CROMWELL — The comments from PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan were more measured, less hostile and, most importantly, with a plan for the future of the Tour.
In his first public comments since June 12, Monahan outlined a plan Wednesday afternoon at TPC River Highlands, site of this week’s Travelers Championship, that would include changing the tour schedule, narrowing the field for the inaugural FedExCup event and creating a handful of international events comes with a limited, uncircumcised field for the top players in the FedExCup leaderboard.
But make no mistake, the Commissioner’s stance on the LIV Golf Invitational Series hasn’t changed: a threat to the game of golf and what it has stood for over the decades.
“I’m not naive. If this is an arms race and the only weapons here are dollar bills, the PGA Tour can’t compete,” said Monahan, who graduated from Trinity College in Hartford. “The PGA Tour, an American institution, cannot compete with a foreign monarchy that spends billions of dollars to buy the game of golf.”
In his June 12 interview with CBS Sports at the Canadian Open, Monahan discussed how the LIV series needed the PGA Tour to survive, calling the LIV “exhibition games,” as opposed to 54-hole no-cut events the 72 holes of the tour, among others. Monahan was clearly angry.
On Wednesday, the future plan, which Monahan says was discussed in detail at a players-only 100-player meeting, was announced.
The 2022-23 season will be the last with the current all-around schedule, which begins after the Tour Championships in late August. The fall events in 2023 will determine the final top 125 on the FedExCup points list, all of whom qualify for the 2024 season.
The 2024 FedExCup season runs from January to August.
“I think it would be a pretty good idea to extend the FedExCup season to a calendar year like January through August,” world No. 2 golfer Rory McIlroy said Wednesday. “So it gives the guys the opportunity to play, if they want to play in the fall or if they don’t want to play in the fall, they don’t have to, they’re not forced to. It will not make any difference in any way.”
The 2023 FedExCup playoffs will be reduced from 125 to 70 golfers for the first of three events, the FedEx St. Jude’s Championship. These 70 will be fully liberated for 2024.
Three new international events will be held after the conclusion of the fall season. They will contain the top 50 from the final FedExCup points list in a limited field without truncation. Where, when and who else plays is determined by the tour’s Player Advisory Council.
Additionally, a resource allocation plan will increase purses for eight of the major events on the FedExCup schedule in 2023, including the Players Championship, the Memorial and the first two legs of the FedExCup Playoffs.
So it’s legacy combined with financial gain to try to offset the existential threat that begins to play out on US soil next week.
“I know legacy and purpose sound like talking points that don’t mean much, but when I talk about these concepts, it’s not about some kind of intangible moral superiority. It’s our track record as an organization and as a sport,” said Monahan. “On the PGA Tour, our members compete for an opportunity to put their name in the history books, and yes, significant financial benefits without having to contend with any moral ambiguity. And pure competition creates relevance and context for what fans need and expect in investing their time in a sport and in a player.”
LIV officially announced four-time major champion Brooks Koepka shortly after the commissioner’s press conference began. They later that afternoon announced their line-up for next week’s event in Portland, Oregon, including Abraham Ancer and Koepka, as well as Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed, all of whom will be playing LIV for the first time.
As soon as these golfers tee off next Thursday, bans will fall. Asked if he sees a way back for the tour players who have left for LIV, Monahan referenced his original tour membership statement on June 9, when the first 17 golfers were suspended, including Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson: That’s them suspended and “no longer eligible to participate in PGA Tour tournament play.”
In other words, for the time being, there is no going back for the deceased.
“When someone tries to buy the sport, dismantle the institutions intrinsically invested in its growth, and just focus on one personal priority, that partnership evaporates and instead we end up with one person, one entity, that uses endless amounts of money to direct employees, not members or partners, towards their personal goal,” said Monahan.
The reduction in the FedEx Cup schedule and the number of people eligible for the playoffs will impact a number of Tour players. Monahan understands but feels the decisions made on Wednesday are important to the future of the tour.
“Ultimately, they have an opportunity to come back next year by playing in events that we think will be very momentous, very meaningful and very exciting into the fall,” said Monahan. “To say everyone supports this would be an exaggeration but it’s the right move for business and ultimately the right move for our players and fans and I look forward to proving that in the years to come.”
[email protected]; @nhrJoeMorelli