ATLANTA: Brian Rolapp has a new job and now so does Tiger Woods. Rolapp, the PGA Tour’s new CEO 18 days into his tenure, announced the formation of the Future Competition Committee on Wednesday in advance of the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club. Woods agreed to serve as chairman for the nine-person committee. The aim of the newly formed group, which has yet to meet, is to define a competitive model for PGA Tour events.
The committee will consist of five other players- Patrick Cantlay, Adam Scott, Camilo Villegas, Maverick McNealy and Keith Mitchell — and three business advisors with Joe Gorder, who serves on the Tour’s policy board, and John Henry and Theo Epstein, both of the Fenway Sports Group.
Rolapp comes to the PGA Tour as the CEO after a career with the NFL as commissioner Jay Monahan steps aside.
“We’re going to focus on the evolution of our competitive model and the corresponding media products and sponsorship elements and model of the entire sport, “Rolapp said. “The goal is not incremental change. The goal is significant change.”
The governing principles of the player-led committee are:
Parity: to strengthen a commitment to a meritocratic structure. Scarcity: to increase fan engagement by ensuring top players compete together more often.
Simplicity: to better connect the regular and postseason to magnify the season-ending Tour Championship.
“The strength of the PGA Tour is strong, but there’s much more we need to do, much more we need to change for the benefit of fans, players and our partners,” Rolapp said. “I said when I took the job that I would take it with a clean sheet of paper, and that is still true. … I said, we’re going to honor tradition, but we will not be overly bound by it. Now we’re going to start turning that blank sheet of paper into action with an idea to aggressively build on the foundation that we have.”
PGA Tour player Harris English is one of about 20 players Rolapp has spoken with since joining the organization. English said the two spoke for about 45 minutes.
“I’ve been out here 14 years,” English said. “I’ve seen a lot of changes out here, and (I gave him) kind of my thoughts on what’s good, what’s bad, what needs to be changed.”
One of the key issues facing Rolapp will be the relationship between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf. The two entities continue separate paths with no prospect of a resolution anytime soon.
Rolapp said he has not spoken with anyone from the Public Investment Fund, the Saudi-led group that finances LIV Golf. He was pressed about a possible resolution that would enable the world’s best players to compete against each other, or at be in the same tournament fields more often.
“I think I’m going to focus on what I can control,” Rolapp said. “I would offer to you that the best collection of golfers in the world are on the PGA Tour. I think there’s a bunch of metrics that demonstrate that, from rankings to viewership to whatever you want to pick. I’m going to lean into that and strengthen that.
“I will also say that to the extent we can do anything that’s going to further strengthen the PGA Tour, we’ll do that, and I’m interested in exploring whatever strengthens the PGA Tour.”
-Chris Vivlamore, Field Level Media
