Every Passing Week Is An Example Of Why PGA Tour Signature Events Need To Go

I could have written this article last week, or perhaps the week before. It's a conversation the news team is regularly having here at Golf Monthly as Signature Events, regular tournaments and Majors go by.

This latest example is yet another illustration of why the big money, small-field PGA Tour showpieces need to go.

Aaron Rai is now a Major champion after playing his last ten holes in six-under-par at Aronimink to win the 2026 PGA Championship.

He was a very worthy winner and ends the 100+ year drought for English golfers in the championship.

Rai is one of the hardest workers in the game and his victory on Sunday was a real feel-good story, having started out on the third-tier, and now defunct, EuroPro Tour before progressing through Europe to make it in the US.

Rai is up to a career-best 15th in the world, and he has been ranked inside the world's top 50 all year yet has only managed to make his way into two Signature Events.

He was ranked 33rd in the world during the Arnold Palmer Invitational week, yet the model came to the conclusion that he was not deserving of a place in the field.

Last week, he was playing in the opposite-field $4m Myrtle Beach Classic while the Tour also ran the $20m no-cut Truist Championship.

This isn't meant to be a slight but the likes of Tony Finau, Max Homa and Billy Horschel have been ranked outside of the top 100 and they have played far more Signature Events, with the popular stars receiving multiple sponsor's invitations.

Players of this stature have been getting in time and time again while multiple top 50 players miss out just because they aren't as famous or have as strong historic resumes.

It's an example of why the tournaments are not fair, and they have to be changed going forward. Hopefully they will, with plans to increase fields to 120 and introduce cuts in all of them.

I have no problem with Finau, Homa and Horschel playing in these events by the way. They have earned the right to compete in the biggest tournaments and I would love to follow them if I saw them playing on-site, plus they can help with ticket sales and general interest - especially if they play well and contend.

What I do have a problem with is players like Aaron Rai and other deserving pros being left out.

Signature Events have been great for the select players in them, and perhaps the TV networks and sponsors, too, but they have largely been unpopular with fans. Some players dislike them as well.

"I've been on record as saying I was not a fan of these when they hatched the idea of them," 2009 US Open champion Lucas Glover told Golf Channel.

"I didn't like them then and I have been in most of them since they started and I still don't like them."

Erik Van Rooyen is another. “How honest do you want me to be?” he asked, after qualifying for the $20m Truist Championship last year, where he was guaranteed at least $36,000 for simply turning up.

“I hate it. I strongly believe that the strongest fields are the ones with the most players in them. The guys on the PGA Tour are so good. It's so deep."

Brian Rolapp said he hopes to operate 16 Signature Events on tier one of the PGA Tour in the future, which to me is essentially getting rid of them. If you have 16 Signature Events then they are no longer elevated and instead just become the norm. That will be a great thing.

A total of 16 big money events with 120-man fields and cuts should really improve things on the circuit, as the current Signature model is now stale and not conducive with a circuit that likes to pride itself on meritocracy.

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts in the comments section below. Do you agree? Or do you think the Signature Events are great for showcasing all of the best players?

So, what are some other examples that have been grinding my gears this year? Let's look back and start with Alex Fitzpatrick.

The Englishman won the Zurich Classic with his older brother, Matt, and then went on to contend at the $20m Truist Championship after also producing a strong week at the Cadillac Championship.

Fitzpatrick only just kept his DP World Tour card last year yet managed to finish T9-T4 in back-to-back Signature Events. He added a lot to the event, making for a very intriguing storyline to see how he would get on at the elite level.

He coped extremely well.

What does that tell you? It tells me that anyone with a tour card is an exceptional player and limiting fields to just 70 or 80 means fans miss out on great storylines of underdogs challenging for the title and up-and-coming pros progressing in their journeys.

Kristoffer Reitan is another example. The Norwegian won twice on the DP World Tour last year, including at December's Nedbank Golf Challenge, and, like Rai, has been ranked inside the world's top 50 all year.

He was the second-highest finisher on the Race to Dubai to pick up a PGA Tour card last year yet he didn't play in any of the first four Signature Events. Again, this was while players ranked outside of the top 100 were getting sponsor's invites ahead of him.

He finally managed to get in the Cadillac Championship as an alternate and went on to finish T14th before going on to win, with a very impressive finish may I add, at the Truist Championship the following week.

Rasmus and Nicolai Hojgaard are two other Europeans who have been ranked highly this year but haven't played a great deal of 'Signature' golf either.

They were ranked 44th and 53rd the week of the 80-man Genesis Invitational yet missed out, and Rasmus sat 48th in the OWGR while not getting into the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Nicolai, who has now played in four of the six this year, went on to finish T2nd at the Truist Championship. Rasmus has still not played in a single one in 2026 despite making nine of 11 cuts on the PGA Tour and starting the year ranked inside the world's top 40.

Tom Kim was another high-profile example in 2025, when he failed to qualify for the Truist Championship while ranked 41st in the world.

Golf is a funny, and amazing, game and anyone with a tour card is capable of challenging Scheffler, McIlroy and co. at the top on any given week. Everyone on the PGA Tour is so good, so let's reduce the restrictions over who gets to play the biggest events going forward.

Well done Aaron Rai for a phenomenal performance and well done to the likes of Kristoffer Reitan and Alex Fitzpatrick in recent weeks. Hopefully we'll see plenty more of these stories once all PGA Tour events feature fields of 120 men.

Let me know your thoughts below.