The new Majors schedule

[perseveringgolfer]

Personally I'm a fan of the new schedule- a Major a month starting in April and finishing with THE Open.

I always felt the PGA being last devalued it slightly which is something the Open is impervious to in my opinion.

What do you think?

[sixcat]

I agree completely.  I'm excited for the new schedule.  I will stop short of calling The Players a Major, because it isn't and shouldn't be.  But If we count The Players, there is a huge event every month from March through July.  I also agree The Open isn't in danger of becoming devalued.  It's actually my favorite championship.  

"There are only five championships, The Players, The Masters, The PGA, The US Open and The Open.  Everything else is just a tournament!"  ~Johnny Miller~

Lots to be excited about as a fan!

[TR1PTIK]

I agree as far as the majors are concerned, but it's obvious the change in schedule is going to impact some of the regular events. Thankfully, the Honda turned out to be a truly exciting tournament on Sunday, but expect more "no-name's" to find the winners circle during the peak of regular season instead of the shoulder season only.

https://golfweek.com/2019/03/04/golf-keith-mitchell-honda-classic-no-name-pga-tour/

Pesonally, I like Keith as a winner and his performance was pretty great on Sunday - he rose to the occasion. I was really hoping to see Rickie Fowler get another playoff win, but that's okay. I've got no problem with an underdog playing clutch golf.

[Shankster]

I personally don’t like it. It will be fun to see what kind of a soupy mess Bethpage is in May.

They cut out any northern courses. No Hazeltine, Whistling Straights, etc.

[Mr. 82]

17 minutes ago, Shankster said:

I personally don’t like it. It will be fun to see what kind of a soupy mess Bethpage is in May.

They cut out any northern courses. No Hazeltine, Whistling Straights, etc.

I'll be interested as well to see how the agronomy at Bethpage works in May, instead of August.

Honestly though, August is just a horrible month for golf, no matter where you tee it up.  It's just brutally hot everywhere, and you either get a massive amount of heat, or thunderstorms screwing with the tournament schedule.

But I think beyond the first few years of the PGA being in May, once they see how it works with northern courses in May they can then focus on what works and where going forward.  I also think this gives the PGA of America the chance to do something with their marquee event, and to give it something that sets it apart from the other majors.  Because as it is right now, it's just a regular tournament with a five year (into the other majors) exemption added on to it.  Perhaps picking some courses you would have never thought of previously with an August date might be a positive for this event.

I am also interested to see how the weather affects the Players.  I still remember Fred Funk winning the Players in nasty wind that pretty much destroyed scoring for the rest of the field, while straight hitting Fred limped his way to victory.  Wind in Florida in March?  Nah, that never happens.  

[JudgeSmails]

PGA has always kinda been a distant 4th on the major list, we'll see if this helps it

[bens197]

I’m excited. I know you’re talking PGA Tour but as a warmup to 2023, we have the Senior PGA in Rochester this May and I can’t wait to see some of the Tour Pros I grew up watching as a kid. I work a mile down the road from Oak Hill and our Dept will have a crew on duty Monday-Sunday.

 

 

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[PMookie]

I’ve really never watched the PGA, and I never really saw how it’s a Major. They don’t hype it like any of the others, and it really didn’t have an “identity”. The Masters is Augusta, 1st Major, etc. The US Open is all about the set-up and how challenging the course will be, the British has the history and the only one abroad, and the PGA has nothing. Maybe moving it up will give it some more intrigue, but it just doesn’t stand out.


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[palvord]

Flipping the schedule around does guarantee that more eyeballs will be on the product from March - July.  

While the new schedule may impact some tournaments this year, I think that as the players figure out the new routine, you will see the tournaments level out and the fields be better throughout the year.  Judging the success or failure of the new schedule will be beneficial in 5 years.

[Shankster]

I’ve really never watched the PGA, and I never really saw how it’s a Major. They don’t hype it like any of the others, and it really didn’t have an “identity”. The Masters is Augusta, 1st Major, etc. The US Open is all about the set-up and how challenging the course will be, the British has the history and the only one abroad, and the PGA has nothing. Maybe moving it up will give it some more intrigue, but it just doesn’t stand out.


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I’d like to see this as a traveling major. Head to Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Africa... etc

I get it’s done by the PGA professionals, but honestly it looks like any other tournament.

Not discounting its status as a major at all, and I am sure the winners would agree, it is a Major for sure.

We have the other tournaments.

The Players
Memorial
Genesis
“Playoffs”

I’d like to see another one outside the US. Maybe make the British PGA a major, or alternate years or something.

I prefer the WGC events over most of the other tournaments. The small no cut fields make it easy to follow.

[sixcat]

1 hour ago, Shankster said:

I personally don’t like it. It will be fun to see what kind of a soupy mess Bethpage is in May.

They cut out any northern courses. No Hazeltine, Whistling Straights, etc.

Much like southern courses have been cut of for decades?!?!?

[chemclub]

5 hours ago, perseveringgolfer said:

Personally I'm a fan of the new schedule- a Major a month starting in April and finishing with THE Open.

I always felt the PGA being last devalued it slightly which is something the Open is impervious to in my opinion.

What do you think?

I think the new schedule is great. Plus, The Open has been the most exciting major over the last 5 years. Hoping that continues since it would be great to end off on it. Then the playoffs wrap things up by football season (which I'm sure was a large part of why the PGA wanted to end things before September).

Having a big tourney each month makes so much sense, interesting to think what took them so long.

Plus, the new schedule has the Canadian Open follow the Memorial and directly precede the US Open, which should boost the profile of the Canadian (Played this year in my college town!).

PS - Canadian Open the new fifth Major! 

[Shankster]

Much like southern courses have been cut of for decades?!?!?

Yep.

[revkev]

1 hour ago, GSwag said:

I'll be interested as well to see how the agronomy at Bethpage works in May, instead of August.

Honestly though, August is just a horrible month for golf, no matter where you tee it up.  It's just brutally hot everywhere, and you either get a massive amount of heat, or thunderstorms screwing with the tournament schedule.

But I think beyond the first few years of the PGA being in May, once they see how it works with northern courses in May they can then focus on what works and where going forward.  I also think this gives the PGA of America the chance to do something with their marquee event, and to give it something that sets it apart from the other majors.  Because as it is right now, it's just a regular tournament with a five year (into the other majors) exemption added on to it.  Perhaps picking some courses you would have never thought of previously with an August date might be a positive for this event.

I am also interested to see how the weather affects the Players.  I still remember Fred Funk winning the Players in nasty wind that pretty much destroyed scoring for the rest of the field, while straight hitting Fred limped his way to victory.  Wind in Florida in March?  Nah, that never happens.  

You obviously never lived in Wisconsin.  Hot in August there would be what we had in Florida last week.  I heard Shankster's complaint about eliminating Northern courses but he fails to take into account the courses and regions of the country that are now in play that weren't earlier.  Arizona, Texas, Florida, large population bases might now host a major while the Northern climes will continue to lay claim to the US Open.  It actually balances things out.  The issue is that they had the PGA had it's rotation set for a few years and the first few courses could be problematic depending upon the weather.

Long run it's a great move, short term will leave the PGA tour open to ridicule but we love to ridicule institutions so why not them?  Maybe they can have a huge rules gaffe too to keep all of us satisfied.

[Mr. 82]

6 minutes ago, revkev said:

You obviously never lived in Wisconsin.  Hot in August there would be what we had in Florida last week. 

No, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

[sixcat]

6 minutes ago, revkev said:

You obviously never lived in Wisconsin.  Hot in August there would be what we had in Florida last week.  I heard Shankster's complaint about eliminating Northern courses but he fails to take into account the courses and regions of the country that are now in play that weren't earlier.  Arizona, Texas, Florida, large population bases might now host a major while the Northern climes will continue to lay claim to the US Open.  It actually balances things out.  The issue is that they had the PGA had it's rotation set for a few years and the first few courses could be problematic depending upon the weather.

Long run it's a great move, short term will leave the PGA tour open to ridicule but we love to ridicule institutions so why not them?  Maybe they can have a huge rules gaffe too to keep all of us satisfied.

Excellent post!  I would simply add, moving the PGA to May opens up some incredible golf courses to host a major championship that have been unable to in years past because of heat related issues.