It is no surprise that the PGA Tour is experiencing something of an identity crisis as they attempt to keep all of their members as happy as possible at a time when LIV Golf clearly remains a threat.
The PGA Tour simply had to act when LIV Golf came around. The problem is that in keeping as many of their star players as possible, the PGA Tour had to reward many of the biggest names and ensure that the incentives were there to keep their head from being turned.
The riches being played for do not seem sustainable at a time when television audiences appear to be on the decline. And with that, it seems that the PGA Tour is putting all of its eggs in the basket of their marquee names from 2026.
In a quest to tackle slow play, just 100 players will keep their card automatically. Meanwhile, the field sizes at most of the events throughout the year will decrease.
Joel Dahmen urges the PGA Tour to make change to signature events
That could create a hefty divide between the top players and those lower down the food chain. And being in the signature events is likely to provide an even larger advantage, with the number of players not involved set to decrease.
With that, Joel Dahmen has told The Smylie Show that it makes no sense to him to not significantly increase the field size for the marquee tournaments on tour.
“I don’t think there’s any reason signature events can’t be 120 players. The way that Colonial is, the way that Bay Hill was back in the day, they had their invites, Nicklaus’ event, they’re great events and there’s no reason you can’t have 120 players in those fields,” he said.
“Pace of play is what they’re trying to say, I mean, don’t give me that c–p. Yeah, is golf too slow? Yes. Is it a problem? Yes. But it’s not going to be fixed by having less players necessarily. I think it’s a player problem. I think there’s too many good players. I don’t think there’s a reason you can’t have 120 guys in signature events. You can’t tell me having less players in the field is going to make it more competitive.
“Yes, you’re going to have all of the top 70, the best in the world, but all you have to do is look at almost every leaderboard and you’re going to see someone outside of there who’s going to be around. No-one ever heard of Sam Stevens probably until last week down at Torrey when he plays a great Sunday and almost wins, but just another great player on the PGA Tour you’re going to hear a lot of for a long time.”
Why Rory McIlroy may disagree with Joel Dahmen
The signature events obviously help the PGA Tour. It is probably a dream for sponsors if they can almost guarantee that the likes of Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele will all be in the field.
And McIlroy has admitted smaller fields would help tackle slow play. However, Lucas Glover disagreed with McIlroy’s suggestion. And it seems that Dahmen feels a similar way to the 2009 US Open champion.
When the number of cards being handed out is reduced, it will be a massive blow to the players not in the signature events because they will have less lucrative opportunities to force their way to the game’s top table.
And it is hard to imagine that the system will last too long if all of the same players continue to feature in the signature events no matter how they are playing.
For those on the outside, harsher punishments for slow play and bigger fields is appearing to be the only way forward. Unfortunately, the PGA Tour does not necessarily see things the same way.
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