Changes are coming to the PGA Tour. In the latest move to raise the profile of the Tour and counter the influence of LIV Golf, New Tour CEO Brian Rolapp AND Future Races Committee are looking to reduce the number of tournaments on the schedule, the length of the season and the number of PGA Tour cards awarded each year.
The expected moves have been publicly supported by the likes of Tiger Woods (although not that much Rory McIlroy).
But two popular figures in the game have already offered an alternative view.
In one new report from Golfweek’s Adam Schupaktwo-time grand champion Curtis Strange and seven-time PGA Tour winner turned television analyst Peter Jacobsen strongly criticized the PGA Tour’s new changes.
Here’s what you need to know.
Curtis Strange criticizes new PGA Tour direction, cuts changes
Strange is a familiar name to golf fans. The World Golf Hall of Famer captured 17 career Tour victories and won back-to-back US Opens in 1988 and 1989. He also served as captain of the US Ryder Cup in 2002.
After that, Strange began a long career as a color commentator and television analyst, first for ESPN and ABC and later for Fox.
But in his comments about SchupakStrange made it clear that he does not support the PGA Tour’s major changes that have been made recently or the direction the Tour appears to be going.
;)
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Strange’s main points of contention are the loss of cuts at many Signature Events, the negative impact on long-term regular Tour events and the six-month season the Tour is said to be looking at.
“You can have a raised event,” Strange told Schupak, “But a cut, it’s part of the structure of the tournament. It’s making the old events into a feeder tournament for other Signature Events,” argued Strange.
In a thinly veiled hit at Rolapp, the Tour’s CEO who once worked for the NFL, Strange added: “Golf is a different animal than football. It’s not a six-month audience.”
Strange then identified the “problem” that has led to so many changes on the PGA Tour is that “players run the asylum.”
“The problem is you have the players running the asylum. Why do you think (former PGA Tour board member) Jimmy Dunne left?” He asked strangely. “He said, ‘shoot, why am I wasting my time?’
Since LIV Golf arrived in 2022, one of the other major tournament changes that took place was giving players more influence in tournament decision-making through the Future Competitions Committee, which is chaired by Woods.
Peter Jacobsen: Pros supporting tournament changes should ‘go to LIV’
Like Strange, Jacobsen was an accomplished PGA Tour player before becoming a TV golf analyst.
Unlike Strange, Jacobsen didn’t hold back at all in his criticism of the Tour’s recent changes in his comments on the Schupak story.
Jacobsen described the plan to “remake the PGA Tour” as a “huge gamble” and questioned why major changes are necessary.
“It’s a big gamble trying to remake the PGA Tour. I read a lot of players saying, ‘Well, we all know the PGA Tour needs to change,’ and I ask the question, Why? It was working so well before.”
;)
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He also hit out at big-name players pushing for changes, saying that if they wanted to play fewer events with more stars in the field, they should “go to LIV.”
“If players wanted to have tournaments where good players play together more often, they have it at LIV. Go to LIV.”
But Jacobsen saved most of his anger for the Tour’s plan to add the shortage to the tour schedule. This would include getting rid of some lengthy tournament events in favor of a shorter season.
“I cringe when I hear people say cutting events. When you look at individual communities, those events are so important to that community and the money raised by the charity is important to those golf fans,” Jacobsen argued. “I’ve always thought the PGA Tour should expand their reach instead of contracting their reach. Count me as someone who thinks we should grow the tour and have more events than contract.”
Rolapp has a pre-Players Championship Press conference scheduled for Wednesday morning at PGA Tour headquarters, where he is expected to make an announcement regarding the future of the tour.
You can read the full comments by Jacobsen and Strange in Schupak Golf week history here.
