By ED TRAVIS
The revamped PGA Tour starting in 2028 has two big positives, namely more head-to-head play by top players while expanding tournaments for major demographic markets not now being served.
The Tiger Woods-chaired Future Competition Committee presented the new format featuring two series of tournaments with a revised schedule.
In a news conference prior to the start of last week’s Travelers Championship to explain the new format CEO and soon to be Commissioner Brian Rolapp said the PGA Tour schedule has needed rethinking for some time to bring their customers, the golf fan, more value. Fan value is most often described as the top 50 to 100 players competing frequently in the same events not just in the four major championships and sometimes in the limited field Signature Series events.
In 2028 the Tour will be divided into two tiers, the Championship Series and Challenger Series.
Many of the initial comments by industry insiders and fans have been positive particularly citing the end of the Signature Series which often had weaker fields since many top players were preparing for subsequent major championships. The 2028 split creates two tiers of competition and undoubtedly corporate marketing dollars will be a large part of where tournaments are played and indeed which tournaments are in each tier.
Critics are quick however to say money is driving the changes and in fact is the primary reason for the restructuring. They are forgetting professional golf has always been driven by money in fact control of the play for pay is what led to the fracture of the PGA Tour from the PGA of America headed by Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus in the 1960s. It was also the single most important factor in the battle with LIV Golf and now appears to have been resolved by the lack of viability of LIV Golf business model. LIV proved fans will not be satisfied with exhibitions purporting to be meaningful competition with the added negative of fields unable to showcase the best playing the best.
The Championship Series will be comprised of the 120 top players with approximately 23 events, minimum purses of $20 million, 36-hole cuts and no sponsor exemptions. Part of the Championship Series will be the four majors, the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup.
The Challenger Series will have 144 player fields and purses of at least $4 million. Championship Series players may not play in Challenger Series and player movement between series will happen only at the end of the season.
In addition to giving fans the opportunity to see the “big guys” competing head-to-head more regularly the two series structure also buries competition such as LIV Golf and builds a moat to other competitive tours. New markets will be part of the schedule with most often named being Seattle, Boston, Denver, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.
A significant change to the end of the year Tour Championship was also announced. Rather than the than the 72-hole stroke play of the past 40 years, a match play format tournament will replace it. In addition, courses other than East Lake C.C. where it has been since 1998 will be used.
It should be noted that broadcast and streaming coverage of the two series are still to be worked out.
Rory McIlroy hit on the biggest point though, “We are putting the fans first and I am excited the future of our sport.” World number one Scottie Scheffler also pointed out in his news conference prior to the Traveler’s Championship, “I’m excited about it. I think the competition will get better. Play good golf courses against the best players in the world – I mean, for a player, I don’t think you could really ask for much more.”
By any measure it is refreshing to see the Tour working to place fans in the proper place on the list of priorities.
