A player meeting outlining changes to certain designated events on the PGA Tour was reportedly hit by a number of players who decided to skip the gathering.
According to the Golf Channel, around 50 PGA Tour members attended the meeting at the TPC Sawgrass clubhouse ahead of the Players Championship, which was held to clarify changes that will see some designated events become limited-field, no-cut affairs. However, it suggested several players skipped the meeting, with Notah Begay saying the timing wasn't good.
🚨Golf Channel reporting that several players were missing from this morning’s player meeting. Discussing why didn’t the meeting occur prior to announcing the changes - Notah Begay says the timing of the meeting was not good. 👀March 7, 2023
There have been complaints that the big-money events will only be accessible to the Tour’s top players. Meanwhile, James Hahn went further, saying he hated the changes and suggested the real reason they were being implemented was to offer more money to the big players.
It was later revealed that Hahn was one of the players absent from the meeting, which drew a response from one of the most vocal proponents of the changes, Rory McIlroy, who called out the World No.305. McIlroy reportedly said: "Like, you say all this s***and you’re not even in the meeting? If you want to get informed and be a part of the process - the fact that he wasn't even in the room was a slap in the face to everyone there."
Another absentee was World No.1 Jon Rahm, who explained that family commitments, rather than any issue with the changes, prevented him from attending. He said: “Listen, when they told me it was at 7.30, and I didn't really have anything else to do until 10.00, I was going to take my time to be with my kids in the morning. I wasn't sleeping; I was playing with my kids. So I haven't spoken to anybody. I know it was quite lengthy, but I don't really know what happened. And I don't even know who was there or who wasn't.”
Despite some players apparently skipping the meeting for other reasons McIlroy felt it achieved its aims. He said: “I think when more information and data was presented to them, the people that maybe had reservations about it I think came around, or at least were more informed on their opinions, right. I think the temperature in the room was nowhere near as hot as I anticipated it to be once the information was sort of laid out.”
Nevertheless, according to the Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis, the Northern Irishman also admitted there is friction among some players regarding the changes. Asked if the Tour was unified, McIlroy said: "No. There are some angry players about the Tour changes".
