 2004 and was with the 15-time Major championship winner until 2010. In these six years, Woods won six Major championships and 31 Tour trophies.
Hank Haney enjoyed a great partnership with Tiger Woods as he had a winning percentage of 33.3% on the Tour and 26% in Major events.
What are the PAC-recommended changes for the PGA Tour?
The Player Advisory Council has recommended a few changes to enhance the PGA Tour. The PAC has proposed the following changes, which are expected to be implemented in 2026 if passed by the PGA Tour Policy Board:
- Reducing the field of an open tournament from 156 to 144 with a reduction to 120 or 132 as required by circumstances such as daylight.
- The exempt status to be reduced to 100 from 125 in the FedExCup and have a conditional category for 101 to 125th ranked golfers.
- Cutting down the PGA Tour cards from the Korn Ferry Tour to 20 from 30, while maintaining 10 from the DP World Tour and five from Q-school.
- Decreasing the open qualifying positions at fields with fewer than 144 golfers during the FedExCup regular season
- Reallocating the spots in the field currently used for sponsor exemptions to the next eligible member on the priority ranking.
- Increasing the FedExCup points to second place for majors and The Players and decreasing the points to positions 11 and beyond. And a slight decrease to Signature Event points in positions 7 and below.
Tiger Woods will lead the PGA Tour Policy Board meeting next week (Source: Getty)
The PAC has recommended these changes which will be presented at the PGA Tour Policy Board on November 18th. Six active golfers are Player Directors. Tiger Woods is the most notable name along with Patrick Cantlay, Peter Malnati, Adam Scott, Webb Simpson, and Jordan Spieth.
It will be interesting to see if these proposed changes get a green signal at the upcoming board meeting.
