Wednesday at East Lake featured a strange, unfamiliar scene: confidence and coherence from PGA Tour leadership. Well, at least after Jay Monahan handed over the microphone to new CEO Brian Rolapp.
Nothing groundbreaking or too substantive was unveiled during the press conference, but Rolapp’s comments provided insight into the mindset and priorities of the new PGA Tour CEO as he takes office. Below are highlights from his presser, with light additional commentary.
{{related-articles}}
On his guiding principles
“The first one of those characteristics is competitive parity…The second key characteristic is scarcity…the third principle will be simplicity…The regular season and postseason should be connected in a way that builds towards a Tour Championship in a way that all sports fans can understand. Those are the three principles.”
Based on Rolapp’s comments and experience at the NFL, I expect him to address one of the PGA Tour’s most pressing issues: creating a post-season and Tour Championship that’s both special and naturally incentivizes player participation during the regular season.
On a new Future Competition Committee
“The purpose of this committee is pretty simple. We’re going to design the best professional golf competitive model in the world for the benefit of PGA Tour fans, players and their partners. It is aimed at a holistic relook of how we compete on the Tour. That is inclusive of regular season, postseason and off-season…Tiger Woods has agreed to serve as chairman…There will be additional members to the committee. There will be nine in total. There will be six players, including Tiger. The other players will be Patrick Cantlay, Adam Scott, Camilo Villegas, Maverick McNealy and Keith Mitchell. There will also be three other business advisors.”
It is unclear if the three business advisors will be eligible for sponsor exemptions into signature events. Surely the other six members will be.
{{inline-article}}
On if he has a stance on the golf ball rollback
“No, I have not spent a lot of time on that issue. I couldn’t give you an informed view three weeks in. Give me another few weeks, maybe I’ll have a view on that.”
On if he has spoken to anyone from the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund
“I have not spoken to anyone from the Public Investment Fund.”
On who he views as the PGA Tour’s competition
“… anybody who’s in the sports business, their general competition is for the mind share of sports fans and for their time and to do that in a complicated world that is increasingly disrupted by technology, where you have a million things to do with your time, a million alternatives…I think that’s the perspective you bring is you need to sort of compete for people’s attention and time, and you need to bring them something worthy of that time that is actually being pulled in numerous directions.”
Amen!
On his opinion of the PGA Tour product as experienced on television and streams
“I have lots of views. I don’t think I’m prepared to share publicly, but I have started those conversations with some of our media partners…Getting that part of the equation right as far as reach and distribution, as far as production value, as far as having the right partners to do that right, balancing it all with commercialization, which I know has been a hot topic in this sport as it is in all sports, I think is extremely important.”
On the congestion of signature events in the recently unveiled 2026 PGA Tour schedule
“I think as we look at the entire competitive model, I think all those things we’re going to take into account. How do you actually drive a competitive schedule where every event matters, that is connected to a postseason, but do it in a way where the best golfers can get together and actually perform well?”
Yes, the right question to ask and solve. Easier said than done, but this is arguably the Tour’s most vital issue to tackle.
On if his intended changes to the way the PGA Tour is broadcast are incremental or robust
“… this isn’t about incremental change, this is about as significant and aggressive change as we can get for the good. So we’ll be as aggressive as we can.”
On if fans should expect the Tour Championship format to change in the future
“I don’t think fans should expect anything we’re doing now to exist in perpetuity in general.”
My overall assessment is that Brian Rolapp has his priorities straight and that his experience at the NFL will prove immensely valuable, especially from the standpoint of building a cohesive, exciting schedule and innovating the way the product is telecast. He referenced the importance of honoring tradition without being beholden to it multiple times throughout the presser, citing the NFL’s willingness to change rules that benefit the product. That’s a good way to frame it.
As I’ve already mentioned, fixing the PGA Tour postseason so that it is both captivating and creates a natural incentive for players to participate during the regular season should be the PGA Tour’s top priority. There is nothing more valuable the PGA Tour can do. Rolapp’s comments suggest he has a similar viewpoint.
My biggest concern, if I have any, is Rolapp’s golf knowledge. Does he prioritize the venues where PGA Tour competitions are held? Does he support and promote an aggressive equipment rollback, which would both directly benefit PGA Tour competition and enhance the sustainability of the sport outside of his purview? Some will argue that these are merely fringe issues that only people like Fried Egg Golf care about, but time will demonstrate how fundamentally important these issues are to the health of the sport we all cherish.
It’s far too early to evaluate Rolapp’s tenure as CEO of the PGA Tour, and actions will ultimately speak much louder than words uttered from behind a podium, but the PGA Tour’s future looks bright under his leadership.
Source link
