‘We’ve Too Many Guys on the PGA Tour’: Jay Monahan Indirectly Urged To Mimic Greg Norman’s Plans by Golfer

One topic of discussion that has remained constant in golf in recent times is that of the LIV and PIF! Most recently, it’s Billy Horschel, who’s had two nits to say about the other side. His take, however, was not one many in the sport may be pleased with. After all, in Smylie Kaufman’s recent episode, the PGA Tour star openly declared that the way LIV played things was not a bad option!

As Kaufman and Horschel dove into the pro’s current game plan, he had a rather contradictory suggestion for the Jay Monahan-led Tour. Billy Horschel believes that the format of LIV Golf could be adapted by the Jay Monahan-led tour. The PGA Tour star has been a part of the Tour for 15 years now, and as per him, having fewer players in the league will automatically make it stronger. In case you’ve forgotten, LIV Golf has only 54 players competing in every event. The Tour on the other hand has over 100 players.

“A couple of things I suggested—I understand this does take away opportunities—but I feel like we’ve got too many guys on the PGA Tour who have a PGA Tour card. I think if we were to reduce that number, that would make us a stronger tour already,” said Horschel.

Additionally, LIV Golf only has 14 events for its yearly calendar, while the number of official events on the PGA Tour 2024 calendar is 47. And the 37-year-old believes this too is a smart move. “I think you could reduce our schedule more to make it more defined. It would make us a stronger product,” he added. Notably, Horschel has proposed changes on such a level in the past too. Even before Norman’s league came into play!

Billy Horschel had a suggestion to make the PGA Tour more competitive

Back in 2021, Horschel was competing at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai. During the post-round presser there, he was smiling and laughing through all the questions until one. When asked about the current state of the PGA Tour (with LIV Golf just having been incorporated and talks of poaching underway), the golf pro turned rather serious. He claimed that he had requested a lot of change (that guaranteed to make the gameplay more competitive) from the Tour already even before the inception of the breakaway league.

So what was this suggested change? “We would change the way the money pays out where the top 30, 40 guys get paid a lot of money, and then you don’t get paid as much down below. So it pushes guys to do everything they can to be the best player they can be,” he said. Horschel also suggested that PGA Tour cards be a lot harder to retain.

Currently, at the end of every season, the top 125 in the FedEx Cup standings are given cards for the following season. Moreover, players who have a PGA Tour win in the last two seasons also get year-long exemptions and access to the Tour. To keep the competition alive, and curb more players, the American star believed this should be changed too. He also claimed that had these suggestions been taken in consideration LIV may have never come to be even. “Doing that takes care of any other tour that comes along to compete against the PGA Tour or the European Tour,” he stated.

A lot is still unknown when it comes to the sport right now. However, one thing is clear: we may never know if Billy Horschel could have prevented one of the biggest upsets in golf!