Since the creation of LIV Golf, the PGA Tour has undergone a period of self-reflection to improve its product.
One of the most prominent themes from that reflection was that the PGA Tour wants its biggest stars to play in events more often. That is one of the biggest motivating factors for the reported changes to the PGA Tour schedule.
New CEO Brian Rolapp has 25 years of experience in the NFL, and that league’s success has been partly predicated on its stars playing as often as they can. You know when you tune into a game that no player will be sitting out, and he’s trying to replicate that model with golf.
Most fans want to see superstar players in events as often as possible, but not Padraig Harrington. The three-time major winner slammed the media for pushing stars to play every event, and explained to Dan Rapaport why it’s a bad thing for golf.
Padraig Harrington says golf stars shouldn’t play every event
As the PGA Tour pushes its players to play as many events as possible, Harrington said this would not be good for the future of golf. He said that it could prevent the next star from breaking through.
The Irishman explained on his YouTube channel: “You, the media, have made an incredible perpetuating mistake. Everybody’s now believing that all the best players should play some of the time, whereas always it was some of the best players played all the time.
“So this idea that the best players play all the time never happened. Never happened. Only at the odd big event. And even at the odd big event, and Jacks and Arnies and things like that, you still were missing two or three of them. The best players found the time to play together.
“If all the best players play every play together some of the time, right? That means when you’ve got a weaker event, a player can go and win and everybody doesn’t know who they beat. There’s no context unless there’s another named player in the field coming down the stretch.
Would you prefer to see a 20-event PGA Tour schedule which runs for six months rather than the current system?
“So they need good players to play in all events to give context to the young guys coming up. Now if you have the same best players playing in the same best events, there’s no opportunities to win. Scottie and Rory are winning all the events. How do you guys learn to win?
“The ideal scenario would be the number one in the FedEx Cup plays the first week, number two plays the second week, number six plays the first week, number 11 plays the first week, number 16, 21, all the way up, right?
“And then you’ve got 20 of the top 100 playing every week. And then they have to play their first week. This obviously means number two plays the second week, he has to play that week.
“When half the best players played in Europe, it was great because then when the Europeans come over, it was a story. You keep everybody playing together, there ain’t no story except Scottie [Scheffler] and Rory [McIlroy].
“To win a PGA Tour event is an incredible standard. And yet people go and win them, the media is going, ‘Ah, who’d he beat?’ To win a PGA Tour event, you’re playing brilliant.
“So, they need to spread out the talent. All the talent will play the big events. They just will. But they need to have somebody in every event.”
J.J. Spaun is the reason why Padraig Harrington is wrong
It’s an interesting theory from Harrington, but by winning the US Open this year, J.J. Spaun proved him wrong.
Spaun was by no means a star on the PGA Tour in 2024. He was considering stepping away from golf when he almost lost his card. But in a miraculous turn of events, he’s become one of the sport’s biggest names this year.
And he didn’t do it by winning an event with a smaller field, with the best players sitting out. Spaun won the US Open to become a household name among golf fans, and backed it up with an incredible performance at the Ryder Cup.
What city would you like to see host a brand new PGA Tour event?
Spaun became a star by beating all of the world’s best players. Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau, and Jon Rahm were all playing at Oakmont for the US Open, and Spaun earned everyone’s respect by beating them all. Then he went 2-1-0 at Bethpage Black.
To say that players won’t be able to compete for victories if the big names play every week is disrespectful to players like Spaun, who have shown that no matter the odds, they can go head-to-head with the world’s best and win.
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