Question of the week [November 4-10]: What are your opinions of the PGA Tour Player Advisory Council's proposal for smaller fields and fewer tour cards?
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We currently live in a star-oriented era. As such, it was inevitable that golf would shift toward the top 20 to 30 star players and their "well-being" as opposed to the more egalitarian top 125 all-exempt tour.
Since 1983, the PGA Tour was focused on playing opportunities and a meritocracy that freely allowed players to rise and fall. Compensation for the truly elite star players was a combination of tour earnings and off-course endorsements and business opportunities. Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods were the two best examples of that.
In 2025-26, the best players will get more of the pie along with their off-course earnings. The loss/reduction of the meritocracy concerns me from a competitive standpoint. Golf needs to be very careful not to block or inhibit the flow of next-generation stars. A proper balance needs to be found between taking care of the current star players yet at the same time allowing new talent to emerge. I am not sure the current proposal does that. We shall see.
Reid Farrill
Toronto, Ontario
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While we can nitpick the nuances of the latest proposals regarding field sizes, qualifications and exemptions, it’s all a waste if we don’t address the elephant in the room, which is the schism between the PGA Tour and LIV.
Forget the ridiculous argument of how the LIV players should be fined or somehow pay a penalty to return to the PGA Tour. Remember that LIV and those players who defected were responsible for the huge paydays all the PGA Tour players now enjoy. So instead, let’s envision how the two tours can come together, taking the best of both, perhaps with a new name.
As a fan, I personally enjoy the traditional 72-hole format, as well as team competition. What if you have both? First, bring the players together under the one new umbrella with two seasons. The first would include the majors and the elevated events, probably about 15 events across five months — March-July. Take August off — or use it as qualifiers for the Team Tour that would run September through November. The team events need to be thought through, using the experiences of LIV Golf, the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup as a guide of what works and what doesn’t.
Let’s start the discussion. Time is much too short for fussing and fighting, my friend.
Ron Ariana
Chicago, Illinois
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In terms of reducing 25 tour cards, I don't know a lot of businesses that think their business is better if they reduce their primary business size 20%. Most businesses are looking to grow. But I realize the PGA Tour thinks smaller size means better product. And they think, better product will grow their business. But what do you do when the inevitable happens and 20-25 LIV players end up on the PGA Tour within a year or two? That potentially gives you 50 current players with tour cards looking for a job unless they create a new Super Tour for the world's top 50, which may well happen.
In terms of field sizes, the big issue is finishing play on Thursdays and Fridays. Daylight being one issue, but 5-1/2 hour rounds is the real issue. The Tour is just throwing a band-aid on the real issue, which is never imposing rules for slow play. Hit players with the loss of FedEx Cup points instead of a few dollars, remembering that anyone who misses a cut gets $5,000, which can pay a slow-play fine. The points add up to where the real money is, so it's a good way to get the slow player's attention. Particularly the one sitting between 50 and 125 (or 100) on the points list.
While I'm on it, let's see 80-player Signature Event fields with a cut to 50 — and Nos. 51-80 get paid and points in descending order similar to a full-field event. That way a player who misses the cut by 10, doesn't make the same money and points as a player grinding and missing the cut by one. This also will give more potential mobilty for the players not in the Signature Event that week. A top-10 finish in an opposite field event, if there is one, could or should gain points on a Signature Event 75th-place finish.
Barry Duckworth
Knoxville, Tennessee
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It appears to me that the PGA Tour wants to be an elitist organization. It is making rules and policies to insure that all the big money stays within the top players. My heart goes out to the remaining Tour players. They are obviously being treated like second-class citizens.
Tim Alexander
Tarpon Springs, Florida
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What a classic, selfish move by these insufferable PGA Tour players. After Phil Mickelson forced the PGA Tour to increase purses by exposing their finances, you would have thought that would have been enough.
But no. Now they want to increase their odds of cashing in by decreasing the field and the number of tour cards. I’m sure Golf Channel will figure out a way to blame LIV, but it’s simply greed — pure and simple greed.
Vinny Mooney
Poughkeepsie, New York
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OK, fine, but please just make a decision quickly. Everyone, tour players and those vying for the right to play need to know what the rules are.
Even if a mistake is made, the best way forward is to just fix it ... quickly. The issue of available daylight is a known entity, the major networks have no more control over it than you or I do, so reduce the fields. As for time constraints, especially on weekends, implement deeper cuts if it makes network television better. That said, if the underlying issue is slow play, then fix it and quit pandering to those who will just pay fines.
This is 2024, if the PGA Tour needs AI to help with faster decision-making, get one it.
Peter Croppo
Bayfield, Ontario
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If 28% of the rounds were incomplete because of darkness, then it is not because the field is too large. It's because the players take an obscene amount of time to hit their shots to the green.
I watch some of almost every tournament that's televised. It's not unusual, in fact it is normal, to see a player and his caddie at their ball, waiting for their competitor to hit his shot. Then they seemingly start over with deliberations for their own shot, consulting the yardage book, checking wind, choosing and replacing clubs, etc.
I understand they are playing for tons of money and prestige but come on ... be ready and hit the shot.
Craig Libhart
Bainbridge, Pennsylvania
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Front: Scottie Scheffler, left, and Rory McIlroy during the final round of the 2022 Tour Championship.
Photo: Tommy Dickson | Golffile