“It’s a Big Mistake!” – Johnson Wagner SLAMS PGA Tour’s 2026 Field Reduction | Viktor Hovland & Rory McIlroy React!
🚨 Golf controversy alert! 2025 has been one of the greatest seasons in PGA Tour history — from Rory McIlroy’s historic Career Grand Slam to Scottie Scheffler’s dominance — but a storm is brewing behind the scenes. PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan shocked fans and players alike when he announced that starting in 2026, field sizes will shrink and fewer players will keep their PGA Tour cards. 😳
Now, former Tour pro Johnson Wagner isn’t holding back! Speaking with Trey Wingo, Wagner slammed the Tour’s decision, warning that it could “destroy opportunities for rookies” and turn the Tour into a “closed shop.” 🗣️💥
Wagner’s fears echo those of Viktor Hovland, Lucas Glover, and Matt Fitzpatrick, who all believe that limiting competition could damage the PGA Tour’s ability to create new stars like Jackson Koivun and Nick Dunlap.
🏆 In this video, we break down:
• Why Johnson Wagner believes the PGA Tour is making a huge mistake 😠
• Viktor Hovland’s balanced yet honest reaction 🎙️
• The real reason Jay Monahan wants smaller fields 🤔
• Brian Rolapp’s challenge as the new CEO 💼
• How these changes could reshape the future of professional golf forever ⛳
Plus, we’ll explore what could happen to the FedEx Cup Fall Series, and why some fans think it’s time for golf to take a seasonal break. 🍂
💬 Do you agree with Johnson Wagner? Should the PGA Tour cut field sizes, or keep the door open for more young stars? Drop your thoughts below 👇 and don’t forget to like 👍, subscribe 🔔, and share this video to keep the conversation going!
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2025 has been a spectacular year for golf and Brian Rolap’s team is looking to cap it off with celebrations worthy of the tour success. Yet, despite all the positives, the future of the PGA Tour is stirring unease. Commissioner Jay Monahan and his leadership group have found themselves in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. After being criticized for the slow pace of progress in recent seasons, Monahan made a shocking announcement in 2024. Starting from 2026, the PGA Tour will feature smaller fields and fewer players will hold PGA Tour cards. And if you ask Johnson Wagner, that’s a big mistake. Wagner recently joined Trey Wingo on his YouTube channel to chat about all things golf. During their conversation, Wingo pointed out that 2025 might be the best year for the PGA Tour since Tiger Woods’s prime and asked Wagner to describe how he viewed the current state of the game. I would completely agree with you on that, Wagner replied. I think the ratings were up way ahead of where they had been the last few years. Rory winning the Masters and completing the career grand slam started the major season off right. Sheffller winning the PGA and the Open was amazing. And the way JJ Spawn won the US Open was a great story. I think the game is in a good spot, but I’m a little leerary of the new powers that be at the PGA Tour coming in and shaking things up. I’m not a fan of 100 men as opposed to 125 keeping their cards. I’m not a fan of shrinking field sizes and decreasing opportunities. Like Lucas Glover, Victor Havland, and Matt Fitzpatrick, Wagner is not on board with Monahan’s vision of a smaller, more exclusive tour. His concern is simple. Fewer players mean fewer chances for rising stars to break through. That in turn could stifle the PGA Tour’s biggest strength, its ability to create new stars. One thing the PGA Tour does so well that LIIV doesn’t, Wagner continued, is that we create stars. When you play and you win out here and you win consistently, you become a star. The more we shrink this, the harder it is for rookies to keep their jobs the next year. I’m leerary of becoming a closed shop and not creating this new breed of superstars like we’re going to see out of Clanton and Jackson Kovven and these guys coming out of college. The PGA Tour has always prided itself on being the ultimate proving ground for young golfers, a place where talent meets opportunity. But if field sizes and playing privileges are reduced, that gateway narrows dramatically. Fewer chances to compete means fewer chances for the next generation to shine, which could threaten the tour’s global appeal and long-term growth. Trey Wingo, who has worked with Brian Rolap in the past, offered some straightforward advice for the new CEO. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. Wagner agreed, echoing the sentiment that unnecessary changes could backfire. He also weighed in on what might happen to the tour’s fall season, saying, “As I look from the media side, I work the Sanderson Farms Championship last week. I’m working on three or four other fall events. I love the fall events. That’s what a lot of guys are doing to keep their jobs. I think what we’re going to see is the fall series on the PGA Tour get phased out. To be honest, it may be nice for the golf fan to miss the sport for a while. The PGA Tour players play so many weeks that the fan never has the opportunity to be like, “Man, I wish there was a golf tournament this weekend because there’s a tournament every single weekend.” If Wagner’s prediction comes true, the FedEx Cup fall may soon lose its significance on the PGA Tour calendar. With most top players skipping fall events, TV ratings for that part of the season already trail far behind the main schedule. Big stars like Rory Mroy and Victor Havland often opt to play on the DP World Tour instead, further diminishing viewership. In that context, reducing or reworking the fall swing might make financial sense and could even help build anticipation for the start of the next FedEx Cup season. Interestingly, Victor Havlin himself recently addressed the issue, echoing Wagner’s concerns, speaking ahead of the DP World India Open, his first appearance since recovering from a neck injury sustained at the 2025 RDER Cup. Havland was asked by Essentially Sports to share his thoughts on the tour’s proposed reduction in field sizes. I think having more cards is obviously good for competition, Havlin said. But at the same time, I think they’re trying to get to a place where you have obviously Memorial and Bay Hill and these bigger tournaments and then you also have a lot of smaller events and trying to get both of those tournaments to work in the same league is tough and I think they’re trying to mitigate some of that. While Havland remained diplomatic, his message was clear. More players means stronger competition and that’s what fans want. His remarks align closely with the views of Lucas Glover, Matt Fitzpatrick, and Johnson Wagner, all of whom believe inclusivity, not exclusivity, fuels the tour success as the PJ tour enters a new era under Brian Rolap. The challenge will be balancing exclusivity and opportunity, ensuring that while the elite flourish, the door for new stars remains wide open. With Rolap’s extensive experience from his time in the NFL, many are hopeful he’ll see the logic that Wagner and others have laid out. But for now, golf fans can only wait and watch how the game’s next chapter unfolds.
