Large PGA Tour modifications is likely to be higher than you assume — here is why

On Tuesday morning the PGA Tour emailed its members a checklist of proposed modifications to the Tour’s construction. Yawn, proper? Not this time! Pending their approval by the Coverage Board on Nov. 18, a few of these are vital — they have an effect on the dimensions of the PGA Tour, the enjoying alternatives for its members, entry to the Tour, discount of Monday qualifiers, modifications to tempo of play and extra. As items of the 23-page memo leaked out on social media they engendered a powerful response amongst golf’s thought leaders: To call two, Ryan French known as the modifications “so unhappy” whereas Tron Carter known as ‘em “progress.” So we convened GOLF senior writers Dylan Dethier and Sean Zak to interrupt issues down, one difficulty at a time.

1. FIELD SIZES

The Tour has decreased area sizes for almost all of non-Signature occasions. The utmost area measurement will go down from 156 gamers to 144 (aside from for multiple-course occasions just like the American Categorical), whereas single-course occasions performed prior to sunlight financial savings time will drop to 120 (they’re at the moment 144 or 132). Occasions from daylight financial savings time till the Masters will cap at 132 gamers, and post-Masters they’ll broaden to 144 for the summer season season. 

Why? And is that this good or unhealthy?

Dylan Dethier, senior author (@dylan_dethier): Why? As a result of the Tour was sick of ending their first rounds on Friday as a substitute of Thursday and making the reduce on Saturday as a substitute of Friday! As a result of they had been sick of gamers warming up in the dead of night and ending in the dead of night! And, if you wish to zoom means in, as a result of they had been sick of gamers ending the ninth gap of their Thursday or Friday spherical and having to attend on the flip as a result of there was a backup brought on by 13 teams in a wave (present) as a substitute of 12 (proposed). A fog delay would basically derail the construction of your complete occasion. The established order was getting unhealthy for gamers, for staffers, for viewers, for broadcasts, for gamblers. Even for golf writers. Actually unhealthy. That is good. Sean?

Sean Zak (@sean_zak): It’s the simplest means of constructing positive these event days end on time, which had sneaky grow to be an actual difficulty for the Tour. May you make gamers play sooner? Certain. However may you simply take a couple of gamers off the board as a substitute? That’s going to be rather more environment friendly. 

2. TOUR SIZE

For many years the Tour has maintained full standing for the highest 125 gamers on its FedEx Cup checklist (and, pre-FedEx, its cash checklist). On this proposal, they’re altering that to 100.

Why? And is that this good or unhealthy?

Dethier: It’s onerous to name this “good” with out seeming a bit heartless, however I believe there’s a greater means to consider it: these modifications are defending the sanctity of what it means to have a PGA Tour card. Lately the Tour has added so many alternative side-doors into PGA Tour membership that you could possibly have standing and nonetheless not get right into a lot of occasions. While you think about reductions in area measurement, this isn’t essentially “good” nevertheless it’s important. And look, this isn’t a career-ender for these exterior the highest 100 — if you end No. 105, say, you simply get bumped down a pair classes and also you’ll play a bunch of occasions. This can be a extra life like reflection of what it ought to imply to have a full PGA Tour card.

Zak: I believe it’s actually solidifying the highest a part of the pyramid. I’ve written an excellent bit about the PGA Tour-As-Meals Chain concept, and on this case we’re shifting to a really spherical 100 gamers with full standing and a really spherical 50 with full Signature Occasion entry. It’s turning the membership right into a a lot simpler to grasp, extra package-able entity. It’s cutthroat, to make sure, nevertheless it most likely is important. Mr. 101 continues to be going to do exactly positive, however as all the time I’d counsel they play just a bit higher. 

3. PATHWAYS

The Tour’s “Pathways Subcommittee” decided that they wanted to chop down the variety of playing cards given out by 10 or so. Whereas the Korn Ferry Tour was decided because the “main pathway” to the Tour, spots given to KFT grads will reduce from 30 to twenty, Q-school will go from high 5 and ties to only high 5, and the DP World Tour will nonetheless get 10 spots. 

Why? And is that this good or unhealthy?

Dethier: Woof. Right here’s the place it’s powerful to keep away from the real-world penalties of those modifications. It’s not “good” that there are solely 20 playing cards coming from the KFT as a substitute of 30; that’s a fairly restricted quantity and a big reduce. Then again, I’m glad there aren’t cuts to the 10-card DP World Tour pathway, as a result of 1. These guys have performed nicely on Tour, 2. It’s an essential and tangible reference to the DP World Tour and international golf and three. It’s sensible and arguably important for the PGA Tour to take care of a mutually helpful relationship with the DPWT, given LIV’s looming presence within the international golf market.

It’s good from this angle: Should you make it via these pathways, you’ll have a greater concept of the place you stand. The KFT pathway is simply barely narrower than it was. I believe I’d want holding 25 KFT playing cards, although, and discovering a couple of extra mini-cuts elsewhere.

Zak: General, I believe that is simply making a construction that really aligns with the immense cash atop the sport. There’s going to be some huge cash up high — and it’s actually not going away, given the spending in sports activities nowadays — and the individuals who deserve it most are those that earn the tee instances. Who earn their spots within the fields. The journey to these spots is tighter than ever, however so be it. The prize on the finish of the rainbow has grow to be shinier than ever, too. (And let’s not act like the trail to get there isn’t additionally fairly worthwhile)

4. MONDAY Qs

Included within the modifications is the discount and elimination of Monday Qs, which shall be gone for fields of 120 gamers or fewer and decreased from 4 to 2 spots for 132-player occasions.

Why? And is that this good or unhealthy?

Dethier: As one-offs, the Monday Q tales are fairly compelling. They’ve been a cool a part of the Tour all through its historical past, and the unique imaginative and prescient — that high native gamers may earn spots into the sector to tangle with the professionals — is undeniably cool. However at what expense? They’ve grow to be an insane and wildly costly subculture of professional golf; it’s virtually taken without any consideration that an aspiring professional will spend no matter cash essential to fly round chasing these lottery tickets.

The info is compelling, too; per the Tour, 65-70 p.c of Monday Qs miss the reduce that week and, given the preciousness of a spot within the area, the Tour might be higher served allocating these spots to its members. I don’t assume they need to be outright eradicated, and I’m in favor of holding full-on Monday Qs for KFT occasions, however I’m positive with these PGA Tour cuts. They don’t make sense as a big-time piece of the trendy, ultra-competitive PGA Tour. They usually’re virtually all the time useless ends. Despite the fact that, for nostalgic and storytelling causes, that is unhappy, I’m positive with their discount. It’s principally good, and it is sensible.

Zak: The entire concept of getting a neighborhood qualifier was merely to supply a greater area by getting some native professional who may go uber-low for 18 holes. Does that enhance the sector power in fashionable, elite golf? To not the identical extent as rewarding the a centesimal and even A hundred and fiftieth-best participant on the earth, as evidenced by years of latest type. Monday qualifiers are romantic, positive. However they don’t routinely add to the story of an occasion, so I’m fairly unbothered by their lowering presence. 

5. PACE OF PLAY

Tempo of play is central to the above dialogue. Armed with further pace-of-play information, the Tour introduced it should loosen up punishments in some areas — extra leniency to teams “out of place” on par-3s, give gamers further time to search out distance markers, get rid of bad-time fines at majors and scale back bad-time fines — whereas ramping up fines for the worst offenders of unhealthy “common stroke time” measurements.

Why? And is that this good or unhealthy?

Dethier: I see the way it seems dumb and unhealthy, as Monday Q identified, to cut back penalties on sluggish gamers. However let’s preserve our eye on the massive image right here, as a result of as I learn it, that’s what the Tour is definitely doing. Reasonably than obsessing on one-time offenders and probably punishing the fallacious folks it’s redirecting its focus to the ordinary tortoises of the Tour. Don’t get me fallacious, it is a big-time drawback. I’m open to any and all options to hurry up play. Shot clocks. Shock collars. No matter. However yeah, this program might be some progress as they proceed to zero in on unhealthy actors.

Zak: What I like most concerning the 23-page doc shared Tuesday was that it was the chief abstract of the 16-player Advisory Council, which is assembled through 16 completely different sections of the FedEx Cup standings. In different phrases, it’s a incredible cross-section of the membership. They hear all the gossip. They hear all the opinions. They know who the slowest gamers are, they usually know when the tempo of play rules have gone too far, or missed one thing. In different phrases, I are inclined to belief them to — on this preliminary motion — spotlight a method to punish the slowest gamers. 

Now, if we’re making an attempt to make event golf transfer sooner, that won’t come from the PAC. That can come from the PGA Tour adjusting Time Par and implementing it harshly. That, my pals, appears unrealistic. 

6. MISCELLANEOUS

There have been a number of different tweaks talked about within the memo. Something bizarre or attention-grabbing that caught your eye?

Dethier: I believed it was attention-grabbing to see that they’re shifting C-suite schmoozing (the “Sponsor Worth Program”) from Tuesdays and/or Wednesdays throughout the day to Thursday or Fridays after a participant’s morning spherical. That is nerdy however I discover this type of minutia attention-grabbing as a result of this type of player-executive interplay actually is a vital piece of how the Tour derives a few of its worth, so it has to work for either side. Briefly, essential folks from sponsor firms don’t wish to come dangle with golfers in the course of the work week, and gamers don’t wish to interrupt follow to go see ‘em anyway. Let’s do it Thursday or Friday afternoon as a substitute, thanks!

Zak: The FedEx Cup factors distributed from respectable finishes in Signature Occasions are getting a critical haircut. Mainly, gamers who completed between seventh and thirtieth in Signature Occasions — lots of which didn’t have a reduce or included sponsor exemptions right into a restricted area — had been getting too many factors from these finishes. No less than that’s what the PAC has determined. 

… And I kinda dig it. Let’s have a look at Mr. 50 from 2024, the final man to ensure his spot within the Signature Occasions for 2025: Eric Cole. Eric’s high three finishes, in line with FedEx Cup factors? The Sentry, in Hawaii, a T14 end in a area of 59; The AT&T Pebble Seashore Professional-Am, one other T14 end in a area of 80; and The Genesis Invitational, a T10 end in a area of 70. These three occasions outweigh his three high 10s in June, July and August by about 60%. Proper or fallacious, this new system would have pushed Tom Kim forward of Cole by season’s finish.

7. FINAL VERDICT

Good, unhealthy or different?

Dethier: Change is difficult. It’s okay to overlook what was, even when you already know you’re altering for the higher. Okay, that is beginning to sound like a horoscope, so let’s wrap issues up: These are largely good modifications. It stinks that the Tour is type of admitting defeat within the combat in opposition to sluggish play, and we shouldn’t let ’em off the hook there, however a barely streamlined Tour will make for a barely higher, extra coherent product with extra truthful therapy of its gamers. Are professional golf’s issues now solved? They don’t seem to be! However let’s respect these as a couple of small steps within the course of widespread sense, regardless of their value.

Zak: Amen to that. Finally, the Tour wanted to streamline its greatest belongings, on the slight value of different, lesser belongings. (And by belongings, we imply gamers and we imply occasions. This is identical precept that led to placing extra behind its Signature Occasions and fewer into its lesser tournaments.) Getting right into a leaner, “High 50, High 100, The Relaxation” kind of setup goes to look higher and higher down the highway.

The writers welcome your suggestions at dylan_dethier@golf.com and sean_zak@golf.com.