Another player has challenged the PGA Tour membership to be more engaging with the circuit’s media partners and to be open-minded about improving pace of play.
Charley Hoffman, a two-time player director on the Tour’s policy board and a current member of the Player Advisory Council, followed Justin Thomas’ lead and sent a memo to players addressing the “heat” the circuit has received on pace of play.
“Yeah, it’s an issue – for our fans, for us as players – cutting down field sizes will help,” Hoffman wrote. “Pace of play has been a challenge my entire 20 years on Tour, and it was an issue 20 years before that.
“We all need to take responsibility to be ready when it’s our turn to play and having the awareness to realize that we are out of position and speed up even before the rules official shows up. We do it all the time, we just need to be more aware of it!”
Last month during the final round of the Farmers Insurance Open, CBS analyst Dottie Pepper criticized pace of play during the final round at Torrey Pines, calling out players for a lack of “respect.” On Sunday at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Tom Kim was also criticized by announcers for taking over a minute to hit a shot on the par-5 sixth hole.
Hoffman also echoed comments made by Thomas last month in a similar memo that stressed the need to cooperate with media partners to help improve the televised product.
“We have a responsibility to work with our broadcast partners – whether that’s doing on-course interviews or just giving fans a better look at what we do out there,” Hoffman said. “But just as we help them, we need to make sure our Tour and our players are being properly highlighted.”
The 48-year-old, four-time PGA Tour winner seemed to take a swipe at the Tour’s criteria for signature-event fields, which are limited to 72 players via the top 50 from last year’s FedExCup points list and a mini-swing list since the last signature event, the Aon Swing 5.
“Like anything new, we need to make sure it’s working as intended. This year at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am only two players got into the field from this category [Aon Swing 5] before the deadline, and three of the alternates also qualified via Aon Swing 5,” he wrote. “So, in my mind we only got two new unique playing opportunities for our members. We will be sure to continue monitoring this to make sure these initiatives help the guys they’re meant to.”
He also offered another criticism near the end of his memo. “Here’s something else to think about,” he wrote. “If we truly care about strengthening our Tour, we should be supporting as many PGA Tour events as we can. Many of you keep saying you want to play fewer events, yet you still find time for TGL, Race to Dubai, and other non-PGA Tour events, and that’s going to continue regardless of field size.”
Another letter was sent to PGA Tour members this evening, now from Charley Hoffman:
– Addresses pace of play “heat” Tour received
– critiques Aon Swing 5 implementation
– “Many of you keep saying you want to play fewer events, yet you still find time for TGL, Race to Dubai…” pic.twitter.com/cVora8Qai6— Sean Zak (@Sean_Zak) February 3, 2025
