Jack Nicklaus criticizes PGA Tour guidelines: ‘It’s not supportive at all’
This week marks the 50th anniversary of the Memorial Tournament, one of the PGA Tour’s most prestigious events. While little has changed at the Memorial over the decades, just as host Jack Nicklaus intended, the same cannot be said for the Tour.
The leadership of the PGA Tour plans to restructure the program in the near future, with the aim of compressing the season into six months.
Nicklaus “doesn’t agree” with the PGA Tour, and the 18-time winner used part of his pre-Memorial news conference Tuesday to criticize the proposed changes and detail why he thinks they will be a problem “if we don’t fix it.”
Nicklaus on compressed PGA Tour schedule: ‘That’s the problem’
When asked to share his thoughts on the Tour’s system changes, Nicklaus was reluctant to talk about the topic at first, except to confirm that he was not in favor of them. He also expressed his desire to speak with PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp and outgoing PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan to discuss his vision.
“Well, I don’t want to comment on the matter [PGA] Tour schedule because I don’t really fit in with what I’m doing right now. But I didn’t really have a conversation. I want to sit down with Brian [Rolapp] and Jay [Monahan] and we had that conversation,” Nicklaus said Tuesday in Muirfield Village.
But the 86-year-old golf legend decided to elaborate on his problems with a new program. His main argument is that a compressed system will put “too many competitions too close together.”
“I mean, I hate to see championships so stacked with so many big championships that are so close. That’s a problem, I think,” Nicklaus said. “And I think that will be a problem for the Tour in the future.”
After joking that he would be “punished” later for sharing his criticism of the future direction of the PGA Tour, Nicklaus elaborated on the problems caused by the compressed schedule, pointing to this year’s Cognizant Classic as an example. In the future, he argued, smaller travel events “don’t stand a chance.”
“But, that’s not here and that’s not there. I probably shouldn’t have brought it here. I’ll be punished for that later. Anyway, I think it’s very difficult for your tournaments to stand out. I mean, if you look at the schedule, we participated in Cognizant down in Florida, and, you know, we had Pebble Beach and Loszant Angeles, Bay Hills, and Cognis of the Bay we had Cogni Players,” said Nicklaus. “I mean, what chance do you have in the tournament? I mean, you’re sitting in the middle of it. They don’t have a chance.”
Nicklaus is afraid that spots in smaller events will be damaged because it is difficult for high-level players to compete for more than three weeks in a row.
“Some tournaments also say, you know, I got four out of five. It’s hard for the guys to play that. You see, the problem is not so much for the players, it’s hard for the players to focus so much to play a lot and be on top of their game. And that, for me, is – I look at it the way I was as a player. I would play, a few weeks in a row, maybe three weeks in a row so that I can play recharge the batteries and I think everyone needs to recharge the batteries,” explained Nicklaus.
He added: “To put it all together at once, and then leave the whole year open, I think it’s difficult.
Nicklaus reveals the impact he hopes to have on the future of golf
Because of his huge stature in the game, Nicklaus’ opinions still hold sway, and he’s not afraid to share them. In addition to criticizing the Tour’s schedule changes, Nicklaus also shared his thoughts on golf’s postponement during his Memorial Day press conference.
In the end, however, Nicklaus revealed that, because of his age, he “doesn’t really try to influence the game.” Rather, it simply wants to do what is “best for the game.”
“Well, I’m not really trying to influence the game, I’m just trying to make sure what we’re doing here is good for the game,” Nicklaus said Tuesday. “Whatever the Tour or whoever wants to sit down and ask me and talk about, hopefully, with the experience I’ve had, I can have some impact or whatever you call it?
He then explained his desire to support “the great traditions of the game” rather than “worrying about trying to create new things.”
“And I’m too old to worry about trying to create new things, I’m just trying to make sure that the game of golf – the game of golf is a great game, it gave me everything that I had the opportunity to do. Most of these, most of the people here, the same thing, players. And most of you are here writing because of golf and given the ability – another great game – I know it’s a great game – that’s a great game. I love it and it’s a game that I want to see the traditions of this game preserved,” said Nicklaus. “I think golf in its later years has been a big, big, big benefit to charity. Charity has been a big part of the game of golf and it’s bigger than any other sport. I’d like to see that continue. I just think that to be able to show and show people how to do a certain kind of thing, not to tell someone how to live their life, but I think a lot of these golfers end up here, end up golfers here. loosen up, shake hands, and they say, Well done, or they say, Oh, you played like crazy today – I don’t know what they’ll say but it’s always a nice greeting.
Nicklaus used his relationship with Arnold Palmer as an example of how the game should be, describing them as honorable competitors on the courses and with his friends.
“Arnold and I, we had as much competition as any two guys ever had. And we walked off the 18th green, shook hands and shook hands and, you know, said, ‘Where are you going to eat tonight? All right, go grab Winnie, I’ll grab Barbara, we’re going to dinner.’ That’s the kind of thing you make friends with through the game, those are the kinds of influences I have.”
In closing, he expressed his hope that those golf standards will always end “conflict” and “bad blood.”
“I don’t like to see conflict, I don’t like to see bad blood. I don’t like to see things like that happen. I don’t think you have a lot of that in the game of golf. I think we’re very blessed by nature to have a community game.”
