Former European Tour winner and now Sky Sports
golf commentator Andrew Coltart has hit back at Wyndham Clark's suggestion that the PGA Tour should reduce the size of it's fields and put the bottom 20 players each season at risk of relegation. Clark who burst onto the scene in 2023, claiming the
US Open, told reporters at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at the weekend that he agreed with Rory McIlroy's suggestion that the tour should be more "cutthroat", making it harder for players to retain their membership. Clark, who finished second at Bay Hill behind world number one Scottie Scheffler, when one step further by saying the tour should reduce it's membership to 100 players and introduce promotion and relegation to increase the jeopardy. Coltart, a European Tour veteran who represented Europe in the Ryder Cup in 1999, dismissed the idea out of hand, highlighting the impact of previously unknown players like Jake Knapp and Nick Dunlap both winners on tour this year. "Where's the jeopardy, where's the cutthroat, where's the Cinderella story when you give money to a small group of players even when they play poorly?" Coltart posted on X, formerly known as
Twitter. "There should always be a cut if you want to get paid. I want to see the guys like Jake Knapp, Nick Dunlap storm to victory," Ironically, Clark made it into the top 100 of the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) just 10 months ago. After winning at the Wells Fargo Championship and the US Open, he shot up in the rankings. He also has a victory this season, claiming the title at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February and now he is up to five in the OWGR. When talking about McIlroy's ideas for the future of the tour, Clark shared his excitement: "I think it would be amazing if our tour was a hundred guys, and I kind of said this a few times, 100 guys and we have 20 guys that get relegated every time, every year, doesn't matter who you are. It would be exciting." He added, "Because you come down to the end of the year, people are looking who is going to win the FedEx Cup, and then you're looking at who is not going to be here next year. So, yeah, I'm probably with Rory on that. "I don't know what that number is, but I think it's just nice to elevate the product and make it to where the best players are playing on TV more often and against each other." But not everyone likes Clark's ideas. DP World Tour player Richard Mansell from
England didn't agree and posted on social media: "Good
Job they didn't do this when you were finishing outside 100 on the PGA Tour not very long ago." "[The] closed shop idea is a terrible one. Remember where you came from. There's a lot of good players waiting to break through."