The chances of the Premier Golf League ever actually playing remain slim, though the proposed rival league to the PGA Tour and the European Tour certainly has had more staying power than many would have thought. Most players turned their backs on the idea last year, but the concept has reared its head again, thanks in part to an oil tanker full of money from sources in Saudi Arabia.
The idea is to bring a limited field of 40 to 50 of the best players in the world together for both individual and team competition around 18 times a year. Naturally, the PGA Tour and European Tour hate the idea, with PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan reportedly telling players this week anyone playing in the Premier League will be suspended from the PGA Tour. Since the PGA Tour is the goose that has laid the golden egg for most golfers, that’s a threat that has to be taken seriously.
But at least one voice this week, while not completely endorsing the Premier League, pointing out one of the appeals of the league, and in doing so pointed out one of the weaknesses of the PGA Tour.
“I think the fans would love it because they would see the best players play exponentially more times. Instead of four or five times, it would be 20 times,” World Golf Hall of Famer Phil Mickelson told ESPN. “I don’t know what the final number is.”
Larry Bohannan is the golf columnist for the Palm Springs (California) Desert Sun, part of the USA Today Network.
And that is a problem the PGA Tour has to face. PGA Tour members are independent contractors, though they do agree to honor the regulations of the tour. But they can set their own schedules as long as they play a certain number of tournaments each year.
For top players, that means about a dozen events each year when they play against the rest of the top players. That includes the four major championships – which are not technically PGA Tour events, of course – the three World Golf Championships played in North America, The Players Championship and the three FedEx Cup playoff events. Toss in one or two other events like the Genesis Open, the Memorial or the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and that’s about the extent of the top 25 or 30 players facing each other.
Justin Thomas and Dustin Johnson wait on the seventh tee during round one of the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship at Club de Golf Chapultepec on March 1, 2018, in Mexico City, Mexico. (Photo by Ryan Young/PGA TOUR)
Top players missing each other too often
And there is the problem. The PGA Tour has 51 official events on its 2020-021 schedule, a long schedule caused by the strange 2019-20 pandemic season. But if the top golfers in the Official Golf World Rankings only face each other 12 times or so a year, is that enough? Wouldn’t fans prefer to see a field that included the current top five players in the world — Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm, Xander Schaffele and Bryson DeChambeau — more than 12 times a year?
Consider that since the start of the 2019-20 wraparound season, Johnson and Thomas have played in the same event 21 times in a span of 19 months. These aren’t just two top names, these are the No. 1 and No. 2 players in the world.
The current system leaves regular PGA Tour events, like The American Express in La Quinta each January, fighting to get just one or two of the top 10 players each year. Each PGA Tour event has plenty of talented players, like reigning American Express champion Si Woo Kim, but too many PGA Tour events go wanting for the game’s elite players. And that means fans don’t get to see the elite against the elite often enough.
Of course, throwing in with the big-money Premier Golf League would also mean top players would give up the luxury of making their own schedules as they can do on the PGA Tour. But the lure of guaranteed big money of more than $30 million might be enough for some players to seriously consider the switch, at least those closer to the end of their careers.
Most players will not want to change their lifestyles or their ability to control their schedule. And they won’t want to turn their backs on the history and the legacy that can be built on the PGA Tour and in the major championships.
But imagine, if in response to the threat of the Premier League, the PGA Tour pushed to get more of the game’s top players to add two or three or four events to their required number of tournaments each year. Yes, there will have to be more money, as the recently unveiled Players Impact Program shows. But a rival league that showcases the game’s top players 18 times a year might be enough to draw eyes away from the PGA Tour. And that should have the tour looking to react to the Premier Golf League threat once again.
Larry Bohannan is The Desert Sun golf writer. He can be reached at (760) 778-4633 or larry.bohannan@desertsun.com. Follow him on Facebook or on Twitter at @Larry_Bohannan.