The controversial PGA Tour changes for 2024 that will see more no-cut, limited-field events have divided the golfing world this month.
Many of the PGA Tour’s best love the idea while the consensus among fans on social media seems to be that the tour is copying LIV Golf and allowing a ‘money grab’ move from its players, who now hold leverage over the tour with the potential of huge fees on offer with LIV if they defect.
Rory McIlroy was key in implementing the changes and he has said that there are “some angry players” after the changes were confirmed, but also admitted that they’ve been made to keep the star players in tournaments for all four days to keep sponsors happy. Max Homa also went on a passionate rant in defence of the changes.
Criticism has come from LIV players like Phil Mickelson, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Richard Bland, while the PGA Tour’s own James Hahn has been incredibly critical on social media.
So, what do we think of the changes? Two Golf Monthly writers have their say…
GOOD
Elliott Heath
Is this all just a big overreaction? I think it might just be.
I completely get the criticism that has been fired at the PGA Tour for the changes that have been announced. No-cuts and limited-fields certainly do make it seem like the organization is copying LIV Golf.
But as many players in favor of the changes have rightly pointed out, no-cut, limited-field events are nothing new on the PGA Tour. We’ve had the CJ Cup and Zozo Championship for a few years now, both great events, as well as the FedEx Cup Playoffs, the Sentry Tournament of Champions and the World Golf Championships.
The WGCs are essentially gone, and these new designated events are basically just eight WGCs. That’s not really a terrible thing.
I thought this year’s schedule was looking really good with the designated events. Knowing that we’d see the PGA Tour’s best compete against each other was a good response from the Tour to the LIV Golf threat, but the week of the Honda Classic was a big one and showed that something needed to change.
It was sandwiched in-between two designated events and it was painful to see the stark contrasts between it and the Phoenix Open and Arnold Palmer Invitational that it sat between. Next year, events like the Honda will come in threes – to reduce the impact of being dwarfed and sandwiched in-between much bigger events, and they will have cuts and big implications for those who aren’t in the designated events. This is certainly an…
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