Who are winners and losers after PGA and European Tours unveil new details of Strategic Alliance?
Tour chiefs Jay Monahan and Keith Pelley revealed some significant changes to the golfing landscape in from September onwards ahead of the WGC St Jude Invitational.
The deal was first announced late last year, but these details flesh out how the future of world tour golf might be shaped.
The 2021-22 PGA TOUR schedule is highlighted by three co-sanctioned events with the @EuropeanTour and a new venue for the kickoff of the #FedExCup Playoffs. https://t.co/yzHZcUaYG9
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 3, 2021
Let's take a closer look at those key changes and then ask who might be the winner and losers going forward.
The big changes
This week's WGC St Jude Invitational becomes the FedEx St Jude Championship, the first of three FedExCup Playoffs.
What Jay Monahan had to say
What Keith Pelley had to say
Winners
The Scottish Open - and Scottish golf
2021 ✅
— Genesis Scottish Open (@ScottishOpen) July 13, 2021
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The Irish Open
Mexican golf
The Canadian Open
Tour players' bank managers
Losers
The World Golf Championship
Premier Golf League
The Saudi International
Who knows?
Regular tour members
The Asian events
Pelley emphasised that both he and Monahan still view Asia as important to the future of the sport, but there was little he could say of the future. This is less an issue to do with the tours, than the reality of the world situation.
The European Tour schedule
But Pelley did intriguingly say: "I can tell you, though, that it's an incredibly strong schedule. We believe it is one of the strongest that we've ever had. There are some new tournaments in there. There are some different things that are in the tournaments."