Brooke and Tommy end droughts; new CEO may end the PGA Tour as we know it

Each week, we ask our panel of writers, PGA members and golf industry experts to weigh in with their views on the hot topics of the day.

Brooke Henderson captured her second CPKC Women’s Open on Sunday at Mississaugua. It was her first victory on the LPGA Tour in over two years and raised her total to 14 wins – by far the most by any Canadian pro on either the men’s or women’s tours. What are your final thoughts on Brooke’s win and the championship held at Mississaugua?

Jim Deeks, Fairways Magazine (@jimdeeks): Brooke did Canada proud once again with a very gutsy, clutch performance — specially making a very tricky downhill putt on 17, and a tremendous 50-foot (?) lag putt to six inches on 18.  I’m sure I was one of at least 10 million Canadians with more than one tear in my eye when she tapped in.  And all her post-game comments were typically joyful, self-effacing and sportsmanlike, spoken like a true champion and proud Canadian.  The tournament itself was exceptionally well-run and better attended than 90% of the other events on the LPGA.  Why, oh why, is the CPKC not an LPGA major??  The only blemish for me was not once did I hear Marlene Streit’s name mentioned as the most successful Canadian golfer of all time, amateur OR professional.

Craig Loughry, Golf Ontario (@craigloughry): A better script could not have been written for Brooke’s win IN CANADA. Absolutely amazing story. I’m not sure anyone would have honestly picked Brooke to win at the start of this week, she hasn’t shown signs of a top player nor the best season to date. This is huge for Brooke, hopefully she has confidence to get back to top 10 in the world.

Michael Schurman, Master Professional / Hall of Fame Member, PGA of Canada: Sunday was the most riveting day of golf in a long time. Fortunately, the twosome with Brooke and the twosome with Tommy were exactly on alternate pace, so I could watch them both. She’s as tough as a Navy Seal when she has the lead. The course looked magnificent, but I thought the greens seemed a tiny bit slow. Regardless, the entire event is something for Canadians to be proud of.

TJ Rule, Golf Away Tours (@GolfAwayTJ): Well, that came out of nowhere!  Brooke hadn’t been anywhere near a leaderboard in a while, and for her to do it at home with all the hometown pressure is pretty impressive and quite surprising to me!  And she didn’t fluke it either, having to make two late birdies on 14 and the big one on 17 to pull it out over a very tough Minjee Lee.  I think the course help up very well and provided some drama including a fun short 17th that yielded many birdies and the odd eagle.  Overall, a successful tournament and Golf Canada can’t be any happier, I’m sure.

Hal Quinn, Freelance Writer, Vancouver: Mentioned last week that the LPGA Tour was mindless to put the Canadian Open up against the PGA Tour grand finale. Henderson winning just confirmed that. Not only was it foolhardy going remote control to remote control against a field of the top 30 guys, it turned out that Tommy Fleetwood’s first Tour win was a heck of a lot more compelling than Henderson ending a couple of years’ drought. The LPGA Tour now has a two week pause until Sept 11 before eight events including a swing through Asia before the CME finale. This weekend there is no PGA Tour, NFL, or even LIV to worry about. Given all that, it was ludicrous that the CPKC was staged last week instead of this week. Hear Henderson played good.

Peter Mumford, Fairways Magazine (@FairwaysMag): First class all the way! These personal winless droughts are as mystifying as whatever ends them but hope that whatever fixed the problem is permanent. Brooke is one of the best players on the planet and the LPGA Tour is better when she’s in the mix on a regular basis. As expected, Mississaugua Golf & Country Club was up to the task and also needs to be in the mix more often.

Tommy Fleetwood finally broke through for his first PGA Tour win by taking the Tour Championship after a number of close calls (failed chances). Tommy closed this one out at East Lake by three strokes and pocketed $10 million in the revamped Tour Championship format that saw anyone in the Top 30 have an even chance to win it all. Has the PGA Tour finally got a format that works?

Deeks: I guess so.  I mean, it’s as close to fair as you’re gonna get, as long as you (i.e.., the Tour) insist on having a four-day, medal play event involving the top 30 to make it that far.  I still say a more equitable format would be a final match play championship, leaving a last man standing, as they do in tennis.  But that aside, I was thrilled to see Tommy Fleetwood win, at long last, and I hope the King puts him in the New Year’s Honours List.

Loughry: Not a single person I know was cheering against Fleetwood this week. If he had lost the lead yet again, that would have been heartbreaking for fans and also for Tommy himself. The format is better; it’s its own tournament. But the questions is, would you rather win the Players Championship or the Tour Championship? Tour Championship is way more money but limited field, vs Players Championship and larger field (but half the money for winning)?

Schurman: If there has to be a play-off, this is the only way to play it. The year-long points are rewarded in the first two events, and the final is equal to every other sport that fans can understand. Most of all, the right guy won. If you take a look around, there aren’t many quality role models for young people to learn from. The Tommy Fleetwood story and persona are excellent examples to showcase.

Rule: There was a lot of channel flipping on Sunday between Brooke and Tommy, it was great to see them both pull out victories.  Obviously, Tommy was well overdue and given the opportunities he’s had, he was bound to finish one out.  He didn’t choke but also benefitted from the big guys chasing him not throwing down the gauntlet.  That’s not to take anything away from Tommy, he deserved the win and was a very popular winner to be sure.  It was nice to see a Tour Championship where anyone in the field can win, but you feel a bit for Scottie, who had one of the most dominant years on Tour, didn’t finish poorly in this event, and doesn’t take home the top prize.  But I keep going back to the comparison to team sports.  Just because a team dominates the regular season, doesn’t mean they should be a lock to win the playoffs.  I think I like this format better than the previous one, although nothing is perfect.

Quinn: So, Rahm didn’t win once but won whatever LIV called the massive cheque. Tommy wins once and wins both the Tour Championship and the Fed Ex Cup. Duh? No one cares that the LIV fandango makes no sense, but the PGA Tour has a history and before the dollar deluge, made sense. If Tommy hadn’t staged that ‘hold your breath’ final win, the time spent in Coca-Cola’s capital had no fizz. Lift, clean, and fire darts for four days doesn’t make for entertaining or thrilling TV. Tommy’s quest made it dramatic. Playoffs and golf don’t work, as the Tour repeatedly and stubbornly proves. If FedEx can still afford it, award that ugly trophy at season’s end. If there is still $60 M lying around, have the top guys play for it, but don’t call it a playoff. And play the extra events on tracks that don’t give up a bunch of 61s.

Mumford: Congratulations Tommy! A well deserved but overdue win. On one of the biggest stages too. I think the PGA Tour has this format just about right. They just need to stop calling it a playoff. End the season after the BMW and give out the big money bonuses and the FedEx Cup up to the season long POINTS winner. Giving it to anybody else because of some contrived format makes no sense. Tommy Fleetwood won a tournament, Scottie Scheffler won the season.

Last week, Brian Rolapp, the newly minted PGA Tour CEO, announced formation of the Future Competition Committee which is charged with analyzing and making recommendations about the Tour’s competition model. Tiger Woods will chair the group that includes six players and three businesspeople associated with the Tour. What are your thoughts on where this is headed and what kind of Tour we can expect to see in a year or two?

Deeks: Hmmm.  To be honest, there’s very little I would change, other than making the Tour Championship a match-play event… and maybe cutting down all but the majors (and TPC) to three days instead of four.  I mean, is there really any point to Thursday rounds?  Also, not that it would affect competition, but I would allow the players to wear shorts.  My grandmother might have blushed at the sight of bare men’s knees, but she died in 1936.  I think we can all handle it now.

Loughry: Sometimes the best answers don’t come within your own walls/resources, as they try and cater to and please themselves. I’ll state it again, create a product or changes with the FAN in mind, not the convenience or catering to the players necessarily (or corporate partner). START with the fan and work the rest out from there. I’d still like to see a season long match play event (whether it’s a team match play or individual). Could be played on Tuesday’s each week with matchups. Or the top 32 at the Tour Championship and a play down from there.

Schurman: First of all, of the “three businesspeople”, presumably one or more are sponsors. The Tour has evolved into three factions: majors, premier events/invitationals and the nobody cares. Even the ‘nobody cares’ events cost a sponsor close to $20M, which they will likely decide doesn’t provide enough ROI. Rather than replacing them, the schedule should be condensed, starting in mid-January and ending on September 15, with a break every fourth week. During each of the eight months, three events would be played with a play-off in Sept as it is now. The top 125 players must appear in a minimum of eighteen events and play at every Tour site at least once every three years. The Tournament of Champions would be held following the Tour Championship in mid-September, with a week off in between. The field would consist of every winner from the past two seasons and is mandatory. Last, the Presidents Cup should include representation from the LPGA.

Rule: Well, I like that Tiger is involved, although that may sway the benefits to the top end players as they’ve been trending over the past couple of years.  Depending on who the “businesspeople” are, perhaps they can find new ways to keep the Tour relevant and make it a more interesting product from a fan’s perspective.  We’ll have to wait and see.  It doesn’t seem like LIV is attracting any more of the top players, so perhaps that gives them time to implement a new format and business plan moving forward.

Quinn: Wherever the Tour’s headed, it won’t get there fast enough for fans. And don’t think any of the players on this so-called committee took any marketing credits during their arduous college careers. Rolapp, late of the NFL, asks: “How do you actually drive a competitive schedule where every event matters, that is connected to a postseason?”  Short answer: in golf, you don’t, it ain’t the NFL.  He wants to build a schedule leading to the Tour Championship in a way that fans can understand. Good luck with that. Eldrick and the committee may have a few meetings, but Rolapp and the newly acquired money men will make all the decisions, particularly on what events will be “Signature” $20 million affairs and which long-loyal events and their sponsors will be abandoned. It will be a pared down, hyper-monetized Tour that fans will either not understand or simply ignore. The Majors and The Players matter. That’s history, that’s tradition, that’s golf.

Mumford: The PGA Tour has too many stakeholders to satisfy them all. From fans to sponsors to broadcast partners to event hosts to players, somebody is going to be disappointed. My feeling is Rolapp follows the current trend to smaller fields, fewer events and more money for the top guys. Greg Norman blueprinted this back in the 90s and then again for LIV. The only thing he got wrong was he wanted it to be a world tour and Rolapp will likely follow the pattern of the NFL and make it as American as can be. Rolapp says the big dollar sponsors need certainty so look for players to lose some of their independent contractor status and be tied in to a minimum number of events. Four majors, nine signature events and three PGA Tour owned and operated elevated events like the Players, Tour Championship, and maybe a match play should do it. Losers will be second tier tournaments and players outside the top 100. If you’re a fan of the meritocratic tour, you’ll be disappointed too.