Woods tapped to overhaul golf

MIAMI (AFP) — Tiger Woods will head a new player-led committee aimed at overseeing a radical shake-up of professional golf in North America, PGA Tour chief executive Brian Rolapp announced on Wednesday.

Speaking on the eve of the season-ending Tour Championship, Rolapp said Woods would act as chairman for a nine-member Future Competition Committee aimed at designing the “optimal competitive model” for golf.

Rolapp, who only recently took up his post with the PGA Tour after two decades with the National Football League, said the committee had been charged with leading “significant change” to the sport’s existing model.

“The purpose of this committee is pretty simple,” Rolapp told a press conference.

“We’re going to design the best professional golf competitive model in the world for the benefit of PGA Tour fans, players and their partners,” he added.

“The goal is not incremental change. The goal is significant change.”

Woods will be one of six players serving on the committee alongside Patrick Cantlay, Adam Scott, Camilo Villegas, Maverick McNealy and Keith Mitchell.

Three business advisors on the panel include John Henry, the billionaire owner of Fenway Sports Group which owns the Boston Red Sox and English Premier League champions Liverpool.

Rolapp said the committee would be driven by guiding principles that promoted competitive parity, creating more tournaments where the top players face off against each other and designing a season that was simple to follow.

“I think the focus will be to create events that really matter, and how we do that, what that number is, we’ll determine,” Rolapp said.

“But that’s certainly the goal.”

“How do you actually drive a competition schedule where every event matters, that is connected to a postseason, but do it in a way where the best golfers can get together and actually perform well?” Rolapp said. “I think that’s all an open question — and those are the things we’re going to look at with an open mind.”

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal published on Wednesday, Woods said the committee would examine all options. Possible changes could include fewer events, smaller fields and higher stakes, the Journal reported.

“Nothing’s off the table,” Woods told the newspaper.