Brian Rolapp is making some cuts, and it’s the PGA Tour veterans who are paying the price for it. For many years, the top players on the Champions Tour have been benefiting from a policy that allowed them to dip into their pension benefits for retirement. Every year, players who finish in the top 48 in Senior Tour events receive a pension fund for their continued contribution. However, as per the latest reports, Rolapp has decided to narrow down the total amount allotted to the veterans.

As confirmed by Golfweek’s Adam Schupak on X, the PGA Tour Champions pension pool has been cut by 20% from $10 million to $8 million. The funds were awarded to all players who played at least 12 events in a season and finished inside the top 48 in one of them. That means quite a huge number of senior players received paychecks from the PGA Tour for continuing to play. However, their compensation will now be narrowed down by 20% from next season onwards.

The major step by Rolapp & his office was not met well by the Senior Tour pros and their associates. Peter Jacobsen, who plays and commentates for the 50-and-over Tour, said, “It’s disheartening. The PGA Tour clearly has a lot of money right now, and they’re spending a lot of money keeping players from going to LIV, and we’ve kind of slowly become LIV. I think we are giving way too much money to way too few players on the PGA Tour, and the players on the Champions Tour live by the decisions made by the PGA Tour.”

Ever since the introduction of Signature Events to compete with LIV Golf, the PGA Tour has been heavily criticized for being too focused on the top talent. That has led to a major backlash from talent who don’t meet that criteria for them. Players like Lucas Glover and Erik van Rooyen criticized the outgoing commissioner, Jay Monahan, for limiting the opportunities for other players. With Rolapp, everyone had hoped things would improve. But his move to cut the pension funds for the PGA Tour Champions suggests otherwise.

PGA Tour Champions pro, Billy Andrade, also had something to say about the recent cuts. He stated, “This guy’s coming in, he’s like Keyser Soze, you know, from ‘The Usual Suspects’. He’s just slashing stuff and, you know, everyone’s taking a pay cut except the PGA Tour players. This is the same pension that 25 years ago was $10 million. So, it’s like, wait a second, our pension should be like $20 million to $25 million, not $10 (million) going to $8 (million).”

With the PGA Tour consistently making more profit each year, Andrade believes the PGA Tour should be increasing the pension funds instead of reducing them. He was hoping it would go up to $20 million now that the new CEO on the seat and there is a huge pot from the SSG to utilize.

Many others held such an opinion about the huge announcement of the PGA Tour. But not everyone had only negative things to say about what Brian Rolapp was planning for the PGA Tour. Let’s see what a few others also said about the new CEO’s plans.

Brian Rolapp gets some support despite making big cuts

Brian Rolapp may be treating the PGA Tour Champions veterans harshly. Even though the seniors don’t bring in as much revenue as the main Tour. Despite that, most of the strategies proposed by the new PGA Tour CEO have been a hit with the golf community so far. His statement regarding the merger and how he is not focused on the unification, but instead strengthening what the Tour already has, received loads of support in the community. Rolapp’s patience in utilizing the SSG funds strategically has also been largely accepted.

That might be the reason, or he might have some insider scoop regarding what’s going on in the background, but Jim Furyk is not giving up on the new boss. The former Ryder Cup captain advised everyone to have patience until Brian Rolapp rolls out the full strategy before judging him. Furyk seems to believe that the new PGA Tour CEO might have something better in place that might explain why he reduced the pension plan by 20%. All that everyone can do now is wait for his press conference.