The estimable British author and critic Peter Ackroyd has written on an astonishing array of subject matter, though not (yet, at least) on golf’s global landscape. Yet one of his acidic observations ought to be posted by the entrance at the PGA Tour’s global home.
“To be insular is to be independent,” he wrote. “But it is also to be alone.”
The Tour has long been content with its own company, rigidly protectionist in outlook and operations. Even its strategic alliance with the DP World Tour was forged under duress to stave off a Saudi purchase of their penurious European pals. Its packed schedule, too, hints at more than just a robust book of business. Members must obtain releases to compete elsewhere when a PGA Tour event is taking place, and there have been just two weeks this entire year when the Tour had nothing on the docket (both were this month). By Thanksgiving, dark weeks will total only three, meaning the schedule effectively functions as a year-long device to control labor.
But Ponte Vedra’s provincialism has outlived its usefulness.
Right now, the U.S. has the only monetizable audience of scale for golf, but it remains a tough sell in the Fall. The eight scheduled PGA Tour stops may produce exciting finishes, worthy winners and engaging storylines, they’re insufficiently impactful. Fans are otherwise distracted by football or despairing that the Republic might call forth the village idiot to lead, but they’re not consuming golf. The PGA Tour playoffs concluded a month ago and the 90-odd days remaining in ’24 don’t hold much promise. The DP World Tour delivered quality finishes at Royal County Down and Wentworth, but will otherwise stage mostly bargain-basement events until its November finale in the Middle East, while LIV wound down its season with a now-familiar whimper, its finale awarding Jon Rahm $18 million, or 200 bucks for every viewer watching.
In every direction we find diluted products, all impacted to varying degrees by political division and apathy among fans and players. This gloomy period on the calendar can be used by the PGA Tour to boost the game and its reach beyond the FedEx Cup season, which will (and should) be protected. A radical rethinking of the fourth quarter is required, and that demands a vision that is long-term and long-distance (preferably farther afield than holding an ‘international’ team event 30 miles from the New York border).
If the FedEx Cup and Race to Dubai conclude at the…
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