Circle 9–12 April 2026 on your calendar and book flights to Augusta, Georgia before 15 August 2025 if you want a chance at face-value Masters badges–Augusta National releases its lottery results then, and resale prices jump 300 % within hours. The 90th Masters tees off at 7:40 a.m. ET on Thursday with the ceremonial opening tee shots by Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player; final-round CBS coverage starts at 2 p.m. ET on 12 April. Last year champion received $3.6 million from an $18 million purse, plus lifetime invitations and a custom green jacket tailored in under 48 hours.
Three weeks later, 14–17 May, Oak Hill Country Club East Course in Rochester, New York hosts the PGA Championship for the fifth time. The 6.9-mile walk from first tee to clubhouse climbs 200 feet of elevation, so reserve a morning shuttle from the Park ’n Ride at Monroe Community College ($20 cash) before spots sell out. Expect 7,900-yard setups, shaved collection areas, and a winning score near 8-under par–matching the number recorded by Jason Day in 2013 on the same layout.
From 18–21 June 2026 the U.S. Open returns to Shinnecock Hills for the sixth time; the USGA caps daily tickets at 27,000 and they disappear within minutes after the December 2025 lottery. Wind off Peconic Bay averages 16 mph in June, so pack a 10-degree driver adjustment and a light sweater. The 2026 purse jumps to $20 million, up from $17.5 million in 2025, with the winner earning $4 million and a 10-year exemption on tour.
The Open Championship lands at Royal Troon 16–19 July. Sunrise is 4:52 a.m. local time, so book accommodation in Prestwick or Kilmarnock–both sit within 15 minutes on the Glasgow commuter train and cost £90–120 per night versus £350 in Troon. The 11th, 12th and 13th holes run parallel to the Firth of Clyde and play dead into prevailing winds; scoring average there jumps three strokes above the course mean. Pack a waterproof yardage book: Troon greens slope toward the sea and break more than they appear.
January–March: Early-Season Entry Windows & Qualifying Paths
Circle 14 January on your calendar–that the day the Masters starts accepting amateur invitations; have your USGA or R&A handicap certificate (≤1.4) uploaded to the Augusta portal before 23:59 EST or you drop off the list. PGA Championship entries open 1 February and close 15 April; non-exempt players need a current OWGR inside 200 and two top-10s on a major tour since the previous PGA to trigger a Category 11 exemption. Open Championship registration runs 1–28 February via R&A online engine–if you’re chasing Final Qualifying, book your spot at one of the 13 International Open Qualifying events (25–27 March) the moment registration opens; they sell out in 48 hours.
Players without full status can still punch a ticket. Latin America PGA Tour Q-School Stage I (27 Jan–2 Feb, Tucumán) offers four 2026 Korn Ferry cards; finish inside top-40 there and you’re exempt into the Korn Ferry Astara Tour Championship, the last points event that feeds into the PGA Championship field. Similarly, the DP World Tour Q-School final stage (13–18 March, Lumine) hands ten European Tour cards; secure one and you’re into the Betfred British Masters, the first Rolex Series event that carries Open Championship points. Amateurs eyeing the U.S. Open should chase the Florida Winter Series–three 54-hole events (8–18 March) award two spots into Final Qualifying; last year medallist shot 202 (-11) at Victoria Hills to grab his place at Pinehurst.
Document everything: save PDFs of every scorecard, keep a running spreadsheet of OWGR points, and screenshot confirmation emails–if a glitch erases your entry, the R&A and PGA of America will not reinstate without proof. Schedule your medical-exemption requests early; the Tours process them in date order and March backlog can add three weeks. Finally, book flights now: March airfares to the UK jump 40 % after the Northern Trust sponsors the Florida swing, and the only Open Qualifying site with onsite lodging is Prince–reserve the lodge by 15 January or you’ll be commuting from London.
How to secure PGA Tour starts via Korn Ferry top-30 reshuffle
Finish inside the Korn Ferry Tour regular-season top-30 and you’re guaranteed at least eight PGA Tour starts the following season, with priority re-shuffling after every three events–so bank two top-25s early and you’ll jump from 29th to 12th on the priority list before the West-Coast swing ends.
Track your standing in real time: the Tour posts the "re-shuffle table" every Monday at 10 a.m. ET. Copy it into a spreadsheet, add a column that projects points from upcoming events using last year field strength multipliers; if the projection keeps you inside the top-30 bubble through the final regular-season event, skip the early-week Monday qualifier and spend the day at TPC Sawgrass’ Dye Valley sharpening wedge distances instead–200-yard shots from Bermuda rough translate directly to PGA Tour venues like TPC Southwind.
| Position after re-shuffle | Guaranteed starts | Priority jump trigger |
|---|---|---|
| 1-10 | 15-18 | 2 top-25s |
| 11-20 | 12-14 | 1 top-15 |
| 21-30 | 8-11 | 1 top-10 |
Schedule smart: the Bermuda swing (Bahamas Great Exuma, Panama, Colombia) hands out 25 % more points because field sizes shrink when Q-School grads run out of starts; a solo fourth there equals a T-15 in a full-field Kansas event, so book those Latin American flights before Thanksgiving when fares dip 30 %.
Protect your medical extension: if you carried a PGA Tour card since 2022, file the minor-injury form by 15 September; it freezes your Korn Ferry points and lets you count 2026 majors https://salonsustainability.club/articles/svt-reveals-behind-the-scenes-at-cross-country-skiing-olympics.html toward reshuffle, effectively giving you two parallel pathways into the Players and the remaining big four.
Finally, lock in a swing coach who travels: the 2025 reshuffle data show players who skipped more than one month without competition fell an average 11 spots; book four Korn Ferry Monday pro-ams at courses that mirror next-week PGA layouts–think Victoria National before the BMW–to keep competitive feel sharp without burning starts.
DP World Tour Q-School dates that feed 2026 Open spots
Circle 22 August – 6 September 2025 on your calendar; the six-round Final Stage at Lumine Golf Club hands out 12 Open Championship exemptions to the leading finishers who are not otherwise exempt. Entry opens 18 March, closes 30 June, and the €2,200 fee jumps to €2,700 after 15 May–so file the application the moment you secure your 2025 category status.
Pre-qualifying spans 7–25 July at six venues from PGA Catalunya to Close House. Only the top 25 plus ties at each site progress, and last year a 5-under-par total was the cut line; expect similar scoring on the same courses. Miss that week and you wait another year, so book travel insurance that covers withdrawal for medical reasons–DP World Tour refunds 75 % with a doctor note filed before 1 August.
The leaderboard you need to watch is category 9a in the 2026 Open exemption list: it lists "leading 12 players at DP World Tour Q-School Final Stage not otherwise exempt." Finishing 13th does not move you up if someone inside the top 12 already has a spot; instead, the exemption rolls to 13th, 14th, and so on until all twelve are filled. Track live scoring on the DP World Tour app; push notifications flag when the bubble shifts.
Plan accommodation now–Lumine on-site apartments sell out every year. Reserve through the tournament portal before 1 May and the weekly rate stays at €420; after that, local hotels jump to €180 per night. Bring a caddie who knows the bermuda greens; they run 11.5 on the stimp in September and gather toward the Mediterranean, so past experience here is worth two shots per round.
PGA Championship early-exemption deadlines for club pros
Circle 15 November 2025 on your shop wall calendar; postmarked Section applications that miss that Friday reach PGA HQ only as expensive scrap paper.
Start the 36-hole sectional qualifying grind no later than 1 August 2025 if you want two cracks at the 6.4 index cut-off: the first week of August feeds the North-east slate, the second week locks you into the South-west events, and both count toward the 20 PGA-required rounds in the 12-month window ending 30 September.
Upload your tournament stats to the PGA player portal before midnight ET on 30 September; last year 47 club pros lost exemptions because a club championship they won never migrated from the local Golf Genius file to the national database.
Keep a running Handicap Index at a PGA-recognized club; the 2026 target is +1.4 or better, but the real filter is the 25-tournament minimum–combine your chapter events, senior opens, and assistant championships so that at least eight carry 50-plus players and 36 completed scores.
Reserve a Monday 29 September 2025 tee-time at one of the 13 national test centres–TPC Sawgrass, The Broadmoor, or PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie–because walk-ins on the final handicap-certification day face a five-hour queue and the computer locks at 4:30 p.m. sharp.
File your Section exemption request the same week you renew your PGA membership; the form asks for two letters from fellow Class A professionals confirming your primary employment is golf operations, and the review committee meets only once, on 10 December–late submissions wait until 2027.
If you finish inside the top-20 of the 2025 PGA Professional Championship, ignore everything above: your spot at Congressional Country Club is secure, but confirm your intent by faxing the exemption acceptance page before 5 January 2026 or the invitation reverts to medalist number 21.
April–July: Exact Dates & Ticket Release Windows for All Four Majors
Circle 9–12 April 2026 on your calendar and set two alarms: 1 August 2025, 10 a.m. ET for the Masters Lottery, and 1 December 2025 for the re-sale window on the Augusta National portal; winners pay $140 for a four-day badge, $75 for practice-round tickets, and receive the e-ticket 48 h before the gates open.
The 2026 PGA Championship heads to Congressional Country Club, Bethesda, 14–17 May. Public sale starts 17 September 2025 at 2 p.m. ET through the PGA own site; single-day grounds passes cost $85, weekly clubhouse upgrade $225. Add the mobile-queue app now–last year 6 000 tickets vanished in 11 minutes.
From 18–21 June the U.S. Open returns to Shinnecock Hills. USGA members get first crack on 2 July 2025; the general lottery opens 6 August 2025 at usopen.com, with championship day tickets fixed at $150, weekend passes at $250, and youth tickets (under 17) free with a paying adult. Confirmation emails arrive within 30 minutes and you have 24 h to check out.
Open Championship at Royal Portrush runs 16–19 July. The R&A ballot entry window is 1–30 September 2025; successful applicants pay £95 for the week, £35 for a single day, and receive a scannable barcode immediately after payment. Walk-up sales are gone–2025 event sold out 96 % in advance.
If you miss the primary windows, mark 15 March 2026: that when StubHub and the Tour official resale exchange release returned player-allocation tickets. Prices swing ±20 %, so set a price alert and buy within the first 90 minutes after release; inventory evaporates once pairings are published.
Book accommodation the same day you secure tickets. Augusta rooms within 10 mi average $450 per night after the lottery results; East Hampton cottages near Shinnecock jump from $350 to $1 200 once USGA emails go out. Reserve cancellable rates early, then re-price every 30 days–most properties allow free changes until 30 days before arrival.
2026 Masters: practice-round ticket lottery opens 2 June 2025
Set a phone alert for 1 p.m. ET on 2 June 2025 and apply at masters.com within the first 36 hours; last year 82 % of successful applicants submitted before midnight on day two. Request only one day per email–duplicates cancel the entire entry–and list every adult who will walk the course; Augusta National cross-checks IDs at the gate and refuses entry if the names do not match the application exactly.
The lottery closes 1 August, costs $0 to enter, and winners receive an email titled "2026 Masters Practice Round Access" on 16 September. Each winning code buys up to four badges at $75 apiece; children 8–16 enter free with a ticketed adult, while kids under 8 require a no-charge child badge ordered in the same transaction. Badges sell out in roughly 36 hours, so have your credit card ready and choose UPS delivery–print-at-home tickets are not offered. If you miss out, mark 1 December 2025 on your calendar; that is when the tournament-round lottery begins.
PGA Championship at Aronimink: multi-day badge sale tiers
Circle 9 a.m. ET on 5 August 2025 and load the PGA of America portal in two browser tabs; the first 3 000 multi-day "Patron" badges drop that instant, priced at $425 and good for all competition days plus Monday practice. Once the progress bar hits 100 %, switch to tab two–refreshing the same page costs 45 seconds and often shoves you to the rear of the digital queue.
Tier structure for 2026:
- Patron Badge – $425 (no single-day option, mobile-only delivery, non-transferable after activation)
- Clubhouse Access Add-on – +$190 (grants second-floor patio and air-conditioned pavilion behind 18th green)
- Grounds Upgrade – +$85 (unlimited hop-on shuttle from remote lot at Radnor Middle School, 3 mi away)
- Junior Bundle – $95 (ages 8-17, must be purchased with at least one adult Patron Badge)
All tiers auto-charge the card immediately; refunds minus a $30 processing fee are accepted until 1 May 2026.
After the initial allotment sells out–historically 22 minutes–PGA releases weekly waves of 1 500 badges every Tuesday at noon through 14 October. Prices hold steady, but the shuttle upgrade climbs to $105 after Labour Day. Create an account now; entering driver-license data during checkout shaves 90 seconds and decides whether you land in the 1 500 or the 15 000 queue.
Corporate packs arrive 1 November: ten Patron Badges plus two Clubhouse Add-ons for $5 200 and a parking hangtag in Lot C, a seven-minute walk to the main gate. Companies registered in Pennsylvania receive an invoice; out-of-state buyers pay 6 % sales tax at checkout. If you need fewer than ten, split the pack with another group and forward the barcodes–each badge stays valid when transferred to a different name before 1 April 2026.
Secondary-market caution: StubHub lists 2025 PGA badges starting at $310, but Aronimink new RFID gantries will invalidate any barcode already loaded to another fan phone. StubHub "100 % guarantee" covers refund, yet you still miss the round. Only buy badges that have never been activated; ask the seller for the nine-digit order number and verify it through PGA "Resale Check" page before paying.
Q&A:
Which exact weeks do the four men majors occupy in 2026, and how many days off are there between them?
The 2026 men majors line up like this: The Masters runs 9–12 April, the PGA Championship is 14–21 May (yes, a full week because of the move to Memorial Park), the U.S. Open fills 18–21 June, and The Open returns to Royal Portrush 16–19 July. That gives three gaps: five weeks between Augusta and the PGA, four weeks between the PGA and the U.S. Open, and another four weeks before the final major. Players chasing the career Grand Slam will have 35 competitive days to make it happen.
Why is the PGA played in May again after the 2025 experiment with August, and does the Texas heat change any course-setup plans?
After the August trial produced oven-hot on-course temperatures and lower TV numbers, the PGA of America voted to restore the May slot for good; Memorial Park had already been booked before the vote, so Houston keeps the honour. To keep the bermuda from turning into concrete, the fairways will be cut at 0.45 inch and the greens kept softer than usual think 11 on the Stimpmeter instead of the typical 13. The club is also planting an extra 200 live oaks to create natural shade for the gallery ropes.
How many spots in each field are decided by world-ranking cutoff this year, and does the LIV ranking freeze affect the numbers?
For 2026 the Masters sticks to its own formula top-50 a week before plus past winners so roughly 44 players get in off the latest OWGR. The PGA reserves 20 spots for the top-70, the U.S. Open 60, and The Open 46. Because LIV golfers are frozen out of ranking points, the effective bubble sits around 65th instead of 80th, meaning a player ranked 66–75 who stayed on the PGA Tour is almost guaranteed to slide into all four fields without needing a qualifier.
What are the ticket release dates for each event, and which one sells out fastest?
Augusta National opens its lottery 1 June 2025; practice-round badges disappear within 18 minutes, tournament badges in 23. The PGA lottery goes live 15 July 2025 and is usually gone in four days. The U.S. Open lottery opens 1 August 2025 and closes when full last year that took 11 days. The Open Portrush ballot opens 10 September 2025 and closes 30 September; Irish fans snapped up 80 % of the daily tickets in 2019, so expect a similar rush. If you miss the draws, secondary-market prices for Masters Thursday badges start around £1,200 the week of the event.
Which past champion has the best chance of making a 2026 cut, and what are their qualifying paths?
Phil Mickelson, age 56, is the most likely. He gets into Augusta for life, is exempt for the PGA through the 2021 win at Kiawah, and can play the U.S. Open via special exemption (he had three already). The Open is the hurdle he needs to be inside the top-60 a month out or go through final qualifying. Lefty current coach says he targeting the 4-par-5 setup at Royal Portrush as the best fit for his remaining power, so expect him to tee it up in all four if he skips just one Champions Tour event to sharpen his links prep.
Which exact weeks in 2026 should I block off if I want to attend all four men majors and still squeeze in the Ryder Cup without missing a single day of play?
The 2026 men majors lock in like this: The Masters runs 9–12 April at Augusta National; the PGA Championship is 14–17 May at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth; the U.S. Open occupies 18–21 June at Shinnecock Hills; and The Open returns to Royal Portrush 16–19 July. The Ryder Cup follows almost two months later, 25 September–3 October, at Adare Manor in Ireland. If you fly home after Portrush and come back for the last week of September, you can hit every competitive day of all five events without calendar overlap.
How hard will it be for regular spectators to get on-site tickets for the 2026 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, and what the local shuttle situation since parking is almost non-existent?
Shinnecock membership caps daily attendance around 30 000 half of what the USGA allows at most Open venues so 2026 tickets will sell out fast. If you missed the championship-club lottery, your best shot is the weekly secondary market that opens next spring; expect $250–$300 per day once the sell-out hits. For transport, Suffolk County runs a park-and-ride hub at Southampton High School; buses drop you at the main gate in 12 minutes and run every eight minutes from 5 a.m. until two hours after play ends. Uber works, but drivers queue two miles out, so the shuttle is faster and the $25 round-trip ticket is good all week.
Reviews
Gregory
Another year, another spreadsheet of tee times pretending destiny waits behind the 18th green. 2026? I’ll be 42, my knees already sound like bubble wrap, and some kid who can’t shave will still outdrive me by fifty while his dad live-streams it to people who type "pure" in all caps. They’ll sell me a $14 beer I can’t taste because my sinuses are wrecked from the pollen and the lies. Half the field will withdraw with mysterious back spasms once they realize the purse won’t cover their agent cut, and the commentators will whisper "pressure" like it sacred, not just the mortgage due. I’ll watch anyway, alone, curtains shut, refreshing a leaderboard that never remembers my login, pretending the fading light on the carpet is the same shade of glory.
NovaViolet
Why does no one else sob when April slams the gate at Augusta do you all just switch channels, dry-eyed, while I’m still hunting the ghost of last year azalea scent in my couch cushions?
Christopher
Darling, I’ve circled the 2026 majors like a man plotting anniversaries: April at Augusta, June at Shinnecock, July over the Atlantic, August back to the pines. Miss a tee-time and I miss you same penalty. Let bury the wedge between us under the 18th azaleas, kiss over the leaderboard, and book two seats on the charter before someone else claims your hand for the final-round walk-off.
Sofia Rodriguez
Ooh, spring-cleaning the calendar and bingo! those wee white dots for April, June, July, September line up like sugar pearls on my wedding china. Hubby already promised to grill Sunday steaks while I park by the telly with my needlepoint and a tall lemonade. Little grand-daughter learning yardage math; she squeals every time a pink-clad heroine swings. My knees creak, yet my ticker hops like a fresh-pulled towel on the line when the leaderboard flips. See you girls in the fairway aprons off, visors on!
Felix Archer
Guys, if my wife letting me vanish every other weekend for "business trips" that mysteriously land the same weeks as Augusta, Shinnecock, Liverpool and Royal Portrush, how loud do I yell "fore" before she checks the credit card?