Brian Rolapp Outlines Major PGA Tour Changes Including Events, Fields and Schedule

A tighter schedule, more signature events and a possible match play finale are part of the vision for the PGA Tour's future, though still a couple years away from full implementation.

Brian Rolapp outlines his vision for the PGA Tour's future Wednesday. | Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Brian Rolapp outlined a new vision for the PGA Tour that will see a shorter schedule, more signature events and a better competitive model to determine a season-long champion.

The new CEO of the PGA Tour was short on specifics but long on a vision that is meant to bolster the Tour’s bottom line while creating an easier-to-follow season competition that would involve two tiers of tournaments while bringing together the top players in more of them.

While saying nothing is definite and that most if not all of the changes will not occur until 2028, Rolapp presented “six themes that are beginning to emerge” during a news conference attended by nearly 1,100 people at the Global Home, the headquarters of the PGA Tour that is adjacent to the TPC Sawgrass.

The six areas: a playing season from late January to early September; establishing more consistent fields and moving away from no-cut events; opening the season with a big event; playing in bigger markets (but not at the expense of smaller ones); making every event matter; and enhancing the post season.

“The committee’s focus has been on the competitive model built on meritocracy,” Rolapp said at the start of a 45-minute news conference. “This is not a closed shop. We are aiming to go create a more cohesive schedule with a simpler point system, one where the best players compete against one another more frequently.”

Inside the six themes Tour CEO Brian Rolapp proposed

Breaking down the six themes:

1. The playing schedule. Rolapp said the Tour is looking at roughly 21 to 26 tournaments on a “first track of elevated events” with the best players competing for higher purses. That would include the Players and the major championships and postseason events, which he said he expected to remain at three tournaments.

“To be clear, we will have a second track of PGA Tour tournaments which will ladder up to those elevated events,” he said.

The 21 to 26 events would not be in order—there are approximately 32 weeks from late January to early September—meaning the second-tier events could find their way in between the bigger tournaments.

2. Consistent fields. Rolapp said the events would move away from smaller fields with no cuts, with a target of 120 players. That will be welcome by the membership that has felt excluded from the smaller-field no-cut signature events that exist now.

“That consistency matters,” Rolapp said. “It helps fans know who they will see and showcases who they want to see, the most competitive players. It helps partners know what they’re investing in, and it helps players better understand the competitive landscape in their schedules, all while embracing meritocracy.”

3. A big opening. Rolapp was direct: “We want to open big with a marquee event at an iconic venue in the west, among other things, allowing us to finish on network television in primetime on the East Coast.” With a late January start, as he suggested, that could mean potentially venues such as Torrey Pines or PGA West in the Palm Springs, Calif., area, among several possibilities.

The PGA Tour could open in the future at PGA West (pictured) or another West Coast venue. | Taya Gray/The Desert Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

4. Bigger markets. Rolapp said the Tour competes in just four of the top 10 largest U.S. media markets and is evaluating places such as New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Boston and others. “Placers where there is a strong demand for our sport and a chance to reach new fans.” Later, he was asked about international events, and Rolapp said the Tour will explore enhancing its relationship with the DP World Tour in the summer and fall.

5. Making events matter. “This is why we are evaluating the role of promotion and relegation between these two tracks within our competitive model, an added element that we would bring to life in the second track of events I described earlier,” Rolapp said. “What we envision is a merit-based system that leans into what makes professional golf so compelling, players earning their way to the top, with every event having greater meaning.”

Rolapp gave no specifics and didn’t say which events might be on a top or second tier.

“You see this work powerfully elsewhere, including in English football, where clubs move between the Premier and the Championship [leagues] based on their performance. Applying elements of that approach to the PGA Tour creates real consequence, lifting the competitive standard across the entire platform,” Rolapp said. “For our members, the message is pretty simple: Play well and you earn the opportunity to compete in our biggest events and for more money.”

As for how it would work, Rolapp said: “I think there’s clearly a lot of talk and momentum around a promotion/relegation event at the end of the season. It’s a question what you do during the season. It's an open question.

“I also think what the intention is to take both of these tracks and elevate them all, right. What I don’t want people to think is that we are creating a good track and subordinating another track. That’s not the goal, and that’s not what we're doing. We’re trying to create a cohesive competitive system that lifts the quality of our entire competition.”

6. Enhancing the postseason. Rolapp floated the possibility of match play being part of the season-ending playoff structure “either at the Tour Championship or across the postseason as a whole, bringing win-or-go-home moments to the conclusion of our season.” That would be a major change to the system that is now in its 20th year, with stroke play tournaments and very little risk for the top players.

 “I think we would like three events, if possible,” he said. “I think what’s most important is that it becomes a compelling competition that our members care about and that fans care about, however we do that. So it will clearly be an event you would have to qualify for, much like the events today. But we are actively discussing that but have not come to any decisions as of yet.”

Rolapp made clear that nothing has been decided and that more information would be forthcoming this summer around the time of the Travelers Championship in June.

That suggests that only small changes can be made to the 2027 schedule, with the possibility that some aspects of the playoff system change next year.

“This is a complex process with many constituencies impacted,” Rolapp said. “We will continue to move with urgency, but we are focused on getting it right. We are certainly proud of our history and just as focused on building the strongest possible future for our game and for our fans.”