Pressure Mounts on Tiger Woods as PGA Tour’s Flailing Fall Stretch Tests His Leadership

For the first time in recent memory, the PGA Tour’s fall season is receiving more attention than it usually does. Next week’s Procore Championship, the first of seven FedExCup Fall events, features 10 of the 12 U.S. Ryder Cup players. But don’t be fooled by the temporary noise, as the fall stretch is still in a precarious position, and now, all the pressure is on Tiger Woods and his new committee to fix it.

The Procore Championship begins September 11 at Silverado Resort, featuring several top players in sharp contrast to last year’s quiet fall season, when stars like Scottie Scheffler stayed home and the leaderboard lacked excitement. This year’s boost comes from Ryder Cup prep, but without lasting changes, the fall season will soon return to its usual low energy, low stakes, and limited fan interest.

At this point, Tiger Woods’ new committee, the Future Competition Committee, may be the Tour’s only real hope of turning this stretch into something more meaningful and engaging for both players and fans alike. As Eamon Lynch sharply put it — “Perhaps a long-term solution for this portion of the schedule will emerge from the Tiger Woods-chaired Future Competition Committee that is reviewing the Tour’s business. Let’s hope so, because this ain’t it.” Outside of Ryder Cup prep, most top-50 FedExCup players skip the fall since their spots for next season are secure.

This leaves fans watching lower-ranked players fight to keep their cards, adding to the pressure on Tiger Woods and his committee to revitalize the fall schedule. That vision is now in the hands of the newly formed Future Competition Committee, which is chaired by Tiger Woods and was created by CEO Brian Rolapp on August 20, 2025, roughly 18 days into his tenure.

The nine-member group includes influential Tour players like Patrick Cantlay and Adam Scott, partnered with the Strategic Sports Group to redefine “the optimal competitive model that enhances the PGA Tour’s value to fans, players, and partners.” Rolapp’s vision with this committee isn’t just to make small tweaks, but rather significant changes to the tour.

“The goal is not incremental change. The goal is significant change,” he said during the press conference at East Lake, where he announced the big step. The committee, as Rolapp highlighted, will operate on three principles: Parity, Scarcity, and Simplicity. While the tour has achieved competitive parity thanks to the depth of talent, the other two pillars have been sorely lacking. Scarcity was highlighted with the vision of ensuring top players compete together often to keep fans engaged, and simplicity, in better tying together the regular season and postseason. Clearly, neither of these two principles holds for the fall season.

While the committee works behind the scenes to reshape the Tour’s future, this week’s Procore Championship offers a rare glimpse into what a fall event could look like.

Who is teeing it up at the Procore Championship this week?

Ten members of the U.S. Ryder Cup team are set to tee it up at next week’s Procore Championship at Silverado Resort, including big names like Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas, and Sam Burns, to name a few. This unusually stacked field for a fall event comes at the urging of Captain Keegan Bradley, who’s determined to avoid the sluggish start that plagued Team USA during the 2023 Ryder Cup loss in Rome. Bradley emphasized the need for sharper preparation, calling this tournament a crucial final tune-up before the team heads overseas.

However, not everyone is on board. Xander Schauffele, a Ryder Cup automatic qualifier who had a standout 2024 season with two major wins, is notably absent from the field. Schauffele struggled throughout this season and failed to qualify for the Tour Championship, finishing 42nd in the FedEx Cup standings. Asked in August if he planned to play in Napa, he was evasive — “I wouldn’t say there’s an expectation for us to play, but a lot of us do want to play just to stay fresh… I’ll have an even longer break, so we’ll see how that goes.” He, along with Bryson DeChambeau, is the only two members of the team skipping the event this week. Bryson DeChambeau is absent because he is banned from the PGA Tour due to his ties to LIV Golf.