The PGA Tour shared this past Monday that a fresh competition will be incorporated into the FedEx Cup Fall schedule for the upcoming season, known as the Biltmore Championship in Asheville, North Carolina. The competition will be hosted at The Cliffs at Walnut Cove, occurring one week before the Presidents Cup at Medinah Country Club.
The Biltmore Championship signifies the second modification to the PGA Tour’s autumn swing, with the Good Good Championship having been previously revealed to be joining the schedule. That specific event is slated to occur at the Omni Barton Creek Resort & Spa’s Fazio Canyons Course situated in Austin, Texas.
Analyzing the situation, it would seem as if the 2026 FedEx Cup Fall will be quite similar in terms of the total number of competitions played.
The Mexico Open, generally scheduled during the regular season, was not present on the 2026 schedule; instead, it will be held next October. Baycurrent initiated its role as a new title sponsor in 2025, and is committed for several years, whereas the Bank of Utah and World Wide Technology have agreements that extend through 2027. RSM and Butterfield are secured through 2028, leaving the Procore Championship in Napa, California, and the Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson, Mississippi, in uncertain positions.
In the event that the fall schedule is maintained or expanded, what did PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp actually mean this past summer when he stated that a new competition committee would be driven by three guiding ideas: competitive parity, simplicity and scarcity?
If scarcity was intended to be implemented for a portion of the PGA Tour schedule, FedEx Cup Fall would be the most likely area to reduce events, especially when considering the developments of the last few seasons — reduced PGA Tour cards available, smaller competition fields, elimination of Monday qualifying rounds, etc.
However, lessening the count of fall tournaments would contradict what Rolapp considers to be a key strength of the PGA Tour (another one of those three guiding ideas): competitive parity.
“All sporting organizations aspire to achieve competitive parity,” Rolapp remarked during the Tour Championship. “The PGA Tour demonstrates notable competitive parity and balance among its competitors today. We’re going to emphasize this while also retaining another vital attribute of the PGA Tour: meritocracy. Every competitor on Tour who possesses sufficient golfing ability should have an opportunity to triumph, and we intend to emphasize and safeguard that.”
The FedEx Cup Fall is characterized as a series of seven tournaments intended to give players the opportunity to secure or enhance their standing in the priority rankings, thereby securing additional opportunities to compete in the following season. Those ranked between Nos. 51-60 gain entry into the first two signature events, those within the top 100 maintain full-time status on the PGA Tour, and this pattern continues down the list.
The main attractions of these events have not been those players, but rather Scottie Scheffler and the U.S. Ryder Cup team at the Procore Championship, Xander Schauffele at the Baycurrent Classic, and presently Ben Griffin at the World Wide Technology Championship. Meanwhile, several prominent names outside of the top 50 — such as Jordan Spieth and Tony Finau — have not yet participated in the fall events.
This situation may not appear to be problematic initially — why would the world’s No. 1 player winning be considered an issue? — but it may actually present a chance to enhance scarcity and even simplicity while still upholding competitive parity.
1. Increase cut-off points, increase the incentive to play
Ideally, requiring those positioned outside of the top 50 in the FedEx Cup standings to participate in a specific number of tournaments would be the optimal solution, but as has been evident over recent years, professional golfers are not receptive to being instructed on what to do. Instead, introducing qualifying tiers for tournaments during the regular season would be the preferred strategy.
The 70-90 range in the FedEx Cup standings represents a sort of uncertain area, populated by intriguing competitors such as Finau, Rasmus Højgaard, Nicolai Højgaard, Davis Thompson, and Cam Davis. They may rationalize that they are too far outside the Aon Next 10 (Nos. 51-60) and adequately positioned to avoid falling outside of the top 100 cutoff. When factoring in exemptions from previous victories, the incentive to participate becomes nearly nonexistent.
The same can be said for competitors like Spieth who are already within the Aon Next 10. He possesses the potential for sponsor exemptions into signature events to safeguard his fall positioning — although that’s a discussion for a different time — and has only fallen one spot in the standings, from No. 56 to 57, this fall.
Incorporating a FedEx Cup Fall champion exemption for all signature events, along with another cut-off point at No. 75, may be sufficient to influence the schedules of players in a similar position to Spieth and Finau.
2. Allow play on the DP World Tour to count
Examining the DP World Tour’s schedule for 2026 reveals only three PGA Tour events: the Scottish Open, ISCO Championship, and Corales Puntcana Championship. Considering that the top 10 players in the Race to Dubai (who are not otherwise exempt) receive PGA Tour playing privileges for the subsequent season, it appears that the strategic alliance between the two leagues has been somewhat one-sided.
A method to benefit both entities would involve enabling those inside the top 50 of the FedEx Cup standings to participate on the DP World Tour, even if a regular-season tournament coincides with a non-signature PGA Tour event.
While there remains considerable importance during that period — such as ensuring one is within the top 50 of the Official World Golf Rankings for major-championship qualification — that objective can be achieved in various locations. With the presence of higher-ranked European players like Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood in those DP World Tour fields, the increased depth would result in a greater availability of OWGR points.
Taking into account which tournaments are being played (Irish Open, French Open, Spanish Open), where those tournaments are being played (the Alfred Dunhill Links, for example, takes place across St. Andrews, Carnoustie, and Kingsbarns), and when those tournaments are being played from a U.S. perspective (in the morning prior to the commencement of football games), the advantages quickly accumulate.
3. Keep adding young players to the field
Without the participation of the top 50 players in the FedEx Cup standings, the composition would be considerably more straightforward, providing the fall season with a stronger identity beyond: This is the season for those who seek to enhance their standing on the PGA Tour for the upcoming year.
Such a move could potentially lead to additional spots opening up in these competition fields — the Bermuda Championship currently features only one player inside the top 50 (Sam Stevens) — but if such openings do arise, they should be allocated to young, emerging competitors, including those who have recently graduated from the Korn Ferry Tour.
In 2025, no rookie successfully qualified for the BMW Championship, meaning that no individual new to the PGA Tour secured a position in the 2026 signature events. However, following Michael Brennan’s victory at the Bank of Utah Championship, that figure increased to 36 competitors.
As they begin their PGA Tour careers from the outside looking in, recent Korn Ferry graduates and future rookies would undoubtedly view the fall schedule as a favorable opportunity to gain experience and adapt to the environment. Both the competitors and the league would benefit as a result.
