Chris Stroud spoke out against the PGA Tour this week after the veteran player joined the field for the LIV Golf Promotions event in Abu Dhabi from December 8th to 10th, which will give three players access to the new circuit in 2024.
“Ever since I was on the Player Advisory Council, I’ve been unhappy with what the Tour has done.” “You learn quickly that you need to take care of yourself because the Tour doesn’t care about you if you’re not in the top 30,” Stroud told Golf Channel on Thursday. “The Tour formed this bad way of life. There has never been a time when the Tour tried to give back to the players, and we’ve never had a say. Jay has been able to do whatever he wants.
While contradicting himself, Stroud said, “I think (Monahan) and a lot of people at the Tour really care about us, but the system has never been set up to help the players.” There is too much extra money that the Tour has taken and not enough use of it. “Every player I’ve talked to about this has said the same thing: we need to form a union.”
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“Never made to assist the players?”
“Never tried to give back to the other players?”
Stroud played on the PGA Tour in 2022–23 even though he missed 14 cuts and only made eight, but he still won $449,238 in prize money. He has only placed in the top 100 of the FedEx Cup standings four times, most recently in 2017. He has also missed 44% of hits cuts over 402 starts and 15 seasons (175).
He has made $13,360,657 in this way.
Even before his back problems slowed him down over the last few seasons, Stroud was, at best, an average PGA Tour player. He was still given the chance to play against the best players every year for millions of dollars. Some bills have to be paid, but it’s pretty brave to get paid that much for those kinds of shows and then turn around and call the Tour foul.
Another thing Stroud doesn’t likes about the Tour’s 2024 schedule is that the top 50 players from the 2023 FedEx Cup are promised spots in the big-money events. This is because the signature events are meant to reward the best players from the previous season. It’s important to note that Stroud’s only Tour win came at the Barracuda Championship in 2017. This was an event for players who didn’t make it into the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational that week. He still doesn’t believe the Tour helps golfers.
Maybe Stroud is right, and the Tour has missed the mark the last few years when it comes to big events and how they dealt with the threat from LIV Golf and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. Is it possible that Nate Lashley was also right when he recently spoke out against the Player Impact Program payments?
Perhaps they can find a middle ground and understand that being a professional player is a choice, not a right, and that they only need to get better at the game to enjoy its benefits.
