The PGA Tour canceled The Sentry 2026 because of drought conditions in Hawaii. Ever since the decision came out, debates about the tour’s opening schedule have started in the golf world. Many golf analysts and even pro golfers said that this might not be the only event off the schedule going forward. Some speculated that the PGA Tour’s new CEO, Brian Rolapp, would want to start further later in January. Ryder Cup star Harris English also commented on the same.

Reflecting on the same, the host at the CNBC CEO Council Experience Forum in Florida asked Brian Rolapp his take on the rumors and if there’s any truth to them. Rolapp brought in Tiger Woods to address the question. He hinted at how the Future Competition Committee, chaired by Woods, is working on the very same issue. Woods and the members of the committee are tasked with determining what the stakeholders of the PGA Tour, including fans, sponsors, media partners, and others, want. And based on that, the committee needs to find out if the PGA Tour should start later. If yes, then how can they pack the events on the calendar to make it understandable to golf fans?

“No. No. Nothing’s been decided,” Brian Rolapp said. “If you go further upstream, what Harris is also referring to is, when I was not in long, the first thing I decided to do was announce, a new committee called the Future Competition Committee, which is chaired by Tiger Woods and is made up of a handful of players and some outside advisers, which is aimed at looking at the competitive product with the idea of how do we make it better for players and for fans and our partners.”

The PGA Tour CEO created the Future Competition Committee in August 2025. “The goal is not incremental change,” Rolapp said. “The goal is significant change.” Besides Tiger Woods as chairman, the committee includes Patrick Cantlay, Adam Scott, Camilo Villegas, Maverick McNealy, Keith Mitchell, and others as members. As Brian Rolapp pointed out, the aim is to make golf more competitive and engaging for fans and partners. However, the PGA Tour usually has lower viewership in January because of the NFL playoffs. This has led to rumors about a later start.

The Future Competition Committee is working to come up with a solution for this. And discussions are already underway. The committee is actively discussing how the schedule should look, how to make events bigger, and how to fit those major events together in a single season. “Nothing’s been decided, but that’s the committee’s job. It’s trending that way,” Brian Rolapp said.

Being the chairman of the Future Competition Committee, it’s Tiger Woods’ job to work with the committee’s members and come up with a solution. While the PGA Tour has not decided anything yet, it’s obvious that competing with the NFL is close to impossible for golf. So in some aspect, it does make sense to make the move. But if Tiger Woods & company decide to make this change, there’s also the task of squeezing in these events canceled from the start of January into the calendar.

Rolapp also admitted that the PGA Tour willingly gave the Future Competition Committee a lot on their plate. “Yeah. I could see that. I think, you know, I think there’s a lot of common themes. One thing we did in this committee, which is important, is we launched it with more questions than answers. And we did that on purpose because we want it to be informed by data, research, and our partners,” the CEO said.

To come up with the solution, Tiger Woods & co. were part of several meetings with media partners and sponsors. Moreover, the PGA Tour surveyed fans to know what they want to see. The committee is actively weighing feedback from all these stakeholders while shaping the schedule for the PGA Tour in 2027 and beyond.

Many golf analysts, including Taylor Zarzour, have said that the PGA Tour should make this move. However, when it comes from professional golfers like Harris English, it carries more weight.

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Harris English’s comments on a later start

Harris English admitted that having a later start to the PGA Tour will be a good idea. He even hinted that instead of having eight signature events, there should be 20 to 22 events on the PGA Tour and each should be of the same caliber. “They’ll have 20, 22 events that are all the same. I think that’s a good model to have. That’s where you’ll see all the top players play every single event because you can’t really afford to take one off,” English said.

He said this considering Brian Rolapp’s aim. Rolapp has stated his intention to have elite golfers play all events. And if that’s what Rolapp is after, English’s comments make perfect sense. If the PGA Tour wants to have its elite golfers play all the events, make all of them important. When all events are of the same caliber, just like the signature events, golfers won’t be able to skip them. And if more elite golfers enter the field, viewership will likely go up, too.

CEO Brian Rolapp and Strategic Sports Group investors want a competitive, streamlined model. The Tour is already moving toward fewer cards and smaller fields in 2026. Instead of 125, only 100 golfers get fully exempt status. The field sizes for certain events are also shrinking. Fewer events on the PGA Tour could add to this and make the PGA Tour more competitive.

Tiger Woods and the committee face a complex puzzle. But the pressure to strengthen the product has pushed these conversations to the forefront. Whatever direction they choose, the decisions will shape the future of the PGA Tour.