The controversial rule change the PGA Tour are making which could even divide their own members

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The PGA Tour could be set for wholesale changes in the near future as the 2024 season reaches its conclusion.

J.T. Poston became the latest PGA Tour winner, with the American emerging victorious at the Shriners Children’s Open.

The FedEx Cup regular season has concluded, but the Fall schedule roars on this week with the ZOZO Championship.

Patton Kizzire won the Procore Championship last month, the first of eight official PGA Tour events where players can boost their standings for the 2025 FedEx Cup season.

Kevin Yu then won the Sanderson Farms Championship, with Matt McCarty clinching a debut title at the Black Desert Championship.

Ryan Lavner reacts to controversial rule change PGA Tour are making

McCarty began the season on the Korn Ferry Tour, which could now be heavily involved in new changes on the PGA Tour.

The issue was discussed on Golf Channel, with Ryan Lavner asked what he thinks the reception could be to the proposed changes.

“It depends who you are asking,” he said. “If you are asking a top 10 player in the world who can probably look big picture at the changes the PGA Tour are trying to make you probably think that is pretty positive.

READ MORE: Gary Woodland says how he feels since his return from brain surgery after sharing the lead at the Shriners Children’s Open

“Making the PGA Tour as competitive, as cutthroat a place and making it a premier destination. If you are a top player in the world of golf it’s where you want to play.

“If you are asking someone number 101 to 125 in the FedEx Cup race, you are going to say hey these guys are coming for my livelihood, they are trying to threaten me and send me back down to the minor leagues.”

Ryan Lavner wants PGA Tour to be the ‘premier destination’

Some changes in a letter from Camilo Villegas – the chairman of the PGA Tour’s Player Advisory Council – were relayed to Lavner on Golf Channel, with the policy board set to vote on the issues.

They include “eliminating as many as 10 cards from the Korn Ferry Tour, dropping the exempt players from 125 to 100, getting rid of a couple of sponsor’s exemptions every week and changing the field sizes, where full field events might only be 120 players vs the range of 144-156 we have now.”

Taking one issue in particular, golf fans were angry at Jay Don Blake’s sponsor invite at the Black Desert Championship.

READ MORE: Tyrrell Hatton jokes that the PGA Tour needs to make a big change after his Alfred Dunhill Links Championship win

Continuing his response to the potential changes, Lavner added: “If you are a golf fan, if you remove the player perception, are you going to miss the players who could potentially be sacrificed over the next five years?

“This is not supposed to be a rash cut of 25, they are supposed to cycle it down over the next couple of years, five cards at a time. You look at Joe Highsmith, number 125 in the FedEx Cup. He had two top 10s, five top 25s in 25 starts. If we had Joe Highsmith on the show right now, he would admit he did not have his best year in 2024.

“I am all for making the PGA Tour the premier destination, the top players are doing that as well. That’s what is best for business. I understand players who could potentially be vulnerable could see otherwise but I think big picture this is the right move for the PGA Tour.”