ATLANTA, GEORGIA | Brian Rolapp is only three weeks into his new job as CEO of the PGA Tour and still in the fact-finding, opinion-gathering period, but it was clear in his first extended media conference Wednesday morning at the Tour Championship that his presence is not the only significant change coming.
It’s perhaps too much to call Rolapp an agent of change but he brings a fresh set of eyes and mandate to make a good thing better, leaning into the future and the ever-changing ways the game can be presented.
Fielding questions from the media in a hospitality chalet near East Lake Golf Club’s ninth tee, Rolapp was impressive, articulating his vision as best he could while acknowledging he still has much to learn. More than once, Rolapp made the point that the PGA Tour will look and operate differently in the near future.
“I said when I took the job that I would take it with a clean sheet of paper, and that is still true. My fan letter on day one, I said we’re going to honor tradition, but we will not be overly bound by it. Now we’re going to start turning that blank sheet of paper into action with an idea to aggressively build on the foundation that we have,” Rolapp said.
To that end, Rolapp announced his first initiative – creating the future competition committee that will be headed by Tiger Woods with the goal of revising and possibly reinventing the tour.
Woods is joined on the committee by players Patrick Cantlay, Adam Scott, Camilo Villegas, Maverick McNealy and Keith Mitchell along with Joe Gorder, chairman of the PGA Tour Enterprises board, John Henry, manager of the Strategic Sports Group and Theo Epstein, senior advisor at Fenway Sports who played a key role in Major League Baseball’s recent changes.
The committee, Rolapp said, will be guided by three principles – parity, scarcity and simplicity. That means maintaining the tour’s meritocratic structure, bringing top players together more often to enhance fan engagement and finding a way to better blend the regular season and playoffs together while magnifying the Tour Championship.
By design, the committee is weighted with players.
“I like him a lot. I like that he doesn’t come from golf. I like that he doesn’t have any preconceived ideas of what golf should look like or what the tour should look like.” – Rory McIlroy
One day after the tour announced its 2026 schedule with a ninth signature event added, creating a stretch of six weeks with three signature events and two major championships, Rolapp indicated that the schedule could change significantly in the short term.
“I think the right answer to that is we will take as much time to get it right, at least the initial time out, but we’re going to aggressively move. So I would like to put in the right competitive model as soon as we can,” Rolapp said.
With commissioner Jay Monahan in attendance, Rolapp made it clear his priority is to focus on the PGA Tour. He has had no conversations with any representatives of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which operates LIV Golf, and suggested he sees more urgency in other areas.
The players are a critical constituency and Rolapp is continuing to introduce himself, having spoken with about 20 already, making time to get their thoughts about where the tour should focus in the future. He recently spent 90 minutes with Rory McIlroy, who has stepped back from his front-facing role as a player leader but remains influential in the tour’s business.
“I like him a lot,” McIlroy said. “I like that he doesn’t come from golf. I like that he doesn’t have any preconceived ideas of what golf should look like or what the tour should look like. I think he’s going to bring a fresh perspective to everything, and I think he wants to move pretty quick, so I’m excited,” McIlroy said.
The Strategic Sports Group, which has invested $1.5 billion into PGA Tour Enterprises, and media partners are also key constituencies along with fans as the tour continues to rely on key learnings from its Fan Forward initiative.
Asked if any decisions had been made about how to invest the SSG funds, Rolapp hinted at progress.
“I think I have lots of ideas, none that I’m actually prepared to share today, but I will say it’s one of the things that attracted me to this opportunity, where the SSG investment is a strategic investment. And not only does it provide, I think, necessary capital as we work through this competitive model and improved commercial model, I also think it also brings learnings from other sports, which I think is beneficial, in expertise, perspectives that I think will be helpful to grow the PGA Tour,” Rolapp said.
Instrumental in successful innovations in the NFL, including the creation of Thursday Night Football and putting some games on streaming services rather than traditional television networks, Rolapp was hired in large part to hasten the tour’s evolution.
Ratings are up across the board this year but the creation of the signature events – a ninth was added in Miami next year – has created what is seen as a two-tier tour. Building on the NFL’s model in which every game should feel special, Rolapp sees room for tour growth.
There have been discussions about changing the format of the Tour Championship and moving it around as well as building a schedule that would position the tour to “own the summer” with sports fans.
“Look, the sports business is not that complicated. You get the product right, you get the right partners, your fans will reward you with their time because they’re telling you it’s good and they want more of it, and then the commercial and the business part will take care of itself.
“Then you just have to constantly innovate. I think if there’s anything I learned at the NFL, it’s that. We did not sit still, changed rules every March. We changed the kickoff rule. That’s what I mean by honoring tradition but not being bound by it. I think that level of innovation is what we’re going to do here, and I think that’s one lesson I’ve learned.”