PGA Tour Confirms First Two Championship Series Events for 2028 Launch

The PGA Tour announced the Travelers Championship and a Sompo-sponsored event as the first two confirmed tournaments in a new Championship Series launching in 2028, according to Front Office Sports reporting. The Championship Series will comprise roughly 15 regular-season events in addition to the four major championships, the Players Championship, and playoff events.

Championship Series events will carry minimum purses of at least $20 million, with some tournaments like the Players and a revamped Tour Championship offering larger prize pools, per Front Office Sports. Companies that sponsor Championship Series events will pay at least $30 million annually to financially back those top-tier tournaments.

The Travelers Championship, played annually at TPC River Highlands outside Hartford, Connecticut, each June, has been one of eight $20 million signature events on the PGA Tour since 2023. In 2027, Sompo will back a full-field PGA Tour event at Silverado Resort's North Course in Napa, California, July 29 to Aug. 1, effectively replacing the Rocket Classic in Detroit. In 2028, the Sompo event will relocate to a new market as part of the transition to the Championship Series, according to Front Office Sports.

The second-tier Challenger Series will comprise at least 20 events, each offering purses of at least $4 million. Both Championship and Challenger series will run from approximately February to August and will include annual promotion and relegation between the circuits, per Front Office Sports reporting.

The PGA Tour currently has 47 events and will continue to have 47 events going forward under the new model, according to the reporting. PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp stated the current model serves roughly 230 players and will continue to serve that amount of players under the new system. Rolapp said there is an initial set of 10 markets set to host Championship Series events during the 2028 season that would be revealed soon. Rolapp indicated that tournaments in new markets like New York, Boston, Chicago, Washington D.C., Denver, and Seattle could host Championship Series events, though no firm confirmations have been made beyond the Travelers and Sompo event.

Genesis extended its sponsorship of the PGA Tour event through 2030 in February, but the Genesis Invitational's future is described as cloudiest among current signature events due to competing demands on Riviera Country Club's schedule, which will host the men's and women's Olympic golf competitions in 2028 and the U.S. Open in 2031. Sentry, a Wisconsin-based insurance company, previously sponsored the PGA Tour's season-opener in Maui, which was a signature event from 2023 to 2025 before the tour canceled January's tournament and exited Hawaii. Sentry is now taking over naming rights for the PGA Tour's annual stop at Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla, California. Currently, there are three postseason events on the PGA Tour, but the exact number of playoff events in 2028 is yet to be determined, according to Front Office Sports. The four majors are not operated by the PGA Tour, but players will still earn points in those events for the new season-long Championship Series title race.