PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp somewhat tried to cushion the force of his Wednesday message, describing plans to streamline and revamp the tour schedule as a work in progress.
“This,” he said, “by no means is a baked cake.”
But Rolapp’s 49-minute news conference in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. gave every indication that the confection is hot, the timer’s on the verge of buzzing and all that will remain is icing, slicing and doling out portions.
That last part is of vital concern to Dallas-Fort Worth’s two longstanding tour events. Judging from the “six key themes” Rolapp laid out, there’s every reason to believe the CJ Cup Byron Nelson or Charles Schwab Challenge will achieve elevated status, but elementary math indicates it won’t be both.
Rolapp described a near future in which the current 38-event PGA Tour schedule will be consolidated into 21 to 26 Tier 1 tournaments and unspecified others will be relegated to Tier 2 tournament status.
“It was kind of what I expected, to be honest; that’s kind of what we had heard,” CJ Cup Nelson tournament director Jon Drago told The Dallas Morning News, adding of Rolapp: “He’s really transparent. Clearly no decisions have been made yet.”
Rolapp was named CEO last June. Tour commissioner Jay Monahan is transitioning out and has ceded day-to-day leadership to Rolapp.
Rolapp said the tour’s Future Competition Committee, chaired by Tiger Woods, has met more than 30 times since last August and canvassed a cross-section of groups, including TV partners and corporate sponsors gathered in Ponte Vedra Beach for this week’s Players Championship.
The committee has zeroed in on six themes:
playing a late-January-to-early-September schedule;
having 120-player fields in the Tier 1 events;
opening the season with a marquee West Coast event;
adding more tournaments in major media markets;
creating promotion and relegation among the two Tiers;
and enhancing the postseason.
Since 2023, the tour schedule has included eight events that initially were labeled “elevated” and now are named “signature.” This year those signature events have $20 million purses.
By creating a Tier 1 of 21-26 tournaments, the tour plans to at least double the number of signature events. None of Texas’ four longstanding tournaments — the Nelson in McKinney; Schwab in Fort Worth; Houston or San Antonio — has had signature status.
The competition committee’s stated desire to play in the nation’s largest media markets seemingly bodes well for at least two of Texas’ tour stops.
“The PGA Tour competes in only four of the top 10 largest U.S. media markets,” Rolapp said. “That is an opportunity. We are evaluating markets like New York; Chicago; Philadelphia; San Francisco; Washington, D.C.; Boston; and many other places where there is a strong fan demand for our sport and a chance to reach new fans.”
The top 10 media markets that currently have tour stops are No. 2 Los Angeles, No. 4 Dallas-Fort Worth, No. 6 Houston and No. 7 Atlanta.
If major markets indeed are an emphasis, it’s hard to imagine the tour not having a Dallas-Fort Worth or Houston event as part of Tier 1. But it’s also hard to fathom Texas nabbing three of the eight new signature spots; or North Texas getting two.
Regardless, Drago, who is at TPC Sawgrass this week as both the Nelson tournament director and a Players Championship rules official, liked what he heard from Rolapp on Wednesday and believes the CJ Cup is strongly positioned.
McKinney’s TPC Craig Ranch recently underwent a $23 million makeover by the Lanny Wadkins design group. The contract to play the tournament at Craig Ranch was extended to 2030. CJ Group’s 10-year title sponsorship runs through the 2033 tournament.
And the $10.3 million purse for this year’s May 21-24 Nelson is the highest among non-signature, regular tour events. Oh, and its reigning champion is World No. 1 and Dallas product Scottie Scheffler.
Related
“As I’ll tell our team when I get back, we’re gonna focus on executing 2026,” Drago said. “We’ve got World No. 1, a local guy who’s friends with a lot of people in town; community support; and a title sponsor that couldn’t be more engaged right now.”
Rolapp said he expects the tour’s new vision to become more concrete after the PGA Tour’s board meets in June. He said he also expects changes to the tour’s structure to be phased in over a two- to three-year period.
Many golf industry experts believe the tour wants to have all changes in place by 2028, when it’s expected that the NFL will negotiate its media rights contracts.
Certainly in the Nelson’s case, the PGA Tour will seek player feedback to the TPC Craig Ranch changes to gauge whether it’s signature-event worthy, but Drago says all he and his staff and the host Salesmanship Club can do is try to have the best 2026 possible.
“We’re in the fourth biggest market in the United States,” he said. “We’ve got a golf course that just went through a $22 million renovation.. We’ve got the bigness factor that [Rolapp] talked about with fans. We’ve got the legacy of Mr. Nelson. So yes, we feel really positive right now.”
Colonial officials, too, have reason for optimism. Colonial Country Club is one of the tour’s more iconic venues, hosting Fort Worth’s PGA Tour event since 1946.
The Schwab Challenge’s $9.9 million purse is the third-highest among regular tour events, just behind the Nelson and Detroit’s Rocket Classic ($10 million) and tied with Houston’s Texas Children’s Open.
Schwab’s eight-year sponsorship of the tournament is set to expire after this year’s May 28-31 event, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Any tournament that hopes to become a signature event with a projected $20 to $25 million purse will need new title sponsor terms, anyway.
The reality, though, is while one North Texas event appears likely to have a future of elite fields peppered with World Top 50 players, the other seems just as likely to be Tier 2 — clearly relegated to the have-nots, no matter how much Rolapp tried to say otherwise Wednesday.
“They’ll be tied together in a competitive system that is much easier to understand, standings that are much easier to understand, the terms of promotion and relegation between the two tiers is easy to understand,” he said of the two tiers.
“And so what you will have is a true meritocracy leading into the competitive nature of golf in a more seamless way. So when you watch any one of those tournaments, you’ll know exactly what the stakes are.”
It’s a potential future that’s hard to fathom in a region that has produced the likes of Nelson, Ben Hogan, Lee Trevino, Justin Leonard, Jordan Spieth and Scheffler.
With the PGA Championship coming next May to Frisco’s Fields Ranch East Course, part of the home of the PGA of America, this region might well host three tour events in consecutive weeks.
After that, though? Meritocracy might decide Dallas-Fort Worth’s new golf order.