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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Brian Rolapp unveiled plenty of plans and ideas that the PGA Tour is exploring.
Not included in those? The reunification of professional golf.
Last February, former PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, along with Tiger Woods and Adam Scott, visited the White House to speak with President Donald Trump and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, which finances LIV Golf, to talk about efforts to reunify the game's top players. Those efforts stalled shortly after the meeting, and talks haven't publicly resumed since.
Rolapp, the Tour's new commissioner, didn't slam the door on unification during his State of the Tour address but said his focus was only on the PGA Tour.
"I think I've been clear about this: my brief is to make the PGA Tour better," Rolapp said. "I'm open to whatever makes the PGA Tour better. That is my brief. Better for fans, better for our members. So that's what I'm focused on, and that's where I put all my efforts."
Could that include inviting LIV golfers to the Players Championship in the future?
"That's not sort of a priority I've put on my list," he said. "That's not something I've sort of considered to date. There's other priorities other than that."
Priorities like shaping the future of the PGA Tour and strengthening the schedule, which he detailed Wednesday from a new structure, format and playoff approach.
Earlier this year, the Tour announced the Returning Member Program, created for Brooks Koepka and three other LIV golf players to provide them a path back to the Tour. Koepka is the only one who did end up returning through that method.
Rolapp stands by that program being a one-time only deal. As for others who want to return, they're going to have to earn their way back.
"I don't know the contractual relationship or the terms of others on the LIV Tour, and they have contracts and those should be honored," Rolapp said. "But we do have a pathway; Patrick Reed is clearly taking advantage of that pathway as he's, I guess, out of his contractual commitment. And so I think the LIV players know what those pathways are, and until they change, those are the pathways."
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: PGA Tour’s Rolapp cools talk of LIV reunion, eyes schedule overhaul
Continue reading...
Not included in those? The reunification of professional golf.
Last February, former PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, along with Tiger Woods and Adam Scott, visited the White House to speak with President Donald Trump and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, which finances LIV Golf, to talk about efforts to reunify the game's top players. Those efforts stalled shortly after the meeting, and talks haven't publicly resumed since.
Rolapp, the Tour's new commissioner, didn't slam the door on unification during his State of the Tour address but said his focus was only on the PGA Tour.
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"I think I've been clear about this: my brief is to make the PGA Tour better," Rolapp said. "I'm open to whatever makes the PGA Tour better. That is my brief. Better for fans, better for our members. So that's what I'm focused on, and that's where I put all my efforts."
Could that include inviting LIV golfers to the Players Championship in the future?
"That's not sort of a priority I've put on my list," he said. "That's not something I've sort of considered to date. There's other priorities other than that."
Priorities like shaping the future of the PGA Tour and strengthening the schedule, which he detailed Wednesday from a new structure, format and playoff approach.
Earlier this year, the Tour announced the Returning Member Program, created for Brooks Koepka and three other LIV golf players to provide them a path back to the Tour. Koepka is the only one who did end up returning through that method.
Rolapp stands by that program being a one-time only deal. As for others who want to return, they're going to have to earn their way back.
"I don't know the contractual relationship or the terms of others on the LIV Tour, and they have contracts and those should be honored," Rolapp said. "But we do have a pathway; Patrick Reed is clearly taking advantage of that pathway as he's, I guess, out of his contractual commitment. And so I think the LIV players know what those pathways are, and until they change, those are the pathways."
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: PGA Tour’s Rolapp cools talk of LIV reunion, eyes schedule overhaul
Continue reading...
