Major change lies ahead for the PGA Tour and Billy Horschel is hugely excited about the future.
Horschel has eight PGA Tour wins to his name, and he is a highly-respected ambassador of the Tour.
Over the past year, Horschel has been outspoken about changes that he’d like the PGA Tour to make, and it seems as though Brian Rolapp and co have listened.
Big changes are on the horizon for the PGA Tour, with a more streamlined product thought to be in the pipeline.
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Rolapp has previously suggested that he will respect the PGA Tour’s traditions but ‘not be overly bound by them’.
And with that in mind, the biggest potential change will undoubtedly divide opinion.
Billy Horschel has a question for PGA Tour fans who are worried about change
Many PGA Tour fans reacted angrily to the news that a more condensed schedule is being considered for the future.
Despite desperate pleas from some fans, though, it seems almost certain now that the PGA Tour will play a condensed schedule at some point in the very near future.
Horschel himself would welcome a shorter PGA Tour schedule and it seems as though that’s the common consensus among the players.
The 39-year-old has been speaking on the Golf Channel Podcast with Rex and Lav and he was asked what impact a shorter PGA Tour season could have on die-hard fans of the game.
The American responded by saying: “I would challenge the golf fan, since if they want more golf, then why aren’t they supporting the golf more by watching more golf?
“If they want more golf, why do they only get 600,000 viewers in the Fall schedule when it’s on the Golf Channel?
“There is an aspect that I would challenge the golf fans, that I understand you want more golf, but if you want more then you need to be supportive of us giving you more golf, in my opinion.
“That may not sit well with everyone what I just said, but I think golf fans are sports fans. NFL is the driver in the United States. People love watching NFL. We can’t compete against NFL.
“Basketball is being played but they try not to compete with the NFL, they are trying to find their own little window which works for them, and that’s what we are trying to do with the PGA Tour.
“In that window with golf fans, what golf fans like is that they want to see the best players play as well. So even though they want more golf, what is more important? Do they want more golf or do they want to see tournaments which has the best players playing more often together to compare apples to apples.
“I think however this plays out, or whatever the window is, or whatever the tournament looks like, I think you are going to see the best players playing more often in the future. You are really going to get a good sense of who are the best players in the world in the game of golf.“
Horschel makes a great point here.
If the schedule is condensed and the best players in the world compete against each other more regularly, the streamlined product will surely make for far superior entertainment.
And Horschel is spot on with his point about viewing figures as well.
If so many fans are keen on year-round golf, then why are the viewing numbers down during the Fall Series? The PGA Tour moving to a 20-event schedule seems to be the only way forward.
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Horschel has made it very clear that any potential changes will not reduce opportunities or pathways for players trying to make it at the highest level.
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He explained: “The scarcity aspect, I want to make one thing clear and it’s something that we had a meeting about down there with Brian. He had a meeting with the players that were at the event.
“He has had many meetings with many PGA Tour individuals, whether that be as individuals or as groups to discuss some stuff.
“So Brian has been doing a really good job of that. But scarcity, people think I do believe, in one aspect that we are going to limit some tournaments on the PGA Tour. Something I have been an advocate of for quite a while, I feel like we have had way too many.
“On the other side of that, I feel like people think scarcity means we are going to reduce the fields and the playing opportunities. That is something that Brian denied. There is no talk of reducing the field sizes any more or reducing pathways. That is not the idea of scarcity in his eyes.
“So I am not saying that field sizes won’t change somewhat, but I think there’s not going to be a 60-man field. I don’t believe we are going to go to a 60-man Tour going forward. We’re not beholden to tradition, but we still look at tradition and want to honour the tradition of the PGA Tour, and that doesn’t honour what the PGA Tour was founded on in my opinion.
“So I think scarcity is more or less about tournaments themselves and reducing the amount that we have and finding a window into 12 months where the PGA Tour can be the most successful, and filling that window with tournaments.“
It’s very clear that the PGA Tour hierarchy want more quality than quantity.
And it must be said, perhaps an elongated break from golf will increase the excitement surrounding the season.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder, after all.
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