Ahead of the Tour Championship, Brian Rolapp, the PGA Tour’s new CEO, met with the media to discuss a number of topics. During his press conference, Rolapp made it clear that TV ratings are a top priority.
Before taking the PGA Tour CEO job, Rolapp was a longtime NFL executive, most recently serving as the league’s Chief Media & Business Officer. While meeting with the PGA Tour media, Rolapp was asked, “In your old job, did you like it when the Patriots kept winning?”
“As I said in my old job and I’ll say it in this job, I didn’t cheer for teams, I cheered for television ratings,” Rolapp replied. “So whoever’s behind, that’s who I’ll cheer for.”
The question about the New England Patriots was actually a follow-up to Rolapp’s previous answer to a question clarifying his definition of “competitive parity.”
“What I mean by competitive parity is how close and competitive the competition is,” Rolapp explained. “I’ll give you an example, in my observations in this sport, the difference between the fifth-ranked player and the 35th is razor-thin. On any given weekend, any of these guys can win a golf tournament. I don’t think you can say that on any other sport. Maybe the NFL. On ‘any given Sunday,’ that’s where the expression comes from. But I think that is an incredibly difficult thing to do in sports. You roll out competitors on any given competition. You’re not sure who’s gonna win.”
Rolapp also mentioned the ongoing dominance of Scottie Scheffler, identifying him as a possible deviation from the norm.
“Now Scottie is doing some pretty special things,” Rolapp said. “Maybe he’s starting to emerge as an exception to that rule. But other than that, I think when you look top to bottom on the PGA Tour, what separates these competitors is not that big. And that is an amazing characteristic.”
Golf is a sport where even the best players at their peak still fail to win even half of their tournaments. Scheffler, for example, won seven of 19 events in 2024 and, heading into the Tour Championship, has won five of 19 events in 2025. Even Tiger Woods, in his historic 2000 season, won nine of 20 events. Parity is more common in golf than any other sport. So, if competitive parity is Rolapp’s goal, golf’s history, both recent and more distant, suggests it will be likely.
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