Rolapp outlines blueprint for tour's future
Scheduling and structural model will be designed to 'outlive us all;' LIV not priority
PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp has big plans for shoring up tour’s future (Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images)
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — The annual state of the PGA Tour address from the chief typically starts with a long preamble boasting about past accomplishments. New CEO Brian Rolapp on Wednesday just went straight into his focus on the future.
Rolapp laid out a blueprint of what the PGA Tour model will look by 2028, and what it lacked in specific details still to be ironed out it made up for in preparing professional golf’s constituents that big changes are inevitable.
With the future competition committee helmed by Tiger Woods, a new streamlined and two-track tour is going to emerge.
“The committee’s focus has been on the competitive model built on meritocracy,” Rolapp said. “This is not a closed shop. We are aiming to go create a more cohesive schedule with a simpler point system, one where the best players compete against one another more frequently.”
Rolapp outlined six themes that will determine the future schedule and structure of the PGA Tour, emphasizing “no decisions have been made.”
“This remains a work in progress, and it is by no means a baked cake,” Rolapp said. “These are simply areas we are starting to see a meaningful consensus.”
Here’s what we can expect to materialize when the dust finally settles:
A season running from late January to early September with double the number of the current eight signature events. “In terms of overall structure — inclusive of the (four) majors, the Players, the postseason (and the Ryder or Presidents Cups) — we are looking at roughly 21 to 26 tournaments on a first track of elevated events with the best players competing for higher purses,” Rolapp said.
“To be clear, we will have a second track of PGA Tour tournaments which will ladder up to those elevated events.”
More consistent field sizes. “This means moving away from small fields and no-cut events,” he said. “Our best events will have larger fields. Ideally, we are targeting something closer to 120-player fields with a cut. That consistency matters.”
Opening the season with a marquee event at an iconic venue in the U.S. west. “Allowing us to finish on network television in primetime on the East Coast,” he said. Torrey Pines and Pebble Beach fit the bill here, with Torrey the seemingly easy landing spot for The Sentry moving from Kapalua.
More events in larger markets. “Today the PGA Tour competes in only four of the top 10 largest U.S. media markets,” Rolapp said. “That is an opportunity. We are evaluating markets like New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Washington DC, Boston, and many others — places where there is a strong fan demand for our sport and a chance to reach new fans.”
A Premier League-style system of promotion and relegation between tour “tracks.” “Scarcity is about making every event we have matter,” Rolapp said. “This is why we are evaluating the role of promotion and relegation between these two tracks within our competitive model, an added element that we would bring to life in the second track of events I described earlier. What we envision is a merit-based system that leans into what makes professional golf so compelling, players earning their way to the top, with every event having greater meaning.
“For our members, the message is pretty simple: Play well and you earn the opportunity to compete in our biggest events and for more money.”
Enhanced post-season stakes in what’s currently called the FedEx Cup playoffs. “We have heard from our fans and our partners, they want more drama,” Rolapp said. “We are considering the potential integration of match play, either at the Tour Championship or across the post-season as a whole, bringing win-or-go-home moments to the conclusion of our season.”
Rolapp said that another update on the future competition committee’s plans will be revealed during another press conference this summer ahead of the Travelers Championship.
Brian Rolapp delivers his first state-of-the-tour address to packed house (Tracy Wilcox/PGA Tour via Getty Images)
“Once decisions have been made and finalized, changes will be implemented through a rolling approach,” Rolapp said. “As Tiger has said recently, some elements could be addressed sooner for next season, with more significant change likely to be implemented for the 2028 season, pending the necessary work to be done with our partners and other operational considerations.
“This is a complex process with many constituencies impacted. We will continue to move with urgency, but we are focused on getting it right.”
Rolapp said “I think there will be a place for most of our events in our new model,” meaning long-standing smaller market events like the John Deere and Greensboro should land places somewhere on the schedule, though possibly in different time frames and different tour tracks.
“I think just because we are looking to play more often in bigger markets does not necessarily mean we’re abandoning small markets,” Rolapp said. “That is a misconception. There’s room for both.”
The Tour Championship might shift from its permanent home at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, where it’s hot in August. West Coast venues like Riviera might be a suitable playoff spot while markets like Chicago, New York and Philly could serve as postseason locales.
East Lake and the large Atlanta market could comfortably fit into a familiar spot as a lead-in event to the Masters two hours east in Augusta.
It’s a tall task to put the pieces together in a cohesive puzzle that appeals to players, sponsors, broadcast partners and — arguably most importantly — golf fans.
Rolapp strives “to build something lasting that outlives all of us.” Good luck.
Partner priorities: Europe in mix; LIV not so much
There is interest in extending the PGA Tour’s “strategic alliance” with the DP World Tour. As for the moth-balled “framework agreement” with LIV Golf, any kind of reunification with the breakaway league is not on Rolapp’s radar.
Rolapp also said he hopes the PGA and DP World tours will renew their strategic alliance, but he did not detail any changes to the cooperative or financial terms.
“The strategic alliance predates me, but the importance of the European tour and the history of the European tour and the relationship the PGA Tour doesn’t, and I have an appreciation for that,” he said. “We’re fortunate to have a strategic alliance; it’s one that we value. It’s one that many of our members value. We would like to extend that. In fact, we made a proposal to do that, to how to actually create even a more mutual benefit relationship. So we hope we can do that.”
As for LIV, it’s on its own as far as Rolapp is concerned.
“I think I’ve been clear about this; my brief is to make the PGA Tour better,” he said. “I’m open to whatever makes the PGA Tour better. That is my brief. Better for fans, better for our members. So that’s what I’m focused on, and that’s where I put all my efforts.”
That presumably does not include the possibility of inviting top-rated LIV to compete in the PGA Tour’s flagship Players Championship — even if that helped the argument for making the Players a major, which Rolapp seems to have no appetite for debating.
“That’s not sort of a priority I’ve put on my list,” Rolapp said. “So that’s not something I’ve sort of considered to date. There’s other priorities other than that.”
A lot of what he’s proposing is already in play with Signature events but I really like the vision. Promotion & Relegation is a great idea. Can’t wait to hear the details. Also like the field sizes of 120 with cuts.