Hahn defined why the PGA Tour’s 2024 plan is only a method to “funnel more money to the top players.”
James Hahn—a two-time PGA Tour winner—has spoken out about his sturdy dissatisfaction with the adjustments coming to the Tour in 2024 and he didn’t mince phrases.
In an interview with Golfweek’s Adam Schupak, Hahn, 41, stated that he “hates” the plan.
Hahn, at present ranked three hundredth on this planet, believes that the PGA Tour’s new construction will funnel cash to probably the most “popular” figures on Tour, whereas leaving the middle-of-the pack gamers within the mud.
“I use the word popular instead of best players because, granted that Tiger is one of the best players to ever have played this game, but he just won the PIP money two years running without really playing golf, without being ranked in the top 1,000 and without keeping his card,” Hahn stated. (Woods is technically a totally exempt participant on the PGA Tour by way of the 2025-2026 season due to his win on the 2019 Masters.
The PGA Tour’s 2024 adjustments, introduced in a memo from Commissioner Jay Monahan on Wednesday, embrace lowered fields and no cuts for the “designated” $20 million purse occasions. As the PGA Tour continues to attempt to enhance its general product, the construction prioritizes the highest 70 to 80 gamers competing towards one another constantly. Players outdoors of that group may have alternatives to qualify into the lowered elevated fields, however they’re restricted.
“I’m gonna say exactly what 99.99 percent of fans said about players leaving for the LIV Tour. If our players just said, ‘We’re doing this for the money,’ I would have a lot more respect for them. But how they’re covering up what they’re doing and trying to make it a thing about sponsors and fans and saving opposite-field events. I think that’s all BS,” Hahn advised Golfweek.
“All the big names that are talking about this ‘new product,’ if you just came out and said, ‘Hey, we’re doing this for the money,’ they want more guaranteed money and this is another way to funnel more money to the top players in the world, I’d have a lot more respect for them.
“Right now, they’re just covering their a– and saying everything that the PGA Tour basically has trained them to say.”
According to Hahn, the PGA Tour’s 2024 schedule will successfully create two totally different ranges inside the circuit.
“We’re not spending money to provide the best playing experience for our members; all we’re concerned with is just pushing money to the top players on our Tour. That’s where we are getting a great divide between the elevated events and non-elevated events and the players who play those two different tours,” he stated.
Hahn was a Player Director on the PGA Tour Policy Board till the tip of 2022 together with Rory McIlroy, Patrick Cantlay, Charley Hoffman, and Webb Simpson. He was the lone dissenting vote towards the PGA Tour’s 2022 adjustments, which included the rise of the Player Impact Program (PIP) prize and the creation of elevated occasions.
This yr, Hahn was changed by Peter Malnati, who can be the brand new de facto voice of the “rank and file” gamers on Tour. Hahn believes that Malnati hasn’t correctly represented that coalition.
“When I see Peter I’m going to tell him exactly what Lanto Griffin told me when I was put in that position and my mind was swayed by the executives on the board. He said, ‘You were put there for a reason to voice the opinion of the majority of the players on the PGA Tour.’ If he doesn’t have enough balls to sack up and vote no against it then I don’t want him on the board. We picked the wrong guy. He was put there to argue our side of the discussion,” Hahn stated.
Hahn went on to notice that even when he sat on the Policy Board, he felt as if the opinions of upper ranked gamers akin to Jordan Spieth had been prioritized over his personal.
“I felt that they were listening to Jordan, which granted, he’s very, very smart, very well spoken. He articulates his words in a way that I could never and he gets his message across. He’s a very likable person in those meetings. On and off the course, I have nothing but the most respect for Jordan. But you can see how when he talks that everyone’s eyes in the room just glimmer like he’s the prom queen, and everyone wants to ask her out for the dance. When Jordan would talk to an executive in the board meetings, that [independent director] started blushing, ‘Oh, my gosh, Jordan’s talking to me. How awesome is this?’”
Source: www.si.com
