Remember when the PGA Tour dismissed LIV Golf as nothing more than glorified “exhibitions”? Commissioner Jay Monahan stood firm, invoking everything from competitive integrity to 9/11 families in his defense of the tour. Players rallied behind him. The message was clear: we don’t need Saudi money, and we certainly won’t stoop to their level.

Fast forward to 2023, and Monahan announced a merger with the very league he’d spent a year demonizing. Players found out on social media. In a heated meeting afterward, they called him a “hypocrite” to his face. He just took it.

Now, as new CEO Brian Rolapp takes control in 2025, one tour veteran is finally saying what many have been thinking: the PGA Tour’s panic-driven response to LIV Golf created bigger problems than the Saudi league ever could.

Kevin Chappell isn’t holding back anymore. The 2017 Valero Texas Open champion recently appeared on GOLF’s Subpar podcast and dropped some uncomfortable truths. He called the Tour’s response to LIV Golf “very reactionary” and admitted it came during “a very emotional decision-making time.”

Chappell gets why they freaked out. “Everyone reacts differently when their job or their lives are threatened,” he explained. But understanding the panic doesn’t excuse the mess it created.

Between 2022 and 2024, the Tour implemented changes so drastic that fans could no longer follow it. Field sizes dropped from 156 to 144 players. Tour cards were reduced from the top 125 to the top 100. Korn Ferry promotions fell from 30 to 20. Monday qualifiers basically disappeared.

“It’s a bummer that the changes were so drastic so quickly, and it’s a bummer that the majority of the fans probably can’t follow what the rules are or what the qualifications are.”

Under Monahan’s leadership, the Tour rolled out eight Signature Events with massive $20 million purses. Five adopted no-cut formats—ironically copying the exact structure Monahan once mocked LIV Golf for using. The commissioner previously dismissed LIV as mere “exhibitions.” Now his tour was becoming what it criticized.

Monahan hasn’t escaped criticism from his own players. Beyond that heated 2023 merger meeting, one tour pro recently told media they’re “fed up with him” because “we can’t get a straight answer from him.” Even Ryan Fox accused the Tour of simply “copying” LIV Golf’s structure with the signature events.

Here’s the reality Chappell highlighted about why the Tour survived. Golfers “don’t necessarily need the money,” he noted. “If the Saudis tried to take over football, the percentage of people that would leave would have been way higher,” Chappell said.

Around 44 of the top 150 players jumped ship—significant but not catastrophic. Still, the Tour treated it like an existential crisis.

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PGA Tour’s rising stars caught in the crossfire

Now the unintended consequences are hitting home. Chappell sees a troubling paradox about pathway opportunities. Thanks to NIL deals and agencies offering tour starts, more amateurs are getting chances. “There’s more pathways to the PGA Tour,” he acknowledged. But overall? “I think it’s much harder” for new pros to actually make it.

Take Michael Brennan. The 23-year-old won the Bank of Utah Championship in October 2024 on a sponsor exemption. Chappell highlighted the darker reality: Brennan’s talent “had to be suppressed for a few years” before he got his shot. The kid dominated the PGA Tour Americas, winning three times in four starts. Yet he still needed a lucky break to bypass the Korn Ferry Tour entirely.

Brennan had been ranked 451st in the world before his breakthrough. How many other talented players are stuck in that cycle?

“I think there’s people just be chasing it way less going forward because they can’t.”

The developmental pipeline is broken. Fewer tour cards. Smaller fields. More amateur opportunities through NIL, sure. But the actual path to sustained tour success? It’s narrower than ever. Meanwhile, agencies cherry-pick elite amateurs for quick starts, leaving everyone else scrambling.

The irony cuts deep. The Tour made drastic changes to protect top players from LIV Golf. Instead, they created a system that squeezes out young talent. Chappell predicts the Tour might “go back to something similar to where it was.” But how much damage gets done first?