PGA TOUR targets bigger fields in bigger markets as it moves closer to new model

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The PGA Tour wants to double the number of signature events and expand fields to 120 players with a 36-hole cut as it looks to overhaul its competitive model to bring the best players together on the best golf courses in big markets.

It also would lead to two tracks of tournaments — some two dozen elite events and the rest of the tournaments that would be geared toward promotion.

Missing from CEO Brian Rolapp's news conference on Wednesday were several key details, and he emphasized that nothing has been finalized.

“It is by no means a baked cake,” Rolapp said. “These are simple areas we are starting to see a meaningful consensus.”

This was pulling back the curtain on the work of the Future Competition Committee, which Rolapp created in August and appointed Tiger Woods as chairman.

Rolapp spoke before more than 1,000 people at PGA Tour headquarters, all with various stakes in the game, from corporate and television partners, player managers, tournament officials and executives of other golf organizations. Hundreds of them watched from the railing on the second and third floors.

He built his presentation around six themes — a season from late January to September, 120-man fields, a big opener on the West Coast at a famous golf course, finding bigger media markets, meritocracy and a more dramatic finish to the season.

One possibility was introducing a form of match play at the Tour Championship or throughout the postseason to provide “win or go home” moments. Television partners have favored match play, though top players have questioned why golf should have stroke play all year and have a different format for the biggest prize.

Rolapp said some changes could be introduced as early as 2027, though he would not expect the finished product until 2028 at the earliest.

The push toward bigger markets — the PGA Tour is not consistently in New York, Chicago, Boston, Washington, San Francisco and Philadelphia — and a splashy start to the season have been in the works for months.

The key element from this early look was the 120-man fields and the 36-hole cut. The $20 million signature events currently have 72 players (80 at Pebble Beach), and only three have cuts.

Rolapp said he envisions a schedule of 21 to 26 tournaments for the top players — as many as 16 signature events, The Players Championship, four majors and the three postseason events.

“We will have a second track of PGA Tour tournaments, which will ladder up to the elevated events,” which would run concurrently with the season, he said.

Rolapp leaned on the word “scarcity” when he first presented his vision in August. He said Wednesday that was not about the number of tournaments on the schedule but rather making every tournament matter.

Key to the overhaul is a form of promotion and regulation between the two tracks.

“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,” he said. “The message is pretty simple: Play well and you earn the opportunity to compete in our biggest events and for more money.”

Such a plan likely would do away with the need for players to have the chance to earn their way into signature events during the year because the fields already are 120 players.

As for going to bigger markets, Rolapp said moving current tournaments or creating new ones are both possibilities. The tour added a new signature this year at Trump Doral in Miami, for example.

Rolapp has been driven by what makes the tour better, which is why he created a program that allowed five-time major Brooks Koepka to return from LIV Golf. Still to be determined is what kind of media rights deal golf can strike, even with a current deal that runs through 2030.

He said the U.S. media market and rights fees is $30 billion. The NFL has $12 billion of that and Rolapp said, “They have made their public intentions clear they would like to double that.”

“So if you start doing that math and you’re anyone other than the National Football League, you start to ask yourself the questions," he said. "Next time I go to the media market, how do I make sure I have the most compelling product for fans and for our media partners so that we can compete in what is a very complicated media ecosystem that’s changing all the time?

“It's a very dynamic time in media,” he said. “If you are in the sports business, it behooves you to put your house in order as much as possible. That is a significant part of the work that the Future Competition Committee is doing, and it’s one of the reasons why it’s so important.”

Rolapp also said it recently made a proposal to extend its relationship with the European tour, and that international tournaments are under consideration in the summer and the fall.

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