Golf has a scheduling problem of its own making
NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. Golfs entire ecosystem revolves around the four majors, starting with the ceremonial tee shot to begin the Masters in April and concluding with the final twilight putt at the Open Championship in July. Thats generally around 100 days 100 days that are now even more packed with high-level events thanks to the five PGA Tour Signature Events.A little bit more of a sprint, Xander Schauffele said with a smile on Tuesday afternoon. You definitely want to be in good form and stay there.Major golf is, by definition, good golf. Tour events with the best players in the field are also good golf. But when does the sport hit the point of diminishing returns? When does the jammed schedule worsen the exact problem it was meant to solve? When is even good golf too much golf?The sport is at this crossroads of abundance due to two unrelated but inexorable vectors: the NFL and Saudi Arabia. More to the point: the PGA Championships move to May from August, and the emergence of Saudi-funded LIV Golf. Combined, these two forces have jammed up the spring-summer golf calendar so deeply that its virtually impossible to play every event and hope to find sustained success at them.The background: In 2019, the PGA Championship opted to move from August to May, in part to allow the golf season to wrap up prior to the NFLs season kickoff. The move also opened up some traditionally Southern courses as venues in May, where August heat would have been intolerable. This in turn pushed The Players from May to March, but it also created a situation where all four majors are contested in a tight time frame.The effect on players is a dramatic one. Rory McIlroy, for instance, notes that his finishes at the PGA havent been as strong since the 2019 move. It's a much more condensed schedule than it used to be. We used to go from April to the end of August. It's now April to the middle of July, he said Tuesday. Especially after the last couple of years, I need to take the time after the Masters to reset and decompress and get myself in the right mental space again to get myself up for this tournament and keep going for the U.S. Open and The Open Championship.Rory McIlroy leaves the fourth tee in a cart during a practice round prior to the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club on May 12, 2026 in Newtown, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)Emilee Chinn via Getty ImagesFour majors in that timeframe is tight enough. But throw in the PGA Tours newly created Signature Events and the pressure ratchets up even higher.The Signature Events reduced-field, higher-purse, often no-cut events came about as a way to reward PGA Tour players who didnt jump to LIV Golf when the Saudi-backed league was poaching players by the armload in 2021 and 2022. Theyre not quite clambakes you still do have to beat 70 or so of the best players in the world but knocking out 50 or so potential competitors certainly helps ones odds.So now we have a situation where between the Masters in April and the PGA Championship in May there are three Signature Events the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town, the Cadillac at Doral, and the Truist at Quail Hollow. Another two are wrapped around the U.S. Open in June. The Signature Events were created as a way to bring more stars into the same tournaments. But if those tournaments are taking place back-to-back-to-back, and around majors, there wont be quite as many stars participating.I feel like it's a very tight window between the Masters and this tournament, McIlroy said. August maybe provided more of an opportunity to come to the northeast a little more often. It's a different proposition nowadays that it's in May than it was in August, and there's pros and cons to that.A fix wont be easy, if its even possible at all. Spreading out the calendar risks losing players and fans. Downgrading Signature Events risks offending sponsors. Edging too far toward the start of the year brings weather into play; too close to the fall, and the NFL starts taking a bite.In terms of changing it, there's a lot more that goes into the schedule than I think people realize, Schauffele said. It's hard to just (go), Well, let's move this there and this there, and everything will be great.So unless the PGA Tour unveils a dramatic change to the schedule in the coming months, this is what the calendar will look like in the coming years. And at that point, its up to the players to adjust.I think it's just building the right schedule for yourself and not looking at it so much like, Oh, man, we've got big after big after big, Collin Morikawa said Tuesday. I think all events matter to some degree. They can change anyone's career, if you win an opposite-field event or win a regular-season event or if you win a Signature. They all matter. They're all big events in that situation.
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