Tiger Woods to lead group that could reshape the PGA Tour's competitive model
Brian Rolapp, three weeks into his role as the tour's first CEO, announced the nine-member 'Future Competition Committee' and said it would have a clean sheet to consider changes that uphold traditions without being tied to them.
'This is about shaping the next era of the PGA Tour,' Woods said in a social media post.
Rolapp didn't have details on several issues he faces as he takes over for Commissioner Jay Monahan, including the future of a sport that has been splintered by Saudi money that created the rival LIV Golf League and lured away a number of top players.
The PGA Tour's negotiations with the Public Investment Fund have stalled, and Rolapp did not make that sound as if it were a top priority when asked about the fans' desire to see all the best players together more often.
'I'm going to focus on what I can control,' Rolapp said. 'I would offer to you that the best collection of golfers in the world are on the PGA Tour. I think there's a bunch of metrics that demonstrate that, from rankings to viewership to whatever you want to pick. I'm going to lean into that and strengthen that.
'I will also say that to the extent we can do anything that's going to further strengthen the PGA Tour, we'll do that,' he said. 'And I'm interested in exploring whatever strengthens the PGA Tour.'
Woods, who has played only 10 times on the PGA Tour since his February 2021 car crash and has been out all of this year with a ruptured Achilles tendon, already serves on the PGA Tour board without a term limit.
Now he will lead five players from the board — Patrick Cantlay, Adam Scott, Camilo Villegas, Maverick McNealy and Keith Mitchell — along with three from the business side. That includes baseball executive Theo Epstein.
Rolapp is not trying to reinvent a sport that held its first championship in 1860. He said among his early observations, after two decades at the NFL, was the strength and momentum of the PGA Tour.
'My key takeaway when you boil all this down is that the strength of the PGA Tour is strong, but there's much more we need to do, much more we need to change for the benefit of fans, players and our partners,' he said.
He said the committee would be guided by parity (he conceded golf already has that), scarcity and simplicity.
The tour released a 2026 schedule on Tuesday that adds another $20 million signature event, this one to Trump National Doral, as part of a 35-event schedule from January through August. Rolapp said the simplicity was mostly about connecting the regular season to the postseason.
He referred to the committee's work as a 'holistic relook of how we compete on the tour' during the regular season, postseason and offseason.
'The goal is not incremental change,' he said. 'The goal is significant change.'
He did not set a timetable for any of it. The Tour Championship ends this week at East Lake for the top 30 players. The tour has eliminated the built-in advantage for top seeds so that everyone starts from scratch.
The committee is a smaller version of the PGA Tour Enterprises board and policy board. Joining Epstein from the business side are board chairman Joe Gorder and John Henry of Fenway Sports Group, who leads the Strategic Sports Group that invested $1.5 billion — with the potential to double that — into the tour in a minority investment announced 18 months ago.
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Rolapp said he had a lot of ideas how to the use the money but none he was ready to share. But he said the involvement of SSG was a big reason he took the job.
'Not only does it provide necessary capital as we work through this competitive model and improved commercial model, I also think it also brings learnings from other sports, which I think is beneficial … to grow the PGA Tour.
'I think outside perspective is always a very good thing, as long as it's applied in the right way. I think SSG has brought that and has been helpful.'
___
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
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