Brian Rolapp has been issued with a warning as the PGA Tour looks to introduce more signature events that involve more of the world’s best players in the years to come.
Golf fans are starting to get a slightly better idea of what the PGA Tour is likely to look like in the future.
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The 2027 schedule is beginning to take shape. The two events in Hawaii will no longer take place, with The American Express kicking off the season. Meanwhile, there have been some notable changes made to the Florida Swing.
But plenty of eyes will be on 2028, when further changes are likely to take place. Brian Rolapp has expressed a desire to have a greater number of signature events that involve all of the best players.
The PGA Tour warned they will not be able to tell stars when they must play
With that, there is set to be a two-tiered PGA Tour. Of course, that makes it imperative that there is universal buy-in from all of the top stars to make each track one event feel particularly important.
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That may be where the problem lies. Scottie Scheffler did not play in the Truist Championship this year, but did tee it up at the CJ CUP Byron Nelson this past week.
Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy sat out the Cadillac Championship. He will also make sure to play a number of times on the DP World Tour.
And speaking on the Sky Sports Golf Podcast, former Ryder Cup player Stephen Gallacher said that he does not think Rolapp will be able to convince every top player to sign up for exactly the same schedule.
“I don’t think that could work, to be honest, no. I think they tried it [telling players when they must play on the PGA Tour]. They tried it when they could only have one off when they had elevated events. And then it went from one off to none. You’re obligated to play none of them. That was random,” he said.
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“I know what you mean. But then it stops Rory McIlroy playing in the Irish Open, it stops Scottie Scheffler playing on his own turf. It stops Fitzpatrick coming back for the British Masters or something like that.
Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
“Rory’s a brilliant advocate for the DP World Tour as well. He plays way more than he needs to get his things. So, I think it’s almost there just now anyway, the elevated events, the majors, the boys come back and play the PGA, the Irish Open, or Dubai and stuff like that. We maybe don’t get the Scottie Schefflers and that coming over for certain events, but every other year you’ve got the Ryder Cup as well. So it’s tough.
“The hard thing with that is if they’re condensing a year into all these elevated, you’re talking 20 events in that short space of time. It’s proven that the top guys only play 20 times a year, or maybe even less. They’re very selective. So are they going to then go and play another 10 events and play 30? Probably not.
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“So, I don’t know the answer. It would be brilliant if he did have a Formula One style. You had your 15 events and they all played in it, and we watched it all showcased around the world. That would be, if you could handpick it, that would be it. But in reality, I can’t see it really working.
“They’ve got 20 massive events [in America], huge prize money. They don’t need to leave, to be honest. They’ve got it nice over there and the good thing is we’ve got 10 guys that can come off the DP and end up over there as well. As we’ve seen, you know, Alex Fitzpatrick, Matt Fitzpatrick, Kristoffer Reitan, taking advantage of that, and they’re now top performers. But I just think as a sport, you want to see the best playing against the best more often.
“And we’ve got that with the majors just now, because the LIV boys come back, Jon Rahm and all these guys, DeChambeau comes back for all the majors. So we’ve pretty much got that four times a year. So, I can’t see it. I can’t see it happening. I don’t think you could play with a sort of ‘you have to play’. I don’t think these top guys will do that.”
What the PGA Tour can do to increase the likelihood of their biggest names playing at the same time
As Gallacher notes, each player has their own priorities. Rory McIlroy will play a number of times on the DP World Tour later this year, while Scottie Scheffler will almost certainly disappear from the limelight between the Presidents Cup and the Hero World Challenge.
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McIlroy has also stepped up building his schedule around the majors. He was quite content to spend most of his time ahead of The Masters at Augusta National rather than play in tournaments – and he was vindicated for that strategy.
He is unlikely to be particularly happy if he is told that he must play the RBC Heritage the week after the first major of the year. The Northern Irishman has played that event just three times during his career.
What will surely help a lot more is if they do not cram so many signature events into a short space of time, like they have done between The Masters and the PGA Championship in 2026.
As Gallacher notes, if they can spread up to 15 significant tournaments throughout the season, the PGA Tour may have a lot more joy trying to convince all of their biggest names to show up consistently.
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