PGA Tour continues to discuss lucrative fall options, include team events

At last month’s meeting of the Player Advisory Council, the PGA Tour outlined a concept that would transform the fall portion of the current schedule into a lucrative showcase for the circuit’s top players and create a sort of seeding series for everyone else.

According to multiple members of the PAC, the idea would be to create a three-event series in the fall that would see tournaments in Asia, Europe and the Middle East for the previous season’s top players. One proposal would feature a team concept, like that used in college golf, and these events would be played separate from the FedExCup schedule with no points awarded.

“The discussions are conceptual in nature and center around evolving the PGA Tour product in the future to align with emerging themes coming from the membership, in particular from top-ranked players, as well as continued efforts to improve our global pathway, reinforce the strength of our business and create valuable media and sponsorship rights in the future,” read a memo to players in this month’s GreenSheet. “The discussion has been mostly focused on the fall portion of the calendar and a number of ideas to enhance this portion of the season.”

The policy board met earlier this month during the Arnold Palmer Invitational to continue the conversation, and the memo reiterated that these were all initial concepts.

“The policy board has directed Tour staff to spend time getting feedback from the wider membership as well as other constituents over the coming months,” the memo read.

The policy board did approve a proposal to expand its membership, as first reported by the Associated Press. The board added another player director for a total of five, the same number of independent directors. The circuit added an independent director in 2017 during the most recent round of media rights negotiations and the addition of a fifth player director evens the board’s membership.

Patrick Cantlay, who ran for PAC co-chair this year, was appointed to a one-year term in 2023. The five player directors next year will be Cantlay, Rory McIlroy, Charley Hoffman, Peter Malnati and Webb Simpson.