Earlier this week, it was announced that longtime NFL executive Brian Rolapp has been hired as the PGA Tour's first-ever CEO and will gradually assume responsibility for day-to-day operations from Commissioner Jay Monahan, who plans to step down late next year.
Most PGA Tour veterans probably didn’t dream of getting someone from the NFL, because for most of the last 15 years, the organization has seemingly been trying to emulate NASCAR.
Now the Tour has jumped beyond a five-car pileup and right-hand turns, and launched itself squarely into the sports marketing stratosphere with a new leader-in-training who has experience at the very top of sports marketing, specifically in the NFL.
And the PGA Tour's most high-profile players gave Rolapp ringing endorsement after ringing endorsement ahead of this week's Travelers Championship.
“I really, really liked him,” Jordan Spieth said. “I think he seems like a steal from the most successful sports organization in the world and someone who is on the path to becoming potentially commissioner over there, to coming over and taking the PGA Tour forward.”
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler was also in the two-thumbs-up camp. Like Spieth, he liked what he heard from Rolapp at the first player meeting at the Travelers.
“I think our board and Jay and everybody put a lot of research into finding his successor,” Scheffler said. “To be able to get somebody from the NFL, especially somebody high up at the NFL, I think is pretty cool. The NFL is obviously a very successful organization.”
Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley weighed in on Rolapp, too.
“I spoke with him yesterday. His resume is incredible. He seems like a really smart guy,” Bradley said. “A handful of years ago, when all this started [with LIV Golf], I didn't know what was going to happen. I was nervous. I didn't know how this was all going to end up, but now, years later, I'm really confident in where the PGA Tour is and where it's going. I'm proud to play on this tour.”
He added that the PGA Tour has never been a better place to play than it is now.
“That was a worry, and now I'm even more excited about the future. It's going to be great,” Bradley added.
Rory McIlroy has not met Rolapp, but he has read what has been said.
“Obviously, I followed quite a bit of the news and the coverage yesterday,” McIlroy said about the new CEO. “He certainly said all the right things and has an amazing background, two decades in the NFL, helping them expand internationally, and basically become the behemoth that they have become.”
This is slightly different than the plan announced in January 2024 when the SSG money was announced as being invested in the PGA Tour.
At that time, it was announced that Jay Monahan would be the Commissioner of the PGA Tour and CEO of the newly formed PGA Tour Enterprises, which was the new entity established as the umbrella for the for-profit activities of the PGA Tour.
In the latest release, however, it was restated slightly differently. According to this week's information, Monahan will transition his day-to-day responsibilities to the new CEO and “increasingly focus on his role as a member of the PGA Tour Policy Board and the PGA Tour Enterprises Board through the end of 2026, after which his current contract expires.”
During my time in this industry, I’ve been through three PGA Tour commissioners: Deane Beman, a former player who was very smart in the way he set up the Tour’s business and charitable aspects, Tim Finchem, who was lawyer smart and continued and expanded what Beman had set up, and Jay Monahan, who had a solid sports marketing background before arriving in Ponte Vedra Beach. Rolapp looks to be my fourth commissioner-in-waiting.
Now, we await the shuffling at the top. My only question is this: Does this mean I'm going to have to learn how to tackle?