The PGA Tour Now Has Money to Fix Itself, But Not Unlimited Time

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Did the PGA Tour need to be saved?

That's the question that is not being asked but answered continuously by current and former policy board members almost as a justification for the decision announced on Wednesday that Strategic Sports Group (SSG) was investing invest billions in a new PGA Tour entity.

Not that anyone should have to justify a $1.5 billion initial investment and a follow-up $1.5 billion, if necessary, from a group that owns numerous professional sports teams.

But with the for-profit PGA Tour Enterprises, the Tour has a path that will finally bring it into the 21st century.

“I think that was a pretty big risk to leave our business model in the same place too much longer,” said Adam Scott, the newest policy board member, Thursday at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. “And so, it felt always to me like, we were going to get to a point where we're probably going to change the kind of business structure of the PGA Tour and ended up hopefully having a really good deal to vote for in front of us.”

The Australian, at 43, is one of the older players on the policy board and his experience of playing golf worldwide brings a different perspective.

Like the other players on the board, Scott sees the SSG investors' business savvy as the Tour's potential savior, of course along with their $3 billion investment.

“I think at this point, this is like a line in the sand if it wants to be for the PGA Tour, and you can put everything on the table right now as far as I'm concerned," Scott said. "Yeah, let's have a look at the whole lot.”

Some players believe that golf is fractured and needs to be unified, yet others believe in some type of world tour.

Needless to say, the ideas are starting to flow and as time goes on those ideas will germinate, continue to grow and create other ideas.

Which idea will work or which one makes the most sense is part of a much bigger discussion.

“I think anytime someone makes a sizeable investment like that they're going to be watching over the investment,” policy board member Patrick Cantlay said of the new deal. “I think because of their sports experience we'll really lean on their expertise to try to grow the sport and make it as good as it possibly can be.”

Josh Kroenke never saw "the book," which in investment terms means the potential deal that the Tour was shopping around to potential investors.

And while he said it would have been interesting to review, he does know many involved in the deal from the SSG side.

Kroenke is heir to the Walmart family inheritance that includes numerous sports teams including the Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche, Colorado Rapids and Arsenal F.C.

Currently serving as president of both the Nuggets and Avalanche, Kroenke has a unique perspective on what big-time sports owners are capable of.

“I know some of the people that are involved,” Kroenke said. “And I think that on the whole golf has a great group of people involved in this and this type of investment.”

Kroenke went on to say that with not only their involvement in sports but their other businesses, the SSG investors can apply a best practices across a lot of different things.

In the business world, best practices are defined as commercial or professional procedures that are accepted or prescribed as being correct or most effective.

“I know, there's some certain synergies that I heard talked about, but I think from a from a media presentation standpoint, I think that those guys were very forward-thinking and I hear a lot of the conversations right now about the value being players and spectators," Kroenke said. "I think that those guys are really going to put their heads together to figure out how to make this thing not only great for the future, but equally as sustainable as well.”

Kroenke admitted this transition—or as Scott called it, drawing a line in the sand—will take time.

Seemingly with $1.5 billion deposited in the Tour coffers and another $1.5 sitting on the doorstep, they will have some time to figure it out.

But not unlimited time.

“I think everything takes time,” Kroenke said. “But I think that those guys have the current vision and the future vision to be able to piece it all together. Just you're experiencing with what they do and how they operate in their other sports teams."