Brandel Chamblee is well known for his loyal, yet sometimes tunnel-visioned, support of the PGA Tour.
Chamblee is a renowned high-profile critic of LIV Golf while the PGA Tour can seemingly do no wrong in his eyes.
So with that in mind, it was refreshing to hear the outspoken golf analyst actually criticize the PGA Tour somewhat about one of their reported plans.
Brian Rolapp took over as the new CEO of the PGA Tour in 2025, and immediately insisted that he will ‘respect golfing traditions but not be overly bound by them’.
Brian Rolapp gives you the opportunity to make one change to the PGA Tour, what are you doing?
What is top of your agenda?
While change is needed sometimes, too much of it can create instability.
And it’s worth remembering that the PGA Tour is a product which is thriving beyond all expectations right now.
Brandel Chamblee is concerned about what Brian Rolapp plans for the PGA Tour
It has been claimed that Rolapp is planning a shorter PGA Tour schedule in the future.
There are rumors that the PGA Tour will not start until the NFL season is finished, with the Hawaii stops being cancelled permanently.
However, that could well be a risky move and one that is unbefitting of the Tour’s meritocratic policy.
When speaking on the Trey Wingo Podcast, Chamblee was asked to give his opinion on some of Rolapp’s reported plans to mix things up.
“I am a little worried about some of the things that I hear Brian Rolapp and his team may be doing,“ Chamblee admitted.
“You know, making the schedule smaller, that’s at least in my view, you know, I just don’t don’t see how that’s the best way to make the Tour more about merit and less about profit.
“I think you need to maximize merit while you’re maximizing profit.“
Chamblee makes a great point there.
If Rolapp limits the schedule to just 20 events, surely there will be less opportunity for players to reach the highest level of the game through merit.
There is a real danger that, as a result of a more compact schedule, the PGA Tour could become a closed shop, so to speak.
What Brian Rolapp actually said about a 20-event PGA Tour schedule
Rolapp provided a lengthy response when asked about Harris English letting slip that a 20-event schedule could be on the horizon for the PGA Tour.
“Nothing has been decided, and Harris’ comments have been getting a lot of attention, but Harris’ comments really reflect a lot of conversations that have been going on,“ Rolapp explained.
“If you dig deeper into what he said, it’s really not that complicated. If you are going to compete with Football in this country for media dollars and attention, it’s a really hard thing to do.
Who will win more on the PGA Tour in 2026 out of Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood?
Will anyone end 2026 with more PGA Tour wins than Scottie?
“The majority of golf is played in the summer and gets people’s attention, so looking at schedules to help optimize that calendar is certainly something we talk about.
The PGA Tour CEO continued: “If you go further upstream, what Harris is also referring to is, when I was on the job not too long, the first thing I decided to do was announce a new committee called the Future Competition Committee, which is chaired by Tiger Woods and is made up of a handful of players and some outside advisors, which is aimed at looking at the competitive product with the idea of how do we make it better for players and for fans and our partners?
“And these are the types of debates we’re having. How does the schedule look? How do you make bigger events? How do you actually stream them together in a season that you can understand?
“Part of professional golf’s issue is it has grown up as a series of events, that happened to be on television, as opposed to how do you actually take those events, making them meaningful in their own right, but cobble them together in a competitive model, including with a post-season that you would all understand whether you’re a golf fan or a sports fan.
“So, those are the questions we’re asking how to make bigger and better events, how to put them in the calendar where fans will watch more and how to put it in a competitive model that not only golf fans, but sports fans will embrace.
“Those are all the things we’re discussing. Nothing’s been decided, but that’s the committee’s job.“
It’s clear to see from those comments that Rolapp is very much open to the idea of making the PGA Tour schedule less diluted.
However, whether his plans for the future will be well-received remains to be seen.
Receive exclusive golf news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
