After 17 years as a professional, Kevin Chappell recently announced that he will hang up his PGA Tour spikes.
Speaking on Subpar this week, the 39-year-old explained that he struggled to regain form after undergoing back surgery in 2018 and recovering in 2019. He sensed a shift in his priorities and work ethic, but it wasn’t until he played alongside Rory McIlroy and Sean Lowry at the Zurich Classic that he realized how much work he needed to do to regain his competitive edge. After considering the idea of retirement for several months, Chappell decided calling it quits 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, Chappelle discussed a number of topics with Subpar hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz, including thoughts on the evolution of the PGA Tour schedule.
“I don’t know what the future of the Tour is going to be,” Chappell said. “It seems to be turning into a tennis model where there will be eight to 12 really important tournaments a year and for the rest, there will be tours, but if you’re not a casual fan you won’t really know what’s going on.
“There are opportunities for people to make a living in these events, but in terms of relevance it’s going to be increasingly difficult to have the long careers that we’ve seen in the past,” he continued. “You have a generation that’s going to do it, but I think careers are going to get shorter and people are going to make more money and they’re going to move on and do other things. They need to somehow get the turnover rate to match the exit rate and it can be sustainable. I don’t like it, but if the business model says they need to do that to grow the game of golf, then that’s what they have to do.”
The emergence of high-stakes, 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, if you finish in the top 50, you’re going to have good results all year long,” Knost said. “We saw this year that only one guy who was in the top 50 last year ended up in the top 100 without getting injured, and that was Matthew Pavin, who just had a really bad year. Like, you really have to mess up to lose your card.
“As a player who has obviously been to a lot of these events, where do you stand? Would you like to see more guys advance on the field?”
“Yeah, I think it’s an integral part of the game, there’s a good feeling after the cut, there’s a sense of accomplishment, and that needs to happen in the game,” Chappell replied. “Maybe they don’t want to play a full field, but make it exempt for everyone who had a PGA Tour card the year before. Let’s play a 110-man field and then cut it down. That opens up the opportunity, reduces the gulf between the money list and the standings, and makes it easier for people to get into the event.”
