A memo was leaked this week that announced a series of changes for the PGA Tour moving forward, indicating the beginning steps towards an eventual merge with LIV (we’ve heard this one before, right?). The changes center around reduced field sizes and phasing out of Monday Qualifiers to increase pace of play. I’ve included the leaked memo below, courtesy of Monday Q on X:
PGA Tour reducing field sizes to help pace of play also addresses a hidden issue – what will they do with superstars that might be a bit older than they were when they left for LIV and have a lower OWGR but will sell tickets to events more than the current 100th ranked guy on tour? The OWGR has its own issues, but for the purpose of discussion that’s what we’ll base all of this debate on.
When LIV inevitably comes back to the PGA Tour (we are far, far away) how do we handle DJ (467 OWGR), Phil (356 OWGR), Sergio (415 OWGR) etc? If Monday Qualifiers & Sponsor’s exemptions are also being pushed out, there is no side-door way to get aging stars that sell tickets in weekly fields. Realistically, I think they’ll finish their careers on LIV and never return to the PGA Tour. On the other side of the table are guys who are automatic additions back to the Tour – Bryson (10 OWGR), Brooks (77 OWGR), and Rahm (18 OWGR). Each of these guys are in their primes now, have star power, and still have the game to compete week in and week out as we unfortunately only see 4 times a year atm.
The issue in my mind comes down to the guys who left as they were coming into their primes but didn’t quite have the accolades yet to be considered a star – Abraham Ancer (543 OWGR), Hatton (16 OWGR), Joaquim Niemann (130 OWGR), Cam Smith (128 OWGR) and Matt Wolff (1224 (!) OWGR). With the exception of Hatton and Smith, I don’t think this middle group will be welcomed back with open arms right away. They haven’t found success in the majors with full-fields like Brooks, Bryson, and Rahm and their OWGRs have taken big hits.
Taking a look at the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup rankings for this past season doesn’t have any heavy hitters left once we pass 85 and above. Field size is a zero-sum game, to add one guy in you have to kick someone else out. In this case, you might be kicking out an up and coming PGA Tour star to replace him with an aging star making his return. It’s a sacrifice that the PGA Tour needs to be willing to make. The LIV players getting immediate returns in my view are anyone inside of the top 100 OWGR: Bryson, Brooks, Rahm, Hatton. Anyone ranked between 100 – 200 can play on the non-elevated events for a year and try and get their way back onto the real tour. The other aging stars can stay on LIV and ride off into the sunset without having to grind the cutline.
No matter what way you slice it, someone is going to get less access to tournaments than they used to – the tour needs to look out for the business of selling sponsorships first and foremost. None of this addresses the elephant in the room of retribution for leaving the Tour, but I’ll assume something will be worked out.
mike murphy 