Source :- THE AGE NEWS
Hosting the World Cup this year has clearly made a big impact across American sport, with the PGA Tour announcing it will copy the format of the tournament in what will be the longest golf tournament ever staged in the professional game.
Brian Rolapp, the PGA Tour chief executive, had previously revealed that the circuit will undergo a radical revamp for the 2028 season, with the Tour splitting into two tiers – the championship series and the challenge series. But nobody knew what would happen to the end-of-season play-offs.
In truth, the concluding Tour Championship, which takes place in Atlanta from Thursday (local time), has never satisfied, with several iterations – always strokeplay – having not much success in helping the event live up to its grand billing and the $US10 million ($13.9 million) first prize.
But in an audacious move, the Tour has decided to stage a fortnight of matchplay.
Much like the World Cup format, the first week will see the 32 players who qualified through the Tour’s season-long points list take their place in eight groups of four, in which they will play each other in round-robin competition.
The top two in each group advance to the knockout stages, which will begin the following week at a separate course. Thursday will feature the last 16, Friday, the quarters, Saturday the semis and Sunday the final, with what is bound to be a record-winning cheque.
It sounds complicated, until you think along the lines of the finals won by Spain in New York last month, and in the explanatory video posted on the Tour’s social channels, there is a shameless nod to the long-employed system. “The format used looks more like a World Cup than a typical golf tournament,” the narrator says.
Rolapp detailed that the changes were developed by the Tour’s future competition committee – a nine-member group chaired by Tiger Woods. “We are creating something different, something distinct within professional golf that can resonate far beyond it,” Rolapp said. “It will be a gruelling, challenging and interesting way to capstone our season.”
In his press conference at East Lake – which hosts this week’s Tour Championship including Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and defending champion Tommy Fleetwood – Rolapp also addressed the issue of LIV players such as Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau returning to the Tour.
Rolapp took a harsh line on that duo, or any others, receiving the same treatment as Brooks Koepka, who was immediately welcomed back in January, albeit with a $US5 million ($6.9 million) fine and restricted status. Rahm, DeChambeau and Cameron Smith were also offered the same terms, but declined. In the wake of LIV’s demise it was evidently a one-time offer.
“No, there aren’t any plans for a ‘returning member program’ like you saw earlier this year,” Rolapp said. He later added that any players wishing to rejoin “need to demonstrate that they are relieved of their contractual commitments or any tail obligations they might have in that legacy model [of LIV].”
Having been dumped by the Saudis in May – after the country’s sovereign wealth fund had ploughed in more than $US5 billion ($6.9 billion) in four years – LIV is still fighting to secure new investment to survive into 2027. Scott O’Neil, the LIV chief executive, has indicated that it will be a 10-tournament schedule and insiders have pointed to greatly reduced prize funds in the region of $US6 million-$US10 million ($8.3 million – $13.9 million) – at maximum a third of what they were before.
At the start of this week, Greg Norman, the founding chief executive of the breakaway league, expressed his pity at the LIV 2.0 plans – “I’d hate to see it wither away; I’d rather it just end” – and here on Tuesday, the Australian golfer’s great enemy, Sir Nick Faldo, also slated the proposals.
“I don’t honestly know what’s going to happen, but my goodness, the so-called 2.0 is going to be pretty weak if it carries on,” Faldo said. “I’ve heard there’s more players trying to leave LIV than trying to stay.”
Faldo declared that any LIV player wishing to return to the DP World Tour should “eat humble pie” and “go back to tour school”. However, Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton, Adrian Meronk, Tom McKibbin and others have paid fines and remained Tour members, so that will not happen.
Instead, it seems increasingly likely as if Rahm and Hatton would have to serve year-long bans on the PGA Tour and if, as appears highly probable, they do leave LIV, will ply their trade on the DP World Tour in 2027. That would be a boon, as it readies itself for a strengthened “strategic alliance” with the PGA Tour.
The two Tours are in negotiations to put on a global series that will take place after the championship series in August and be held at venues in England, continental Europe, Asia, Australia and South Africa.
As the players in the top tier are not eligible to play in events on the secondary tier, this would mean a five-month off-season, and it is doubtful that the likes of Scottie Scheffler would wish for so long off. The global series would provide an attractive, lucrative option and also allow Scheffler and co to increase their worldwide profile.
Rolapp confirmed the news and that is another blow to LIV, which was previously looking to be the major power outside America. “We’re working on that,” Rolapp said. “We hope to have that as part of our February announcement [next year, when the details of the championship and challenger series’ calendars will be unveiled].”
Faldo thinks it would be a big positive for his home circuit. “The DP World Tour has a huge opportunity for the latter stages of the year,” he said. “It’s kind of ridiculous that the season ends in America this week. It’s August – in my day, it ended like two weeks before Christmas. So, yes, they have a huge opportunity through Europe, Middle East, Asia, to keep playing all the way through. I hope the better players travel the world, like we used to, back in the day.”
Telegraph, London
