The PGA Tour announced its succession plan this week: Brian Rolapp will take over as CEO after serving as the NFL’s chief media and business officer. Commissioner Jay Monahan will “transition his day-to-day responsibilities” to Rolapp before stepping down in 2026.
Monahan arguably leaves professional golf in worse shape than when he took over in 2017, as LIV Golf managed to divide the sport and siphon away many of its best players. The fact that golf’s biggest stars rarely play the same events became a widely discussed issue. While the Tour has made some schedule improvements, there’s still a long way to go.
Let’s leave the pipe dream of LIV-PGA reunification aside for now. Here are three things Rolapp can do to punch up a PGA Tour schedule that’s grown stale:
1. Shake Up the Signature Selection
The PGA Tour landed on something promising with its designated/elevated/signature events starting in 2023. On a crowded schedule, these tournaments brought most of the top players together more frequently, and average fans could finally tell one event from another.
Initially, the plan was to rotate four of these events annually. So far, the WM Phoenix Open was swapped out for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am — and that’s about it.
These decisions shouldn’t hinge on which tournaments are near majors or which ones the players simply enjoy. Take this week’s Travelers Championship, for example — a birdie-fest with glowing reviews about dining and hospitality but little actual substance in terms of golf challenge. Nothing about it screams “signature.”
If I could wave a magic wand, the Scottish Open would earn signature status — without the limited 72-player field. Which leads to the next point…
2. Think Globally
Rolapp didn’t reveal much when addressing reporters this week, but he emphasized twice that golf’s “global” status is a major growth opportunity.
Well, there’s an alliance with the DP World (formerly European) Tour just waiting to be leveraged. The PGA Tour finally co-sanctioned the Scottish Open in 2022. There are several other high-profile European events that could form the backbone of a European (or Asian or Australian) swing in the fall or winter — if the right stakeholders are willing to meet.
And it’s not just about international expansion. U.S. cities such as New York/New Jersey, Boston, Washington and Chicago used to be Tour regulars in the 2000s but have fallen off the calendar. Notice where LIV Golf went first when choosing venues?
3. Fall: In or Out?
The PGA Tour has become a two-tiered league — the penthouse class of Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and other elites, and the rank-and-file “mules” grinding to keep their cards.
Under the new “FedEx Cup Fall” setup, this second tier fights to keep Tour status in scattered October and November events while the top 50 playoff finishers enjoy an extended offseason.
Here’s the plea: go all in or all out on fall golf. You could stage meaningful tournaments (maybe internationally, per the previous point) and give top stars incentive to show up for a week or two — accepting that NFL Sundays will sap some TV ratings.
Or scrap fall entirely. Give every player a real offseason. Create scarcity in your product. A reduced schedule — trimming from 46 events to somewhere in the 30s — might make better business sense long-term.
