Rolapp promises bigger fields, 36-hole cuts by 2028

restore 36-hole – PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp says the tour is making substantial progress on a revamped competition model that would restore a 36-hole cut to all top events, expand elite tournament fields, and reshape the season into two tracks. The finished plan is not expected

DUBLIN, Ohio — When PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp talked about the next model for elite golf, he didn’t start with names or nostalgia. He started with the cut.

Rolapp told a small group of reporters Wednesday that the tour has made “substantial progress” on a revamped system that would restore 36-hole cuts across all top tournaments. He said the completed model likely won’t be ready until 2028, and he framed it as a structure “that outlives any player.”

The tour is moving toward a two-track concept Rolapp first mentioned in March. Under the proposal, the top track would include roughly 16 tournaments, excluding the majors and the postseason. Track 1 would have around 120 to 130 players.

Track 2 would be for players aspiring to reach Track 1. Rolapp said the purses would be smaller and title sponsors would pay less. though he sounded confident there would still be sponsors willing to invest at those lower price points. Whether players could move up to Track 1 mid-season based on performance—such as winning multiple times—was still being discussed.

What ties the tracks together, Rolapp said, is bringing back a competitive edge that disappears when fewer golfers get to play long enough to prove themselves. The 36-hole cut, he said, would fit once elite fields expand from 72 players to 120 players or more.

Right now, the tour’s “signature events” feature 72-player fields and a 36-hole cut at only three such events hosted by golf greats.

“At the end of the day, sports is about how good the athletes are and what the competitive consequences are,” Rolapp said. “I think you’ll see that in Track 2. And I think you’ll see people fighting to stay on Track 1. And I think we have lost a lot of that with the smaller field, no-cut events.”

He said the tour is aiming to return to a “competitive meritocracy that makes golf unique.”

Rolapp’s remarks land amid months of speculation that the PGA Tour’s move toward scarcity, simplicity, and parity—pillars he has emphasized since appointing a Future Competition Committee in August—could lead to a smaller, more streamlined schedule that produces fewer opportunities for players.

But Wednesday, he described a different outcome.

“I think when you see where we land, you’re not going to see that,” Rolapp said. “But what you are going to see is an elevation of tournaments. And you’re going to have a collection of Track 1 that are special, that are bigger. I think what we have found as we’ve talked to sponsors both for Track 1 and Track 2. there’s a lot of demand for both. And the price points will be different.”.

He also addressed the idea that the biggest events could be financially out of reach for some organizations.

“The bigger events … not everyone can afford and may not be sort of consistent with their business goals,” Rolapp said. “That’s great. There’s other price points too for it. and I think there’s plenty of demand for both Track 1 and Track 2 in that regard because there’s definitely people who want to invest different amounts in these events.”.

The postseason picture is changing too. Rolapp said he invited all of the PGA Tour’s broadcast partners—and even companies without contracts, including streaming services—to help shape the tour’s thinking as it prepares for a new media rights deal.

A fuller update is expected after the next board meeting. Rolapp pointed to June 23—one day after that meeting—for a complete report.

“I feel good where we are, but I also had expectations that it wasn’t going to be easy,” he said. “You don’t have a good process if there’s not tension. That means you’re not asking the right questions.”

Still unresolved are the practical details fans will care about: which specific tournaments would land on Track 1 and Track 2, which courses they would play, and whether the tour would pursue bigger markets it has not emphasized, including New York, Chicago, Boston, Denver, and Philadelphia.

There is also the question of how the tour handles players who moved to LIV Golf, a rival league now facing changes after the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia said it would stop paying for it after this year.

Brooks Koepka ended his LIV contract and took advantage of a program the PGA Tour created that allowed him to return immediately. with financial stipulations including a $5 million charity donation and no access to PGA Tour equity for five years. Patrick Reed. Rolapp said. is on his way back through the European tour. but is not eligible for PGA Tour events for one year since his last LIV appearance.

Bryson DeChambeau’s situation is more complicated because DeChambeau was among those who kept his name on an antitrust lawsuit against the tour.

Rolapp said he would not focus on LIV players until it is time.

“All fans want the best golfers in the world together. I think we have most of them, pretty close to all of them. And we’re building a tour that attracts the best players in the world,” Rolapp said. “I think this new model will even improve upon that.

“But we do have to account for whatever lingering discipline is left, or rules that have been broken,” he said. “There’s scar tissue, and that has to be accounted for. That’s not to say we’re going to be punitive, it’s just that we’re a membership organization of rules.”

For Rolapp, the central promise is straightforward: expand fields, restore the cut, and make the path through the season feel like it once did—decided by results rather than by a format that leaves fewer golfers with something to fight for.

PGA Tour Brian Rolapp 36-hole cut Track 1 Track 2 golf LIV Golf media rights postseason Future Competition Committee