“How do you actually drive a competitive schedule where every event matters?” That was the question new CEO Brian Rolapp raised preceding the 2025 TOUR Championship. His answer was already decided, though. Adding another Signature event to the already hectic PGA Tour schedule. Between the Masters Tournament and the PGA Championship, the golfers will now have 3 Signature events to participate in. And in their attempt to make every event matter, Rolapp may have just made an event completely irrelevant from 2026 onwards.

Bob Harig was one of the first experts to bring attention to this issue. Soon after the upcoming year’s schedule was released, Sports Illustrated published his article that reflected on how the PGA Tour is messing up its momentum with the new events. As Haring mentioned, adding the Miami Championship between the Masters and the PGA Championship creates a lot of mess. Players like Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, and Co. will now have to choose between the RBC Heritage, the trip to Trump Doral, and the Truist Championship. Who loses here? The Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

Granted, Scheffler may not have shown much interest in it, but McIlroy has. And the Irishman’s participation, along with Shane Lowry, in the last couple of years has helped boost the ratings of the event. Watching the two win it in 2024 was an enjoyable experience for many fans. Having them defend the title in 2025 with Rory as a Grand Slam Champion was just thrilling. But with the Miami Championship and the Truist Championship to follow, the world #2 will have very little motivation to take the trip to TPC Louisiana with Lowry for the third year in a row. McIlroy has anyways talked at length about being more mindful of his schedule. 

Harig also talked about how overburdening the PGA Tour schedule with Signature events is not the ideal strategy. He said, “It’s horrible for the rest of the PGA Tour regular events, which at least had some hope of name players working those tournaments into their schedule. But now there is yet another $20 million tournament—without a 36-hole cut—as competition.” Premium player events that restrict lower-ranked golfers demotivate players who fall outside the top-72 bracket. And PGA Tour pros have raised their concerns about this in the past.

Lucas Glover was one of the first individuals to criticize Jay Monahan & Co. for the introduction of Signature events. While the PGA Tour management had taken the step to battle LIV Golf’s big-money tournaments, the veteran golfer still didn’t understand why they needed to limit the field size and restrict some top players from entering the tournament. Calling the concept “money grab” and “selfish”, the 45-year-old said, “Nothing that has happened in the last two years in golf, in my opinion, that will help the game. I’ve yet to figure out what’s so bad out here that we had to do all the things we’ve done.”

The introduction of the Signature events has only created more complications than competition. While fans are still happy to watch their favorite players compete, the value of the product presented by the Tour has dropped overall due to segregation of the tournament categories. Going from the majors to the Signature events, to the regular events, and lastly the alternate events, fans pick and choose what to watch depending on the status of the tournament. Moreover, big stars skipping Signature tournaments makes bigger news than what happens in the event itself. For instance, Tiger Woods has an exemption to play in all signature events, but he doesn’t.

South African pro, Erik Van Rooyen, also discussed his strong dislike for the concept. In an honest take on Signature event, he said, “How honest do you want me to be? I hate it. I strongly believe that the strongest fields are the ones with the most players in them. The guys on the PGA Tour are so good. It’s so deep. I get that you’ve got the Scotties of the world, the Rorys of the world, and people want to see them, it’s entertaining. That’s part of why the PGA Tour is the greatest tour in the world. It’s so deep, it’s so strong.”

While showing strong support for the PGA Tour, Rooyen was strictly against the idea of limiting the field size for Signature events. He believes that the best fields are the ones that have more competition, and fewer players lack the diversity to offer that. While it’s great watching the same big-name, fan favorite win big-money events, things get even more exciting when an underdog rises to the occasion and beats a strong field to lift the title. Fans witnessed that when Ben Griffin won the 2025 Charles Schwab Cup against Scottie Scheffler. Even Chris Gotterup’s Scottish Open victory against Rory McIlroy was thrilling to watch.

Rory has already expressed his opinion on the 2026 schedule, referring to it as a workload.

“I mean, geez, I think it’s all positive when you have — golf builds through the January, February, March months, and obviously golf gets a huge popularity spike or whatever through Augusta; and then to try to keep that momentum going, keep that momentum going through the next few weeks, through the PGA, U.S. Open, I think it’s a good thing. It’s quite a bit of a workload for the players to play that much golf in that stretch, but I think it’s not as if we’re having to travel halfway around the world to do it. These are all pretty easy stops on the East Coast for the most part,” McIlroy said at the 2025 TOUR Championship.

Having said that, how much value do Signature events really hold on the PGA Tour calendar? The world No. 1 & 2 both proved that they don’t bother much about the prize money they boasted earlier this year.

Scottie Scheffler & Rory McIlroy remain unfazed by the millions offered in Signature events

The $20 million might be an attractive prospect to someone who is just starting in golf. Newly promoted young players like Luke Clanton would be eager to get into the field of The Sentry or the Miami Championship next season to earn a big paycheck. However, guys like Scottie & Rory are not attracted by the prize money offered in these events. Having made millions over the years after winning multiple titles, the two best golfers in the world are not financially motivated to participate in PGA Tour events.

Rory McIlroy proved that when he skipped important Signature events like The Sentry, the RBC Heritage, and the Memorial Tournament. The last event, hosted by Jack Nicklaus, was the most surprising decision the Irishman took, since he had approached the Golden Bear earlier in the year to seek advice for turning his luck around at Augusta National. Scheffler had done something similar as he opted to play in the CJ Cup Byron Nelson in his hometown of Dallas, Texas, instead of the Truist Championship the following week.

Brian Rolapp is unable to guarantee Scheffler and McIlroy’s participation in these Signature events. And by adding another tournament to the mix, they have not only made things worse for the 2026 schedule but also risked infuriating the sponsors of other regular events. His attempt to make the Tour more competitive may just have made it more complicated.