(New) PGA Tour Is a Work In Progress

 👋 Hey Golf Fans,

Things are shifting at the PGA Tour. From TPC Sawgrass, the PGA Tour CEO promised a major overhaul. We’ll decode what that means, talk a little more about his plans, and raise some serious questions. Meanwhile, the PGA Tour’s crème de la crème have descended at Sawgrass. We’ll break down the field, talk about the course, and also share some tips to play the notorious 17th hole today.

Let’s get started…

You can’t predict the winner at TPC Sawgrass, they say. And we agree. There are 123 players in the field, 49 of them in the top 50. But the Pete Dye Stadium Course punishes everyone equally. And the 17th hurls leaders from the peak to the plateau like an avalanche.

Eight-time PGA Tour winner Bob Tway went from 6th to 66th in a matter of swings. Courtesy of a 12 on the par-3 17th. Check out the disaster to get an idea of the danger that lurks beneath the pristine greens of Stadium Course.

Tway was only one of the sundry casualties. Brooks Koepka has found the water 10 times in his 20 career rounds here. Combined, that’s 20-over par. And… the Island Green is only a synecdoche. Sawgrass is the Tour's second-most water-soaked track, with hazards coming into play on 17 of 18 holes. On the 14th last year, pros managed only 33 birdies, with 99 bogeys and 22 doubles or worse.

Furthermore, it ranks as the 23rd-longest course this season. The average driving distance of past champions is 281.9 yards, roughly ranking 28th on the Tour. That means bombers like Rory McIlroy must take a different approach.

He’s won here twice (2019, 2025), but back woes cloud his shot at history. Rory and Scottie Scheffler chase Jack Nicklaus, the only three-time winner. Lately, Scottie has frustrated his fans, but remember, he’s a perennial peril.

Iron play becomes vastly important here—past champions outperformed the field by +1.5 strokes in SG: Approach. Which is why Collin Morikawa, 5th in SG: Approach on Tour, is a tournament favorite.

He boasts 13 straight sub-par rounds, the Tour’s longest active streak. Rickie Fowler, the 2015 champion, is coming off a T9 at Bay Hill as well. He holds the ShotLink-era record of 8-under par on the 17th.

It’s arguably the biggest week on the PGA Tour, and expect Sawgrass to deliver another thriller.

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There’s a running joke among fans that the PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp might be running a shadow social media account, quietly stalking every golf fan on God’s green Earth. The joke doesn’t feel far‑fetched after his 49‑minute, 31‑question “State of the Tour” address Wednesday at The Players. Here are three answers and three lingering questions.

Signature Events: The PGA Tour will double the number of signature events to 16, likely including The Players Championship. Rolapp was also asked about moving the tournament. Listen to what he said below—it has stirred a significant debate.

Bigger fields: Rolled out between late January and early September, the Tour will have anywhere between 21 and 26 events. The signature events will have a field of around 120 players, WITH a 36‑hole cut. Looks like veterans blasting the no-cut policy has had its effects.

Tiered Tour: A merit‑based promotion‑and‑relegation model will spread events across the calendar into the fall. Rather than replacing the KFT and other feeders, it will work alongside them. Tiger Woods-led Future Competitions Committee is hashing out the details.

Rolapp is also mulling over changing the TOUR Championship to a match-play format, meaning more such iconic moments like this one. Tour is also setting its sights on bigger markets like New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and San Francisco.

Yet, some questions still hang in the air.

Chopping board: We still don’t know the fate of at‑risk tournaments like the entire Hawaii swing.

Season opener: Reports point to a Torrey Pines‑led season opener, with endangered stops likely shunted into the relegation system instead of vanishing altogether.

Marquee events: If signature events balloon to 16 out of 21–26 total, with an expected purse of $20M, what actually makes them “signature”?

Quite naturally, a heck lot of things are work in progress. The overarching theme is this: Rolapp is working with a blank sheet of paper. He respects the tradition but is not “overtly bound” by it.

Hey folks! Welcome to the Essentially Golf Prediction Challenge!

Show off your golf instincts by making The Players Championship picks. It’s not limited to predicting the winner. No, you’ve got a chance to bring the golf analyst in you and predict scores, possible records, and also correctly guess the player to have a meltdown.

Stack up points. Work your way up the rankings. And earn a chance to walk away with a $25 gift card. We’ve explained the scoring system below.

Make your pick for every question below and rake in points.

• The first two questions carry 5 points each.

• 3rd & 4th questions carry 10 points each.

• Final question—predicting the winner—carries 20 points.

• Tiebreaker question at the end to earn an extra 5 points.

Weekly Prize: Top scorer each week grabs a sweet $25 gift card—yep, a reward for being right.
Season Prizes: After the regular season, the Top 5 overall get end-of-season rewards. Bigger stage, bigger flex!

The sight of amateurs tackling the par-3 17th on TPC Sawgrass hits like a monsoon dread. Just ball after ball plunging into the water. Rinse and repeat. A whopping 102 balls were sacrificed at the altar of the island green, and the amateur golfers’ expressions will tell you how torturous it was. Yet pros made 69 birdies on this notorious hole last year. So it’s conquerable. Here’s how.

1. Grab a wedge or a 9-iron. Use a tee for clean contact and a better launch. A full swing will boost your speed, elevating the ball's trajectory.

2. Prioritize a safe play over pin hunting. Aim for a conservative landing spot, like the middle of the green. Select two targets. One, a high target like a tree. The other is an intermediate target on the line of your ball.

3. You must tailor your approach based on your natural tendency to hit draws or fades. How? Listen to the PGA of America National Teacher Award winner Michael Breed’s advice below.

Remember two things. First, don't force an unnatural shot. Second, and most importantly, solid contact is essential. Here are a few more tips on that.

How to Compress Ball For Solid Contact

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“I am a shi**y golfer, you can ask my wife

I’ve been out there hacking every day of my life…”

No, we’re definitely not shading our not-to-be-named colleague. But a recent discussion on favorite golf jams unearthed the Toby Keith classic, and we can't quit it. Seriously, hooks like “If I live long enough to be 88, I think I'll celebrate by shooting my age” can still compete with any golf songs out there today. Just listen to it—we swear by it.

But seriously, we can pilot rovers on Mars and base-jump from the edge of space, yet it’s hard to come up with a cooler golf jam… unless you’re ignoring cursed bangers from the likes of Rickie Fowler, Ben Crane, and Bubba Watson. We still don’t know what Crane was wearing in this music video. Go check for yourself.

Essentially Golf brings you handpicked, well-thought-out, and not-to-be-missed recommendations to make your weekend more fun.

🎥 Watch — McIlroy and Scheffler go head-to-head for a 3-hole match.

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🎧 Listen — The School of Greatness is run by best-selling author Lewis Howes.

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