APP Tour Releases 2023 Tour Schedule
We’ll have our takeaways from the PPA Peachtree Classic up later today. However, some news was announced on the APP side of things with their schedule release for 2023. You can see the full schedule in the photo above and more details are going to come soon, including Next Gen, International and Collegiate series. Of course, this is all subject to change, but it is a surprise to see this come out as early as it has considering the APP’s lack of organization in getting this out in prior years .
The APP had their schedule out first for 2022 ahead of the PPA last year, but they were slower to announce their stipend program for 2022.* It’s well known that pros try to secure a lot of their partnerships well in advance so this is a good step for the APP, with their stipend program now in place, to hopefully ensure they get as many pros as possible at their events, and possibly help entice some PPA contracted pros to cut the cord on their deals.
It sounds like the APP has removed their smaller, regional events as they will be upping the purses and doing more to compete with the PPA from a venue standpoint (less high school tennis courts across from the waffle house). While the APP will have over 30 events this year, they are cutting back to 20, which was a very necessary change. It has been evident this year that 30 plus events is too many, not even including MLP. There also has to have been some coordinating with MLP on this schedule so they don’t have overlap issues. There will even be a to be determined Canadian stop. In case the APP is unaware, Canada is a big country so some details would be good. The west coast is very nice in the summer!
The APP has clearly set out the major events for the year. They have highlighted 4 “majors” as well as a Spring Championship in New York and Fall Championship at the end of November . At some point, it feels like the tours are going to have to figure out a better way to determine actual majors for the pro players rather than tour created ones. At a minimum, doing something to differentiate the major tournaments beyond prize money and venue so the fans at home are not treating it as just another weekend. Nevertheless, the APP has made a point to cleary set out what their bigger tournaments are for 2023.
In our PPA gambling piece from last week, we knew some stuff had to be coming down the pipe. While a schedule release is something that must happen, the APP being the first to the punch is a win itself for the alleged second tier tour. Who’s got next?
*This article has been edited to correct that the APP released their schedule before the PPA in 2021 as well.
Looking at some of the gaps in the schedule, you can make an educated guess where the MLP events will fill in, with the allowance for Nationals and US Open.
They’ll have to sprinkle them in somewhere throughout. Probably can figure it out to a degree
Always great information. Thank you. Glad APP reduced the number of tournaments. IMO, if the venue cannot produce a quality environment for the production crew, announcing, player perks (parking, etc.), the tour groups shouldn’t play there. There should be some kind of minimum standard for players at the very least. I remember announcers saying, “well, the electricity went out again, the internet has stopped”, etc. Doesn’t bode well for viewership and promoting of the sport. And with all this money going into the sport, I can only hope the tour groups stop posting in 720p, doesn’t matter if it is on their CC2.
Yep. This also makes the APP more appealing to me as an amateur. Opinions will differ, but part of how people talked up the APP — “they play places no one else will!” “the CEO walks around handing out lemonade!” — made it seem a bit rinky dink, and not worth the risk of planning a big trip around. Consolidation and a focus on fewer, better tournaments sounds great!
Yes, people like the flashy venues. This is a needed step for them