Why is the PGA Tour considering changing the schedule? Caleb Williams has the answer
You’d be forgiven if Chris Gotterup’s win at the Sony Open didn’t cross your desk in real time.
New PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp will understand. Judging by his television show, he may have been in the same boat.
And that’s why he wants things to change. Because chances are Rolapp’s attention, like you, wasn’t confined to Gotterup as he fired a Sunday 64 to earn his third career PGA Tour title. It might not have been there at all.
Because just as Gotterup was wrapping up his season-opening victory, something else was calling — something 4,800 miles away at Waialae Country Club.
Out in the freezing cold of Chicago was second-year Bears linebacker Caleb Williams preparing to document one last moment of divine intervention in an unlikely season. As Gotterup walked in and basked in the Hawaiian sun, Williams dodged Los Angeles Rams defenders and made a 40-yard prayer toward the end of Soldier Field. Fifty-one yards later – just short of Gotterup’s final throw of the tournament – the ball landed in the hands of Cole Kmet, sending the game into overtime and the entire city of Chicago into a frenzy.
A few minutes later, there was an emotional Gotterup in an interview with Golf Channel about his journey from almost outside the top 200 in the world to a three-time PGA Tour winner.
You may have missed that too. Because the Bears won the toss, reversed and ended up losing.
Of course, Rolapp understands all this better than most. You know you may not have watched all or some of Gotterup’s wins. There are countless things vying for our attention, pulling us in many different directions at once. Broadcast services, messaging, emails, Slack notifications, push notifications, the list goes on. When the NFL is one of those things, Rolapp, who made his career as commissioner Roger Goodell’s No. 2 in the NFL, knows it’s hard to break free from the gravity of “The Shield.”
As did Tiger Woods, he, along with Rolapp, is in charge of shaping the future of the PGA Tour.
“That’s one of the reasons why we stopped playing in September and October and even early November back when I was playing in my early days in the Tour Championship,” said Woods in the Hero World Challenge, talking about the NFL. “There’s this thing with ‘The Shield’ that has an impact.”
Rolapp promised “dramatic change” when he took over, and the PGA Tour schedule — both in volume and cadence — appears to be high on the to-do list.
Rolapp now runs a for-profit company, and his job is to deliver returns to investors in Strategic Sports Group and, ultimately, pay equity bonuses to players. To do that, Rolapp promised to look at the whole picture and make the necessary changes to improve the PGA Tour’s product and increase growth.
“Look, the sports business isn’t that hard,” Rolapp said. “You get the product right, you get the right partners, your fans will reward you with their time because they tell you it’s good and they want more, and then the commercial and business part takes care of itself.”
The short PGA Tour schedule appears to be on the horizon. Harris English said it during the RSM Classic.
Rolapp is interested in creating a league built on balance, deficits and an easy-to-follow season leading into the postseason. The narrative will be easy to follow and the stakes are clear.
If that sounds familiar, it is. The NFL has been something that Rory McIlroy and others have long pointed to as a model for professional golf to emulate.
“I think the great thing about football is that it’s always in demand,” McIlroy said in 2014. “People, once the Super Bowl is over, they can’t wait for football season to start again. That’s the good thing about it.”
Eleven years later, Woods reiterated that point. Moving from a sprawling 38 events with mid-majors to a shorter, more focused season should help increase demand for professional golf, as it does for football. At least, it makes sense.
“The lack is something that I know scares a lot of people,” said Woods, “but I think that if you lack to some degree, it will be better because it will open a lot of eyes because the time will be less.”
Simulating part of the NFL is one thing, but not directly competing with it for a limited “attention” resource is arguably the biggest driver behind the rumored schedule change.
The NFL has been eating away at professional golf for years. The season used to be 11 months long. Then, it was shortened to end in September. Then, the PGA Tour made changes to ensure that the FedEx Cup Playoffs were over before the pigskin hit the air in September. Now, Rolapp, Woods and the “Competition Committee of the Future” appear to be headed for a Super Bowl start to the PGA Tour season.
“Anybody in the sports business, their overall competition is for a share of sports fans’ minds and their time,” Rolapp said. “[Sports leagues want to capture attention] in a complex world that is heavily disrupted by technology, where you have a million things to do with your time, a million more to choose from.”
There is an argument that golf should not hold its tail and run the ball. Golf is a global sport, and while America may be obsessed with the NFL, the rest of the world is not. All of that is true, but Rolapp left the league commanding eyeballs and now he’s leading one trying to get more. America is where those optical and television systems live.
“I didn’t enjoy the teams, I enjoyed the television ratings. Rolapp said about his interests in the Tour Championship.
In his former career, Rolapp would have done cartwheels as Williams found Kmet. For his new self, the Bears’ last miracle was probably more proof of what he already knew.
A change to the PGA Tour schedule is coming – possibly in 2027 – and don’t be surprised when it comes.
Just remember Williams offering a prayer that night in Chicago – because on Sunday, that’s what almost everyone, probably including Rolapp, was watching.
