PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Brian Harman apparently stopped PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan in the player parking lot Tuesday to rave about his experience in this year’s signature events. The level of competition. The infrastructure on-site.
In Monahan’s retelling, Harman told him, “I feel a great sense of accomplishment when I’m at these events.”
Not every player agrees, of course.
Just last week, at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Lucas Glover called the signature series “selfish” and a “money grab” – and he was among the fortunate 69 players in the field at Bay Hill.
Monahan said it’s “early days” when it comes to evaluating the benefits and drawbacks of the limited-field tournaments for only the best performers. But he sees some promising early returns.
Monahan pointed to the fact that 49 players who were outside the top 50 of last season’s FedExCup standings have competed in the signature events so far this season, a nod to the Aon Swing 5 and Next 10 that have sought to reward players for season-long or timely performances. As of now, 20 players are projected to cycle out of the signature events for next season, an important measure to guard against the criticism that these tournaments – only half of which have a 36-hole cut – insulate players from poor play.
“I think as you watch this continue to develop over the course of the year,” Monahan said, “those are all things that I think are very, very positive.”
McIlroy and several stars would like to see the Tour continue to trim the fat while others disagree, adding that signature events are too skinny.
And yet it’s still been an uneven start to the year.
Three events have been significantly impacted by weather, including at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, which was reduced to 54 holes.
Scottie Scheffler’s victory at Bay Hill was just the second this season by a player who was ranked inside the top 25 in the world at the time of his win. (Wyndham Clark, at weather-shortened Pebble, was the other.) Overall, the median OWGR of the tournament winners this year is 67, compared to 16 at this point last year.
That can give the appearance that the stars haven’t showed up when the Tour has needed them most this year.
“The positive to that is new players and new stars are emerging,” Monahan said, “but the reason I say it’s early days is there have been some factors that I think have limited our ability to fully see the value of these signature events.”
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