Nearly two years after the PGA Tour made significant changes to its structure, one rising Korn Ferry Pro has backed the new format. James Nicholas has a simple reason for it.

"But, at the end of the day, if you're good enough, you're going to make it. If you play well enough, you're going to make it. And that's the beauty about golf - it's up to you, right?" Nicholas said.

The structural change reduced the number of full-time cards from 125 to 100. Along with that, field sizes at many tournaments, including The Players Championship, will be reduced.

Many PGA pros, however, questioned the Tour’s decision at the time. They believed that the real issue of slow-play was not being addressed by the Tour. Many stated that the reduction of cards and field sizes was not a good idea.

Moreover, the PGA Tour announced that it would be removing the Monday qualifying spots from all its events. Starting from 2026, Korn Ferry Tour’s top-20 pros will receive the full PGA Tour status and not the top-30, as it happened earlier. And according to Nicholas, that is not a problem.

"If I go out and I play great [this season], I'm going to have a PGA Tour card. If I go out and play not so well, I won't be. But that's the beauty of game, you either earn it or you don't and it's all on you," Nicholas added.

Nicholas' 2026 Korn Ferry Tour Performance

The former Yale University golfer found his first success on the Korn Ferry Tour in February 2026.

Nicholas won the Astara Golf Championship in Bogota, Colombia, by two strokes, finishing with a score of 19-under 265.

"The goals remain the same. They become a little bit more in reach obviously after having a win, but you've got to go have a great second half of the year now and either go get another win or get a bunch of top 10s and chase down that point threshold,” said Nicholas.

Currently at rank 7 on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List, Nicholas looks set to join the PGA Tour.

Read more at Club Golf!

Written by

Avishek Sarkar

Edited by

Siddharth Shirwadkar