The Tour Championship provided the opportunity for both Jay Monahan and Brian Rolapp to speak to the media, with the latter three weeks into his role as the new CEO of the PGA Tour.
There was plenty of excitement when it was announced that Brian Rolapp would succeed Jay Monahan as the key figure on the PGA Tour. Rolapp had been tipped to be a future commissioner of the NFL, so it seemed to be a real coup for the tour to convince him to join.
There was also a lot of intrigue. The future of golf at the highest level has hardly ever been more difficult to predict. Talks between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf over a merger in recent months have stalled just when it appeared that an agreement would be imminent.
Rolapp has known LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil for some time. So it will be interesting to see how that relationship impacts the two tours in the years to come.
Michael Kim reacts to Brian Rolapp’s press conference ahead of the Tour Championship
Rolapp was reluctant to speak about that subject ahead of the Tour Championship. But he did announce the formation of a future competition committee, with Tiger Woods to act as the chairman. Clearly, there is a willingness to potentially overhaul the PGA Tour in an attempt to maximise its potential.
And it seems that the players are liking what they are hearing from the new CEO, with Michael Kim taking to X to comment on Rolapp’s first press conference.
The PGA Tour has been encouraged to embrace an international schedule
The PGA Tour appears to have had an excellent year when it comes to ratings. It certainly helps that the sport has another dominant force in Scottie Scheffler.
But clearly, a lot more needs to be done. And one of the options the PGA Tour could have is to build internationally, with Rex Hoggard previously suggesting that they could look to strengthen their partnership with the DP World Tour.
“I had a conversation with [Guy Kinnings] during The Open Championship and at the Scottish Open about this very topic. You look at the success of the Scottish Open on the tour schedule – now, granted, it fits into a perfect time, a week before The Open, it gives players a reason to go over and play that event – but Guy was real quick to point out the Irish Open also gives them a reason to come over, the BMW PGA – the European Tour’s flagship event – this is a partner the two of you together, the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour together, can build something very special when it comes to an international schedule,” he said.
“I will say if you look at the history of the PGA Tour, they have always been reluctant to embrace international markets for a variety of reasons. Look at the World Golf Championships, it got to the point where none of them were played overseas. And I think that’s going to be thinking that they are going to have to move on from because growth in the United States is probably not at the ceiling, but you’re going to reach a point where you’re not going to grow as much. Growth internationally, I think that’s open.”
Those of us on the outside will have little idea about where the decision-makers at both the PGA Tour and LIV Golf think the game is going. But it definitely does seem that it is the PGA Tour who find themselves in a particularly strong position right now.
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