Tiger, Rory, JT Passing Up Honda Suggests The Model Isn't Working

Friday’s news offered a fascinating juxtaposition of stories unless you live in the 32082.

There is this AP story by Doug Ferguson on Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas all passing up next week’s Honda Classic, even though they could play and sleep at home sweet home.

And despite a pretty compelling second round down at the WGC Mexico City, where Bryson DeChambeau fired 63 and a good leaderboard should make the weekend interesting, look at Golfweek’s homepage:

This was all set against the Premier Golf League’s Andy Gardiner making the rounds: talking to me exclusively here, to Golf Digest’s Max Adler, and most compelling of all, on Rick Shiel’s podcast where you can finally put a voice to the concept.

While I think you’ll get more specific details from the interview I posted, anyone listening to Gardiner talking to Shiels can hear an earnest view about how professional golf’s current schedule and excess of “product” is not working. Gardiner is able to lay out a vision that is strong, refined and ably rebuts some of the more compelling criticisms of the concept.

After the nearly 90 minute chat I was still left with questions about the proposed league’s details, but my ultimate conclusion was unexpected: the Premier Golf League lays out a smart future for professional golf after Tiger.

There has been much focus on whether Woods will commit and a curious glee at the prospect of Rory McIlroy invoking Arnold Palmer to reject the PGL—a curious example given Palmer’s flirtations with disruption in the early 1960s and 1980s.

Yes, both players could make the league take off and Woods could certainly torpedo the PGL’s chances of starting in 2022 by declining. But the vision laid out by Gardiner, and surprising no-shows at events like the Honda, also explains why Woods said last week that he expects regular runs at the PGA Tour model going forward.

He said that because whether it was Gardiner, his agent or just Woods’ overall vision telling him what is becoming increasingly clear: the professional golf model is broken. And when Woods retires, it may recede into a very small corner of the sports universe.

The PGL’s revision of the “tour” model would prevent something like we saw Friday: next week’s non-commitments overshadowing this week’s tournament. Their guarantee of top fields, a January-August schedule and a very intriguing team component bring new life to the pro game, presenting a refreshed vision for the sport long after Tiger has hung up his Nike’s. For that alone, the Premier Golf League is worthy of everyone’s attention.