Scottie Scheffler reflects on risks of crowded PGA Tour schedule
Scottie Scheffler reflected on the risks of a crowded PGA Tour schedule after CEO Brian Rolapp announced a new competitive structure for the 2028 season.
Video Transcript
And PGA Tour CEO, Brian Rolapp, confirmed the parameters of a competitive schedule in twenty-twenty-eight.
Looking to start big in mid-February and run through the end of August with the Tour Championship.
That's looking at roughly twenty-three to twenty-four events that are crammed into a seven-month time period.
I asked Brian Rolapp on Tuesday if he was concerned at all about load management, the idea is that the top players are cramming in so many tournaments in such a short window of time.
I think that was, It's important to note that it had a lot of conversation because we've been very clear we're trying to create a competition in times of the year when we think we can get the most attention.
and we think this time of the year, we think that's an opportunity to do that.
We also understand that, PGA Tour members cannot play every week, nor are we requiring them to do that.
So we aren't changing the model.
They're not under contract.
We're not gonna force them to play anything.
But we do think we've designed a model that will allow them to take some tournaments off and still compete for the regular season title and other things.
And I think if you look at the math, we think we will deliver very, very strong fields week in and week out, and that's the entire point.
Now, the continual wear and tear on players' bodies is going to continue to be a talking point over the next couple of months, not just for the top players like Scottie Scheffler, but also the dozens of international players who won't just be playing the PGA Tour schedule, but they're also expected to play deep into the fall with some international events as well.
Yeah, I mean, I think when you, when you look at this sport, it's unique in a sense of like the amount of time we spend in front of people throughout a week.
Like for me to play four days of tournament golf, like from the moment I step out onto the driving range, if we're playing at a four-hour pace, that's over five hours, five and a half hours if you include this part of my day, where we're in front of people, and doing that four days in a row in a mental sport I think can take a toll on you.
I think that's why you see a guy like Tiger can only play so many events because I think mentally the challenge of just being in front of people for that long and being on and what it takes in order to compete week in, week, week out takes a lot out of you mentally.
So for me, playing more than three weeks in a row is extraordinarily difficult.
You know, I can't handle much more than that.
And when you look at the season now, I think it-- for family time, it's great to have an off season as well, just for us, for me to be able to be at home with my family is important.
as far as the cadence goes, yeah, I definitely have a cadence that I prefer when it comes to scheduling and there, there are definitely risks cramming a bunch of tournaments into little windows just because, it's hard to play that many tournaments in a row.
It's hard to be on for that many times.
It's hard to get yelled at that many times in a row throughout a round of golf.
It, it just is.
And, that's why for me, three weeks in a row is, is, is kinda my max.
I think obviously that that is a lot of golf, but I think it's still very, very much achievable in that amount of time.
I'm sure they'll space it out where it's good runs of two events, three events back to back, perhaps four here and there, which I think is a good rhythm.
so yeah, I'm, I'm sure that will be done in, in a very good manner, and I think the benefit that that gives is just longer, longer off seasons and the choice to do what you would like to do during that.
Sometimes that might mean playing in the fall over here.
It might mean playing in Europe.
It might mean having a little bit more time away.
So I think, yeah, it's a, yeah, it's a really good looking schedule overall.
Yeah, I, I think over the last few years, the schedule has, has been getting more and more condensed.
you know, one of the great things about it is you have, pretty much all the best players or the majority of best players playing, all at the same time.
So that's obviously a, a, a great thing, from a fan's, fan's perspective and a, and playing perspective.
You get to play against each other all the time.
and yeah, of course, like it comes with its challenges, and I think for all of us we, you know, you continue to, you continue to learn, how, how your game goes throughout the year, how your body reacts.
I think, you know, you get to this time of year, and I think over the last two couple of years, you can definitely see, it's, it's easy to start feeling tired.
I think niggles start to happen in the body and stuff like that.
I think mentally it can have its, have its strains.
But, you, you know, we're having the opportunity to learn from that and then put that into the following season as well.
So I think, yeah, seeing how the schedule, like, continues to evolve, how much golf we'll play, in that period of time, and then looking at how we can best manage that I think, I, I think is really, really important.
But like I say, it does have its, have its benefits.
I think for us, as European golfers, you know, we've had the opportunity over the last few years to play over in Europe from that per- that period of September through to November, December, and I think that's, that's great for us.
So, that, that's, that's worked really, really well.
but yeah, like for sure, there's a lot of golf, a lot of intensity, and, you just have to keep learning how to manage that as best as possible.
It's important to point out that the new competitive schedule is not expected to be unveiled until the first quarter of twenty-twenty-seven.
So the schedule cadence, when those tournaments are gonna be scheduled, and perhaps most importantly, when the off weeks are going to be built into the twenty-twenty eight PGA Tour schedule.
I can guarantee you, Anna, those are gonna be continue to be hotly debated until that time.
