It wasn’t that long ago that it seemed the PGA Tour might need Tom Cruise to come to its rescue, going full “Mission Impossible” mode to secure its perilous future.
Between the bombastic arrival of LIV Golf, flat or sagging television ratings, Tiger Woods’ competitive sunset, surging sponsor costs and division within the ranks, the tour was, to use a term favored by the brilliant Paul McGinley, playing off its back foot, partly because of its own doing and partly because of forces out of its control.
No need for Tom Cruise now.
Brian Rolapp, the PGA Tour’s new leader announced last week, comes from the No. 2 seat in the NFL and brings with him a glowing reputation for listening, for seeing the future, for finding new pathways, for appreciating tradition while embracing innovation and for shepherding evolution in a rapidly changing sports world.
With a $1.5 billion war chest provided by the Strategic Sports Group to fund expansion and profits under the tour’s new business model, Rolapp doesn’t have to rebuild but reimagine the tour.
Rolapp has a newly created title – CEO of the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Enterprises – and while the title of commissioner will remain with Jay Monahan as he works through the end of his contract in 2026, it is clear the tour now belongs to Rolapp, his vision and his leadership.
If there is another commissioner in the future, the role will no doubt be different than it has been under Tim Finchem and Monahan, perhaps focusing more directly on the competition without the heavy emphasis on the tour’s business.
The reality is Rolapp now runs the business of the PGA Tour with the support of a board that sought him out, brought him in and, with Monahan as a sounding board as he ramps up to speed, he appears to have across-the-board support.
Rolapp tends to focus on opportunities more than barriers, it seems, and the tour has plenty of room to grow.
The members of the tour policy board’s selection group did the right thing by going outside golf’s often-insular world to find someone who brings a fresh perspective and a record of exceptional achievement.
The NFL is the best sports league in the world for many reasons and one of those reasons is Rolapp. He saw how to make a great thing even better and the league followed his lead.
While staying true to what made the NFL successful – it’s the games and the players – Rolapp expanded horizons. The notion of a Thursday night game on a streaming service or bulldozing the NBA out of the way on Christmas Day to put games on Netflix may have seemed outrageous but it worked.
The streaming audience for Thursday NFL games is noticeably younger (49 years old compared to 55 for viewers on linear TV) and the PGA Tour is likely to build its own streaming model. Rolapp tends to focus on opportunities more than barriers, it seems, and the tour has plenty of room to grow.
The traditional network partners will likely be pushed to innovate and adapt. The same will be true for the players, who reportedly came away from their first meeting with Rolapp last week enthused.
The TGLs and PGA Tour Superstores are all nice additions but it will always be about the golf itself.
What about playing the January events Tuesday through Friday and putting them on a streaming service? Rolapp knows better than anyone how powerful football’s influence is and the tour would be wise to get as far away from football’s broadcast windows as possible.
One of the NFL’s fundamental principles is making the games the most important thing. Fans build their weekends around games, and because the regular season is limited to 18 weeks, every week matters.
The challenge for Rolapp and the tour is making every week matter. Part of that challenge is understanding the five biggest events in the game – the four majors and the Ryder Cup – don’t belong to the PGA Tour.
The tour benefits from those and the Players Championship has everything but an official designation as a major. Making every week important – whether there are 30 of them or 45 of them – is critical to the mission.
When the inevitable LIV question came up last week, Rolapp acknowledged he still has much to learn about the situation while saying it’s best for everyone when the best players are together more often.
The LIV threat to the tour has subsided and it’s conceivable that both sides have decided to go their own way. If there is a way to reintegrate some LIV players back into the tour once their LIV contracts expire, that would be good. But solving the game’s great divide doesn’t need to be Rolapp’s primary focus now.
The tour is playing from a position of strength now unlike three years ago when players were being poached. The tour schedule is still bloated and Rolapp may be able to create a model in which there are 18 or so top-line events and, below that, construct a hybrid secondary tour that incorporates the Korn Ferry Tour and some traditional tour stops.
The PGA Tour has always been about making money but it seems more profit-driven now, which falls in line with private-equity interests. With some of the best sports/business minds involved, Rolapp will have a major role in determining how to spend the SSG investment, which has hardly been touched to this point.
Having momentum, having capital and having a sharp vision of where to go and how to get there puts the PGA Tour in an enviable position.
Rolapp arrives with those things in place and perhaps something even more valuable – a clean sheet of paper.
Say hello to the future.
E-MAIL RON
Top: Brian Rolapp begins his tenure as PGA Tour CEO in a position of strength.
TRACY WILCOX, PGA TOUR VIA GETTY IMAGES