Pro slams Woods and McIlroy’s PGA Tour revamp

Changes to the PGA Tour led by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy were widely praised last week – but it seems not everyone is happy.

James Hahn, a member of the PGA Tour’s player advisory council, ripped several aspects in an interview with Golfweek.

The 41-year-old claimed the now-legendary meeting held before the BMW Championship was only for the benefit of the top 20 players.

Hahn took particular issue with the Player Impact Program, which has been extended to reward the top 20 players and will now pay out $100 million, and revealed he was the only member of the PGA Tour board to vote against the changes.

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“Certain changes were made to combat the LIV Tour, not necessarily make our Tour any better,” he said.

“To prevent more players from leaving our Tour, we are ending up paying the top players in the world guaranteed money that has increased exponentially.

“Three years ago, we started implementing this new PIP program, which has grown to $100million. It seems like the people who have the most influence of how much money is distributed to the top players in the world have a much stronger voice now than they’ve ever had.

“I understand the reasoning that the money is used to keep top players and without them, we have no Tour. My question to them is when is it enough? We’ve gone from $50million to $100million. When $100million isn’t enough, will they ask for $200million? How will that impact our business?

“We all want the same thing, what’s best for the Tour, but we have different ideas on how to get there. Right now, it seems like they are catering to the top players in the world.”

Hahn, who recently courted controversy after criticising the PGA Tour’s schedule for next season, claimed the “secret meeting” had led to tension in the pro ranks between those who attended and those who had not.

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“The secret meeting with Tiger and Rory set a precedent that the top 20 players can get whatever they want from the Tour,” he added.

“So, what’s stopping the other 90 percent of our Tour from getting together and doing the same exact thing as Rory and Tiger and saying the top 20 players can go play their own tournaments but the rest of the Tour, us 90 percent all stand together and we want more benefits?

“I feel like a portion of the $100million could have gone to making our Tour great rather than going to the top 20. These are the little things that irritate the rest of the membership to the point there is a lot of animosity between the haves and have-nots.”