After 17 years as a pro, Kevin Chappell recently announced that he’s hanging up his PGA Tour spikes.
On this week’s episode of Subpar, the 39-year-old explained that, after enduring a back surgery in 2018 and recovering in 2019, he struggled to regain his form. He sensed a shift in his priorities and work ethic, but it wasn’t until he played with Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry at the Zurich Classic that he realized just how much work he needed to do to regain his competitive edge. After mulling the idea of retirement for a few months, Chappell decided stepping away was the right move.
“This is more of a life decision than a career decision,” Chappell said.
In addition to sharing the reasons behind his retirement plans, Chappell discussed a number of topics with Subpar hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz, including this thoughts on the evolution of the PGA Tour’s schedule.
“I don’t know what the future holds for the Tour,” Chappell said. “It just seems like it’s turning much into a tennis model where you’re gonna have eight to 12 events a year that really matter, and the rest of it, there will be a tour that exists, but if you’re not a regular fan, you’re not gonna really know what’s going on.
“There’s an opportunity for guys to make a living in those events, but as far as being relevant, it’s gonna be harder and harder to have that long career that you’ve seen in the past,” he continued. “You’re gonna have your generational talents that are gonna do it, but I think careers get shorter, guys make more money, they move on and go do something else. Somehow they need to get the turnover rate that matches the exit rate and it it could be sustainable. I don’t love it, but if that’s what the business model says that they need to be doing to grow the game of golf, then that’s what they gotta do.”
The advent of big-money, limited-field, no-cut Signature Events has also proven to be a divisive issue for some players.
“Nothing should be given to you, but with these Signature Events, like, if you finish in the top 50, you’re good for the entire year,” Knost said. “And we saw this year only one guy that was in the top 50 last year finished outside the top 100 that wasn’t injured, and that was Matthew Pavon, who just had a really bad year. Like, you really got to mess up to lose your card.
“As a player who’s obviously played a number of these events, where do you stand? Would you rather see more people in the field with a cut?”
“Yeah, I think that’s an integral part of the game, making a cut, there’s a good feeling there, there’s a sense of accomplishment, and that needs to happen in the game,” Chappell replied. “Maybe they don’t want to do full fields, but let’s everyone that kept their card the year before on the PGA Tour is exempt. Let’s do a 110-man field and let’s have a cut. It opens up opportunity, it creates less of a divide amongst on the money list and the points list, and it allows people to earn their way into the event a little bit easier.”