Idea for PGA Calendar/Schedule Changes

[Hardspoon]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/columnists/ct-pga-tour-schedule-changes-greenstein-spt-0918-20160916-column.html

Interesting ideas. I'd prefer this to the current schedule; I particularly like the Player's Championship being before the Masters.

[iacas]

Quote

 

• Move the PGA Championship from August to May. The only negative would be Midwestern courses that have hosted, such as Medinah and Whistling Straits, would struggle before growing season. But only one of the next seven PGA Championships is slated for the Midwest, and Bellerive in St. Louis could be fine in May.

• Move the Players Championship from May back to March. What golf fan would not want to see a quasi-major as buildup to the Masters? People already flock to Florida for spring break and spring training, so the event would be huge in person. And weekend ratings would be strong in the Midwest, where it's too cold to be playing.

• The Masters remains in April, the U.S. Open continues to own Father's Day weekend and the British Open wraps up the season's majors with its traditional dates in July.

 

I like it.

[Golfingdad]

It all seems pretty reasonable to me.  I like the ideas.

[imsys0042]

I like it too.   The PGA Championship can be lackluster despite the deep field and the club pros being there (I really like that personally).   It doesn't have the identity of the other majors and is anti-climatic.  Especially in Ryder Cup years when it becomes the stage for the captain's picks.

The Players has more of an identity, IMO and moving it to the middle of the Masters and the US Open is kind of ok for me.  The main thing for me to move it back to March is that it gets more of a spotlight and then a month later it's Augusta.  

The only thing with the above is that after the British Open you don't have much unless it's a Ryder Cup year that might compel people to tune in.

[Hardspoon]

2 hours ago, imsys0042 said:

The only thing with the above is that after the British Open you don't have much unless it's a Ryder Cup year that might compel people to tune in.

They'd still have the FedEx Cup; it would just end before the NFL season.

[imsys0042]

4 minutes ago, Hardspoon said:

They'd still have the FedEx Cup; it would just end before the NFL season.

Personally I'm not overly excited by it.   The old Top 30 Tour Championship was more compelling.   But that might just be me.   Ending before football season is a good idea, it gives the event more chance to shine.

[Broke100Once]

I like the idea of having the Players in March fitting in with the rest of the Florida swing, then having an actual major in every month from April-July (with the PGA being moved to May).  That leaves August as a bit of a dead month....unless you move the Ryder/President's Cup into August.

[newtogolf]

It's about viewership and advertising rates, golf doesn't compete well with the NFL.  I'm sure part of this ties back into the ability of the PGA Tour to opt out of their contract with CBS and NBC.  Their hope is that having the FedEx finish before football they will have more people watching their biggest money tournament which makes it a bit more lucrative for the networks so if they opt out the networks might be willing to pay more.  

The downside is there will be even less reason to watch golf once football starts so what's the ratings impact for PGA Tour events after the first week in September?  

[David in FL]

Like most, I love watching the Majors, and anticipation is part of the enjoyment.  I don't want to see them all crammed together.  I vote no.