Brandel Chamblee voices unease after Brian Rolapp’s recent remarks on PGA Tour future

The PGA Tour needed a fresh start, and replacing Jay Monahan with Rolapp looked like a step forward. But now, there are questions about how big those changes should be.

During an appearance on Trey Wingo’s podcast, Chamblee shared his first impressions of Rolapp and what he expects from him as CEO.

“It’s a compliment to the Tour that they can wrestle away a man as talented and successful as Brian Rolapp. Having said that, it’s bursting at the seams recreationally. It is very popular with every single avenue. Golf is everywhere.

“Brian, speaking at the Tour Championship said something along the lines of, ‘we’re not going to make incremental change, we’re going to make substantial change and we’re going to be aggressive’ and I thought, ‘okay here’s the game, it’s never been better and you’re going to blow it up’. So there was a disconnect there for me, I didn’t quite understand it.

“I’m concerned about wanting to blow the Tour up. I have no doubt that Brian will figure out a way to do it and make more money for the PGA Tour but will it be to the detriment of the PGA Tour?

“If he’s talking about shrinking the Tour from 45 events to 25 or 26, and the Tour has historically hated a void because if there is a void, trust me someone is going to want to come in and run a golf tournament and use players from their own thing. What are the chances that somebody is going create domestically another PGA tour?

“I’m a little cautious of the idea that he wants to blow the Tour up and change it drastically and aggressively which was kind of the message I got from him.”

Rolapp did speak strongly about substantial change but did not indicate an intention to overhaul everything. Back in July he emphasised respect for tradition while also highlighting plans not to be overly constrained by them.

Brian Rolapp could be considering moving the PGA Championship back to August

One of the main issues with the current PGA Tour schedule is that all four majors are wrapped up by July.

There has been growing support for shifting the PGA Championship back to its old August slot, rather than keeping it in May where it now sits.

Podcast host Wingo shared what he heard from Rolapp about whether a return to an August date might be on the table.

“I DM’d him as soon as he got the job and I said, ‘can we just do this one thing, can we please move the PGA Tour Championship back to August.

“I will die on this hill. The idea that we have the major season end in July, on July 20th, makes no damn sense to me whatsoever.

“That was the first thing I said to him and his first response was, ‘I think we have a lot of wriggle room in the schedule and how we want to do it,” Wingo added. “It was clear to me in the first conversation I had over text with Brian, he was thinking about this from the moment he got the job.”

As far as I am concerned, there are more changes needed beyond just when majors are played. The Signature Events feel too bunched together right now and could use better spacing throughout the year.

If Rolapp does make some big adjustments, fans could remain interested over a longer stretch of time instead of tuning out once summer ends.