The PGA Tour have made a really costly mistake, and they only have themselves to blame with Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy both making controversial decisions in 2025.
Scheffler and McIlroy are the two biggest draws in world golf, let alone on the PGA Tour.
Both are sensational players in their own right, and they are great for the PGA Tour.
However, there is a feeling that the Tour’s brand has been damaged over the past month or so.
McIlroy has caused controversy by not speaking to the media, and in fairness to him he is exercising his right to snub media duties as an independent contractor, so to speak.
But there is something else that has happened this season that has been a particularly poor look for the tour.
And the simple fact of the matter is that it didn’t need to be this way.
PGA Tour at fault after Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy decisions
Scheffler and McIlroy have both caused big controversy at separate times throughout the 2025 season.
The golfing landscape has significantly changed over the past few years with the emergence of LIV Golf in 2022.
And as a result, the PGA Tour have been forced into making big changes to the schedule and the financial rewards that the players receive.
A new system was brought into play for the 2025 PGA Tour season, whereby limited fields battle it out for more lucrative purses during eight elevated tournaments throughout the year.
The point of creating the Signature Events in the first place was to ensure that the best players on the PGA Tour all gathered together on at least eight occasions throughout the season.
This meant that more lucrative sponsorship deals would be attainable due to the fact that companies could put their money behind events with the guarantee that the best golfers would actually be playing.
However, that has proven to be a flawed model. McIlroy skipped the Memorial Tournament this month, whilst Scheffler passed up on the opportunity to play at the Truist Championship in May.
And whilst none of them were immediately after a major, the Travelers Championship next week is. You can guarantee that some of the best players in the world could really do without playing at TPC River Highlands after a week of mental and physical fatigue at Oakmont.
PGA Tour have to make a big change to the 2026 schedule
Next year, Jay Monahan and the PGA Tour board need to change how Signature Events are spaced out, and how they work.
Firstly, the eight events need to be spaced out more evenly throughout the year and under no circumstance should any of those tournaments be played immediately after a major championship.
None of the top players really want to play another event in the aftermath of four gruelling days of incredibly difficult tournament play the week before.
And secondly, cuts need to be reintroduced. Tournaments with no cuts lack the jeopardy associated with players grinding to make the cut on a Friday.
Once those changes are made, competing in the eight signature events should then be made compulsory for the top 50 or 60 eligible players.
Scheffler and McIlroy have both opted out of some of the biggest events on the PGA Tour schedule this season.
The two best golfers in the world skipping those events will have undoubtedly damaged the Tour’s product.
And the PGA Tour only have themselves to blame.
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