“We’re the only sport that decreased the number of teams or players; every other sport has expanded their playoffs or expanded their fields,” said Lucas Glover. He was completely against the idea of the PGA Tour reducing field sizes in 2026 to tackle the pace of play. While the plans were made under Jay Monahan & Co., Brian Rolapp hasn’t made any changes to them ever since he took over as the CEO. And that worries Brandel Chamblee as he believes that Rolapp & his team might adapt strategies for the Tour that might be “flat out wrong”.

Chamblee joined Trey Wingo for a conversation on YouTube. They talked on various topics, including Donald Trump’s feelings on LIV Golf and how Phil Mickelson might have misled Jon Rahm into joining the Saudi-based promotion. During one of the segments, the host brought up how streaming services bring in a lot more viewership and profit for sports now than TV broadcasts. Chamble agreed with Wingo before telling him, “I think the PGA Tour will experiment with simultaneously casting events. These people are incredibly smart, at the helm, with Brian Rolapp going over to the PGA Tour. I think they will try to maximize profit.”

Knowing how much success Rolapp achieved with the NFL, he certainly knows how to help a business achieve profitability. And all his plans so far have been quite calculative, not utilizing the SSG money, reducing the PGA Tour Champions pension funds, and shifting the focus away from the merger. So it’s evident that the new CEO certainly has a plan in mind. However, Chamblee still has some concerns about the future.

“That worries me that they will do it in a process; they will, to some degree, sacrifice the pipeline that developed stars and the philanthropy that is underpinned by the PGA Tour. So I don’t know if you could make the absolute full case that LIV is going to be, in the long run, good for the PGA Tour. I think you could easily make a bare case that LIV is not going to be great for the PGA Tour. If it destroys the pipeline that builds stars…”

The new field sizes from 2026 also had a major effect on the qualification criteria for the PGA Tour. As confirmed by the Korn Ferry Tour, only the top 20 players on the leaderboard will receive a PGA Tour card for 2026. This will help accommodate them to the reduced field sizes from next season. But that is not the only concern of Brandel Chamblee. He also believes that the Signature events are a huge issue that is causing a lot of unrest on the Tour.

“This idea that we need more shortened events with elite fields is just flat out wrong. They don’t have the buzz on the property with these 60-80 man fields with no cut. You get there in the morning, and there are two or three guys on the range, not 10 or 15. You’re guaranteeing to your audience that they are not seeing the best golf.” Apart from some attractions like Scottie Scheffler & Rory McIlroy, no other player really pulls the viewership as much on the PGA Tour. And when the world #1 & 2 decide to skip these Signature events, then the tournament doesn’t have the firepower to really attract an audience with a limited field. Chamblee has an alternate solution for that.

“Because the best golf will come about with as large a field as possible. Because the difference between the best and the rest is only about 2 or 3%. So if you’ve got 120 players versus 50 players, you’ve got 70 guys. And of those 70 guys, 5-6 of them will have the best week of their lives. In other words, you’re going to see the best golf in the larger field you have. The idea of shrinking fields and accommodating stars is literally letting the inmates run the asylum. You can’t do that. I feel like there’s a push to get that done, and I feel like that’s misguided in a tremendous way.”

As Brandel Chamblee stated, there is no point in the PGA Tour trying to host reduced-field events. It only magnifies the flaws in the Tour if there is no top player to drive the narrative. Larger fields will give more players to prove themselves and build compelling stories every tournament. It is a tried and tested formula that worked efficiently before LIV Golf came into existence and Jay Monahan introduced Signature events. So there is no point changing it now. So what can Brian Rolapp do instead?

What should Brian Rolapp do instead of resorting to reduced field events?

Over the last few years, Jay Monahan & Co. have taken a lot of heat for the many errors they have made in trying to compete with LIV Golf. And while the Saudi-based promotion has found stability, the PGA Tour endured one of its worst seasons in 2024 in terms of TV ratings. The lack of attention to the slow pace of play, the introduction of Signature events, and numerous other factors contributed to the PGA Tour’s horrendous performance. Brian Rolapp can change things back to the way they were before thinking of growth.

With the likes of Lucas Glover, Erik van Rooyen, and now Brandel Chamblee complaining about it, Rolapp can restructure the format of Signature events. Perhaps, reducing the field size is not the correct approach. He can maybe try to introduce matchplay, which the golf community is quite fond of. That also accommodates a much larger field, which will increase interest from players and motivate them to stay loyal to the Tour. Alternatively, he can consider stricter regulations for slow-play offenses. Hopefully, that will also encourage the pros to play quicker. Either way, continuing with Jay Monahan’s highly criticized strategies is certainly not the way to go if he wants to keep attracting the fans.