Lucas Glover has admitted that he is not a big fan of the decision to ban Championship Series players from dropping down to play track two events, as he also shared his thoughts on PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp.
Big changes are coming to the PGA Tour from 2028. Rolapp revealed ahead of the Travelers Championship that the tour would be split into two tiers.
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Promotion and relegation will be used to move players between the two series. The Championship Series will somewhat resemble the signature events now, albeit with much larger fields. That is where all of the marquee names will be playing their golf.
Meanwhile, the goal for those on the Challenger Series will be to earn their seat at the game’s top table. But it is likely that a number of current PGA Tour events will find themselves on track two.
And that could be a problem for several big names.
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It was announced last week that those on the Championship Series would be ineligible from competing in Challenger Series events. That could, for example, mean that Scottie Scheffler or Jordan Spieth cannot play in The CJ CUP Byron Nelson after next year.
And speaking to Trey Wingo, Lucas Glover suggested that he needed some convincing that it was the right decision for the future of the tour.
“That was my biggest concern, and my biggest – I hate to use the word complaint – but my biggest issue with this. I brought it up a few times. It does kind of stink, honestly,” he said.
“But with what we’re asking these 24 or 25 sponsors to put up, they probably deserve commercially for their investment to be protected. If a guy wants to go down, it could commercially or on paper lower their investment, and raise someone else’s who didn’t put up the same amount of money. So commercially, I see it. It makes sense.
“Personally, man, I live in West Palm, if Cognizant is a track two or Challenger Series event, it’s 20 minutes from the house. I get it, you want to support the community. I’ve played there and I haven’t played there because of how the schedule works. That was my example of somewhere that could be difficult. But once it was explained to me what we’re asking sponsors to do from Championship to Challenger, the actual investment, it made sense.
“It’s going to sting for some guys, but it kind of made sense.”
Lucas Glover issues his verdict on Brian Rolapp after saying he was done speaking with him
Glover previously claimed he would not speak to Rolapp again after another signature event was added to the 2026 schedule in the shape of the Cadillac Championship at Doral.
The 2009 US Open champion was clearly unhappy about how difficult a season it was going to be for those not in the signature events.
The fact that the changes are coming in from 2028 suggests that Rolapp would have had little say in the PGA Tour returning to Miami this season.
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And Glover has certainly been impressed by how Rolapp has conducted himself since being appointed.
“He brought this to us six to eight months ago, and it wasn’t what we have now, but it was how do we get something that will help us do the things I just said, put our product out there in the best way for our fans. This foundation, this framework, he and his team and the tour has evolved it into what we saw announced on Monday and yesterday,” he said.
“His vision was something, I don’t think he knew just what, because, and he said this at the first couple of meetings, he goes, ‘I don’t know golf yet’. That was my favourite thing about him at the time, that he would defer to people who knew more than him. And also something that he said the other day in our meeting was I came from somewhere where we very rarely talked to the players. Well now, because of our structure and because we sit on the board and we have committees, we have a say. And now with the equity plan, we’re owners of the thing.
“I think he has embraced that and we have embraced his willingness to talk to us, and his transparency with us. ‘Here’s where I see we need to go to maximise our opportunity for our fans, for the media, and for you’. His transition with Jay’s help, and the rest of his team, getting them used to the golf arena, I think he’s been very impressive.”
Glover pleased to see the back of sponsor exemptions on the PGA Tour
One of the most contentious issues on the PGA Tour currently concerns sponsor exemptions. Some players have been able to play in a number of signature events without qualifying.
You can certainly understand why the sponsors would be desperate to ensure that Jordan Spieth or Rickie Fowler are in their fields. They bring in fans regardless of how they are playing.
But the arrival of the Championship Series will see the end of sponsor invites. And Glover is clearly pleased about that.
“With the Championship Series, you’re going to have on average 120 players per week playing, and those sponsors are getting the best we have to offer that season. The sponsor exemption to a sponsor was an opportunity to enhance their field, whether it be a local up and comer, or a pro that’s had an unbelievable career that had struggled recently. Now it’s all a meritocracy, which again was what Brian wanted to get into this thing,” he said.
“If you earn it, you’ve earned it. And I like that. I think the players when it was explained that way were like, oh, that makes perfect sense. And the sponsors who don’t have access to that aren’t going to need it now, because they’re going to get these 120 guys more often than not.”
Glover has been one of the players who has been most prepared to express his frustrations with the PGA Tour over the years. In fairness, a lot of fans would have agreed with some of the complaints he has had.
So it is quite telling that he seems to be so pleased with how the PGA Tour is set to look from 2028.
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