The PGA Tour is making progress with plans to implement a new two-track competition model that CEO Brian Rolapp says could materialize by 2028.
Rolapp told a small group of reporters at the Memorial tournament in Ohio on Wednesday that the tour and its Future Competition Committee had made “substantial progress” on the new format.
“I feel good where we are, but I also had expectations that it wasn’t going to be easy,” Rolapp said in comments posted on the PGA Tour website.
“Any good process – in the sort of experience of my old job, any substantial change we’ve made always came with a lot of work and a lot of tension to the process. If you don’t have a good process and there’s not tension, it means you’re not asking the right questions.
“I think we’ve reached that, which I think is a very good thing, but I feel good about what we are.”
Rolapp took over as chief executive in 2025 promising “significant change” to the tour’s current model.
On Wednesday he reiterated expectations of a two-track system, with track one featuring top tournaments and best players competing against each other more often. Track two will continue to provide playing opportunities and a direct pathway to track one.
Rolapp said the number of players graduating to the top track — or falling to the second — was still under discussion but said it will be “substantial enough to matter”.
Rolapp said it was important for tournaments in the new model to have “competitive consequences”.
“I think we have lost a lot of that with the smaller fields, no-cut events,” he said. “The competitive meritocracy that makes this sport great and unique is what we’ve gotten away from, and we’re getting back to (it).”
Ultimately changes put forward by the Future Competition Committee, which has been working with the Player Advisory Council, must be approved by the PGA Tour’s policy board.
The board is next scheduled to meet on June 22, the week of the Travelers Championship.
Article Link: PGA TOUR set for "significant" change