PGA Tour's $37m plans spark hilarious 'woof' reaction from tournament director

A veteran PGA Tour tournament director was left saying "woof" after hearing the rumoured prize money being discussed for the Tour's proposed Championship Series, according to Golf Channel analyst Rex Hoggard.

Hoggard, speaking on the Golf Channel Podcast with Rex & Lav, revealed fresh details about Brian Rolapp's vision for the PGA Tour from 2028, with the new-look schedule beginning to take shape behind the scenes.

While plenty of details remain under wraps, one figure appears to have caught even experienced tournament organisers by surprise.

According to Hoggard, Championship Series events are currently being discussed with annual purses of between $33 million and $37 million.

"Right now, the rumour for a Championship price tag, and this is per year starting in 2028, is between $33 million and $37 million," Hoggard said.

"To put that into context, I called a tournament director yesterday and asked him if he had heard anything about this.

"He was taken aback. He gave me a 'woof!' He did not expect $37 million."

That reaction perhaps says as much as the figure itself.

For comparison, today's Signature Events carry purses of $20 million, meaning the PGA Tour would be increasing prize money by as much as 85% for its flagship tournaments if those reported numbers become reality.

The proposed changes form part of Rolapp's ambitious plan to reshape the PGA Tour from the 2028 season.

The current Signature Events model is expected to disappear altogether, replaced by 23 or 24 tournaments spread across a new Championship Series. 

Beneath that would sit a Challenger Series, creating a two-tier structure with promotion and relegation designed to reward form while creating greater jeopardy throughout the season.

Although the blueprint is still evolving, several pieces are already falling into place.

This week it was confirmed that the Travelers Championship and Arnold Palmer Invitational will retain their places among the PGA Tour's premier events, while The Sentry will move across to Torrey Pines as part of the revamped calendar.

However, Hoggard believes there is far more happening behind closed doors than has been made public.

"I've also been told by a source close to these negotiations, with knowledge of what is going on, that they are making movements on every single front," he said.

"That is for tier one and tier two events."

One of the biggest priorities for the PGA Tour moving forwards appears to be expanding into larger commercial markets.

Hoggard said the PGA Tour has already secured one of the destinations it has been targeting — believed to be either Chicago or San Francisco — while discussions continue over additional venues capable of hosting the Championship Series.

The schedule itself is only one part of the overhaul.

Rolapp and the PGA Tour are also understood to be considering a dramatic rethink of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, with match play emerging as a serious option after years of tinkering with the existing format.

Broadcast partners are reportedly enthusiastic about the idea.

"We have wrestled with the idea that they have never quite gotten the FedEx Playoffs right," Hoggard said.

"We're talking about two decades of trial and mostly error.

"They love the idea of doing match play, doing it the right way, having fun with it and taking it to venues which really haven't seen PGA Tour golf."

Hoggard compared the concept to the Walker Cup, which has enjoyed success by visiting iconic courses that rarely stage professional events.

"The idea is let's do a two-week All-Star game, but let's make it really cool," he said.

If the PGA Tour can successfully pull off its vision, it would represent the biggest structural change to the circuit since the FedEx Cup was introduced in 2007.

Perhaps more importantly, it could finally solve one of the Tour's biggest challenges.

The Signature Events have already increased the number of occasions when the world's leading players compete together, but even those tournaments have faced criticism over limited fields and inconsistent participation as a result of being sandwiched too close to the majors. 

Offering purses approaching $40 million would make Championship Series events virtually impossible for the game's biggest names to ignore.

There remain plenty of hurdles before any of these plans become official, and significant details still need to be finalised before the new era begins in 2028.

But if Hoggard's latest information proves accurate, the PGA Tour's transformation is gathering momentum — and judging by one tournament director's unforgettable "woof" reaction, the scale of what Rolapp is attempting is only just beginning to sink in.