{"id":814862,"date":"2026-08-15T21:22:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T21:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/814862\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T21:22:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T21:22:13","slug":"extreme-heat-a-big-factor-this-week-in-memphis-and-for-the-future-tour-schedule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/814862\/","title":{"rendered":"Extreme heat a big factor this week in Memphis and for the future Tour schedule"},"content":{"rendered":"

MEMPHIS, Tenn. \u2013 A row of pine trees casts a speck of shade on the westernmost corner of the driving range at TPC Southwind. Under it, Justin Thomas and Keith Mitchell are finishing the workday at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re cramped, close together, sharing the only shelter from the Memphis sun\u2019s incendiary rays. There\u2019s so little space between them that if Cashmere Keith pushed one, it might hit JT in the calf. JT is so far towards the corner that he\u2019s practically in the rough.<\/p>\n

The air feels steamy, so thick with heat.<\/p>\n

Every once in a while, the pair hit in unison. JT fades it, Cashmere draws it. Their balls rise and apex together, then tail away, falling in opposite directions, as though repelled from one another by some invisible magnetic field.<\/p>\n

Mitchell, his cotton shirt changing to a darker color as the session goes on, looks like he just played a game of full-court basketball. After every swing, he wipes his brow with shirtsleeves already soaked through with sweat, then shrugs his shoulders to realign them.<\/p>\n

Bereft of any headwear, his forehead shines with perspiration. His signature cloth tour visor, long ago having lost its shape, rests drenched, draped over an alignment stick, retired for the day.<\/p>\n

An anonymous player walks by, his face obscured, buried in one of those extra-large deluxe bath towels, maybe taken from the hotel or locker room, which look comical lain over the bag, almost enveloping it, like a car cover, or a drape.<\/p>\n

There are other extreme measures taken for a time such as this. Some players burn through half a dozen gloves, some even resort to rain gloves. Some use umbrellas, others parasols, some, at their most desperate, a handheld fan.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"FedEx<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Sungjae Im, Ludvig \u00c5berg, and Jordan Spieth are all chasing Scottie Scheffler, who seems primed for the winner\u2019s circle at TPC Southwind. Here\u2019s when all four players are set to tee off Saturday.<\/p>\n

Over the last few weeks, the heat wave hitting the southern tournament swing has everyone in the golf world fulminating with an almost apocalyptic fervor.<\/p>\n

Every interviewer has asked about it. Every player has talked about it. Managing hydration, energy, and sun exposure.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t have perfect information on the PGA Tour\u2019s 2028 schedule changes, but we do know that the South\u2019s extreme summer heat will be an important factor in the tour\u2019s considerations.<\/p>\n

Greensboro is already projected to be a spring tournament in \u201928. Memphis and Atlanta, site of the Tour Championship, have reportedly been offered similar calendar relocations. The tour is looking to dial down the temperature while it also realigns status. Memphis and Atlanta have expressed little interest in either and could both be off the schedule after next year.<\/p>\n

Where is it more tolerable in the summer? The tour must figure that out. But Louisville in mid-July might not be it.<\/p>\n

As banal as it is to talk about the weather, that\u2019s the most frequent topic of conversation this week at the FedEx St. Jude. This weekend\u2019s weather forecast is extremely hot, even for Memphis, with temperatures forecasted to exceed 100\u00ba.<\/p>\n

It shouldn\u2019t come as any surprise; the tournament has always been a summer scorcher.<\/p>\n

If the second law of thermodynamics is that all systems tend toward entropy, then maybe the first should be that in August everything in Memphis turns to sweat.<\/p>\n

While the intense weather has dominated the narrative, players are otherwise complimentary about the rich history of the tournament, the course, the town, the cause, and the hospitality. Defending champion Justin Rose even said it\u2019s one of his favorite courses on tour:<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously the hospital and the kids that you meet this week is so heartwarming, there is definitely something special. It has a special feel. It\u2019s one of the golf courses I truly love on tour. It\u2019s one of those courses that the whole membership can play well on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Memphis has long been a beloved stop on tour, despite the exhaustive heat. If it ceases to be a part of the new schedule in \u201828, it will be dearly missed by players, fans and the community.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Im-Mitchell-Spieth-split\"<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s where the players ranked No. 45 through No. 55 in the FedExCup points are projected to finish after this weekend.<\/p>\n

Back on the shade-sparse range, JT takes a break, turns around, and is talking to Mitchell now. In between sentences, he wipes beads of sweat off his nose, then forehead, then nose again. His caddie, Matt \u201cRev\u201d Minister, intently listening, does the same, almost mimicking him. Mitchell is doing it, too. So are the security guards flanking the ropes. So are the volunteers at the ball stand.<\/p>\n

JT asks Matt for a cold towel. Mitchell\u2019s bag man, Brad Schneider, likes the idea and follows. Brad wears a tall ankle brace and walks with a pronounced limp towards the white RCTIC cooler that\u2019s labeled COOLING TOWELS. The 10th person in the last 5 minutes to make the trip. Players, caddies, and coaches are constantly reaching in for relief.<\/p>\n

They grab the towels, and linger for a moment by the oscillating fans, which are smoothly moving back and forth just as they have been since dawn, working overtime, the only ones on the grounds seemingly unaffected by the heat.<\/p>\n

The pair finish up their practice and call it a day. They look tired, skin flushed red, as though they just emerged from a steam room. These two golfers from the South, Chattanooga and Louisville, are used to this heat. Born in it, molded by it, and even they\u2019re still worn out.<\/p>\n

Given the changes coming to the schedule, this might be one of the last times these two southerners hit balls together on a summer\u2019s day in the land of the blues.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"TOUR<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what you need to know ahead of the three-event FedExCup Playoffs on the PGA Tour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MEMPHIS, Tenn. \u2013 A row of pine trees casts a speck of shade on the westernmost corner of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":814863,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":["post-814862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=814862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/814863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=814862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=814862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=814862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}