A new rule change intended to speed up play on the PGA Tour is having an unintended consequence: creating a deep divide and fueling uncertainty among the very players it governs.

The PGA Tour and the Player Advisory Council (PAC) made some field-size changes for the 2026 season. The changes reduce the full-time spots by roughly 35 individuals. While these shifts aimed at addressing the pace of play, many PGA Tour pros, including Beau Hossler, have criticized the decision. But that’s not the complete scenario.

Some are also fine with the field-size reduction, sparking debate among fringe players. Beau Hossler, finishing 104th, highlighted the stress of uncertainty during fall events on GOLF’s Subpar podcast.

“Basically, we’ve gone from 125 full-time guys to 100, and then they’ve cut 10 more off of the Korn Ferry. So, it went from 30 cards to 20. So basically, that delta is I’m going to call it roughly 35 less full-time members,” Beau Hossler said on the GOLF’s Subpar podcast.

“I was kind of on that bubble all year, more or less. And I think with it changing, we didn’t really know what that meant. Because it’s new. And you hear about reducing field sizes. Well, you don’t know if that means like by 10 people or 30. I don’t know. Very big difference. Not big for guys with a full card, but definitely big for guys right on the fringe with conditional status. I would say more or less right where I ended up.”

As the PAC and the PGA Tour reduced the field size, many former and current golfers expressed their views. This led to a huge debate, which continues to this day. Only the top 100 golfers were to get full exempt cards, and those from 101 to 125 were to receive conditional status.

For Beau Hossler, the biggest challenge was not knowing what would happen with the golfers in the conditional status range.

“I do feel like that would have been kind of nice to know. I’m not saying for me, I’m saying for everybody. I just think that, especially with how the tour’s been the last 8 years, since I’ve been on tour. I mean, there has been basically volatility in eligibility and format, playoff events, elevated events, amount of playoff events, tour championship format. I mean, everything has changed every single year,” Beau Hossler pointed out.

The American golfer himself finished 104th on the FedEx Fall rankings after a T64 finish at the 2025 RSM Classic. And even after that, he was not clear how many starts he would get. As Hossler mentioned, it could be very challenging for certain golfers. A perfect example of this was Justin Lower’s breakdown at the RSM Classic.

Lower’s wife is expecting twins. But amid the growing family, Lower’s status for the 2026 PGA Tour season was unclear. He entered the event in 120th position on the FedEx Fall standings. As he was uncertain of his career and the financial struggles it would bring, he got emotional during the interview before the event.

This was exactly the type of situation Lucas Glover was talking about in 2024, when he opposed the ruling. The 2009 US Open champion was furious that the field size across all the events was to go down from 156 to 144. Yet, the PGA Tour justified the changes, stating the slow pace of play.

“Don’t cut fields because it’s a pace of play issue,” Glover told Golfweek. “Tell us to play faster, or just say you’re trying to appease six guys and make them happy so they don’t go somewhere else and play golf.”

And it’s not just Justin Lower, Lucas Glover, or Beau Hossler. Even Padraig Harrington criticized the move. He called it a “terrible” decision. He viewed them as detrimental to the structure and accessibility of the Tour.

Meanwhile, Lee Hodges, who finished at 101 on the FedEx Fall standings after the RSM Classic, is okay with the move. Without showing pity to anyone, he said that golf skills will decide what happens to one’s PGA Tour card. So, there’s no reason to blame the ruling.

Even Davis Thompson mentioned that it would be a positive thing for golfers who tee off late. Chris Kirk also noted that he understood the slow-play reasoning behind the decision. While he was unsure of where he stands with the ruling, he was certainly not opposing it.

Slow play was cited as the core reason behind this change. For decades now, the slow play has become a major issue on the PGA Tour.

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PGA Tour slow play issues

PGA Tour rounds averaged around 4 hours and 46 minutes median time through mid-2025. And that too was an improvement of nearly five minutes from 2024. Slow play persists as a major fan and player complaint, exacerbated by large fields. ShotLink data shows that some players exceed 45 seconds per shot.

The growing concerns led to some tweaks and changes to the slow-play policy. Revised rules allow 40 seconds per stroke (50 with relief). ShotLink is also creating “observation lists” for habitual offenders over a 10-tournament window.

PGA Tour Americas issued a one-stroke penalty to leader Hunter Wolcott in May 2025 under the new system. Stars like Collin Morikawa and Justin Thomas pushed for public data release and FedExCup penalties over fines. They said that the money factor was ineffective for high earners.

Certain golfers went on to blame AimPoint for this issue. Lucas Glover, Jim Nantz, Paige Spiranac, and many others have criticized AimPoint for being time-consuming. They have also asked for the putting technique to be banned.

The PGA Tour’s field-size reduction has exposed a clear divide between those who see efficiency and accountability and those caught in the uncertainty of shifting goalposts. As the debate rolls on, the challenge for the Tour will be balancing pace-of-play reforms with transparency. The organization also needs to find stability for golfers whose careers hinge on the smallest margins.