Lucas Glover has undoubtedly been one of the most critical players of the direction the PGA Tour has taken in recent years. That’s why the unexpected change of course he has taken in the last few hours is striking, being elected president of the Player Advisory Council (PAC) for 2026. A move that no one saw coming and that various American media are trying to understand.
The veteran American golfer, 46 years old and a six-time winner on the PGA Tour, including the 2009 US Open, had been raising his voice for years against the changes implemented in the tour following the emergence of LIV Golf, whose threat forced the circuit to modify much of its structure and business model. Glover, as they recount, even stopped attending player meetings and labeled the PAC as “a waste of time” and something “useless,” convinced that the circuit “was going to do what it wanted to do” regardless of the players’ opinions.
He was also particularly critical when the PGA Tour announced the reduction of tournament field sizes and the number of fully exempt cards starting this season. On his radio show on Sirius XM, Glover went so far as to say that “hiding behind the pace of play challenges our intelligence” and added that “they think we’re stupid.”
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What has changed for Glover?
But what has changed for one of the organisation’s harshest critics to now take on such an influential role in the system? Glover himself explained it by referring to maturity. “I can add value from inside the room rather than from outside.” Apparently, on 10 previous occasions, his peers had voted for him to be part of the PAC, but he had always declined the offer. Now, it seems, he spoke with several of his colleagues and they convinced him that his presence could be of great use.
Lucas‘s personal situation also seems to have had some influence on his decision. He is in the midst of recovering from surgery he underwent in September and suffers from a pinched nerve in the back of his left shoulder: “At this stage of my career, I can’t spend all day on the practice field hitting balls. I have time, and there are enough colleagues who want my voice to be heard. I probably should.”
The Council he now presides over acts as an advisory body that analyses and recommends changes to the circuit’s Policy Board on behalf of the players. After his term as president this season, Glover will serve for four years (from 2027 to 2030) as a player director on the PGA Tour Board, replacing Adam Scott. Interestingly, Scott had been, along with Glover, one of the candidates selected by the player directors to run for the presidency of the PAC.
Glover is aware that the PGA Tour is no longer the same as the one he rejected in the past. It now operates under a for-profit model and needs profiles with experience and judgement. The American player attended his first PAC meeting at the end of last month and will bring the perspective of more than two decades on the circuit and 567 tournaments played, quite something.
“I’ve seen the circuit from all angles. I’ve been close to the top, never top 10 in the world, but close, and I’ve also been through ups and downs. I’ve been in categories that others are now fighting to maintain their place. I’ve seen it all,” he acknowledged. Still, he admits he has much to learn: “I hope to learn a lot before offering opinions. I don’t know how all this works yet. I’m listening, asking, and trying to understand.”
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The slow play problem
One of the major battles he will be involved in is the pace of play, a problem for which he needs no additional data or exhaustive analysis because he knows it perfectly and it has been one of his great battles. Last week, at Pebble Beach, he returned to the fray on the subject. And at the Phoenix Open, despite the reduction in the field, there was no material time to establish the cut on Friday and the first 36 holes in some matches could not be completed until Saturday.
For Lucas, the problem is not related to the number of players participating in the tournaments but to the attitude of some of them. “I will maintain this as long as I can breathe: it is not a problem of the number of players, it is a problem of players. We are slow. And I say ‘we’ because we are slow playing golf. There is so much money at stake that people take their time. If there are no harsher penalties, it will never change,” he acknowledged.
Curiously, one of the figures who most questioned the usefulness of the Player Advisory Council could now become one of the most influential voices in this new era of the PGA Tour, with green shoots following the return of some of the figures who headed to LIV. The players have chosen him as an internal leader and the one from South Carolina, after a few years in the ‘opposition’, has decided to take the bull by the horns and accept the great challenge.
