Details of Tuesday's players-only meeting led by Tiger Woods are slowly coming to light as No Laying Up reported the particulars of the gathering of some of the world's best golfers. In total, 23 golfers were in attendance as they listened to Woods and Rory McIlroy's proposal to move the PGA Tour in a new direction and incentivize those players to compete in the same tournaments on a more regular basis.
The report stated: "According to multiple sources close to the situation, the proposed plan would involve limiting fields and elevating purses at up to 15 events on the PGA Tour, creating a series of events around which the game's top players have all committed to build their schedules."
Per the same report, Woods and McIlroy have been working on such a plan since early July when they first hosted a players meeting at the J.P. McManus Pro-Am in Ireland. In addition to their peers, the two headmen have sought the advice of consultants and advisors including PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan -- who met with players on Wednesday -- to determine the feasibility of their vision.
There are still attributes of the proposal which still need to be hashed out in unison with the PGA Tour such as which events will receive elevated status and how many players will be featured in these tournaments. In addition to the 15 elevated events, players will be required to play in three run-of-the-mill PGA Tour events.
Personally, I would love to see them rotate which events are elevated as one could only imagine the scenes in Minnesota when Scottie Scheffler and Jon Rahm are battling it out down the stretch at the 3M Open. This would inherently force players to add stops on their calendar they typically would not and add to the history of some of the less esteemed tournaments on tour.
As for those competitors who may be outcasted from these tournaments, their avenue in would be to qualify through regular PGA Tour stops with high finishes much like we see for The Open in the mid-summer months.
Initial reactions to the presentation appear to be strong as all in attendance left Tuesday's meeting in agreement with Woods and McIlroy and voiced their support of the proposal.
Players in attendance
| Player | Official World Golf Ranking |
|---|---|
Scottie Scheffler | 1 |
Patrick Cantlay | 3 |
Rory McIlroy | 4 |
Xander Schauffele | 5 |
Jon Rahm | 6 |
Justin Thomas | 7 |
Collin Morikawa | 8 |
Will Zalatoris | 9 |
Matt Fitzpatrick | 10 |
Viktor Hovland | 11 |
Sam Burns | 12 |
Jordan Spieth | 13 |
Tony Finau | 14 |
Billy Horschel | 15 |
Cameron Young | 17 |
Joaquin Niemann | 18 |
Max Homa | 22 |
Shane Lowry | 23 |
Tyrrell Hatton | 27 |
Kevin Kisner | 29 |
Adam Scott | 32 |
Rickie Fowler | 172 |
Tiger Woods | 1,118 |
There are two early thoughts when reading this report and the first is in regards to those names not listed above. All in all, 16 of the top-20 players in the Official World Golf Rankings were at this meeting with Cameron Smith, Hideki Matsuyama, Sungjae Im and Tom Kim being the four players missing.
Smith, the world No. 2 and Champion Golfer of the Year, withdrew from the BMW Championship due to hip discomfort and was not in the Wilmington area, but has been rumored to have signed on with LIV Golf. Noise around Matsuyama has remained quiet for the time being, but there have been murmurs about his potential departure as well.
Secondly, some may draw parallels from this plan to World Golf Championships or perhaps even the LIV Golf Invitational Series as a guaranteed money grab for the best players on the PGA Tour. While true, this proposal would also improve the product that is the PGA Tour.
This day and age, the best in the game are all playing in the same tournament roughly eight times a year between the major championships, FedEx Cup Playoffs and invitational events like the Genesis Invitational. This would double that total and in turn draw more eyes to the PGA Tour making it a win for fans, top-tier players and executives. The framework is strong, but with all changes to the PGA Tour, it will likely take some time to implement.
Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy are reportedly teaming up to present a new series of exclusive events for the game's top stars. Follow & listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
