Tiger Woods will chair a newly created PGA Tour committee aimed at reshaping golf\u2019s competitive landscape in the US. But comments made by Brian Rolapp, the Tour\u2019s newly appointed chief executive, showed that unification between the sport\u2019s traditional ecosystem and the Saudi Arabian\u2011backed LIV circuit is as distant as ever.<\/p>\n
Woods, who has not competed since the 2024 Open Championship because of injury, was the headline name when Rolapp addressed the media in Atlanta on the eve of the Tour Championship. After just three weeks in office, the chief executive has formed a future competition committee that will also feature Patrick Cantlay and Adam Scott. Rolapp seems clear that the tournament landscape has to change.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe purpose of this committee is pretty simple,\u201d Rolapp said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to design the best professional golf competitive model in the world for the benefit of PGA Tour<\/a> fans, players and their partners. It is aimed at a holistic relook of how we compete. That is inclusive of regular season, post-season and off-season.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to focus on the evolution of our competitive model and the corresponding media products and sponsorship elements and model of the entire sport. The goal is not incremental change. The goal is significant change.\u201d<\/p>\n Creation of a meaningful break between PGA Tour seasons and guarantees that the most high-profile players will play in top events seem logical starting points for Woods.<\/p>\n Press conferences such as this once tended to focus on progress on a deal between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia\u2019s Public Investment Fund. A framework agreement was signed between the parties in summer 2023 with the supposed aim of uniting elite golf.<\/p>\n Progress, though, has been slow: the PGA Tour rejected various concession requests made by the PIF in late March, in exchange for $1.5bn of investment. Key figures in this sport such as Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka play under the LIV banner and are therefore key absentees from the PGA Tour.<\/p>\n Rolapp admitted he has not held discussions with the PIF. \u201cMy primary focus is going to be on strengthening the Tour. Blank sheet of paper means blank sheet of paper. Whatever does that, I\u2019ll pursue aggressively. That\u2019s how I view it.\u201d<\/p>\n At the Players Championship five months ago the PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan revealed that 70% of fans surveyed wanted unification with LIV. Rolapp echoed that sentiment in June. Pressed on whether he agreed golf spectators want to see the best in the game compete against each other more often, Rolapp appeared to backtrack. He said: \u201cYeah, golf fans want to see the best competition possible in the sport that they love in a competitive model that makes sense.\u201d<\/p>\n Scottie Scheffler during practice for the Tour Championship \u2013 he has five tournament victories so far this year. Photograph: Erik S Lesser\/EPA<\/p>\n Subsequently challenged on whether or not unification should be a priority, the chief executive seemed to rail against \u201ca LIV question\u201d. He added: \u201cI\u2019m going to focus on what I can control. I would offer to you that the best collection of golfers in the world are on the PGA Tour. I think there\u2019s a bunch of metrics that demonstrate that, from rankings to viewership to whatever you want to pick. I\u2019m going to lean into that and strengthen that.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend\u2019s action<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n \u201cI will also say that to the extent we can do anything that\u2019s going to further strengthen the PGA Tour, we\u2019ll do that. I\u2019m interested in exploring whatever strengthens the PGA Tour.\u201d<\/p>\n