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As far as Padraig Harrington is concerned, the PGA Tour’s controversial move to scale back Monday qualifiers is a crying shame.
The US circuit announced in raft of changes last year that they will be reducing field sizes from 2026, meaning at least seven events slimmed to 120 players won’t have a Monday qualifier anymore.
They long been part of the fabric of the tour, but with an attempt to streamline the circuit, only two spots rather than four will be available even for the Monday qualifiers remaining with 132-player fields.
That decision has not gone down with plenty of observants – not least three-time major champion Harrington.
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The subject was brought back into focus at this week’s Waste Management Phoenix Open, which hosts one of the most competitive Monday qualifiers all season.
And Harrington believes the PGA Tour are making a grave error by undervaluing the qualifiers rather than leaning into them to build exciting narratives during tournament week.
“This has to be one of the strangest decisions of @pgatour when it comes to being in the entertainment business,” Harrington posted on X, responding to Monday Info.
“If it was up to me I’d be focusing more on Monday qualifiers. There’s a movie script story nearly every week. I’d give the leading qualifier a tv draw and get a tv crew to follow him for the week. I would do this even more so in the signature events.”
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It goes without saying that swathes of current and former PGA Tour players first enjoyed their chance to shine on the biggest stage via the Monday qualifiers.
Former Masters champion Patrick Reed incredibly qualified six times on a Monday in 2012, earning him enough points to get an exemption into the final round of Q School, where he claimed his first PGA Tour card.
Canada’s Corey Conners, meanwhile, became the fourth Monday qualifier in PGA Tour history to go on and win at the Valero Texas Open in 2019.
Ultimately, however, the removal of several Monday qualifiers comes as an impact of reducing field sizes in a bid to solve slow play and making sure fields finish their rounds in daylight hours.
“We could have a “tin cup” story any given week,” Harrington argued. “Could you imagine a struggling pro finishing in the top 10 and winning half a million?
“Nobody would begrudge that payout.”
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