Question of the week [August 10–16]: How do you envision professional golf looking in five to 10 years?
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John Stefura | Port St. Lucie, FL
PGA Tour upper tier and Korn Ferry Tour, with possibly another tier blended in between the two.
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Dale Richardson | North Carolina
It will look like pro baseball with minor leagues and a major circuit. You have to play your way into the top fields, with winners from the minor-league tournaments allowed to move up to the upper level. Current tournament venues will lose sponsors, leaving local charities no longer supported. The new tiered system will be the end of many efforts at the local level.
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Vinny Mooney | Poughkeepsie, NY
I hope the whole LIV uproar will have been settled, with the PGA Tour having exacted its fines to placate the anti-LIV zealots so all world-class players can compete.
The two-tiered tour system will probably be even more pronounced than it is now. They’ve created an annuity tour of sorts with these "signature" events for the top players: limited fields, no cuts, and huge purses. I bet those will comprise even more weeks.
The end-of-year cash grab called the FedEx Cup will probably continue. This ginned-up interest in who’s on the bubble to get into the next cash-grab week is quite sad and unseemly. Traditional tournaments in small-market areas will likely disappear.
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James Brock | Atlanta, GA
I envision it looking like every other year once the tiered system goes into effect. I will only pay attention to the four majors.
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Max Taylor | Tupelo, MS
No major changes. I just hope the PGA Tour adopts new divot rules.
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Martin Donnelly | Chicagoland, IL
Bad. Modeling pay rates on LIV Golf is like assuming 80-yard field goals.
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Brent Myers | Kidron, OH
Zzzzz — The Masters — Zzzzz (unless Jordan Spieth wakes up at the PGA Championship) — U.S. Open — Zzzzz — The Open Championship — Zzzzzzz.
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Jim Budelman | Morrisville, NC
Very, very confused.
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Paul Vicary | The Villages, FL
Golf will always be golf: four rounds, 16 top tournaments, including five majors (yes, The Players Championship will finally be declared a major). The top 110 players will qualify each week. The Korn Ferry Tour will be known by yet another name. The Masters will still offer $1.90 pimento cheese sandwiches, John Daly’s pants will be down to his belt buckle, and finally, you will still hear the same annoying idiots hollering "get in the hole!"
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Dave Curley | Las Vegas, NV
The PGA Tour appears to be moving quickly toward melodrama and inconsequentiality. More money, less competition, and corporate sponsors looking for the exit present a slippery slope that looks a lot like LIV and the Champions Tour. Sports fans enjoy competition more than exhibitions. Having three tours in the future dilutes the product and the competition for elite players (which renders them less elite). The four majors are not controlled by the PGA Tour, and that will keep them as the four best tournaments in the world.
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