It is fair to say that the run between the Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup and the new year is not the most enjoyable for the large majority of golf fans, with many of the PGA Tour’s biggest stars taking time away from the game to rest up ahead of the new season.
LIV Golf is done for the year, and the PGA Tour has not seen a star-studded field in more than two months. The DP World Tour has had a chance to shine, but their season finale has been hit with the news that Jon Rahm will not tee it up at the DP World Tour Championship this week.
Of course, the FedEx Cup Fall is extremely significant for a large number of players. There are opportunities to hold onto tour cards, while others will be looking to perform well enough to book their ticket to some of the more prestigious events next year.
But clearly, changes are going to be needed in the coming years. The window where the majority of the big names sit out is too large right now. And it seems that some are hoping that reports of a merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf will lead to a considerable overhaul to the schedule.
PGA Tour urged to make changes to Fall schedule
Speaking on The First Cut Podcast, Patrick McDonald and Greg DuCharme suggested that the PGA Tour are shooting themselves in the foot as things stand.
“I was thinking today when the PIF eventually invest into the PGA Tour; I love golf as much as anyone, don’t get me wrong, I decided to do it for a career, but during the fall, it’s tough sledding TV-wise to go against the NFL like they seem to do. I think you throw the fall completely in the Middle East, just do it, different TV window,” McDonald said.
“This is when you go international though, absolutely. Playing in Japan, you satisfy that market, you’re not competing against the NFL, you’re not. People are going to watch 15-minute recap. You want to do it in Dubai, that’s fine too. But I agree, the fall is the time to go international and give all these events to starved golf fans all around the world,” DuCharme added.
How LIV Golf could fill the void the PGA Tour is currently leaving
While it does appear that reports of an imminent merger were premature, they did provide an indication of how the golfing landscape could look once the sport comes back together.
It was claimed that LIV Golf events were set to be played under the PGA Tour banner. So perhaps it would make sense – if a deal does come to fruition – for the majority of the LIV season to be played after The Tour Championship.
LIV travelled a lot further than the PGA Tour has done. So it would perhaps be much easier to schedule a number of their events for this time of the year.
That may be a problem if the majority of LIV’s current players remain contracted for all of their events. Jon Rahm may not be best pleased about playing the best part of 14 tournaments after the majors, the FedEx Cup play-offs and the Ryder Cup.
But the success of the signature events does not change the simple fact that things cannot carry on as they currently are later on in the year.
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