GOLF.AI • Dec 14, 2025

The PGA Tour's Middle-Class Squeeze

A great squeeze is tightening its grip on the PGA Tour, and its middle class is feeling the pressure. For the players ranked outside the top-50, the dream of competing against the world's best is becoming more distant, as pathways to the top are systematically being narrowed.

Beau Hossler, a veteran who ranks himself in the 70th-to-80th best player range, has become a vocal advocate for his peers. In a direct conversation with new PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp, Hossler lamented the lack of opportunity to compete against the game's elite, noting he'd only see them at majors, Signature Events, or The Players. He framed the issue with a stark comparison: "If you went to the 70th-best baseball player in the world, they are playing at the highest level every single night."

This segregation is being reinforced by structural changes. The Korn Ferry Tour, long the most reliable path to the PGA Tour, has had its number of awarded tour cards slashed by a third, from 30 down to 20. Trevor Cone, who earned his card in 2024 by finishing 27th, wouldn't have made it under the new rules. The final hurdle, Q-School, has become a brutal, zero-sum game where any tie for the final spots is settled by a sudden-death playoff on the demanding 18th hole at Dye's Valley Course—a high-stakes battle for a single, career-altering opportunity.

The human cost of this squeeze is profound. Look no further than the story of Ben Griffin, who lost his Korn Ferry Tour status and found himself drowning in $17,000 of credit card debt while his father paid his rent. The financial and mental strain became unbearable, forcing him to quit the game in 2021 for a desk job as a mortgage broker. As Griffin poignantly stated, "It's hard playing really good golf when you see your credit card statement at $17,000 in debt." His journey is a cautionary tale of what happens when the professional ladder's rungs are pulled further and further apart.