Brandel Chamblee is concerned after what Brian Rolapp said recently about his plans for the PGA Tour

Add as preferred source on Google

Brandel Chamblee is clearly a big fan of Brian Rolapp but that doesn’t mean that he’s on board with everything the PGA Tour CEO has said so far.

Chamblee is one of the most outspoken pundits in the golfing world, so whenever he shares his opinion on current topics, fans are very keen to hear what he has to say.

With the 2025 PGA Tour season having come to an end, attention has turned to the Ryder Cup.

Aside from that, though, Brian Rolapp has been a topic of interest, with his future plans for the Tour in particular drawing attention.

On the whole, the former NFL chief has been received very well in golfing circles. However, PGA Tour CEO Rolapp has been criticised for his proposed plans to decrease the amount of tournaments on the schedule and, indeed, the sizes of the fields.

The thing is, change is undoubtedly required in order to bring the PGA Tour into the 21st century, especially with LIV Golf providing ongoing competition in the background.

Rolapp has already made a big impression with his sheer ambition, engaging personality, and his eloquence when speaking.

Chamblee loved Rolapp’s first speech when he was announced as the new leader of the Tour, but he does have a concern about one of the 53-year-old’s alleged plans.

Brandel Chamblee is concerned after what Brian Rolapp said about his PGA Tour plans

Change was unquestionably required on the PGA Tour, and Rolapp taking over from the much-maligned Jay Monahan was a big step in the right direction.

Chamblee was a guest on Trey Wingo’s podcast and he was asked what his initial impressions of Rolapp were.

“It’s a compliment to the Tour that they can wrestle away a man as talented and successful as Brian Rolapp,“ Chamblee said. “Having said that, it’s bursting at the seams recreationally. It is very popular with every single avenue. Golf is everywhere.

“Brian, speaking at the Tour Championship said something along the lines of, ‘we’re not going to make incremental change, we’re going to make substantial change and we’re going to be aggressive’ and I thought, ‘okay here’s the game, it’s never been better and you’re going to blow it up’. So there was a disconnect there for me, I didn’t quite understand it.

“I’m concerned about wanting to blow the Tour up. I have no doubt that Brian will figure out a way to do it and make more money for the PGA Tour but will it be to the detriment of the PGA Tour?

“If he’s talking about shrinking the Tour from 45 events to 25 or 26, and the Tour has historically hated a void, because if there is a void, trust me, someone is going to want to come in and run a golf tournament and use the players from the PGA Tour. What are the chances that somebody is going to create, domestically, another PGA Tour?

“I’m a little cautious of the idea that he wants to blow the Tour up and change it drastically and aggressively which was kind of the message I got from him.“

Chamblee has slightly exaggerated what Rolapp said about his plans.

Back in July, Rolapp said he wants to honour golf’s traditions but will not be overly bound by them.

He hardly said that he was ready to rip it all up and start from scratch did he?

Whether Brian Rolapp is open to switching the PGA Championship back to August

One of the big complaints about the PGA Tour schedule is that the major season is finished by mid-July.

There have been calls for the PGA Championship to be switched back to August from its current slot in May.

Podcast host Wingo revealed what the PGA Tour CEO told him about potentially moving the PGA Championship back to its original date.

He said: “I DM’d him as soon as he got the job and I said, ‘can we just do this one thing, can we please move the PGA Tour Championship back to August.

“I will die on this hill. The idea that we have the major season end in July, on July 20th, makes no damn sense to me whatsoever.

“That was the first thing I said to him and his first response was, ‘I think we have a lot of wriggle room in the schedule and how we want to do it.

“It was clear to me in the first conversation I had over text with Brian, he was thinking about this from the moment he got the job.“

In my opinion, the PGA Tour schedule needs a big revamp, and not just in relation to the majors. The Signature Events are far too close together and they could really do with being more spread out during the course of the season.

Hopefully Rolapp makes some big changes in regard to the schedule so that golf fans will be more engaged throughout the majority of the calendar year, rather than just for a five or six-month period.