Alternate Shot: PGA Tour's Future and Emulating the NFL

Harris English caused a bit of a stir this week in his pre-tournament press conference at the RSM Classic when he implied, starting in 2027, that the PGA Tour was moving toward a model where there would be no more signature events and tournaments would be weighted equally. The West Coast swing, at least as we know it, would likely disappear with the regular season starting after the Super Bowl the first week of February. Kevin Van Valkenburg and Joseph LaMagna convened for an Alternate Shot discussion contemplating what that could mean for the future of the PGA Tour.

Kevin: For starters, I would bet that Harris is regretting opening his mouth on this subject, because I suspect this is, at best, a very fluid plan being hashed out by the PGA Tour’s new CEO, Brian Rolapp. If I were Rolapp, and I had a bunch of messages from very powerful people suddenly asking if the Torrey Pines event was going away — “Sir, I have Farmers Insurance Group CEO Raul Vargas on the line for you” — I would not be thrilled. But the reality is, Rolapp was not brought in to maintain the status quo. There are going to be some painful conversations had with sponsors and politicians and players. I just suspect Rolapp didn’t realize how easily his plans might escape containment, but golf runs on gossip, and this was a juicy nugget tossed out for a sleepy Wednesday at the RSM.

As much as I am interested in seeing what kind of leadership and innovation Rolapp can provide, I do think professional golf needs to be careful about emulating the NFL in every aspect. Twenty events on the calendar, all of them framed as extremely important, work in the NFL because “losses” really do have a chance to re-frame your season. The stakes feel big because division championships and playoff seedings are on the line. We only get to see Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen square off once a season, and so it feels massive when they do meet under the lights with the whole country watching. What happens when Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy are facing off for the 13th time this season, both of them have one eye on the Open Championship, and they’re mentally fried from three straight weeks of contention?

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I don’t know what the answer is, and I don’t like to come across like I would complain about any proposal, but as someone who spent a long time covering the NFL, I can attest, the two sports are very different. The models are not interchangeable. The NFL builds to a crescendo. Golf is never going to be able to emulate that because the most important events are not part of the PGA Tour. You cannot have 20 weeks of the Players Championship. If Scottie or Rory feels burned out halfway through the major season, it’s not going to be great for your product.  

Joseph: Well, for what it’s worth, Farmers Insurance told the Tour last year it wasn’t interested in renewing its title sponsorship – so the two parties aren’t exactly strangers to an uncomfortable phone call.

In all seriousness, I’m treating Harris English’s comments as a nothing-burger. The golf news cycle is slow in late November. Nothing English said should provoke a strong reaction, at least until actual details emerge. Aside from his comments fueling the rumor of the Hawaii swing’s impending demise – which would be very disappointing – there is nothing here to get excited or worried about without seeing details on paper. It’s incomplete and, frankly, unfair to judge a concept without seeing implementation details.

Nevertheless, I will say this: People are way too quick to celebrate or condemn leaders before they’ve made a single decision. Remember when people applauded Keegan Bradley’s Ryder Cup captain selection solely because Team USA was “trying something different?” He hadn’t made a single decision and people had already decided he’d be a good captain. How’d that age?

Likewise, Rolapp’s hiring met nearly unanimous praise, largely because he brings a different, outside perspective from a wildly successful league, the NFL. I share much of that optimism because Rolapp speaks intelligently and won’t be mired in the way things have always been done on Tour. A fresh dose of first-principles thinking is good.

However, the PGA Tour has suffered greatly from a lack of golf IQ in Ponte Vedra. One example: the Tour’s continued opposition to equipment regulation that would drastically benefit the health and entertainment of the sport while preserving the set of venues capable of hosting high-profile tournaments. Forget how many events are on the schedule or field sizes. Distance poses a much bigger threat to the future of golf than whether or not the Rocket Classic exists. I have zero confidence that Rolapp or those around him will land on the correct side of that issue.

All of that is to say: I’m not going to get worked up over anything said at the RSM Classic. But as the Rolapp era begins, his tenure should be scored based on the decisions he makes and how he moves the sport forward, not on preconceived notions or how closely the PGA Tour ends up resembling the NFL. The PGA Tour isn’t the NFL, and understanding what makes competitive golf unique and special is essential to its future.

Bringing in an executive who doesn’t know much about golf to run the biggest golf tour in the world is a legitimate risk. I must admit, though, I prefer a leader who openly acknowledges his lack of golf knowledge to his predecessor, who unsuccessfully tried to hide it. With all due respect, Jay.