It has definitely been a better time to be associated with the PGA Tour after what was a rocky start to the year, with a number of exciting events which have often gone down to the wire.
It did take a while for the PGA Tour to get going after the turn of the year. There was frustration amongst fans during the The American Express, with the final round seemingly taking an age to complete. Meanwhile, it took a while for some of the big names to get going, with both Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele dealing with injuries.
But events such as the Genesis Invitational, The Players Championship and the Valspar Championship have all delivered exciting conclusions.
It was also significant that one of the most underwhelming events on tour so far this year – the Valero Texas Open – attracted more viewers than LIV Golf Miami. It appeared that Doral could have presented a brilliant opportunity to the breakaway league, particularly with their star-studded leaderboard.
But there has been some criticism more recently.
Dan Rapaport defends the PGA Tour over Wesley Bryan controversy
In fact, plenty of fans criticised the PGA Tour after Wesley Bryan received a suspension for taking part in the LIV Duels event at Miami. The event saw a number of LIV players feature alongside several content creators, including PGA Tour member Bryan.
Bryan does not have full status on the PGA Tour after finishing outside the top 125 last season. Nevertheless, there now appears to be real doubt over when he will play again.
However, speaking on Dan on Golf, Dan Rapaport suggested that he did not see the perspective of those who felt that Bryan’s suspension was too harsh.
“It’s really not that complicated a situation. So Wesley is a PGA Tour player, I think he finished 128th in the FedEx Cup last year – 125 are considered fully exempt members, they get into every non-signature event, they’re full-time PGA Tour players. Grant Horvat is not,” he said.
“Grant Horvat has never played in a PGA Tour event. PGA Tour players are subject to a different set of rules than non-PGA Tour players. They have to get releases for an event, even if it’s on the DP World Tour, if it’s not on the PGA Tour. Obviously they’re not giving out releases for LIV events. He probably would have known this, or would have known that it was at least a possibility, not new information. Now wouldn’t it be great if the PGA Tour could make an exception? Yeah, in a perfect world, yeah, because Wesley’s a unique case.
“Obviously, he’s just as much a creator, and I think he is kind of moving more in that direction than being a PGA Tour player. It would be awesome if the tour could just say, ‘you know what, Wesley, that’s a unique situation’. But that’s not how rules work. Then you would have LIV inviting [Jason Day] or whoever. They’d invite Jason Day to go play in the next LIV Duels or some other big PGA Tour player. A rule’s a rule.
“And obviously, it was not going to be a popular thing because Wesley’s very popular, and understandably so, it wasn’t like he played in an actual LIV event. But at a certain point, rules are what they are. And again, it would be great if the PGA Tour could make an exception for Wesley Bryan, but then if you make an exception for Wesley Bryan, do you make that same exception for Jason Day? Akshay has a YouTube channel, they can invite him to play in LIV Duels. The PGA Tour’s going to look like the bad guy here, and they do look like the bad guy here. From my perspective, it’s kind of an open and shut situation.”
PGA Tour receive backlash after Grant Horvat decision
Rapaport notes that some of the criticism the tour has received has stemmed from confusion over how Grant Horvat has been treated. Like Bryan, Horvat did take part in the Duels event on LIV.
Horvat is one of the biggest content creators in the YouTube golf genre. And he has featured alongside several LIV Golf players, with a current series seeing him team with Phil Mickelson.
It is not the best look for the PGA Tour to hand Horvat an invite to the Barracuda Championship – which is played the same week as The Open Championship in July.
However, as Rapaport notes, Horvat is not a PGA Tour member like Bryan. So the two situations can hardly be compared.
Perhaps this decision will see the rules looked at. But the PGA Tour has shown on a number of occasions in recent years that they are prepared to take a hard stance to ensure that there is no chance of the floodgates opening.
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