If the crowd at Tuesday’s player meeting at the Travelers Championship wasn’t an indication of serious times in the world of golf, the duration of the meeting certainly was.
Tuesday’s near-capacity meeting with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, which began at 7:30 a.m. ET, lasted more than an hour and covered predictable topics ranging from the ongoing threat of LIV Golf to how the circuit’s fall schedule is poised to be reworked.
According to players at Tuesday’s meeting, Monahan outlined how the new fall schedule is evolving. The proposal for the fall would feature three to four marquee events for the Tour’s top players that will be played around the globe, as well as a reworked domestic schedule that would be transformed into a type of qualifying series for the next season.
Full-field tee times from Travelers Championship
The Tour is also considering adjustments to the regular-season schedule, including increased purses and limited fields at already existing events that will cater to the circuit’s top stars. According to sources, as many as eight regular-season events could be “enhanced.”
In addition, the commissioner reiterated seemingly-permanent consequences for those players who have committed to LIV Golf – the Saudi-backed league that has already wooed the likes of Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau. The commissioner stressed that there is no way back to the Tour for these players, according to multiple players.
“[Monahan] seemed like he’s on a mission,” said one player who attended the meeting.
The Tour indefinitely suspended 17 Tour members earlier this month following the first LIV event in London, and that list appears to be growing with outlets reporting Tuesday that Brooks Koepka has agreed to join the rival circuit. Requests for comment from both LIV Golf and Koepka’s representatives were not returned.
Following the players’ meeting, Monahan had a policy board meeting scheduled, and by all accounts, the Tour is poised to take a harder look at what is currently called a “strategic alliance” with the DP World Tour (formerly European Tour). In August 2021, the two tours began their alliance and, according to various sources, the PGA Tour is considering expanding its relationship with the DP World Tour, although Monahan didn’t go into details on Tuesday about what exactly the new partnership could look like.
“There’s only so much he can say,” said another player. “He can’t show his hand. There were probably players [at Tuesday’s meeting] who will end up at LIV.”