Golf’s Ability To Create Stars Is Imperative No Matter What A New PGA Tour Looks Like

Outgoing commissioner Jay Monahan has used a form of this word — regenerate — twice in the last two years. It got lost amid topics like private equity investments and a pathway back for LIV Golf players, and even turning over the helm to a new CEO. But it’s what the PGA Tour can’t afford to lose as it tries to create a bold, new model. “We consistently as an organization regenerate talent and create stars,” Monahan said at The Players Championship in 2024, when negotiations with the Saudi backers of LIV Golf were still ongoing with far more hope for a deal than there is now. And then in August at the Tour Championship, where Monahan held his last press conference while introducing Brian Rolapp as the CEO, he mentioned 11 first-time winners on the PGA Tour and paused ever so briefly for emphasis. “Further proof that talent regeneration is alive and well on the PGA Tour,” he said. That number is now up to 15 first-time PGA Tour winners this year. The latest was Michael Brennan, perhaps the most unlikely of them all. The Wake Forest graduate was looking forward to the Korn Ferry Tour after winning three times on
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