Golf\u2019s schedule shakeup has begun.<\/p>\n
The PGA Tour this week confirmed that it would not return to Hawaii, where it\u2019s traditionally opened the season with consecutive tournaments on Maui and in Honolulu.<\/p>\n
The long-rumored move is undoubtedly the first of several to come as PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp preaches scarcity and tries to contract the schedule. If you\u2019re just catching up, the tour\u2019s current preference is to create a top tier of 21-26 tournaments and a second track for lower-ranked players to earn opportunities for promotion.<\/p>\n
The elevated track would include the four majors, The Players Championship and the FedEx Cup playoffs. You figure the eight \u201csignature events\u201d that already exist maintain that status. That leaves five to 10 standard tournaments to select — and a bunch of regular-season tournaments that won\u2019t make the cut.<\/p>\n
Now that\u2019s much more interesting to me. Who gets the axe? I\u2019ve got four suggestions for a shortlist of tournaments to either chop completely or demote to the second tier.<\/p>\n
There are plenty of reasons to cut a tournament, from lack of fan interest to an expiring sponsor to even the environment on Maui, which has dealt with wildfires and drought alike. (It\u2019s worth remembering the tour also made several missteps pre-LIV Golf, dropping popular annual stops in Boston, New York, Washington and Chicago and cold-shouldering millions of golf fans in those areas. Rolapp rightly wants to claw some of those back.)<\/p>\n