Recent decisions by the PGA Tour have some top players and analysts questioning the direction of the sport. From shrinking field sizes to new broadcast strategies, the Tour’s moves are drawing scrutiny and sparking debate among golfers.

“We’re the only sport that decreased the number of teams or players. Every other sport has expanded their playoffs or expanded their fields,” argued Lucas Glover recently. He was completely against the idea of the PGA Tour reducing field sizes in 2026 to tackle the pace of play. While these plans were made under Jay Monahan, Brian Rolapp has left them untouched since taking over as CEO. This is a stance that worries Brandel Chamblee, who fears Rolapp and his team might implement strategies that are “flat out wrong.”

Chamblee recently 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.”

Having achieved success with the NFL, Rolapp clearly knows how to drive profitability. All his plans so far have been quite calculated. This has shifted 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…sacrifice the pipeline that developed stars and the philanthropy underpinned by the PGA Tour. I don’t know if you could make the full case that LIV will be good for the Tour. 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. When the world’s #1 and #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 with as large a field as possible. The difference between the best and the rest is only about 2 or 3%. If you’ve got 120 players versus 50, you’ve got 70 guys. 5 or 6 of them will have the best week of their lives. Shrinking fields to accommodate stars is literally letting the inmates run the asylum. I feel like there’s a push to get that done, and it’s misguided in a tremendous way.”

As Brandel Chamblee explained, reducing field sizes on the PGA Tour serves little purpose. Without top players to drive the narrative, smaller fields only magnify the Tour’s flaws. Larger fields give more players a chance to shine and create compelling stories. The question now is, what should Brian Rolapp do instead?

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Rolapp’s options to engage players and fans

Jay Monahan & Co. faced heavy criticism in recent years for missteps in competing with LIV Golf.. While the Saudi-based promotion stabilized, the PGA Tour struggled in 2024, with a slow pace of play, Signature events, and other factors hurting ratings. The question now is how Brian Rolapp can reverse these trends.

Voices like Lucas Glover, Erik van Rooyen, and Brandel Chamblee have made it clear that simply reducing field sizes is not the solution. Instead, Rolapp could rethink formats to better engage players and fans.

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.