Harris English is playing in the RSM Classic for the 14th time. The 11th-ranked player in the world hasn’t played since the Ryder Cup nearly two months ago, but he lives near Sea Island Golf Club and figured he’d show up again and see what he has in the proverbial tank.
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“Expectations are pretty low this week, which I think can be good,” said the man who won the Farmers Insurance Open earlier this year, tied for second place at the PGA Championship and was runner-up to Scottie Scheffler in the British Open.
English, 36, is the highest ranked player in the field. He finished the regular season 13th in FedEx Cup points. As one of the top players in the world and a long-time member of the PGA Tour, he gave the assembled media a potential peak behind the curtain when it comes to what the tour may look like in a relatively short time.
“The tour has changed a lot since I first came on tour back in 2012,” he said. “It’s going to keep evolving. We’ve got some smart guys at the helm. Now with Brian Rolapp coming in, he’s seeing the PGA Tour in a different light. Sometimes change is good.”
Like what in particular?
“I get that they want all the best players playing together more often, and the talk of the tour potentially starting after the Super Bowl I think is a pretty good thing because we can’t really compete with football. We’ll see where that goes.”
The Super Bowl has typically been played in early February. There’s even been talk in the past few years about it eventually being played a week later so most people in the United States can have the following Monday off of work for Presidents Day.
English was quick to admit that, at age 36, the changes may only make it more difficult for him to compete as well as he has during his career.
“I know it’s going to get tougher and tougher,” he said.
The schedule potentially changing brings in a series of other questions, mostly about the Hawaii events and the West Coast swing, which historically have all been played during the weeks where English suggested the tour may not play. He won at Torrey Pines back in January. What about events at Riviera and Pebble Beach? Next year the Sentry event has already been cancelled because of drought issues and water restrictions. The season is starting at the Sony Open.
“It would kind of stink if those tournaments go away and it would change up that West Coast swing,” English said. “Torrey Pines has been one of my favourites, I’ve had a lot of success there and I would hate to see some of those tournaments go away. But we’ll see. Like I said, I’ve got a lot of faith in those guys at the helm and Rolapp and the vision they have for the tour, and wherever they tell me I can play, I’m going to play.”
