A lot is altering on the PGA Tour, and but there stays a lot potential.
Because the PGA Tour negotiates a take care of Saudi Arabia’s Public Funding Fund, it has used the chance to make vital alterations to its aggressive panorama, together with including big-money, limited-field signature occasions this previous season and decreasing the variety of absolutely exempt gamers from 125 to 100 beginning subsequent yr.
It shouldn’t cease there, both.
Whereas preexisting contracts probably restrict a few of what the PGA Tour can do, at the least within the quick time period, the PGA Tour can’t be shy in evolving additional, particularly with the latest infusion of private-equity cash – and doubtlessly extra from the PIF’s coffers.
Need some concepts? Within the spirit of Christmas, listed below are 4 extra massive PGA Tour modifications I’m asking Santa for:
1. Reunite the celebs
What occurs to LIV Golf and its members if a deal is reached?
That may be a massive query, and the hypothetical solutions which were introduced so far create some messy problems.
For one, LIV isn’t going away. The Saudis love workforce golf, and it’s unlikely they view LIV as a failure, particularly since they’ve been capable of lure the likes of Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm to their tour. It’s additionally unreasonable to count on the PGA Tour to let these massive LIV names cherry-pick a couple of of its occasions to play in annually, and it could be a mammoth activity for a man to play full schedules on each excursions of their present states, although I wouldn’t put that previous Patrick Reed.
My imaginative and prescient to combine the 2 excursions into one cohesive golf calendar is to show LIV into a world workforce sequence that sits above the PGA Tour and DP World Tour. Gamers would compete on a kind of two excursions, and the highest gamers from every would earn the appropriate to compete within the profitable and unique workforce occasions.
To do that, LIV must scale back its variety of occasions to eight or so, which shouldn’t be a difficulty for the Saudis in the event that they merely need a distinguished seat on the desk.
These workforce competitions would nonetheless mannequin LIV’s present format – 54 holes, shotgun begins, four-person groups, particular person and workforce leaderboards – however with PGA Tour gamers now with the ability to compete with out penalty, there’s alternative to increase the variety of groups and get inventive with how gamers qualify. Groups may be crammed by exemptions (i.e. a number of years for successful a serious), qualifying avenues (i.e. high FedExCup finishers) and even restricted free company. Groups might even have reserves that may step in ought to a starter get injured or select to not compete, although the latter choice can be unlikely contemplating these occasions would provide large purses. The ultimate workforce occasion, a world championship, would solely characteristic the highest groups from the yr and borrow the match-play format that LIV at present makes use of for its workforce finale.
With the perfect gamers on this planet getting closely compensated by means of these workforce occasions, there can be no use for signature occasions, which brings me to my subsequent want…
2. Eliminate signature occasions
By including a lineup of workforce occasions, there may be much less purpose to make sure all the perfect gamers converge on locations similar to Pebble Seaside and Riviera. They may already be squaring off at the least 13 instances once you add within the majors and The Gamers – and it’s probably the favored PGA Tour stops will nonetheless garner a lot star energy.
Many gamers and followers have expressed they don’t like restricted fields and no cuts (or small cuts), and I don’t blame them. The signature-event mannequin marks the opposite occasions as less-important whereas giving practically half the PGA Tour an inherent benefit over their counterparts not in these restricted fields. Increasing the signature occasions again to full fields with cuts will create a extra constant tour, the place all members, other than the majors and The Gamers, may have entry to roughly the identical variety of begins and factors. And by including enjoying alternatives, the PGA Tour might give 10 playing cards again to the Korn Ferry Tour and spots again to Monday qualifiers, arguably the 2 largest complaints of the 2026 modifications introduced earlier this yr.
Patrick Cantlay may not like this, however because the PGA Tour has mentioned just lately, when you’ve got a card, it ought to imply one thing; there shouldn’t be a number of courses of PGA Tour participant.
Wish to play for much more cash? Then qualify for the workforce occasions.
3. Make Tour Championship match play
I’ve been asking for this for years.
In case your greatest participant thinks the present format is foolish, then it’s in all probability foolish – and Scottie Scheffler isn’t the one one. The staggered begin at East Lake has turn into a parody of kinds. In no different sport is the deck stacked in a championship finale to offer the perfect participant or workforce all season with a head begin. When the Patriots had been undefeated getting into the 2007 Tremendous Bowl, they didn’t kick off with a 10-0 lead over the Giants.
One of the best factor the PGA Tour can do is blow it up and change to match play.
Match play may not be a participant favourite, both, however it’s the most enjoyable for followers, creating not solely drama on Sunday however each different day as effectively, with win-or-go-home situations in each match. The thought must be that if a participant makes it to the 30-man Tour Championship, he’s worthy of successful the season-long FedExCup.
Give the highest two gamers in factors after the BMW Championship byes into the second spherical after which play single elimination till a champion is topped.
Don’t need stars packing their luggage after the primary day? Make use of a comfort bracket, too. With that a lot cash of the road, even a fifth-place match could possibly be compelling – or at the least extra compelling than a star teeing off Sunday trailing by 15 photographs in stroke play and simply coasting into his offseason.
4. Transfer playoff occasions round
The PGA Tour at present doesn’t have common stops in New York, Boston, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and now Las Vegas. If that’s not altering, then I’d love for the PGA Tour to offer itself flexibility with its playoff stops, particularly the Tour Championship.
With solely 30 gamers, the FedExCup finale isn’t an enormous endeavor for a golf membership, so why not maintain it on some prime West Coast venues?
Los Angeles Nation Membership.
Cypress Level.
Pasatiempo.
These are only a few choices – or goals.
A man can dream, proper? Right here’s to unwrapping a few of these sooner or later.
