PGA TOUR COMMISSIONER HAS NO INTEREST IN GROWING THE GAME GLOBALLY
DESIGNATED EVENTS REPLACE WORLD GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS AS PGA TOUR BECOMES EVEN MORE INTROVERTED
8 MARCH, 2023 - SHANK MEDIA, BY MATT HOOPER: "Growing the game, I am not sure what that means. We are growing the PGA Tour." THESE ARE THE WORDS OF PGA TOUR COMMISSIONER JAY MONAHAN WHEN SPEAKING AT HIS PRESS CONFERENCE AT THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP IN PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA. HE WAS ASKED THIS QUESTION BECAUSE ONE OF THE KEY PILLARS OF LIV GOLF'S MESSAGE IS ABOUT 'GROWING THE GAME'. MONAHAN WENT ON TO EXPAND AND SAID RATHER THAN GROWING THE GAME IT WAS ABOUT MAKING AN IMPACT UPON THE GAME, CITING CHARITABLE MONIES RAISED AND THE FIRST TEE.
IN THE SAME PRESS CONFERENCE HE WAS ASKED WHETHER THE WORLD GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS HAD RUN THEIR COURSE, HIS ANSWER WAS TELLING: "I would never say anything has run its course," Monahan said, "but I think right now, you see the direction the PGA Tour's heading in; it is with these designated events, it's with the concentration of the best players on the PGA Tour competing in them, and I really don't expect that to change as we go forward." so it is clear that the pga tour's focus is now upon building the best events in the world, but only for pga tour members, and their 'strategic alliance' with THE DP WORLD TOUR WAS ALSO QUESTIONED BY THE MEDIA. OF COURSE MONAHAN GAVE THE TYPICAL ANSWER, SAYING THE ALLIANCE WAS STRONG, BUT THERE SEEMS NO DOUBT WHERE THE WORLD OF GOLF IS HEADING.
THROUGH THE STRATEGIC ALLIANCE THE LEADING 10 NON-EXEMPT PLAYERS ON THE RACE TO DUBAI WILL BE REWARDED WITH PGA TOUR CARDS FOR THE FOLLOWING SEASON, WHILST THIS SOUNDS GREAT FOR SOME GOLFERS, THERE CAN BE NO DOUBT THAT THIS WILL LEAD TO THE OVERALL WEAKENING OF THE DP WORLD TOUR. THE EVIDENCE IS CLEAR THAT THE BEST GOLFERS WHO PLAY ON BOTH THE PGA TOUR AND DP WORLD TOUR ONLY PLAY A SMALL NUMBER OF EVENTS ON THE DP WORLD TOUR - IN 2022 RORY MCILROY (6), JON RAHM (4), VIKTOR HOVLAND (6), MATT FITZPATRICK (6), TOMMY FLEETWOOD (8) AND SHANE LOWRY (6) PLAYED AN AVERAGE OF 6 DP WORLD TOUR EVENTS, AND THE FIELD STRENGTH OF THE DP WORLD TOUR'S PREMIER EVENTS HAVE FALLEN OFF A CLIFF.
TAKE AN ADDITIONAL 10 OF THE DP WORLD TOUR'S BEST PLAYERS AWAY FROM THE RANK AND FILE EVENTS, THEN THE OVERALL STRENGTH OF THE DP WORLD TOUR WILL BE DIMINISHED GREATLY, AND LONG TERM THIS WILL SURELY LEAD TO A MASSIVE DOWNGRADING OF THE DP WORLD TOUR. PERSONALLY, I BELIEVE THIS IS PART OF THE PGA TOUR'S PLAN FOR THE STRATEGIC ALLIANCE. OVER 10 YEARS AGO I WROTE A BLOG ABOUT HOW I COULD SEE THE PGA TOUR VISION FOR A FUTURE WHICH INCLUDED SHAPING THE LANDSCAPE OF PROFESSIONAL GOLF AS SHOWN BELOW.
OF COURSE, I MAY END UP BEING WRONG, I HOPE FOR THE SAKE OF GOLF WORLDWIDE THAT I AM. THIS SPORT IS TOO BIG, AND TOO GLOBAL, TO SEE ALL OF THE WORLD'S BIGGEST TOURNAMENTS CONFINED TO ONE PART OF THE WORLD. IT IS TIME FOR THE DP WORLD TOUR TO RETHINK ITS FUTURE.
