Follow us on Google Discover Brian Rolapp has got a lot of things right since being named the PGA Tour’s CEO back in 2025.
Rolapp recently outlined the sweeping changes that will be made to the PGA Tour from the start of the 2028 season onwards.
While LIV Golf has received huge amounts of criticism since its inception, it has been good for one thing.
LIV entering the professional golf scene forced the PGA Tour into making some big changes.
Then Brian Rolapp was appointed as the CEO in 2025 and he has taken things to a whole new level entirely.
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Purses have risen, while a brand new and exciting PGA Tour schedule will come into play from 2028 onwards.
The PGA Tour released a statement in June outlining the changes that are set to be made for the start of the 2028 season.
There will be 20 Championship Series Events with $20 million purses and 20 Challenger Series Events with $4 million purses.
Full field events with halfway cuts are set to return, while a match-play tournament during the post-season playoff events has been spoken about.
Brian Rolapp could take PGA Tour fans’ excitement to a new level
Genuine jeopardy will be present on both the Championship Series and the Challenger Series, with relegation and promotion possible.
In spite of all of the positive changes coming into play, there is still one key issue that Rolapp must address, and it concerns the regular season.
While there has been plenty of excitement throughout the year so far, the end of the season always seems to be a real anti-climax.
Events like the 3M Open, the Rocket Classic and the Wyndham Championship have far weaker fields than the majority of the PGA Tour events earlier on in the season.
The PGA Tour’s biggest stars, including the likes of Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, often skip the weeks between The Open Championship and the first playoff event in Memphis.
So, rather than building up into a crescendo of excitement, the PGA Tour regular season kind of bows out with a whimper.
Sure, they are guys trying to force their way inside the top 70 of the FedEx Cup points list in order to make the first of the three playoff events.
However, the lack of star-power in the fields for the final few events of the regular season is a really big problem for the PGA Tour.
With that in mind, a big change is required. After all, Rolapp himself suggested that topping the regular-season standings from 2028 onwards will be one of the greatest achievements in golf.
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Rolapp should seriously consider moving two Signature Events from the start of the year to the end of the regular season.
Can you imagine how exciting it would be if, for example, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational were moved to August as the final two events of the season?
Pebble Beach and Riviera primed for end of regular season slots
The weather in Monterey in August is absolutely perfect, far better than in late-January / early-February when the PGA Tour currently heads to Pebble Beach.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles in the summer is slightly hotter but, again, far more pleasant than in February.
Having the very best golfers on the PGA Tour competing at two historic venues like Pebble Beach and Riviera to cap off the season would be quite the finale.
And then there would be three play-off events to look forward to afterwards.
The only caveat is that there would probably need to be a two-week break between the final tournament of the regular season and the first playoff event.
That would mean that the likes of Scheffler and McIlroy would not be forced into competing five weeks in a row.
As things stand, the PGA Tour is in a really strong position, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement.
Brian Rolapp’s key mission now should be to make the PGA Tour as exciting as it possibly can be for both the fans and, of course, the sponsors.
Having two prestigious Signature Events to round off the regular season would be a sure-fire way of achieving those goals.
That way, the levels of fan excitement would remain consistent as the PGA Tour heads into the final few weeks of the regular season and then on into the playoffs.
Brian Rolapp has made some excellent changes already in his role as CEO. However, ensuring that the end of the regular season ends with a bang rather than a whimper could end up defining his legacy.
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