Putting the Fan at the Center of the PGA Tour’s 2025 Season

Today’s guest op-ed author is Jay Monahan, commissioner of the PGA Tour.

The Opening Drive portion of the new PGA Tour season—which begins today at The Sentry on the famed Plantation Course at Kapalua in Maui—is one of my favorite stretches on our calendar each year.

It allows us to celebrate highlights from the previous season, such as FedExCup champion Scottie Scheffler’s historic year, Xander Schauffle’s rise as a major champion, dominant performances from international stars Rory McIlroy and Hideki Matsuyama, and the arrival of phenoms like Ludvig Åberg and Nick Dunlap. At the same time, every member starts the new season with a blank canvas. With zero FedExCup points in hand, whether you’re a rookie fulfilling a lifelong dream or a decade-long top performer, everyone must once again dig it out of the dirt and prove themselves against the world’s best players in golf’s ultimate meritocracy.

More from Sportico.com

Behind the scenes, 2024 will also be remembered as a year in which we generated momentum and shifted the PGA Tour toward the future. There are many examples:

1. In January, we formed PGA Tour Enterprises and onboarded our initial investor in the Strategic Sports Group with an influx of $1.5 billion in growth capital.

2. In February, we announced the Player Equity Program, which turned more than 200 past and current PGA Tour members into owners of our organization. This was a historic first in professional sports.

3. We incorporated limited-field Signature Events in our schedule to complement The Players, the four major championships and the FedExCup Playoffs.

4. We launched Fan Forward, the single largest outreach to our fan base in the history of our PGA Tour, meant to put the voice of our fans at the center of our strategy and ensure that we deliver exciting innovation that engages the next generation of PGA Tour fans.

5. In November, we announced the most significant changes to our competitive structure in the history of the PGA Tour that will take effect in 2026. These player-led changes include redefining PGA Tour membership criteria to ensure up-and-coming players receive a fair chance to keep the PGA Tour cards they have earned.

6. And in December, we announced our search for a CEO of the PGA Tour. A step designed to accelerate innovation and help us put the growth capital we’ve raised to work for our fans, players and partners.

All of these enhancements will help create a more entertaining PGA Tour for our fans, a goal that is at the very core of our decision-making process.

This is not a sudden realization. Serving our fans through innovation has been a constant throughout our history. PGA Tour Studios, an undertaking that began in 2017, is now officially operational with the start of the 2025 season. A 165,000-square-foot state-of-the art facility on the PGA Tour campus, PGA Tour Studios will allow us to present a more compelling version of PGA Tour golf to our fans in countless ways. No example is more powerful than our new World Feed that will make its debut in March at The Players. For the first time, we will be able to customize our broadcasts for markets around the world. As the game and our membership becomes increasingly global, we will now be able to present the PGA Tour to fans everywhere from Seoul to Stockholm in more localized, relevant ways.

Going forward, continually evolving PGA Tour golf is a top priority—and everything is on the table. Over 50,000 fans have responded to our Fan Forward survey, and their input will help shape the future of the tour. We’ve also recently announced the PGA Tour Creator Council, which is enhancing a dialogue with some of the most influential social media voices in golf about how we can more effectively engage with our next generation of fans. We’re collaborating with our media partners to incorporate all that feedback into their telecasts. And we’re looking hard at new formats that make our game even more engaging.

Lastly, I want to recognize that one of fans’ primary wishes is for a resolution to the division in men’s professional golf. Real progress is being made, and we remain committed to the process and focused on what we can control.

As the Opening Drive of our season begins, I am optimistic that 2025 will return focus to what our fans love most: The world’s best competing-head-to-head at historic venues; new stars rising, pushing today’s stars forward; and the underdog stories that define the game’s best competitive platform.

Above all else, our team is focused on going further, faster to deliver our fans the best possible version of the PGA Tour.

As commissioner of the PGA Tour, Monahan serves on the Board of the PGA European (DP World) Tour, as well as on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the International Golf Federation. He is also Chair of both the World Golf Foundation and PGA Tour First Tee Foundation Board of Governors.

Best of Sportico.com

Sign up for Sportico’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.