Miami (AFP) – Tiger Woods will head a new player-led committee aimed at overseeing a radical shake-up of professional golf in North America, PGA Tour chief executive Brian Rolapp announced on Wednesday. Speaking on the eve of the season-ending Tour Championship, Rolapp said Woods would act as chairman for a nine-member Future Competition Committee aimed at designing the “optimal competitive model” for golf.
Rolapp, who only recently took up his post with the PGA Tour after two decades with the National Football League, said the committee had been charged with leading “significant change” to the sport’s existing model. “The purpose of this committee is pretty simple,” Rolapp told a press conference. “We’re going to design the best professional golf competitive model in the world for the benefit of PGA Tour fans, players and their partners,” he added. “The goal is not incremental change. The goal is significant change.”
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Woods will be one of six players serving on the committee alongside Patrick Cantlay, Adam Scott, Camilo Villegas, Maverick McNealy, and Keith Mitchell. Three business advisors on the panel include John Henry, the billionaire owner of Fenway Sports Group which owns the Boston Red Sox and English Premier League champions Liverpool. Rolapp said the committee would be driven by guiding principles that promoted competitive parity, creating more tournaments where the top players face off against each other and designing a season that was simple to follow.
“I think the focus will be to create events that really matter, and how we do that, what that number is, we’ll determine,” Rolapp said. “But that’s certainly the goal. How do you actually drive a competition schedule where every event matters, that is connected to a postseason, but do it in a way where the best golfers can get together and actually perform well?” Rolapp said. “I think that’s all an open question — and those are the things we’re going to look at with an open mind.”
– ‘Nothing off table’ –
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal published on Wednesday, Woods said the committee would examine all options. Possible changes could include fewer events, smaller fields, and higher stakes, the Journal reported. “Nothing’s off the table,” Woods told the newspaper. “We’re going to run through a lot of different scenarios and a lot of different things that could happen.”
Woods, 49, who has not competed this year as he recovers from a torn Achilles, hinted that the PGA Tour was poised for momentous changes to its format. “It’s one of the most exciting times in our sport to be able to create something that is truly transformative,” Woods said. “Sometimes you never get an opportunity like that in your entire career. But we have that moment right now.”
Rolapp did not give a timeline of when a new-look Tour — which has already released its 2026 season schedule — would be rolled out. “We will take as much time to get it right,” Rolapp said. “I would like to put in the right competitive model as soon as we can. But we want to do it right, so however long it takes, we’ll do while moving aggressively.”
Rolapp, meanwhile, did not comment on how the PGA Tour’s planned shake-up would dovetail with the ongoing talks aimed at unifying the sport following the rise of the Saudi Arabia-financed LIV Golf circuit. “I think my primary focus is going to be on strengthening the Tour, and blank sheet of paper, means blank sheet of paper. Whatever does that, I’ll pursue aggressively,” Rolapp said when asked whether finding common ground with LIV Golf was a priority.
© 2024 AFP
