The Landscape of the PGA Tour is COMPLETELY changing...
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The PGA Tour did Something Right???
We all fall victim to scrutinizing the PGA Tour over every little decision.
Well, today we all need to band together and give them their flowers.
An announcement was made that a Two-Tiered Model will roll out in 2028, making professional golf exciting again.
The two tiers will fall under the Championship & Challenger Series.
Champion Series
The Championship Series will feature the best players, your A-tier events, such as The Players, The Four Majors, Genesis Invitational, The Memorial, etc.
Field size of 120, with a minimum $20 MILLION purse. Yes, for EVERY event... OH... and NO MORE SPONSOR EXEMPTIONS.
BUT here is where the PGA Tour knocked it out of the park, with relegation.
What does that mean? Think of the Premier League in soccer, UFC, and I even hear people mention surfing... I am not extremely familiar with surfing, so excuse my lack of ball knowledge there!
But if you are not performing well enough to remain among the top 90 players in the world, you will be relegated to the Challenger Series.
Introducing relegation into professional golf does a FEW different things; every event truly matters, especially toward the end of the season. If you are at risk of being relegated, those last few events carry a TON of weight.
And as I previously mentioned, there are no more sponsor exemptions, so players cannot rely on past success.
Challenger Series
This is where we will see those players who have been relegated trying to get back to the Championship series, as well as up-and-coming stars.
20 total events, 144-player field size, MINIMUM $4 million purse.
This is beautiful. Everything about this two-tier model is incredible.
Now, of course, with any new advancements in the game, negatives will arise... and one thing I'm certainly anxious to see is how the Korn Ferry Tour will be affected.
But if we are looking at the big picture, in my humble but generally accurate opinion, the PGAT is moving in the right direction because it does NOT stop here...
Tour Championship
Match Play...
Yes, MATCH PLAY will be introduced at the Tour Championship, the season-ending event.
Something not only the fans but also the players have been BEGGING for...
Rory McIlroy says that match play is "the purest form of golf."
Now, there are quite a few fans out there who "hate" match play because it allows bad golfers to stay bad but still compete; it's for "hacks."
Well, here is a fun fact. These are PROFESSIONALS, and I think we can all agree that the most electric part of the Ryder Cup is... you guessed it, MATCH PLAY.
The head-to-head drama, much more aggressive golf, the upset factor, it's just set up to be electric.
And the icing on the cake, the tour championship will now rotate. It will not be held at East Lake every single year. Cypress Point, Pine Valley, and other incredible venues were mentioned.
To me, this is a MAJOR win, but it doesn't stop there...
Fall Schedule
As the PGA Tour enters the fall, we will see a limited series of INTERNATIONAL events... HUGE!
Composed of the top players from the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour.
This has been a major issue the PGA Tour has not addressed: the lack of tournaments outside the US of A. Now they will be putting an emphasis on expanding the game.
More news to come on this, but based on the info we have, another MAJOR win.
Final Thoughts
This is growing the game. This is a homerun for the PGA Tour and new CEO Brian Rolapp.
Of course, we do not have ALL the info quite yet, but everything we do know is beautiful for now.
The blueprint works exceptionally well in other leagues, so we can hope that it translates to Golf.
I am not naive. There will, of course, be cons that come from this, but as it stands right now, the pros undoubtedly outweigh those cons!
So, to the PGA Tour, here are your flowers. Great job. Now you just have to execute.
I hope your next round is the BEST round of your life!
