The PGA Tour has a Scottish Open problem. The Tour's new two-tier structure, set to launch in 2028, has no natural home for a tournament that's co-owned by two different tours and beloved by players on both sides of the Atlantic.

Golf Channel analyst Ryan Lavner proposed a solution, which he believes avoids lowering the event's status or moving it to the fall. Meanwhile, it keeps the event as the premier preparation for the final major.

"It obviously can't drop down to a challenger series event because the players in tier one wouldn't be able to go play that golf tournament," Lavner said on the Golf Channel Podcast with Rex & Lavner.

In the PGA Tour's proposed two-tier model effective in 2028, the Tour will contain the Championship series, which will contain the PGA Tour's leading players, and the second-tier Challenger series.

In that model, Championship players will not be able to participate in Challenger events and vice versa. And the Tour can't simply add the Scottish Open to the Championship series.

"It can't move it to the fall because I think sort of the mass appeal among the players outside of it being a really important national open that serves as the perfect preparation for the year's final major at the Open."

It's co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, a partnership that began in 2022. It means its field is currently drawn from both tours' membership. And it's a concern even the players share.

Last week, as the Scottish Open kicked off, the likes of Rory McIlroy teed off in preparation for The Open. And he wasn't alone. Scottie Scheffler joined him. The course is clearly important to golf pros, and that's why they're chiming in on the debate. McIlroy specifically said, per Golf.com:

"I think these events need to be treated differently than, you know, the Travelers Championship or RBC Heritage or whatever else that are going to be in the Champions Series. These tournaments need to have — there’s a little bit more nuance with these tournaments for sure.

So what could the PGA Tour do?

"I think the solution is that if you're the PGA Tour and you're trying to map out a championship series for 2028, you should build in an off week heading into the Open Championship," Lavner added during the same Golf Channel podcast.

In this way, Lavner said purse size wouldn't need to suffer, too, and it is capable of drawing a $7-8 million prize fund, in line with where it's sat since 2023.

Is There a Precedent for What Lavner's Describing?

There is, and it's sitting right there on the DP World Tour calendar. The Hero Dubai Desert Classic. It's a Rolex Series event, not co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour, yet it regularly pulls American-caliber fields

Despite a stacked early PGA Tour calendar in California and Hawaii, players such as Billy Horschel and Collin Morikawa have participated in this event in the past. And Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood regularly play this event.

Still, there's a problem. Not everyone at Golf Channel is convinced the off-week idea survives with how players actually want to schedule their year. Rex Hoggard has pushed back directly, pointing out nobody wants to play more than three weeks in a row, and the seven or so off weeks the Championship Series schedule allows are precious.

Slotting one of those weeks in front of The Open would likely pull in Rory McIlroy and players loyal to the DP World Tour, Hoggard argued.

"You're already banking on the idea that a Scottie Scheffler is going to play three weeks in a row, take a week off," Hoggard said. "Take a week off for the entirety of this very content schedule. I don't see it happening that way."

Read more at Club Golf!

Written by

Md Saife Fida

Edited by

Siddharth Shirwadkar