After 17 years as a pro, Kevin Chappell recently announced he is hanging up his PGA Tour spikes.
On this week’s episode of Subpar, the 39-year-old explained that after back surgery in 2018 and recovery in 2019, he struggled to regain his form. He felt a shift in his priorities and work ethic, but it wasn’t until he played with Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry at the Zurich Classic that he realized how much work he had to do to regain his competitive edge. After thinking about the idea of retiring for a few months, Chappell decided that taking a step back was the right move.
“This is more of a life decision than a career decision,” Chappell said.
In addition to sharing the reasons behind his retirement plans, Chappell discussed a number of topics with Subpar hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz, including these thoughts on the evolution of the PGA Tour’s schedule.
“I don’t know what the future holds for the Tour,” Chappell said. “It seems like it’s going to be a tennis model where you’re going to have eight to 12 events a year that really matter, and the rest there’s going to be a tour, but if you’re not a casual fan you don’t really know what’s going on.
“There’s an opportunity for guys to make money from these events, but as far as it’s relevant, it’s going to be increasingly difficult to have that long career that you’ve seen in the past,” he continued. “You’re going to have the talent of your generation doing it, but I think careers are getting shorter, guys are making more money, they’re moving on and doing something else. Somehow they’ve got to get a turnover rate that matches the attrition rate and that could be sustainable. I don’t think it’s great, but if the business model says they have to do that to grow the game of golf, then that’s what they have to do.”
The advent of Signature events with a limited number of participants, which require a lot of money, has also proven to be a divisive issue for some players.
“You shouldn’t get anything, but with these Signature Events, for example, if you finish in the top 50, you’re good for the whole year,” Knost said. “And we only saw one guy this year who was in the top 50 last year, finished outside the top 100 and wasn’t injured, and that was Matthew Pavon, who just had a really bad year. You really have to screw it up to lose your card.”
“Where do you stand as a player who has obviously played some of these events? Would you rather see more people in the field with a cut?”
“Yes, I think that’s an integral part of the game. Making a cut, that’s a good feeling, a sense of accomplishment, and that has to happen in the game,” Chappell replied. “Maybe they don’t want to play full fields, but let’s exempt everyone who kept their card on the PGA Tour the year before. Let’s do a 110-man field and let’s take a cut. It opens up opportunities, it creates less division between the money list and the points list, and it allows people to earn their way into the event a little bit easier.”
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