The PGA Tour will be giving out financial assistance to former players and up-and-comers starting next year.
For the past three seasons, all fully exempt tour players who competed in 15 tournaments were granted $500,000 through the creation of the Earnings Assurance Program, hoping to offset some of the financial issues that come in a league without guaranteed contracts. With the tour reducing the amount of players exempt going forward, some of that money is now being funneled to those attempting to make it on tour.
As first reported by Golf Channel’s Brentley Romaine, the tour sent out a memo to players earlier this week explaining it will give $150,000 to those Nos. 126 and beyond on the prior season’s FedEx Cup points list. Unlike the Earnings Assurance Program, which awards money at the beginning of the season, this grant will come at the end of the campaign if they make a minimum of 12 starts on the PGA and Korn Ferry circuits. The offer establishes a floor of earnings for this subset of players without full-time PGA Tour status.
Additionally, Korn Ferry Tour players—those from No. 21 to 75 in the previous year’s standings, No. 1 to 10 in the PGA Tour America rankings, and players from PGA Tour University—will receive $15,000 at the start of the year to offset travel costs.
The move comes as the PGA Tour is reshaping its infrastructure from a membership and schedule standpoints. In 2026 the PGA Tour will offer 100 tour cards, a drop from its historical allotment of 125, while the Korn Ferry will also advance 20 of its graduates for tour promotion. As stated by Ryder Cupper Harris English last week, the tour is also weighing a drastic change to a 20-event slate.