The PGA Tour have been warned that one decision they have recently taken could potentially make the product worse.
Brian Rolapp seems to have got very little wrong since being appointed as the CEO of the PGA Tour last year.
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Rolapp recently shed further light on plans to overhaul the tour. There are plenty of exciting ideas to maximise its potential. But some of the decisions are clearly going to be contentious and controversial.
The PGA Tour’s decision to remove two notable events from the future schedule assessed
The PGA Tour is working to increase the number of elevated events each season. Obviously, that would be unrealistic with the number of tournaments currently on the calendar. With that, some events could be about to disappear.
In fact, it has now been confirmed that neither The Sentry nor the Sony Open in Hawaii are set to continue in their current forms. It does appear that the PGA Tour will not be returning to Kapalua or Waialae.
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And while Ryan Lavner said on the Golf Channel Podcast that he understands the thinking behind the move, he admitted that he is sad to see them removed from the start of the season.
Photo by Mike Mulholland/Getty Images
“I was disappointed from the standpoint of if you’re the PGA Tour, and it’s not necessarily even about the markets, I argue that it should be about the golf courses and going to the best golf courses, iconic golf courses, recognisable golf courses, interesting golf courses. To me, that’s the Plantation Course at Kapalua. And I think on a smaller scale, it’s Waialae as well,” he said.
“Old school, Seth Raynor gem, lot of doglegs, power’s not necessarily a huge indicator of potential success there. It’s sort of a throwback in a lot of senses. In not having those two golf courses on the PGA Tour rotation, I think it just makes it worse overall as a product.
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“Do I understand it from a business perspective? Absolutely. As you pointed out, the resources, the man power, the expenses are exorbitant. And now in a new for-profit world, that has to come under the microscope. But just from a golf course product standpoint, it’s going to be disappointing to not see 400 yard drives. It’s going to be disappointing to not see the modern players with the modern equipment can’t really shape the ball all that well having to work it on some of Waialae’s tight corners.
“So I think that’s disappointing from that perspective, particularly as I think the PGA Tour should be leaning in a direction of iconic courses.”
All eyes on what event the PGA Tour decide to start the 2027 season with
It is obviously a huge blow to Hawaii to lose both of the tournaments. But it is now going to be interesting to see what event now kicks off the season.
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The WM Phoenix Open seems an obvious contender given the atmosphere which is always created at TPC Scottsdale. It also comes right at the end of the NFL season, which helps with television viewing figures.
Perhaps the PGA Tour could look to move a notable event to much earlier in the schedule.
Ultimately, there is enough faith in Rolapp right now to believe that the PGA Tour will benefit in the long run from this decision, even if it is incredibly unfortunate for those venues that have been staples of the PGA Tour for so long now.
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