PGA Tour Makes The Majors Even Better
News of reduced field sizes gives the impression of an insular enclave getting away from pure competition. Plus, Comcast is set to announce a spinoff of its major championship-hosting cable channels.
The peculiar-but-beautiful sport of professional golf kicked off 162 years ago with a mission to present an “open” competition.
At a time of outhouses, monthly baths, salt in lieu of ice and courtesy cars for no one, those wily Scotch-infused visionaries were more concerned with integrity than comfort.
“It was unanimously resolved that the Challenge Belt held tomorrow and on all future occasions,” said the closest thing pro golf has to scripture, “until it be otherwise resolved, shall be open to all the world.”
Until it be otherwise resolved, has arrived in 2024.
On the surface, the reduction in PGA Tour field sizes and cardholders from 125 to 100 makes sense. But dig deeper and the moves appears to reduce competition all so a few players can continue taking their sweet time AimPoint’ing a two-footer.
For a host of reasons once unimaginable to the golf world prior to LIV coming along, the PGA Tour is doubling down on something inching ever closer to exhibition golf. Since the all-exempt Tour started in 1983 with 125 cards, the organization has used the same general format and approach as the major championships: a field composed of stalwarts, journeymen, invites and qualifiers playing 72-holes with a cut.
While Tuesday’s announced changes remain far from emulating LIV’s 54-hole shotgun and advance money approach, the PGA Tour Policy Board’s approval inched the org farther away from something chock full of competitive sizzle. Reducing fields, eliminating Monday qualifiers, and keeping those pesky cuts away from “signature” events move the organization even farther away from the egalitarian nature of full-field golf tournaments. Tournaments where the occasional Cinderella story or a local upstart takes on a star, gives a global event something rich in character that no other sport can offer.
Continuing to chip away at the fundamentals may give fans the same sense they get watching the equivalent of best-of-three sets pro tennis. Just four times a year, (men’s) professional tennis plays best-of-five sets. Those two-week extravaganzas are seen as history-making tests. Not coincidentally, those are the only times large audiences still pay attention to tennis.
The announced PGA Tour reductions were sold as a necessity due to offset slow play and competitions compromised by the inability to finish rounds before sunset or even to start them in the sunlight. But the idea that a smaller field will make things better for all lost credibility when Billy Horschel explained on the Monday Q podcast how increasingly longer days cut into stars doing proper post-round ice baths, massages and physio sessions.
Smaller fields should get around courses faster. But as Lucas Glover, Matt Fitzpatrick, Charley Hull and Nelly Korda have all vented in recent days, fundamental changes to tournament golf are coming without attempts being made at tougher pace-of-play enforcement. Perhaps the players who drove this shift are correct that a more leisurely tournament day will stave off additional LIV defections. And maybe the players—Woods, Scott, Cantlay, Simpson, etc. even feel bad shedding access to dreamers and upstarts. But how would we know? No one from the PGA Tour feels a need to speak publicly about the moves besides Horschel. And he often makes things worse.
There is also the the ball-going-too-far component. Longtime professional golf venues regularly feature pile-ups where there were rarely waits on the tee. All because a majority of players can now reach a drivable par 4 or once-unreachable long par 5. Then there are the extra 10-15 minutes per round walking day to and from new back tees. Yet only a handful of players are opposed to action that might reduce the back-ups and return shotmaking. So remember that when sympathizing with pros who lose a job in 2026.
Most fans may not initially sense the competitive erosion of reduced-field/no-cut events. (Even though we have the generally unsatisfying WGC model to remind us what happens with smaller fields and no cuts). With multiple metrics already hinting at a dwindling fan base caused by a wide array of factors—some out of the PGA Tour’s control—anything that chips away at a competitive edge in the name of comfort and cash seems shortsighted. Having their “product” seen as competitive and legitimate should be essential in the business of pro sports. Major League Baseball’s uptick in 2024 can be tied to speeding up, fine-tuning, and restoring lost elements of the game.
That’s the best news for PGA Tour fans who might be dismayed by a few players appearing ignorant of what inspired the idea of professionals gathering to play for money. It would not take much of a change in board structure or profound thinkers to realize a certain brand of golf ball is not the Hope Diamond. With a few tweaks and cattle prods for slow players, the PGA Tour could quickly restore tension, charm, and character in a fashion reminiscent of MLB’s renaissance.
For now, fans can expect four weeks a year to deliver a worldwide gathering. One featuring a full field* of players who earned their way into the proceedings playing for history. There will be a cut. Stars. Dreamers. Surprises. Tension. Gratifying storylines. Four intense rounds to glory. More than ever, those weeks are called majors for good reason.
*And yes, I know the Masters field is not as large as the other three majors. Thank you.
WSJ: Comcast Cable Spinoff Announcement Coming
The operator of Golf Channel, USA Network and NBC let it be known in last month’s earnings call that a possible spinoff was in the works. While analysts generally assumed it was floated to distract from so-so earnings news, a Wall Street Journal report suggests we’ll find out more on Wednesday.
Plenty of golf world eyes will be on the announcement given the role Comcast’s cable outlets play in broadcasting early rounds of the U.S. Open, U.S. Women’s Open, The Open, Women’s Open and Ryder Cup.