While this golfing year will be remembered for some historic and exciting action, the off-course maneuvers in 2025 will also leave a very important legacy.
A group of new bosses is setting the stage for a rapid evolution, even revolution, of the professional game.
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We know that the world’s best players create a compelling sport, as Rory McIlroy’s spectacular Grand Slam to complete the Masters victory, Scottie Scheffler’s ruthless dominance that earned him PGA Tour Player of the Year and Europe’s sensational Ryder Cup victory have proven in 2025.
It’s now up to those who have risen to top administrative positions to make the most of a growing perception that golf has suddenly become cool again.
February-August PGA Tour season?
Brian Rolapp presented the FedEx Trophy to Tommy Fleetwood after the Englishman won the Tour Championship in August (Getty Images)
There has been unprecedented staff turnover with the installation of new bosses at the PGA Tour, PGA of America and LPGA, while Mark Darbon has just completed his first full year at the helm of the R&A.
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Guy Kinnings has been at the helm of the European Tour group for less than two years and, in the breakaway LIV Golf League, Scott O’Neil is only a few months into his role as Greg Norman’s successor at the helm of the Saudi-funded disruptors.
And the presence of Darbon, O’Neil and new PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp at golf’s top table is most fascinating. All three came from outside the traditional confines of the sport they now play.
Rarely, if ever, has golf seen such an influx of new prospects and these have taken over. This means that 2026 is a year of transition and by 2027 the professional game could be significantly changed.
By taking charge of the game’s first tour, Rolapp became a key figure. He left the NFL, one of the greatest success stories in American sports.
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He insists that sport requires three crucial elements: competitive parity, simplicity and scarcity. He believes that golf currently contains only one of these ingredients.
Competitive parity is a real strength, the number of potential winners in any tournament is greater than in most sports. But golf’s structure is difficult to follow and it is ubiquitous, with numerous tournaments around the world every week.
“How to make a competitive model easy to understand?” Rolapp said at a recent CEO Forum event in Florida. “And how do we create rare events that fans actually want to follow?”
It is already assumed that future PGA Tour seasons will begin after the February date of the Super Bowl and end before the NFL restarts in August. “Yeah, I could see it,” Rolapp said.
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“Competing with (NFL) football in this country for money and media attention is a very difficult thing to do,” the American said.
He has an outside view of how professional golf is structured. “This developed as a series of events that played out on television,” he said at the forum.
“So how do we take these events, make them meaningful on their own, while cobbling them together into a competitive model?”
Fines and bans can lead to driving off the road
Scott O’Neil has worked for the New Jersey Nets, Philadelphia Eagles, New York Knicks, New York Rangers, Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils (Getty Images)
Rolapp assembled a Future Competitions committee chaired by 15-time major winner Tiger Woods. Given “more questions than answers,” they are expected to present a plan for 2027 and beyond in a few months.
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Unification with O’Neil’s LIV tour or a tie-up with the Saudi Public Investment Fund seems unlikely.
But the existence of a breakaway tour that’s still populated by some of the most recognizable figures, including Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm, doesn’t help Rolapp’s desire for a schedule that’s simple to understand for sports fans in general.
It also hurts the search for product rarity to drive fan anticipation.
O’Neil, however, got off to a quick start to his tenure at LIV. New backers such as HSBC, previously a strong supporter of established events, are making eye-catching additions to their sponsorship portfolio.
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His next priority is the same one that sits at the top of the Kinnings entry bin at the DP World Tour’s Wentworth headquarters.
Between them, they must resolve the so far intractable problem of punishing DPWT players for playing LIV events. Ryder Cup stars Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton are at the center of it all.
They are appealing against the fines and bans. The hearing was not scheduled, allowing both players to represent Europe at the Ryder Cup last September.
But the can no longer has a route, we can’t push it much further. There is talk in the locker room that this could be resolved by April.
But how can anyone guess. And LIV players being able to participate in DPWT events as members without sanction would have huge implications for global gaming.
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How would Rolapp react if its strategic partners in Europe approached golfers from rival league LIV?
O’Neil has already taken significant steps to increase his shotgun start tournaments from 54 to 72 holes. This could help LIV get points in the official world rankings.
Certainly, OWGR’s Trevor Immelman, another new boss, seems more accommodating than his predecessor Peter Dawson. But the length of tournaments is not the main sticking point.
O’Neil must convince the official ranking body that there are enough promotions and relegations in and out of LIV to ensure it is not a closed shop exclusive to those brought in on lucrative contracts.
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The move to 72 holes was more about providing a format that more effectively prepares players for the four major championships.
These events will remain the “pillars” of the game, to use the latest corporate language. The competitions that matter most, but the Open, US Open, Masters and US PGA Championship cannot afford to stand still.
Open qualifiers have been changed
Mark Darbon was a senior member of the team leading the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Organizing Committee (Getty Images)
At the R&A, Darbon has injected a new dimension into the Open by introducing a last chance qualifying competition for a dozen players which will take place on the Monday of championship week.
There will be one last place available. The field will include the two highest-ranked non-exempt players, the golfers who lost in the final qualifying play-offs and the amateur championship runner-up.
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Darbon arrived at the R&A from rugby union side Northampton Saints and this move for the 154th Championship at Royal Birkdale next July is a sign that some old conventions are being cast aside.
It is now more urgent to announce the location of the 2028 championship. Time is running out for what will be the 156th edition of golf’s oldest major tournament and whose later date will be unknown due to a clash with the Los Angeles Olympics.
This means that the open week will start on July 30. The diminishing daylight a fortnight later than usual suggests a Scottish location would be best – Muirfield, Carnoustie or even Turnberry? Or a return to England’s most northerly open outpost, at Royal Lytham and St Annes.
Turnberry would be the most interesting and controversial selection. There are conflicting pressures given its ownership (US President Donald Trump) and infrastructure issues (lack of transport and accommodation) remain, so the Ayrshire course is the underdog in every respect.
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But as the newcomers running the sport now show, there is a big appetite for innovative thinking. When it comes to golf, going off the beaten path is no longer as unusual as it used to be.
