Tyler Dennis – Syndication Server

PGA Tour executive Tyler Dennis details Player Equity Program, payouts and more

“We want to make the PGA Tour as good as it can possibly be.”

Tyler Dennis called the moment historic.

That’s what the PGA Tour’s Chief Competitions Officer said Wednesday when speaking to Golf Channel’s Anna Jackson discussing the PGA Tour Enterprises Player Equity Program, which was introduced Wednesday.

The program, which is a joint venture between the PGA Tour and Strategic Sports Group, will reward 200 PGA Tour players with $1.5 billion in equity. The program rewards players based on career achievements, future participation and services and more. The grants are only available to qualified players.

The program gives players the opportunity to be owners of the organization, which is unique since there are so many Tour players with their hands in the pot.

“There’s no other sports league in the world that has this significant number of their athletes as owners of their own sports organization,” Dennis said. “And we’re really excited about it because ultimately, we want to do what’s right. We want to grow the PGA Tour in many different ways and having the alignment of players as player-owners with the organization is going to allow us to drive that quickly forward. We’re really excited about it.”

Dennis said there has been a lot of positive feedback about the Player Equity Program among the membership since the announcement. He said it has grown in positivity since the announcement of SSG getting involved in creating the for-profit entity, PGA Tour Enterprises, earlier this year.

“We want the players to be fully aligned with their organization,” Dennis said. “It’s something no other sport has done before and we’re seeing an incredible amount of excitement about that.”

Dennis also said this investment will be extremely beneficial to the fans, which has become a big talking point in recent months regarding discussions of the state of professional golf.

“Fans want to see the PGA Tour leap forward,” Dennis said. “We’re really focused on innovating. We haven’t stood still, we’ve done a lot over the last few months to have the players directly engaged in that.”

Not every player is included in the equity program, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be ways to get involved or for younger stars and rookies to get their hands in the pot.

Toward the end of the interview, Jackson asked whether players will be expected to contribute to the growth to increase their value beyond just playing PGA Tour events.

“Well, ultimately, we have an incredible sport and that our athletes really care about,” Dennis said. “They’re constantly every day thinking about how to improve our platform about our products. That’s a unique thing in sports and our athletes are out entertaining clients and sponsors that help us put on this tournament and ultimately drive a significant amount of charity, so it’s sort of built into the sport.

“Our players are highly engaged. We had a great advisory council meeting, where we talked about things from other sports that we’ve learned. I think what we want them to do is play golf. You know, fans want to see them display their incredible skills on the course. But being aligned with the overall goals of the organization is really what this latest announcement today is about.”

Dennis said he wasn’t able to discuss whether players who return from LIV Golf to the PGA Tour would be able to be a part of the program, but he did mention talks continue to accelerate with the PIF.

In the roughly 10-minute interview, Dennis mentioned the word “exciting” nine different times in addition to “historic.” Although nothing major is changing in terms of the schedule, Dennis said the players are striving to deliver the best product for fans.

“We want to make the PGA Tour as good as it can possibly be,” Dennis said.

5 things to know about the FedEx Cup Fall, consisting of 7 official PGA Tour events

It’s time for those who finished outside the top 70 in the FedEx Cup regular-season standings to get back to work.

The “off-season” is over and time for those who finished outside the top 70 in the FedEx Cup regular season standings to head back to work.

The fall portion of the PGA Tour schedule has been reimagined as the FedEx Cup Fall, consisting of seven official Tour events. The top 70 have secured their cards for the 2024 season, which returns to a calendar-year schedule (January-August).

The top 125 after the RSM Classic, the last of the seven fall events, will retain their playing privileges for 2024 while those who fail to do so (and aren’t otherwise exempt) will be forced to return to PGA Tour Qualifying School in December, where five Tour cards will be up for grabs.

“We are launching the most meaningful updates to the PGA Tour season since 2007, the first year of the FedEx Cup,” said PGA Tour president Tyler Dennis.

Here are five things to know about the FedEx Cup Fall.

Who is Tyler Dennis and why was he chosen to co-lead day-to-day operations of the PGA Tour?

“We laugh about the awkwardness of that first time he had to give Tiger a ruling.”

DETROIT — A little more than two weeks ago, on June 13, Tyler Dennis officially became a person of interest when he was named to co-lead day-to-day operations of the PGA Tour along with COO Ron Price in the absence of Commissioner Jay Monahan, who is recovering from an undisclosed medical situation.

So who is Dennis and why was he selected for this lofty role?

Dennis, 46, serves as the Tour’s executive vice president and president of the PGA Tour. Before being asked to handle this critical new role, Dennis’s duties included being responsible for the day-to-day operations of Tour events and overseeing the areas of Rules/Competitions, Membership Services, Tournament Operations, ShotLink, Tournament Business Affairs and Agronomy.

“He’s one of the smartest if not the smartest person I’ve ever met,” said Stanford men’s golf coach Conrad Ray of his former Stanford teammate.

Growing up in Salt Lake City, Utah, Dennis learned the game at the nine-hole par-3 Cottonwood Club. There, he also developed a keen and unusual interest in the rules and longtime pro Brad Beutler took him under his wing and showed him the basics of operating tournaments. At 16, Dennis posted a perfect score on the U.S. Golf Association rules test and helped administer his first professional event at his local Korn Ferry Tour event.

“He’s got a photographic mind,” said former PGA Tour vice president of competitions Mark Russell.

One summer later, Dennis signed on as an intern with the USGA at the 1994 U.S. Amateur Public Links at Eagle Bend Golf Club in Bigfork, Montana. He assisted Ron Read, then USGA Western Region Director, in placing holes early one morning. At breakfast, he confided in Read that the pro shop guys had invited him to the bar the previous night. There was a tuba on the wall and a sign that said, ‘Blow the bugle and win a pitcher of beer.’ Dennis kept telling the guys at his table that he could blow the instrument. But the guys ignored him. Finally, after he told them he played trumpet in the band, they encouraged him to go for it.

Dennis grabbed the tuba, blew hard and out popped a cloud of five pounds of flour. When the pitcher arrived, he was an instant hero.

Dennis begged Read not to tell the USGA’s director of competitions Tom Meeks, who he feared would punish him and potentially spoil his future career aspirations working in the game. Just then Meeks called to speak to Read.

“I told Tyler that Tom had read (about him) in all the Montana newspapers,” Read recalled in an email. “Tyler leaped out of his chair, went to the cashier and got a roll of quarters. He went to the paper machine and started feeding it. Came back with The Missoulian, (Billings) Gazette and one other (local paper) and started reading. He found nothing. I just laughed. Later, I shared all with Tom. We both laughed.”

Tyler Dennis, head of operations from the PGA Tour, at the 2017 World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship. (Photo: Ramon Trevino, Agencia EL Universal via AP Images)

Dennis attended Stanford as an undergraduate where he received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in just three years. He and Tiger Woods were teammates during the 1995-96 season. Wielding his trusty Bullseye putter, which he still uses to this day, Dennis qualified for nine events and recorded a T-14 as his best result.

Dennis started at the PGA Tour in 2000 as a Rules Official on the Korn Ferry Tour, later moving to the PGA Tour.

“We laugh about the awkwardness of that first time he had to give Tiger a ruling,” Ray said.

Dennis took a sabbatical to attend the University of Cambridge, where he received a master’s degree in business administration. In his Stanford golf bio, Dennis proclaimed his career goal was to be an engineer. When it came time to decide whether to return to his position at the Tour or pursue other opportunities arguably better suited for his advanced-degree skill set, Dennis, an only child, listened to the advice of his father, Leland, a former golfer at Tulane, a ski instructor and free spirit who rode motorcycles across the country.

“This sounds corny, but my dad told me to do something you wanted to do,” Dennis said. “I think this is a great job. I love the PGA Tour and what it stands for.”

Beginning in 2007, Tyler transitioned to oversight of the competitions area as well as many of the other Tour functions which manage on-site operations. He spearheaded the Tour’s return to golf after the global pandemic in 2020 and now is in the most visible and critical role of his career. In a profile in Fairways magazine, the official publication of the Utah Golf Association, author Kurt Kragthorpe wrote that “it would not surprise me if Dennis someday becomes the Tour commissioner.” Those in the know describe him as a steady hand, the person you want shaping policy but not necessarily the public face of the PGA Tour. “He’s a good No. 2 or 3 man,” one veteran player said.

With Monahan sidelined indefinitely, Dennis and Price, who joined the Tour in 1994, are left to steer the ship through the formation of a new for-profit entity with the Saudis, which could have numerous hurdles in getting approval from the Tour’s board of directors to the Department of Justice.

“Last night’s news was a jolt. Our priorities don’t change. We are full steam ahead as a business,” Dennis told Golf Channel on June 14 following Monahan’s medical situation. “Our No. 1 focus will always be our players. That is front and center as we think about the business. We are going to continue to lead the day-to-day operations of the Tour. We have a lot of exciting things ahead.”

And if needed, he can always play the tuba.

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Justin Thomas, Scottie Scheffler and more PGA Tour pros react to denied requests to play LIV Golf Invitational Series event in London

“I thought that was the perfect response,” said Will Zalatoris.

When the PGA Tour sent an email to its membership late Tuesday informing players that it had denied requests for a conflicting-event release to play in the LIV Golf Invitational Series inaugural event in London the same week as the Tour’s RBC Canadian Open, it was bound to become a topic of conversation at this week’s AT&T Byron Nelson.

“As a membership organization, we believe this decision is in the best interest of the PGA Tour and its players,” wrote Tyler Dennis, the Tour’s senior vice president and chief of operation.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler said he had a busy night at home, woke up early and played his pro am and hadn’t had much time to process the Tour’s decision, but at first glance supported the move.

“I kind of figured that was something that would happen,” he said in his pre-tournament news conference ahead of the AT&T Byron Nelson in his hometown of Dallas. “If you’re playing here on the PGA Tour, playing in something that could be a rival series to the PGA Tour, being a member of our Tour, it’s definitely not something where we want our membership to do because it’s going to harm the tournament that we have opposite that and that’s, I’m sure that’s why they were, why they did not release the players. Because if we have 15 guys go over there and play that hurts the RBC and the Canadian Open.”

Will Zalatoris reacts after making a putt on the ninth green during the final round of the 2022 Zurich Classic of New Orleans in Avondale, Louisiana. (Photo: Andrew Wevers-USA TODAY Sports)

Will Zalatoris, last year’s Rookie of the Year and a member of the Tour’s Player Advisory Council, has been involved in talks behind closed doors and fully backed the decision made by Commissioner Jay Monahan.

“I thought that was the perfect response,” Zalatoris said. “Because we’re in a great place, the Tour’s in the best spot it’s ever been, it’s only going to get better and why would we want to, why would we encourage our players to get releases for those events when essentially we have all these sponsors that are involved with the Tour and are only making it better and better. We’re trying to promote our best product possible and if you want to be a part of this where it’s only getting better and better, then you shouldn’t have it both ways. You have a choice, I mean, you really do. You can go if you’d like, but, you know, it is what it is.”

Justin Thomas has made it clear repeatedly that he’s interested in winning tournaments and creating a legacy in the game more than simply lining his bank account with more lucre.

“I would hope it would deter them from going over there,” he said. “I think Jay’s made it very clear from the start of what would happen or, you know, I think a lot of people are probably like, “I can’t believe you did this’ or, ‘Wow, you went through with it.’ But I mean this is what he said was going to happen all along. And, yeah, it’s one of those things to where he just doesn’t want the competing tour, the back and forth. You know, it’s like, Look, if you want to go, go. I mean there’s been plenty of guys that have been advocates of it and have just talked it up all the time and they have been guys behind the scenes that are saying, ‘I’m going, I’m doing this.’ And like my whole thing is, like just go then. Like stop going back and forth or like you say you’re going to do this, it’s like you can do — everybody’s entitled to do what they want, you know what I mean?

“Like if I wanted to go play that tour I could go play that tour. But I’m loyal to the PGA Tour and I’ve said that and I think there’s a lot of opportunity for me to, I mean, break records, make history, do a lot of things on the PGA Tour I want to do. And there could be people that want to make that change and it’s like you’re allowed to have that decision, you’re a human being and that’s just a part of it.”

Former European Ryder Cup Captain Paul McGinley, who played most of his career on the DP World Tour, served as both a captain, Ryder Cup teammate and fellow competitor with many of the European players linked with joining the LIV series (including Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia among others) brings a Euro-centric perspective. He expressed his opinion in an interview Wednesday with SiriusXM and joined Scheffler, Thomas and Zalatoris in supporting the established tours, which announced a strategic alliance in 2020 and have been rumored to be discussing a closer relationship to fend off the Saudi threat.

“I’m not gonna make this personal, they’re all friends of mine,” McGinley said. “But I’m very much a traditionalist, I’m very much aligned with the PGA, DP World Tour and the major championships indeed in terms of retaining and improving the status quo that we have at the moment, which is, you know, every week that we have both European and PGA Tours. So I want to enhance that. I think we have commonalities between the two tours trying to enhance that, uh, get somewhat of a world schedule going together. I know there’s some talks gone on behind the scenes in that regard of those two major tours coming together and working more collaboratively going forward.”

LIV Golf, which Tuesday announced a $2 billion infusion to support its launch, has been touting exorbitant purses and guaranteed money to lure players to enter its events.

“I can somewhat understand and see where the guys are coming from. I mean, the amount of money that’s been put on the table is an incredible amount of, huge amount of money. And so late in their careers an opportunity to make so much money,” McGinley said. “In a lot of ways I can understand the enticement that they’ve been offered and why they would be interested in it. But it’s not certainly, personally from my point of view, the side of the fence that I’m on.”

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, one pro who splits time on both the PGA Tour and DP World Tour told our Eamon Lynch the following: “I’m for sure weighing up the pros and cons of making a jump like this. What Jay [Monahan] decides is a hugely important part of that. Asking permission to play an international ‘tour’ event is something I’ve done with the PGA Tour since I first took my card many years ago. I understand the initial construct of this LIV tour was destructive in nature if the PGA Tour didn’t want part of it. Here in the short term, the events are being scheduled to be as non-conflicting as possible which is difficult to do. As a player who plays multiple tours, conflicting events is something we always deal with and I don’t see how the LIV tour is any different until it’s 48 guys locked in for 14 events a season.”

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PGA Tour clears players to compete in controversial Saudi event, but with conditions

The PGA Tour has granted permission for 30 of its members to play the Saudi International, Golfweek has learned.

The PGA Tour has granted permission for 30 of its members—including Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau—to play the controversial Saudi International, Golfweek has learned.

But the okay comes with strings attached.

The decision was revealed in a memo sent Monday afternoon to the Tour’s entire membership, a copy of which was obtained by Golfweek. Players who sought permission to compete in Saudi Arabia received additional memos outlining the specific conditions attached to their releases for the event, which will be staged opposite the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, February 3-6, 2022. Tour members are required to obtain a waiver to compete in conflicting events.

A PGA Tour spokesperson confirmed the contents of the memos but declined to identify the 30 players who are being granted releases. Last month, the Saudi International released a list of commitments that included Mickelson, DeChambeau and Johnson, the defending champion. It also named Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, Henrik Stenson and Bubba Watson, among others.

The Saudi International is the latest front in a war between the PGA Tour and the Saudis, who have been trying to launch the rival Super Golf League by offering golf’s biggest stars huge guaranteed pay days. The Super League concept has been widely criticized as an effort by the Saudi regime to ‘sportswash’ its human rights abuses. The PGA Tour had indicated in July that it would deny permission for members to play in the tournament.

The memo sent to the Tour’s membership was signed by Tyler Dennis, the chief of operations. It reiterates the rules governing conflicting event releases as stated in the official PGA Tour Player Handbook. Those guidelines allow Commissioner Jay Monahan to grant or deny waivers based on the best interests of the Tour, and to attach conditions to waivers. The memo specifies the conditions that will apply to members who compete in Saudi Arabia.

Any player who has competed in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am event at least once in the past five years must commit to play at least once in the next two years (2023 and 2024). Players who have not competed at Pebble Beach in the last five years will need to do so twice in the three years until 2025. A source familiar with the names of the 30 players who applied for waivers told Golfweek that 19 of them will have to commit to one appearance at the AT&T, while the other 11 will be required to play twice.

Golfweek reached out to Andy Pazder, the PGA Tour’s chief tournaments and competitions officer, for comment on the decision. “While we certainly have grounds under Tour regulations created by and for the players to deny conflicting event releases, we have decided in this instance to allow a group of Tour players the opportunity to play in a single sanctioned tournament outside North America on a recognized Tour, with conditions attached that will contribute to the success of AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in future years,” Pazder replied.

Players who do not meet the obligations attached to their waivers would be subject to disciplinary action.

The memo emailed to Tour members late Monday afternoon also highlighted a requirement that applications for conflicting event releases must be submitted at least 45 days before the first round of the tournament in question. The Saudi International begins February 3—exactly 45 days from the date of the memo.

The 30 releases requested for the 2022 Saudi International marks a sharp increase on the 23 sought in 2021, and suggests a deliberate Saudi strategy of inviting so many players that the PGA Tour would be forced to deny the waivers in order to protect the quality of the field at the AT&T tournament. Had permission been refused, the Saudis could claim the PGA Tour was not acting in the best interests of members by denying them earning opportunities, further stoking discontent among the top players it has been attempting to recruit to the Super Golf League.

One source familiar with the situation told Golfweek that lower-profile players invited to compete in King Abdullah Economic City have been offered appearance fees of around $400,000, with mid-tier players receiving between $500,000 and $750,000. High-profile stars get seven-figure offers. Chartered private aircraft to and from Saudi Arabia is also provided.

Not every player who applied for a conflicting event release will necessarily compete in Saudi Arabia. It is likely that an updated list of competitors will be released by the Asian Tour, which sanctions the event, and in which the Saudi government has invested $200 million.

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