There’s a lot of uncertainty in the future of pro golf, and it’s been a riveting and confusing game of musical chairs when it comes to the PGA Tour Policy Board.
Rory McIlroy left, then tried to rejoin and take Webb Simpson’s spot, but that was nixed. Jimmy Dunne resigned in May, saying no meaningful progress had been made toward a deal between the PGA Tour and the Saudi PIF.
Mark Flaherty, an independent director, also stepped down. And then there’s that new transaction sub-committee within PGA Tour Enterprises. Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy are on that.
Confused? You should be. In the latest episode of Peter Kostis and Gary McCord’s Off Their Rockers podcast, a GOLF production, the veteran TV analysts dissected it all and looked into their crystal balls to dish on what they think the future of pro golf should look like.
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“In television and sports, you got to take the animosity and use it,” McCord said. “It’s the Lakers against Boston. You take that, there’s conflict. Well, we have conflict now, it’s built in, and it’s LIV. And it’s over there, and they have some of the best players in the world over there and they aren’t playing over here much.”
McCord said the Saudi PIF should consider buying the DP World Tour, since it’s essentially a “feeder tour” for the PGA Tour now anyway with its top players earning PGA Tour membership. That might help the World Ranking points issue, he said, and then he’d have the top 75 players or so overall play around the world five to eight times a year. He’d call it the “Galaxy World Tour.”
Kostis’ idea was even more creative. He said they should figure out how to combine the DP World Tour and Asian Tour with LIV Golf players. Then turn LIV into a World Senior Tour.
“Take the worldwide senior tour players, because the Champions Tour here is a snoozefest,” Kostis said. “So you let LIV morph into that. And you change the format that they are currently using, go to 72 holes, that’s what everybody wants, have Signature Events on the DP World Tour like you do on the U.S. tour, let the players that signed [with LIV] go play those events. Then take a number, top 50 from each tour? Put them together 10-12 times a year, plus the majors, there’s your 16 events, where the best players are playing against each other, and you got people rooting. Some rooting for and some against, but you got people rooting.”
You can watch the entire episode below, in which Kostis and McCord also break down the future of golf broadcasting and more.
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