The PGA Tour have one major issue which needs to be addressed ahead of the 2026 season, and it reared its ugly head during the opening round of the Bank of Utah Championship on Thursday.
During the 2025 PGA Tour season, we have witnessed numerous controversial incidents, but there is one problem which stands head and shoulders above the rest, and it’s posing a real threat to the popularity of our wonderful game.
Brian Rolapp was appointed as the PGA Tour’s new CEO earlier this year, and it is already clear that he is determined to mix things up in order to better the Tour as a product.
Rolapp has insisted the PGA Tour will not be overly bound by tradition during his time at the helm.
The PGA Tour have already made big changes with regard to how many golfers retain their playing privileges.
That number has dropped from 125 down to 100 ahead of the 2026 season. However, if Rolapp really wants to make a big impact, there is one pressing matter which he must address as soon as possible.
Utah Championship suffers big issue which continues to plague the PGA Tour
Day one of the Bank of Utah Championship was suspended due to darkness, with 38 players yet to complete their opening rounds.
Unfortunately, the reason for the suspension in play was down to one thing which has become a major issue this season.
The pace of play was tediously slow at the Black Desert Resort on Thursday.
The fact that the first round was suspended due to darkness was down to the morning wave of players’ pace of play.
The average time it took the groupings from the morning wave to play their rounds was five hours and 14 minutes.
The longest round took five hours and 36 minutes – the last group of the morning wave off the 10th tee.
And the quickest was the first group off the 10th, with Thorbjørn Olesen, Hayden Buckley and Rico Hoey getting round in four hours and 51 minutes.
The issue here is the first group off still took just under five hours to play their round. That’s quite simply too long, especially taking into account the fact that Olesen, Buckley and Hoey shot rounds of 65, 68 and 68 respectively.
Patrick Cantlay slow play at the Tour Championship in August garnered huge attention, as fans, professionals and analysts the world over demanded change.
Hopefully the suspension in play at the Bank of Utah Championship on Thursday will serve as a real wakeup call to the PGA Tour hierarchy.
PGA Tour branded as ridiculous and given slow play warning
As mentioned earlier, Cantlay’s slow play at East Lake in August caused uproar throughout the golfing community.
Award-winning golf coach Butch Harmon vented his frustrations with the PGA Tour for facilitating slow play.
Harmon was asked by his son, Claude, about Cantlay’s slow play at the Tour Championship.
And he urged the PGA Tour to make some big changes moving forward.
Harmon said: “They’ve got to grow a pair, because fining people is ridiculous. These guys don’t care about money, they’re all multi-millionaires. You’re not going to speed them up by doing that. But if you put two shots on them it could cost them making a cut or winning a tournament.“
He is spot on here. Fining multi-millionaire athletes is a completely futile exercise.
However, docking them strokes would be something that really makes a difference moving forward.
If Rolapp is to oversee genuine change and improvement during his time in the PGA Tour hot-seat, then he must tackle slow play as a matter of urgency.
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