Saying something without saying much
PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp met with the media ahead of The Players Championship and deftly addressed a number of topics that have been bandied about lately.
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida — And the winner of the Fireman of the Year Award is … Brian Rolapp.
The PGA Tour’s new CEO accomplished one important thing Wednesday morning here at his press conference. He extinguished concerns about “significant changes” he ignited with comments after his hiring months ago. Those included fears of cutting the PGA Tour schedule in half, deep-sixing the Tour’s smaller stops and turning the Tour into a closed shop.
Give Rolapp an A-minus for his confidence, diligence and humility. He came across as a regular guy. He was very positive, upbeat and reassuring. The only thing that kept him from getting an A grade was in regard to how he said he would be focused on transparency, yet he delivered only a few details of what’s to come — mostly in 2028, not next year — and deflected many questions with the deftness of past commissioners Tim Finchem and Jay Monahan.
In his defense, he admitted he didn’t have answers for many topics because decisions haven’t been made. “By no means is this a baked cake,” Rolapp said. He expects to have more announcements after the Future Competition Committee meets June 22. Until then, he said, “I can’t emphasize this enough, nothing is finalized.”
Some of the frosting was ready to spread, though.
The big news? Rolapp said the Tour plans to double the number of signature events to 16, expand those fields to 120 (up from the 70 or so currently) and have 36-hole cuts. That was a big W. Include the four majors, The Players Championship, the FedEx Cup playoffs and the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup and Rolapp sees a PGA Tour schedule that consists between 21 and 26 top-tier events. The season will kick off in late January with a marquee event at an iconic West Coast site so it can finish in the Sunday prime time window on the East Coast.
He pointed out that the Tour plays in only four of the top 10 markets in the U.S. and wants to get into some of the biggest markets that it’s not currently in, including New York City, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Boston. It’s an obvious idea and a smart one.
In addition, Rolapp mentioned changes to the season-ending FedEx Cup Playoffs may include getting match play involved in one or more of those events because fans and sponsors want more “drama.” Match play is always more popular as a concept than a reality. While it provides drama, it creates an uncertain length of play for broadcast partners and it can lead to final matchups that may not be marquee-level. Anyone remember the World Golf Championship Match Play finals between Jeff Maggert and Andrew Magee or Pierre Fulke and Steve Stricker?
The goal, Rolapp said, “is to build the best version of the PGA Tour that better serves our fans, players and sponsors.”
Meanwhile, some questions went essentially unanswered, such as:
◾ What is the Tour’s stance on the USGA’s proposed ball rollback?
◾ What is the future of the Tour’s strategic alliance with the DP World Tour (European Tour)?
◾ What progress has been made on LIV Golf reunification?
◾ How did the Tour spend some of Strategic Sports Group’s $1.5 billion investment into the Tour and how does it plan to use the rest?
It is clear that PGA Tour tournaments will be broken into two categories — the Haves and the Have-Nots. The signature events are the Haves, the other remaining events are the Have-Nots. Some of the latter will still apparently be played in the fall.
“A key consideration is establishing more consistent fields,” Rolapp said. “Our best events will have larger fields, ideally 120 players with a cut. This helps fans know who they will see. It helps our partners know what they’re investing in.”
Rolapp offered six items on the agenda of the Future Competition Committtee (which includes Tiger Woods) that is helping shape the remodeled Tour.
One topic of particular interest was the calendar. He said late January to early September is ideal. The former sounds as if the two Hawaiian stops may be toast and the latter sounds as if Labor Day weekend is where the Tour stops. He clarified the early September time frame as including the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup.
The second item was establishing more consistent fields. In other words, the same 120 players teeing it up most of the time.
He also said the committee is evaluating some form of promotion and relegation between the Haves (signature events) and Have-Nots (the other Tour events). Rolapp didn’t detail whether the promotion and relegation would happen only at season’s end or whether it was an in-season possibility that a player who performs well in regular events could jump up to the signature events immediately. There already is a system for that in the current format so the guess is that, yes, there will be in-season movement.
“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,” Rolapp said.
He compared it to English soccer where teams move between different leagues, like the Premier and Championship levels, based on performance. “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,” he said.
Other notable comments by Rolapp:
About The Players Championship commercial that ended with the message “March will be major” and if he considers The Players a major championship: “I will say the one thing I learned is our marketing department’s really effective. They made one commercial spot and we’re all having this conversation. Kudos to them. Listen, I’m not entirely sure how majors become majors. The history is really interesting to study. That’s not for us to decide. What is important is that this is a pretty special event and that should be celebrated.”
Translation: Maybe that line was a bridge too far — you decide.
On possible reunification with LIV Golf: “I’m open to whatever makes the PGA Tour better. That is my brief. That’s what I’m focused on.”
Translation: Nope. That ship got torpedoed a long time ago.
On how many Tour events will go away: “There’s a misconception that scarcity means a dramatic cut in the number of events of the PGA Tour as we know it. Scarcity is about making the events we have matter more, so I think there will be a place for most of our events in our new model. What you’ll see in the model is more of a rationalization of the competition to make those events more meaningful.”
Translation: I’d rather not say how many events must die.
On sponsor exemptions in signature events: “It is my opinion we need a better competitive model because we should be delivering fields to the sponsors. I also have an appreciation that professional golfers are independent contractors. So their level of job security is in some part in these exemptions they have earned. So it’s a balance. We want to deliver the purest competition that fans want.”
Translation: We’re leaning toward meritocracy, not handouts. Signature event sponsors shouldn’t need exemptions with the star-studded fields we’ll deliver. Adding former stars such as Webb Simpson and Jordan Spieth is unnecessary.
Match play format in the playoffs: “All sorts of models are being talked about. Medal-match play, other things. Nothing has been decided and it would be a waste of time to debate that here.”
Translation: Medal-match play (the low 18-hole score) might be the leader in the clubhouse. TV might not hate that.
On whether The Players will move back to May, which has been rumored: “We’re open to anything. In our discussions, moving this tournament has not been part of it. So while we are operating with a blank sheet of paper, to date we have not discussed moving this tournament’s date.”
Translation: Just because we haven’t talked about it yet doesn’t mean we aren’t going to do it. The PGA Championship is still in the way in May … for now.
On whether the Tour would try to buy or invest in the five biggest golf properties that it doesn’t own — the four major championships and the Ryder Cup: “We focus on making our tour and our events better. I think it would benefit the entire golfing ecosystem to work closer together commercially.”
Translation: No comment. None of those events are for sale, are they? Asking for a friend.
Overall reaction: Rolapp doused the flames of public and player concern with his presentation. Expect the other shoe to drop in June when big issues are finalized. Forecast: Sunny, chance of flareups likely.
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