Johnson Wagner believes the PGA Tour has made a change which will benefit the game moving forward.
Since the end of the 2024 season, the Tour has looked to improve its product by implementing alterations to field sizes and the number of available cards.
The decision to reduce available cards from 125 to 100 has been criticised, with those players on the bubble now standing less chance of maintaining full PGA Tour status.
Wagner has claimed it’s a good move in the long term.
What Johnson Wagner has said about PGA Tour changes
Wagner initially spoke to the Golf Channel about the competitiveness among the game’s elite players.
“I have noticed with this younger generation they are much more friendly with each other as opposed to my generation or the generation a little ahead of me with Tiger and Phil, there was so much animosity among the top players,” he said.
“But now Scottie, Xander, Cantlay, Morikawa – they are all good friends. I imagine the team rooms at Presidents Cups and Ryder Cups are very jovial, but when you look down the list and get down to the 80-120 spots, I do think you are going to see guys playing every week in the summer.”
Wagner, however, predicted a fiercely contested end to the season, with several lesser-known players battling for fewer cards.
“It is going to be really condensed,” he added. “I am still shocked the tour has made the decision to go to 100, but ultimately, I think it will be a good step moving forward.”
PGA Tour set to make Tour Championship changes
In addition to changes to eligibility and field sizes, the PGA Tour is believed to be considering a new-looked Tour Championship.
The Athletic states that the Tour is assessing several options, including a new format for the season finale. A bracket-style arrangement is also under consideration, and medal matches are a possibility.
The news comes after Scottie Scheffler raised concern about the current system and claimed the format could not be called a ‘season-long race’.
It’s believed any alterations would likely come into force at the end of the 2026 season instead of the conclusion of this year’s Tour. When asked about the changes at The Sentry, Collin Morikawa said: “I don’t mind it. I know some guys don’t like it at all the way it is right now. I don’t mind it how it is,” he said.
“I think it plays out to, you know, yeah, you could have a really good season like Scottie did and win it or not win it, right, as we have seen the past couple years. I did hear about it briefly; I read up on it; I don’t have the New York Times, so it kind of scrolled me out after the first paragraph. I do, I know the concept of what was brought up, I don’t know how deep it’s gone through the Tour and how true it is. I think there’s a better way than what I saw or what I’ve heard, but you know.”
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