Rory McIlroy reckons major changes proposed for the hosting of PGA Tour tournaments will make for a more ‘compelling product’.
In a continuing shake-up of the PGA Tour, and again clearly in a reaction to the impact of LIV Golf, the PGA Tour has announced the following to be in play from the start of the 2023/24 wraparound season.
The PGA Tour board, and with McIlroy a member, annoucned they have ratified a number of significant changes to next season’s schedule, including reduced fields and the removal of the 36-hole cut in new designated events.
Here’s what we know so far.
- Player fields at designated PGA Tour events will be reduced to between 70 and 78 players and with no halfway cut after the first two rounds.
- Fields at designated events will be comprised of the top 50 players who qualify for the BMW Championship during the previous season’s FedEx Cup playoffs, plus the top 10 players not otherwise eligible on the current FedEx Cup points race. It is understood there will also be five places earned through performance in non-designated events.
- However, the proposed changes will not apply to the four majors and the Players Championship, which will remain full-field events with cuts.
News of these further changes comes on the back of a number of ‘upgraded’ events we are seeing this season including this week’s now $US 20m Arnold Palmer Invitational and ahead of next week’s beefed-up $US 25m Players Championship.
A question being asked would we be reading news of the PGA Tour going to such lengths to boost their tournaments had it not been for the emergence of LIV Golf?
We’ll let you answer that though McIlroy is clearly excited.
“I love it,” he said after competing in the Arnold Palmer Invitational Pro-Am Wednesday on the host Bay Hill course in suburban Orlando.
“Obviously I’ve been a part of it and been in a ton of discussions. I think it makes the Tour more competitive. I think we were going that way anyway. You think of, the playoffs used to be 125, 70, 30.
“This year they have decided top-70, top-50 and leading 30. So I think — like, I’m all about rewarding good play. I’m certainly not about — I want to give everyone a fair shake at this. Which I think this structure has done. There’s ways to play into it. It’s trying to get the top guys versus the hot guys, right? I think that creates a really compelling product. But a way that you don’t have to wait an entire year for your good play to then get the opportunity. That opportunity presents itself straight away.
“If you play well for two or three weeks, you’re in a designated event. You know then if you keep playing well you stay in them.
“So, for example, someone like a Chris Kirk last week that wins Honda, he’s set. Winning is really important on this Tour and good play and rewarding that.
“At the end of the day, I think with all these designated events and this event schedule, at the end of the day we’re selling a product to people. The more clarity they have on that product and knowing what they’re buying is really important. It’s really important for the Tour. I think this solves for that.”
However in selling the product to the people you really do need the big-name players to do that. Too many PGA Tour events this year already have boasted very poor fields with unknown players drawing poor TV interest.
Take last week’s final edition of the Honda Classic, as there was just three players inside the world’s top-20 who teed-up at PGA National but it was really just two play-off holes that really had TV fans tuned-in.
Where were those ‘local residents’ who stayed at home but this week have driven-up the I-95 to compete for $20m when last week’s $8.4m purse seemed not worth the effort of leaving the house?
