New PGA Tour schedule winners, losers, nitpicks
Check in every week for the unfiltered views of our writers and editors as they analyze the hottest topics in the sport, and join the conversation by tweeting us at @golf_com. This week, we discuss the details of the future PGA Tour schedule and the end of Nelly Korda’s incredible streak.
It’s official: starting in 2028, the PGA Tour will undergo the biggest change to its competitive structure in decades, a plan that has long been mocked and reintroduced by Tour CEO Brian Rolapp at the Traveler Championship. There are many drafts – you can read all about them here – but in short there are two different tracks (Championship Series and Challenger Series) with guaranteed schedule and promotion/relegation. Let’s keep it simple: Will it work? And is it progress?
Josh Sens, senior author (@joshsens): It doesn’t solve the bigger problem, which is that many players expect to be paid more than the market deserves. I don’t see that going away. But this is definitely an improvement in the simplicity and clarity of the schedule. The players know at the start of the season where and when they will be playing, and so do the fans. The descending – and ascending – paths are also more straightforward. The total number of main events will be (slightly) fewer as well, which is good. The world doesn’t need professional golf. It needs more interesting events. At that point, how would you not like to switch to match play to determine the winner of the playoffs for the season?
Josh Berhow, managing editor (@Josh_Berhow): Seems like an improvement, and I’ll admit I wasn’t a huge fan of this a few months ago (it seemed like there was still too much golf). But with more clarity now, I’m hopeful. I love that all the events will know where they stand and fans can finally find out which matches they will see Scottie Scheffler and which ones they won’t. And the match play tweak is a nice addition. I can see why they get away with it over the years but it’s time for a change and more juice. Maybe they get lucky and get marquee matchups along the way. The game is simply too fun, and too important in the history of golf, to be played too much on the top tour.
Josh Schrock, news editor (@schrock_and_awe): It’s quite an improvement. The PGA Tour was in desperate need of a shake-up that made its competitive model easier to understand instead of just a large number of individual tournaments leading up to a chaotic postseason event that is difficult to understand. Promotion and relegation is a system that is easy for every fan to understand and provides clear boundaries for all competitions. Having a defined schedule for players on both tracks is a bonus for them. Having a clear structure that determines the best player of the season, award them and go into postseason play is a huge win if the Tour can pull it off. I’m very optimistic about these changes and they come at a time when the Tour needs to raise interest to get as big a piece of the TV pie as it can as the NFL prepares to renegotiate.
Time for a nitpick. What don’t you like? Anything that still needs work?
Behow: For this to work I think it needs to be cut and I’d like the sponsorship exemption to be ended, although I’m curious if certain players will be boosted (with the exemption of created jobs) to ensure they are on a more desirable journey. If so, I hope it’s not too generous because that’s how the sponsor exemption craze became a problem in the first place.
Scrock: I agree with Berhow. It looks like there may be some wiggle room for big-name players to retire but be brought back into the Championship Series on waivers. Those need to be few and far between or the Tour risks having all of this. How good you are at getting the ball in the hole should determine where you are on tour. I don’t want to see Tony Finau or Jordan Spieth or Popular Player X finish 110 in the Championship Series and not have to go down to the Challenger Series unless there’s a good reason. Exemption from work must have a high bar and can be used at the same time.
Sens: Good points above. On a non-structural note, no serious effort to improve professional golf is complete without addressing the issue of speed of play. The game, like baseball before it, needs to be picked up. Rolapp from the NFL. Maybe they can establish a pass rush. At the very least, use the play clock mercilessly and without exception. I hope an announcement like this comes next.
What type of players are most happy with this schedule, and which are not?
Sens: The boys of Track 1 are obviously the most excited as they are guaranteed to play at the biggest events of the year. For the guys outside at the top, it’s obviously the opposite. Ending the sponsor exemption (another good move) may not be welcome news for some players who rely on their popularity more than their performances to get into events.
Scrock: I think the Track 1 guys are happy because of the defined schedule and the purses they will be playing, but this is a big win for the players on Track 2, especially those who would be playing on the Korn Ferry Tour or splitting their time between the two. The $4 million purse in the Challenger Series will be the biggest increase since KFT and the Challenger Series gives them a clear competitive path to get to where they want to be. There should be enough shuffling between Track 1 and 2 to make up for it, but I think almost everyone should be happy with this upgrade except for players who have been enjoying sponsor exemptions, minor exemptions and job fee exemptions while playing bad golf. They will not be happy.
Behow: Good for the middle class of the top track guys (are you following?) because they are safe on the high profit journey. I don’t think Scottie and Rory and those guys are too worried about falling. Although it puts pressure on guys who are close to the 100 range. For many of them, their place in one journey versus another has important implications.
Another fun nugget: The post-Tour season will introduce match play and finish on a “respectable” course that the Tour wouldn’t otherwise use to host a full-field event. Do these mysterious places add any hate to your average fan?
Sens: Locations are definitely important, and not just for buildings. The best courses make interesting questions, which make for interesting contests, even if you don’t give a hoot about the design. Rumors of the likes of Pine Valley, Cypress and Seminole in the picture appear to be just that. Rumors. And besides, I actually think it makes a lot more sense for them to go to high-end recreational courses, somewhere the average fan can actually play. That formula works well at Pebble, Kohler, Pinehurst and more. There are others.
Behow: I like the high society option, Sens. Venues are also important, but honestly not only for the fans but also for the players. Most of these guys are bigger golfers than spectators, so they’d like to change it up again. Cypress Point, Pine Valley, whatever – they would look great on TV. And most of the rumors are good lessons for playing the game.
Scrock: Venues are very important to players and fans. As excited as I am about the tournament play, that’s something the Tour should address with the venues it chooses. If it rewards opportunities at Pine Valley, Seminole, Cypress etc., to end up playing at East Lake, TPC Southwind etc., that will be a big loss. I think that the rotation of these special courses (if they like), and high courses, or unique courses that we have never seen like Chambers Bay, is the right combination that the Tour wants to strengthen this format. But, in short, yes, locations are the most important part of this gambit in my eyes.
Haeran Ryu won the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, shooting a final round 70 to finish 13 under for the round and end Nelly Korda’s quest for a third straight major title. Korda tied for 8th place. Are you surprised Nelly wasn’t in the mix at the end?
Behow: The putter just fails all week, especially on the weekend. He was working with his sister on the putting green after the third round and looked frustrated. And he missed a shorty for par on the opening hole on Sunday. The body language was not good after it. He is a great golfer and does everything well, but there can always be good weeks and bad weeks where he is puttering (which sounds a lot like another World No. 1 we know). There is nothing wrong with a top 10 after winning the first two majors. I’d be surprised if he didn’t win one of the last two.
Scrock: He was mixed going into Sunday. His putter has been the difference between good weeks and wins for years now. It’s a big win that balky putter week came to Hazeltine and not Riviera. No offense to KPMG but the win at Riv was very important for Nelly and the sport. As much as the LPGA may want him to, he won’t be able to win them all. His run at the Nelly Slam added juice to the week. I expect her to wrap up at both the Evian and the Women’s Open, be in the Hall of Fame by the end of the year and possibly have four career Grand Slam legs in the bag. (I wouldn’t call winning all five a Super Slam.)
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