​The PGA Tour has been informed that it will have to halt its co-sanctioning of the Scottish Open once the tour is divided into two tiers in 2028. Ahead of this year’s Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club, anticipation was high, with some arguing that the North Berwick event boasted the strongest field outside the four majors. It marked the first PGA Tour-sanctioned appearance for Jon Rahm since his switch to LIV Golf in December 2023, and he was joined by Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler as they prepared for The Open Championship.
But a challenge looms for Brian Rolapp and the executives at Ponte Vedra: how to handle the Scottish Open once the Tour splits into Championship and Challenger Series from 2028. Players will be barred from moving between tiers unless they are promoted or relegated. This could lead to the fields for all Championship Series events looking similar, which poses a problem because the Scottish Open is also run by the DP World Tour, with the PGA Tour having joined the event in 2022.
There would be significant backlash if the PGA Tour unilaterally decided the full field for the Scottish Open, effectively taking control away from the DP World Tour. Ryan Lavner, speaking on the Golf Channel Podcast, suggested that the PGA Tour might need to step back from officially co-sanctioning the event, while still allowing players to participate. “You can’t just have a hostile takeover of the PGA Tour by grabbing the Scottish Open, putting it in a chokehold, and stiff-arming the DP World Tour, effectively declaring this is our event now. It can’t simply drop into a Challenger Series event because the top-tier players wouldn’t be able to compete there. You can’t move it to the fall, either, because the appeal extends beyond it being a major national championship; it serves as an ideal lead-in and preparation for the year’s final major at The Open,” he noted.
As Lavner suggested, one possible solution for 2028 would involve scheduling an off week for the PGA Tour ahead of The Open Championship. This would allow a DP World Tour event, currently part of the Rolex Series, to take precedence around that period—as it did before co-sanctioning began—with sponsor exemptions extended to players from outside the pond who might want to participate. “This could involve a number of sponsor exemptions and some adjustments to field composition or qualification and exemption categories,” Lavner proposed. The aim would be to maintain a field that is predominantly a DP World Tour affair on the schedule, rather than a core component of the Championship Series, while still benefiting from favorable exposure and prestige.