Pebble Beach, California (AP) – The PGA Tour carefully examines the opportunity to allow telemers and publish violations as part of a complete study on the rhythm of the game and other improvements in the game that came out of A survey of 50,000 golf fans.
Tour officials were deliberately short of details on Wednesday at a meeting with journalists on the “Fan Forward” initiative that Commissioner Jay Monahan announced a year ago. We expect it to be in more detail in the players’ championship in March.
But the preview session in Pebble Beach supported Monahan’s message at the end of last year that “everything is on the table” while the PGA Tour embarks on a series of changes.
“I think that when we roll the chronometer of three, five, 10 years, we will look back 2025 as a inflection point in the evolution of the tour,” said Andy Weitz, director of marketing and communications for The tour.
He said that part of this was the growth in the investment capital of Strategic Sports Group, which put $ 1.5 billion in PGA Tour Enterprise with the potential to double the amount.
Fenway Sports Group, a large part of SSG, A Theo Epstein as a main advisor. Epstein, former director general of Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs, worked with the major baseball league on recent changes that include a pitch clock and larger bases to encourage more flight.
The shooting stopwatch has been mentioned to help improve the rhythm of the game on tour, and the subject has grown in recent weeks when the last three -year round has taken around 5 1/2 hours to finish.
Weitz said the tour had formed a study group a month ago with three players – Sam Burns, Jhonattan Vegas and Adam Schenk – who would probably transmit their conclusions to the Advisory Council of players, a panel of 16 members who were more involved than ever.
Telemeters – or distance measurement devices – are currently only authorized in the PGA championship. The tour tries to find a place in the calendar for a test to see if it helps to speed up the game by encouraging players faster.
Gary Young, main vice-president of the rules and competition, said that samples tests could be at signature events that have smaller fields, or perhaps a tournament like the Zurich Classic which presents the competition team.
The potential for the disclosure of violations would be a break in the PGA Tour tradition. The tour is different from most other sports leagues in that it has never revealed fines, disciplinary measures or violations related to the rhythm of the game. The tour has long considered that it would be a little more than a distraction. What he heard from fans was a need for more transparency.
“I think there is a real moment now for everything to be examined,” said PGA Tour, Tyler Dennis.
Weitz said the discussion had met with little players. He had breakfast Wednesday morning with Max Homa and said that Homa had said to him: “We want to hold each other managers, and we want to play in a way that is the best version of the experience of fans . “
Another example to help at the speed of play was the use of a video examination center in the new PGA Tour studios in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
All the changes came from the “Fan Forward” program, which included an investigation from a council of fans began in 2017. An outdoor agency helped the Tour reach 50,000 fans that were interviewed in three waves.
Subjects:
– Improvement of diffusion, a large part intended to show more shots, more significant consequences (such as the cut of 36 holes) and fewer tap-ins.
– Competition adjustments, which includes the student tour another change in format in the Tour championship. According to players’ comments, a proposal could appear before the board of directors as early as March.
“If we can get an alignment between a concept, we will do it from ’25. If this is the case: “Yes, we love this idea but” and he needs more conversation, it will be to be “26 because there will be more to cross,” said Billy Schroeder, main vice-president competitions.
– Player content and profile. Weitz said that for ages 18 to 34, fans were most interested in the personality on the course, then outside the course, and finally competitive performance.
– Fans of fans on the golf course and what golf can learn from other sports in which all the land cannot be seen in one place. Formula 1 was an example.
The tour has already undergone changes focused on players in recent years, such as signing events of $ 20 million with smaller and cutting fields, reducing field sizes in 2026 and reducing 100 players of 125 125 Fedex Cup players who keep the cards complete.
More changes could be on the way, some of them are already studied.
“If the voice of the fans is at the center of what we do, we are on the right track,” said Weitz.
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