Brian Rolapp is the new CEO of the PGA Tour, and according to U.S. Ryder Cupper Harris English during his pre-tourney interview at the RSM Classic, Rolapp isn’t just thinking outside the box when it comes to the organization and tournaments. He’s creating a whole new container.
We’ve all wondered what Rolapp has in mind and what kind of changes might be in store for professional golf as we know it, and we're now getting glimpses of what it might become.
“With Brian Rolapp coming in, he's seeing the PGA Tour in a different light,” English said.
And when reading this, remember, this is one player’s belief about one or two ideas under consideration. Nothing has been announced so far, at least not as we know. Nothing is set in stone.
Apparently, one idea is when the PGA Tour season should start.
“I get that they want all the best players playing together more often, and the talk of the Tour potentially starting after the Super Bowl, I think, is a pretty good thing because we can't really compete with football,” English said.
What? First event after the Super Bowl? A bomb like that, handed to the less than a dozen media members present, nobody acted like their hair was on fire, even if it was. Maybe it’s the new season starting after football, not golf going dark from September to January, which was my initial thought after English said what he said. Mostly, I was in shock.
“I know it's going to get tougher and tougher, and the goal posts are moving a little bit,” English added about staying on the PGA Tour. “I know it's going to get harder for me. I'm 36 years old, I'm not getting any younger.”
However, a fall PGA Tour event is being added in Asheville, North Carolina, and the folks at Good Good Golf are lending their name to a fall tournament in Austin, Texas, next year. You don't start tournaments only to cancel them the next season.
“There was a time there where the fall counted a lot. It counted as much as the other season. I would play well in the fall, and it would really springboard me into the year,” English said. “I've had a couple wins in the fall.”
Another idea English revealed is about the Signature Events. When questioned about how often the so-called stars play versus the journeymen, English revealed what might happen in 2027.
“I think that's what they're going to change down the road, maybe in 2027, is have all the tournaments be equal and not have the eight elevated events and the regular events,” he added.
English predicted 20 to 22 events that are all the same.
“I think that's a good model to have. That's where you'll see all the top players play every single event because you can't really afford to take one off,” he added. “I think they'll more go where 20 events are all the same, all the points, all the money, everything the same.”
What about the other 20 to 25 events? Well, he didn’t say anything about them.
Now, is English being smart like a fox? He has been on one of the Tour committees in the past, and so he knows what it means to say things like this. So, is he just reporting what he’s heard? Is he the frontman for the new CEO? Is this what he'd like to see? Or is it just to give us something to write about from now until January? Well, good job on all of that!