If there was any ambiguity as to Brian Rolapp\u2019s vision for the PGA Tour, it was washed away last week by Tiger Woods, the lead architect and front man for the chief executive\u2019s Future Competition Committee.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s going to be some eggs that are spilled and crushed and broken, but I think that in the end we\u2019re going to have a product that is far better than what we have now, for everyone involved,\u201d Woods said at the Hero World Challenge.<\/p>\n
Woods mixed his metaphors but not the message. Using Rolapp\u2019s governing principles of \u201cparity, scarcity and simplicity,\u201d Woods and his fellow FCCer\u2019s \u2014 a group that includes Patrick Cantlay, Adam Scott, Camilo Villegas, Maverick McNealy and Keith Mitchell, along with a group of business advisors \u2014 have been sussing through countless models of a new and improved Tour schedule. At the core of this exercise, according to various sources, is \u201cscarcity,\u201d which strongly suggests that the current 38-event schedule (which doesn\u2019t include the fall tournaments) is due for a significant haircut.<\/p>\n
By most accounts, the goal is to nip\/tuck the Tour lineup to around 25 events that are played on the best stages with the best fields and in the biggest markets.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe started with a blank slate \u2014 what would the best product we can possibly create, what would it look like?\u201d the 15-time-major-champion-turned-schedule-wonk explained. \u201cYou take a white sheet of paper and you start throwing ideas out there, and there\u2019s like a thousand ideas on this board. Then you add in all the people that we interviewed and what would they like to see and you throw all those up there.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an exercise that many in the game have started on their own. Woods has an ambitious eye toward the 2027 season, but \u201928 is more likely \u2014 and on which we\u2019re basing the below theoretical schedule.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to give you tournaments and then I\u2019m going to give you venues,\u201d Billy Horschel said with little prompting when asked to come up with his version of a new schedule.<\/p>\n
Most of these experiments start after the Super Bowl and end before Labor Day with the obvious goal to avoid football\u2019s all-consuming shadow, and of the half-dozen players interviewed, there were no real themes other than an attempt to create the best product.<\/p>\n
Based on player input and expressed goals, here\u2019s what a 2028 PGA Tour schedule could look like:<\/p>\n
WM Phoenix Open \u2013 Feb. 17-20<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of the weather, you\u2019re going to start with Scottsdale. It may not be the best venue but it\u2019s the most eyeballs,\u201d Horschel said. \u201cI think we should start the week after the Super Bowl [which is scheduled for Feb. 13 in 2028]. Even though it\u2019s always been the same week, I think you still get a bigger number [of fans].\u201d<\/p>\n
And then? <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no other venue you\u2019d want to go to because of the weather that time of year out west,\u201d Horschel said, \u201cso you go to Florida.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miami Championship \u2013 Feb. 24-27<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could start [the season] at Doral, make it like the Daytona 500, sort of the granddaddy big tournament, but Phoenix would work as well,\u201d Ryan Palmer said.<\/p>\n
Arnold Palmer Invitational \u2013 March 2-5The Players Championship \u2013 March 9-12Week off \u2013 March 16-19<\/p>\n
Much of the discussion with the Future Competition Committee has focused on playing Tour events in major markets and\/or on iconic courses. Austin, which hosted the circuit\u2019s match play event from 2016 to 2023, would be a popular option geographically and from a market standpoint for a spring event. There is also the idea that existing tournaments could be relocated to larger markets, like the John Deere Classic moving from Silvis, Illinois, to Chicago, or the Travelers Championship relocating from Cromwell, Connecticut, to New York or Boston.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to go to the biggest markets \u2014 right now we are in five of the 30 biggest markets [in the United States]; we need to make it 12 to 15. A third of our events need to be in the biggest markets,\u201d Horschel said. \u201cThen you\u2019re going to have iconic venues that may not be in the biggest markets \u2014 Hilton Head, Pebble.\u201d<\/p>\n
Austin event \u2013 March 23-26Houston Open \u2013 March 30-April 2Masters \u2013 April 6-9Week off \u2013 April 13-16<\/p>\n
Off weeks after majors? That has support from many players and media partners.<\/p>\n
RBC Heritage \u2013 April 20-23Atlanta event \u2013 April 27-30Truist Championship \u2013 May 4-7Charles Schwab Challenge \u2013 May 11-14PGA Championship \u2013 May 18-21Week off \u2013 May 25-28Memorial \u2013 June 1-4RBC Canadian Open \u2013 June 8-11U.S. Open \u2013 June 15-18Week off \u2013 June 22-25<\/p>\n
The lead-in to the \u201928 Open Championship is complicated by the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, with the Men\u2019s Golf Competition at Riviera Country Club scheduled for July 19-22 and the new Mixed Team event thereafter, July 23-24. For its part, the R&A is shifting its major date from the traditional mid-July spot to the first week of August. <\/p>\n
Travelers Championship \u2013 June 29-July 2Denver event \u2013 July 6-9John Deere Classic \u2013 July 13-16Week off \u2013 July 20-23Scottish Open \u2013 July 27-30<\/p>\n
Some players might make the trek across eight time zones to compete in the Scottish Open, or they could head early to the still-to-be-determined Open Championship site to acclimate.<\/p>\n
Open Championship \u2013 Aug. 3-6Week off \u2013 Aug. 10-13<\/p>\n
No part of the scheduling experiment would be impacted more than the postseason. This is where a West Coast swing could come into play, when the weather would be considerably better than in February. The venues would also lend gravitas.<\/p>\n
Playoff (Pebble Beach) \u2013 Aug. 17-20Playoff (Riviera) \u2013 Aug. 24-27Playoff (Tour Championship) \u2013 Aug. 31-Sept. 3<\/p>\n
A reimagined postseason would be complicated by the Tour\u2019s long-standing relationships with FedEx \u2014 which currently sponsors the season-long points race and the first playoff event in Memphis, where the shipping giant has its global headquarters \u2014 and East Lake, which has hosted the season finale every year since 2004.<\/p>\n
Getting the likes of Pebble Beach on board for a move to August would also be economically challenging for the resort.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a perfect world, we\u2019d go play Pebble at this time of year [late summer], but we don\u2019t have carte blanche to say where we go because most of these are private clubs or resorts like Pebble Beach, and if I\u2019m Pebble Beach, you want that week [in August] for people who pay money to play golf,\u201d Brian Harman said. \u201cIt\u2019s super complicated. Of course we\u2019d love to play Pebble in August, but so would everyone else on the planet.\u201d<\/p>\n