PGA Tour contemplates announcing fines as part of study into slow play

 

[January 30, 2025]  By DOUG FERGUSON

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) — The PGA Tour is taking a hard look at whether to allow rangefinders and publicize violations as part of a comprehensive study on pace of play and other enhancements to the game that have come out of a survey of 50,000 golf fans.

Tour officials were purposely short on specifics Wednesday during a meeting with reporters on the “Fan Forward” initiative that Commissioner Jay Monahan announced a year ago. He is expected to go into greater detail at The Players Championship in March.

But the preview session at Pebble Beach supported Monahan's message late last year that “everything is on the table” as the PGA Tour embarks on a series of changes.

“I think as we roll the clock forward three, five, 10 years, we’re going to look back at 2025 as an inflection point in the evolution of the tour,” said Andy Weitz, the tour's chief marketing and communications officer.

He said part of that was capital growth from the investment of Strategic Sports Group, which put $1.5 billion into PGA Tour Enterprise with the potential to double the amount.

Fenway Sports Group, a big part of SSG, has Theo Epstein as a senior advisor. Epstein, former general manager of the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs, worked with Major League Baseball on recent changes that include a pitch clock and larger bases to encourage more stealing.

The shot clock has been mentioned to help improve pace of play on tour, and the topic has gained momentum in recent weeks when the final round of threesomes has taken about 5 1/2 hours to finish.

Weitz said the tour formed a study group a month ago with three players — Sam Burns, Jhonattan Vegas and Adam Schenk — who likely would pass their findings to the Players Advisory Council, a 16-member panel that has been more involved than ever.

Rangefinders — or distance measuring devices — currently are allowed only at the PGA Championship. The tour is trying to find a spot in the schedule for a test run to see if it helps speed play by getting players the yardages quicker.

Gary Young, the senior vice president of rules and competition, said the sample tests could be at signatures events that have smaller fields, or perhaps a tournament like the Zurich Classic that features team competition.

The potential of disclosing violations would be a break from PGA Tour tradition. The tour is different from most other sports leagues in that it has never disclosed fines, disciplinary action or violations that relate to pace of play. The tour long felt that would be little more than a distraction. What it heard from fans was a need for more transparency.

“I think there's a real moment now for that all to be looked at,” PGA Tour President Tyler Dennis said.

Harris English celebrates after winning the Farmers Insurance Open golf tournament at Torrey Pines Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

Weitz said the discussion has met with little resistance from players. He had breakfast Wednesday morning with Max Homa and said Homa told him, “We want to hold each other accountable, and we want to play in a way that is the best version of the fan experience.”

Another example to help speed play was the use of a video review center at the new PGA Tour Studios in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

All of the changes came from the “Fan Forward” program, which included a survey that grew out of a fan council started in 2017. An outside agency helped the tour reach 50,000 fans who were surveyed in three waves.

The topics:

— Broadcast enhancement, much of it geared around showing more shots, more meaningful consequences (such as the 36-hole cut) and fewer tap-ins.

— Competition adjustments, which includes the tour studying another change to the format in the Tour Championship. Depending on player feedback, a proposal could go before the policy board as early as March.

“If we can get alignment between one concept, then we’ll do it as early as ’25. If it is, ‘Yes, we love this idea but,’ and there needs more conversation, it’ll have to be ’26 because there will be more to work through,” said Billy Schroeder, senior vice president of competitions.

— Player content and profile. Weitz said for the ages 18-34 demographic, fans were most interested in personality on the course, and then off the course, and lastly competitive performance.

— Fan experience on the golf course, and what golf can learn from other sports in which the entire playing field can't be seen from one spot. Formula One was an example of that.

The tour already has gone through player-driven changes in recent years, such as the $20 million signature events with smaller fields and no cuts, reducing field sizes in 2026 and lowering to 100 players from 125 players in FedEx Cup who keep full cards.

More changes could be on the way, some of them already being studied.

“If the voice of the fans is at the center of what we do, we're on the right path,” Weitz said.

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