PGA Tour becomes like LIV Golf after latest schedule changes

Markus Cannizzaro

golf

From Markus Cannizzaro

March 1, 2023 | 8:19 p.m

ORLANDO, Fla. – Wealthy golfers are getting wealthier.

No, this is not another story about LIV Golf, which helped many of the sport’s multi-millionaires multiply their millions and upgrade their Gulfstream G-4s thanks to the obscene money the Saudi-backed tour guaranteed them.

Instead, it’s about the aftermath of LIV Golf and the profound financial benefits brought to the PGA Tour and its star players – highlighted by Wednesday’s unveiling of radical changes to the PGA Tour schedule beginning in 2024.

Some of the star players who have publicly railed against those who fled the PGA Tour to LIV because of easy money and reduced fields with no 36-hole cuts are now raving about the new schedule the PGA Tour approved Tuesday .

The new structure includes fields of participants reduced from the current 156, 144, or 128 to 70-78 players in certain new “designated” events open only to a few elites ranked high enough. These events are also played without traditional 36-hole cuts.

This format not only draws the game’s top players to these ‘upmarket’ and higher paying events, it also guarantees that these stars will play all four rounds. If this sounds familiar, it should, as it’s practically the same concept that LIV Golf incorporated into their tour.

If anything, the latest PGA Tour read-and-react move to LIV makes you wonder how long it will be before the two tours are merged so that we actually have the best players in the world competing against each other.

It’s still too early for something that makes that much sense, of course, as there’s too much acrimony between the two sides, particularly regarding the ongoing piss match between LIV’s Greg Norman and PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan.

“It seems like the advent of LIV has forced us as players and PGA Tour executives to just look at the product,” Max Homa said Wednesday before the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Bay Hill. “I don’t think we’d be here anytime soon without LIV, but I would hope at some point we would have looked at this and said, ‘Hey, maybe there’s a better way to do it.’ ”

Homa, one of golfers most open and transparent, said he loves the new changes.

“I could rant about it for a while,” he said, “which I could as well.”

And he did.

“It’s easy to portray these changes as a way to put more money in the pockets of the top players,” said Homa, who is ranked No. 8 in the world. “I know it’s a low hanging fruit to jump on, ‘Oh that’s just a money heist.’ But it was made to make it easier and more fun for the fans. There is more opportunity for the top players to compete late on Sunday.”

When asked if he thought the drastic changes brought about by the PGA Tour without the presence of LIV, Patrick Cantlay, world no small amount. So the competition now has everyone looking inward to see how they can improve their product, how they can do things better. I think the tour did that.”

Cantlay called the changes “really exciting” and highlighted the no-cut decision.

“Because it’s not a cut, the biggest benefit is capturing the stars playing these events four days from now,” he said.

It’s funny how things twist and turn. It seems only 15 minutes since the PGA Tour mocked LIV Golf for its reduced fields and no cuts. And now the PGA Tour is moving the goalposts and mixing up their own storied product with the same gimmicks.

“I think it makes the Tour more competitive,” said Rory McIlroy at No. 3. “It’s trying to get the top guys against the hot guys, right? I think that creates a really compelling product. Ultimately, I think that with all these specific events and this event schedule, we’re selling a product to people.”

McIlroy said there was “precedent” for no-cut events on the PGA Tour, citing some tournaments, including the CJ Cup and the Zozo, neither of which are played in the United States

“It keeps the stars there for four days,” McIlroy said. “You ask Mastercard or whoever to pay $20 million for a golf event, they want to see the stars at the weekend. They want a guarantee that the stars are there. So if this has to happen, then this happens.”

What happened, the rich get richer. Just like LIV Golf.