If there’s anyone who knows a thing or two about the inner workings of the PGA Tour, it’s Gary McCord. The 77-year-old played in more than 400 tournaments before spending 30 years as a golf commentator for CBS Sports. During his years as a player, McCord became the mastermind behind the ‘all-exempt’ touring model, which he launched in the early 1980s. McCord’s idea was eventually adopted by the Tour, which expanded the exempt list of players from 60 to 125 in 1983.
Given the ever-changing PGA Tour landscape in recent years, such as the increase in Signature events with limited entries, a reduction in the number of PGA Tour cards and an ever-present competitor in LIV Golf, McCord has been thinking about another idea for the future evolution of the Tour, which he shared on this week’s episode of Subpar.
Gary McCord explains his players’ ‘revolt’ that transformed the PGA Tour in the ’80s
By means of:
Kevin Cunningham
The core of McCord’s vision: a PGA Tour divided into two divisions, similar to the way the MLB has the National and American Leagues, and the NFL has the AFC and NFC. According to McCord, each tour division plays 18 events with fields for 110 players and 70 players. Add in the four major championships and the Players Championship (tournaments for which McCord qualifies players through a money list ranking) and you have a 41-tournament season that could start right after the Super Bowl in February.
“We’ve reduced the Tour from 100 people – 110 on this side, 110 on this side – to 220. With fewer tournaments,” McCord told Subpar hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz. “That works. That works pretty well.”
Within each division, McCord envisions the creation of multiple franchises, which could own tournaments like the WM Phoenix Open. Those tournaments could then have the option to draft or trade players to play in a given year, with players having the option to cross over to the other league to play certain events.
So what does McCord think is this league’s “Super Bowl”? A Ryder Cup-style competition between players from each league, where winner takes all.
Fascinated? For an in-depth explanation from McCord on how he sees this happening, watch the entire episode of Subpar below.
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Golf.com editor
As a four-year member of Columbia’s first class of female varsity golfers, Jessica can beat anyone on the masthead. She can also outshine them in the office, where she is primarily responsible for producing both print and online articles, as well as overseeing major special projects such as GOLF’s inaugural Style Issue, which debuted in February 2018. Her original interview series, “A Round With,” debuted in November 2015 and appeared in both magazine and video form on GOLF.com.
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