Brian Rolapp may be about to use up some of the credit he has in the bank as the PGA Tour continues to build towards a significant overhaul of the schedule in 2028.
Rolapp has been extremely popular since his appointment as the new CEO of the PGA Tour was announced last year.
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There is an optimism that his work with the NFL will stand him in good stead to take the PGA Tour to the next level.
The PGA Tour warned players are upset about plans for two tracks of tournaments
Of course, one of the plans is to transform the schedule. It does currently feel as though the tour does not do enough to maximise its potential. Many seemed to accept that ruthless decisions needed to be made.
However, it was always going to be a challenge once it became clear what those ruthless decisions would be. And it seems that there is concern about plans for 2028 onwards.
The PGA Tour is set to split up into two tiers, with the top players featuring in all of the most significant events. Meanwhile, there will be a series of track two events for those further down the food chain. Those tournaments will seemingly resemble the current opposite field events.
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The problem is that some superstar names do want to play the tournaments with a lower profile. Scottie Scheffler played the CJ CUP Byron Nelson this past week, while Rory McIlroy has regularly teed it up at the Canadian Open.
Photo by Mike Mulholland/Getty Images for THE CJ CUP
Reports in recent days claimed that those players will be strongly discouraged from playing track two events. And speaking on 5 Clubs, Josh Carpenter insisted that stance has not gone down well with many.
“I don’t see the benefit of it. To me, there’s going to be a ton of blowback from players. Are you going to tell Scottie Scheffler that he can’t play the Nelson? An event that he won last year by eight shots. A lot of people would say it’s one of the weaker events on the PGA Tour, but you could see how much that meant to him, winning his hometown tournament. Are you going to tell Jordan Spieth that he can’t play the Nelson or the Schwab? From talking to people over the last couple days in the industry, tournament directors, agents, player managers, they’re not loving this idea of prohibiting guys from playing those track two events,” he said.
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“I’ll say one thing in terms of prohibiting them or strongly discouraging them from playing these track two events that not a lot of people are talking about. The cadence of the track one events versus the track two events, a lot of what I’m hearing is that a lot of the track two events will be played the same weeks as the track one events. So if you’re playing a track two event, that might mean that you’re not playing a track one event, which might be the reason why the tour is strongly discouraging these players from playing track two events because you don’t want to take away from your track ones.
“I’m not saying that’s going to be the case every week, but I’m kind of hearing on many weeks that will be the case where you’ll have a track one event, track two event the same week, and that’s how they create some of that scarcity that Brian Rolapp has talked about. Because if you think about, you know, 23 events on track one between majors, between playoff events and your 16 regular events, you talk about 20 events, track two events, that’s a lot of weeks. So how do you truncate that? You play many of them on the same weekend.”
The Arnold Palmer Invitational backed to be a big loser in the 2027 schedule
The 2027 schedule is beginning to take shape. It must be noted that many of the biggest changes will come after next season.
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However, there have been some notable decisions, including moving the Cadillac Championship to March.
The event at Doral this year failed to capture the imagination. But it was quite apparent that it had not found its permanent home on the schedule.
The problem is that it has been moved to another busy part of the season, with the likes of the Genesis Invitational, The Players Championship, and the Arnold Palmer Invitational all played at a similar time.
And speaking on the Golf Channel Podcast, Ryan Lavner suggested that it may be the final event in that run that suffers most next year.
“We talked a lot about this year’s schedule crunch as the West Coast swing shifts to the Florida Swing and players trying to get their games ready. It was five big events in a six week span. Next year, 2027, is actually going to be worse,” he said.
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“You’re going to have six tournaments in a seven week span that the top players are really going to want to play. Whether it’s Pebble Beach, Phoenix always gets a crowd, always gets a top field even though it’s not necessarily designated as a signature event. Riviera is one of the players’ favourite golf courses.
“I think Doral, to answer my own question, is going to be one of the biggest winners here. We just had it a couple weeks ago. It was hot. It was sparsely attended. Rory McIlroy among the players who was skipping that golf tournament. I don’t think that’s going to be the case. There’s less going on in Miami at that time.
“It serves as a sort of proper lead in to The Players Championship as well. It should play tougher that time of year as well. So then you obviously have The Players Championship and Bay Hill. Again, those are six huge tournaments in a seven week span. I do think if you are going to jam the schedule together with all these marquee events, it is better to do so prior to The Masters. Guys want to play their way into major championship form, especially if the PGA Tour season is going to be starting two weeks later, as it is expected to do so with The American Express, roughly the third week of January. So I like that aspect.
“I think, as you touched on with the Valspar Championship and the Byron Nelson as well, there’s going to be better spacing between The Masters and the PGA Championship as well. You’re not going to have a situation where you had 2026, where you have The Masters, signature event, team event, siggy, siggy, major.
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“There’s going to be a better cadence and a better flow to this one with The Masters, signature event, the team event, the Nelson, the Valspar, signature event, the Truist, and then the PGA Championship. So the spacing is a little bit better there.
“I’m still viewing this overall as sort of a transition year. I’m not putting too much stock into, oh, this is going to be what the future of the PGA Tour is going to look like. I do think there’s going be a different cadence for the tier one events. I do think you could potentially build in some off weeks as well, especially after The Players Championship, if they want to do that for the major championships as well. So this is just sort of a one off, but it’s certainly going to have a different feel and vibe to it than we had, at least in the last couple years.
“I really wonder, how many players are going to sign up for Bay Hill. Again, let’s say you do play Doral, which is a tougher golf course than Cameron Young made it look. I think the weather conditions can be different in early March, as opposed to late April, when we had it this past year. Then you have The Players Championship, which, depending on the weather, could be very difficult. Bay Hill is one of the toughest golf courses these guys play all year long. Are they really going to sign up to get punched in the teeth over and over again after playing what is essentially a major championship for the PGA Tour? I’ll be very curious to see who signs up for that tournament on the back end of what is a really busy stretch.”
It is hard to imagine the Arnold Palmer Invitational being an event that many top names feel compelled to skip. It is such an iconic tournament at one of the most beloved venues on the circuit.
While there is an acceptance that the 2027 schedule will be far from perfect, the PGA Tour will be aware that a number of decisions they make for next year will be extremely unpopular.
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