PGA Tour Policy Board Member On State of Tour/Golf

Peter Malnati is a PGA Tour veteran who shares his outlook on the state of the PGA Tour and golf as a whole.

I did not have any idea that we were going to be involved in like geopolitics and um you know essentially an existential fight for the future of professional golf didn’t know that’s what I was getting myself into you know having um you know the timing of things you know having this all coincide with the birth of my second child and having you know two boys that are young full of energy like and also a career that is really really difficult you know where I’ve you know I’ve spent I’ve spent you know seven of my 10 years on the PJ tour as very much a fringe player great thing to keep my card um that was part of the reason I ran to be on the board because I thought it was important to have that perspective but now that I’m on the board and the time commitment that it brings um it definitely you know if I had it all do to do over again knowing everything I know now I would still do it the same way I would ask for votes I would campaign I would try on the board but man it doesn’t mean it’s been easy it’s been really really hard and challenging um but also very meaningful and impactful so um you know that’s a a long-winded way to say uh it hasn’t been what I expected but the reasons I wanted to be on the board have proven to be really important for me and uh and it makes it really meaningful that I’m there it’s also impactful it’s also meaningful when a member of the board describes what you’re engaged in as an existential fight for the future of professional golf uh is it that are are we at a are we at an edge here of a risk of some way and if so what is that risk yeah no I don’t think there’s I don’t think there’s risk of um like professional golf at the highest level like you know going away that that that’s that’s not really it’s just a matter of you know what like what will professional golf continue to look like like what what will the landscape be like this model that we have on the PJ tour that has been so um I’ll use the word impactful again in a different sense here it’s been so impactful um on the communities where we play um you know because the tour like when uh when when Dean Bean was like you know building the modern business of the PJ tour was like you know he he wrote Into the fabric of it that is it is you know at its core an organization to benefit local communities Charities um you know that model is still like resonates really strongly with our core fan base I feel like um and you know that’s just something like as we as we go down this path and you know you know right now we’re in this little bubble where the the value of professional golf has been incredibly inflated mostly mostly artificially um but you know but also there is tremendous value and like the we have we have star power on the PJ tour right now that is just like through the roof like the talent level on the PJ tour the pipeline to feed the PJ tour like look at look at lud viig and what he has has done like there there are and I I don’t want to say this as if they’re all the same because they’re not but but there’s a pipeline of ludvigs that are coming to the PGA Tour like like there’s there’s no real um in my mind you know I Ed the word I I did say existential existential threat to the or existential um fight you know I said as if there’s an existential threat to the future of professional golf it’s not that there’s a threat it’s just you know how do we maintain a model that we all feel proud of that benefits the players the communities um you know most importantly the fans who make us you give us the platform to have an opportunity this like like trying to get all those pieces right in a time right now where the value of a professional golfer is is probably you know in some ways like the encourse value has inflated to an unrealistic level like how do we continue to just build this and feed and serve all the constituents from the players to the fans to the local communities to the organizations that uh that host these events like like how how how do we do that all figure all that out um that’s the part that just is going to be I think you know we’re grappling with a lot of it right now um and we’re in the middle of it and and and we don’t necessarily have um we don’t necessarily have a clear path forward in terms of what the the model looks like like you know are we partnering with with the pith are we not partnering with the pith like we don’t have Clarity around that yet um and and I don’t think I don’t think there’s like a risk of of us losing you know there’s not a risk of us losing men’s professional golf as as something that is you know incredibly entertaining for fans around the world and Incredibly um you know you know powerful to do good I just want to make sure we keep we keep that as part of the PJ tour’s Mission and and keep the PJ tour as the premier ultimate place for you know professional golfers to apply their trade less than a minute left here Peter before I have to take a break but can an argument been made that Signature Events increased purses etc etc hasn’t you as a PGA Tour player and others benefited from the existence of Liv no question no question right now the question is have we done this in a way that is sustainable and and can we continue to to give the players the product of the PJ tour the the stars of the PJ I point to myself meaning the Stars like the other players like me who are better than me can we continue to give them what they want and feel they deserve while also um carrying on the brand of the PJ tour in a way that is is positively impacting you know all the constituents around us