How New CEO Bryan Rolapp Plans to Bring ‘Hard Knocks’ to the PGA Tour

PGA Tour CEO Bryan Rolapp brought a number with him to the show that explains most of what the Tour is doing under his leadership. Since COVID, the number of people playing golf in the United States is up roughly 38 to 39 percent. Half of that growth is under the age of 35.

That demographic, Rolapp told Rich, lives on social media. The Tour's new content strategy is built around that fact.

Players will now be able to post more content from competition days, including broadcast clips per round. YouTube highlights on personal channels are expanding. The policy has been in development for nearly a year, and Rolapp's NFL background is the lens.

"You actually recognize this from our NFL playbook," he said. The league pushed early to embrace those platforms, which contributed to YouTube landing Sunday Ticket. The Tour is doing the same work, six months into a serious acceleration.

Rolapp's other priority is the story problem. Pro golf, in his read, suffers from a misconception that tournaments only matter when the same handful of names are in contention.

"There's so much talent on the PGA Tour, there's so many stories to tell," Rolapp said. "It's a sport where week in and week out, one stroke over four days determines who wins the tournament. The only other sport in the world that has that type of competitive parity that I could find is the NFL."

The bigger story play is the one with NFL Films attached.

One of Rolapp's first calls as CEO was to NFL Films, asking how to do a Hard Knocks for golf. The first product was Chasing Sunday, a Hard Knocks-style behind-the-scenes treatment of the Players Championship, released on YouTube and described by Rolapp as a successful test.

The series wired players for sound and captured the conversations the CBS and NBC broadcasts never get to. The example Rolapp pointed to was Akshay Bhatia and his caddy in a tense exchange about what club to hit on 17. The kind of moment fans want and that no traditional broadcast can deliver in real time.

The mental side of the game, Rolapp said, is the thing he most wants viewers to see. He framed the pressure in a way Rich had not heard before.

"It's like every time you have to hit a free throw to win the game, but every week the hoop is in a different spot, because the course is different," Rolapp said.

Another Chasing Sunday episode is in the works for this season. Rolapp said the team is exploring where to land the next installment.

Rich offered an unsolicited product idea, which Rolapp received with the calm of someone who has heard worse pitches.

"You should just go in straight-faced like you always do and say that you want to add tackling," Rich said.

Rolapp said he would run it up the competition committee.

Whatever else the Tour announces in June, the takeaway from the interview was that the new CEO is treating golf the way the NFL has treated itself for 30 years.