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PGA Tour continues to discuss lucrative fall options, include team events

At last month’s meeting of the Player Advisory Council, the PGA Tour outlined a concept that would transform the fall portion of the current schedule into a lucrative showcase for the circuit’s top players and create a sort of seeding series for everyone else.

According to multiple members of the PAC, the idea would be to create a three-event series in the fall that would see tournaments in Asia, Europe and the Middle East for the previous season’s top players. One proposal would feature a team concept, like that used in college golf, and these events would be played separate from the FedExCup schedule with no points awarded.

“The discussions are conceptual in nature and center around evolving the PGA Tour product in the future to align with emerging themes coming from the membership, in particular from top-ranked players, as well as continued efforts to improve our global pathway, reinforce the strength of our business and create valuable media and sponsorship rights in the future,” read a memo to players in this month’s GreenSheet. “The discussion has been mostly focused on the fall portion of the calendar and a number of ideas to enhance this portion of the season.”

BY Rex Hoggard

— February 16, 2022 at 5:21 PM

The current fall schedule – nine events – would become a seeding series for those who qualified for the previous season’s playoffs.

The policy board met earlier this month during the Arnold Palmer Invitational to continue the conversation, and the memo reiterated that these were all initial concepts.

“The policy board has directed Tour staff to spend time getting feedback from the wider membership as well as other constituents over the coming months,” the memo read.

The policy board did approve a proposal to expand its membership, as first reported by the Associated Press. The board added another player director for a total of five, the same number of independent directors. The circuit added an independent director in 2017 during the most recent round of media rights negotiations and the addition of a fifth player director evens the board’s membership.

Patrick Cantlay, who ran for PAC co-chair this year, was appointed to a one-year term in 2023. The five player directors next year will be Cantlay, Rory McIlroy, Charley Hoffman, Peter Malnati and Webb Simpson.

PGA Tour discussing three-series team-event concept beginning in fall of 2023

LOS ANGELES – The hottest topic in professional golf at the moment – a rival league led by Greg Norman and the Saudi Arabian public wealth fund – took a back seat Tuesday at Riviera when PGA Tour officials rolled out a team-event concept for the fall that would begin in 2023 and reward the top players.

Multiple members of the player advisory council confirmed that the Tour is developing a three-event series in the fall that would feature a team format similar to that used in college golf. The three events would be held in Asia, Europe and the Middle East and would not award FedExCup points.

Instead, the plan would be for the Tour to move away from the current wraparound schedule and to a calendar year lineup with the top 50 players from the previous season’s FedExCup points list qualifying for the “team” series with their position on the points list secure for the following season.

According to one source, the current fall events – nine events played from September to November – would become a seeding series for those who qualified for the previous season’s playoffs but didn’t finish inside the top 50. Their status the following season would be based on their performance in the fall.

The three fall events, which would have no cut and lucrative purses, would have 10 five-man teams led by a “captain” that would be drawn from the top 10 players on the Player Impact Program, which ranks players based on their appeal and popularity on social media.

One PAC member said the interest in the proposed fall events was “mixed” and added that the conversation would continue. The PAC advises the policy board which would ultimately vote on the proposed series.

The super league, which continues to dominate the conversation on Tour, was also addressed during Tuesday’s meeting but only briefly with officials reiterating their stance that any player who signs on to play the proposed rival league would be banned from playing on Tour.