Big Schedule Changes Floated by New PGA Tour Commissioner

[Golfingdad]

2 minutes ago, natureboy said:

That's a good benefit. But did the proposal I saw put the PGA only two weeks before the Masters? I kinda like at least 4 weeks between them personally.

The PGA would be in May and the Masters is early April.  Did you mean to say the Players two weeks before the Masters, or the PGA two weeks before the US Open perhaps?  I'm not sure either way. :)

[iacas]

58 minutes ago, Chilli Dipper said:

Moving the PGA Championship to May would also prevent the scheduling log-jam presented by the Olympic tournament, as seen by the numerous withdrawals in 2016.

The log jam may have played a role, but I don't know that it was the dominant factor. It probably mattered more than the stupid Zika thing turned out to be though, even though that was the excuse du jour. Even Rory admitted it was basically an "hot" excuse even if their real reasons were otherwise.

[natureboy]

25 minutes ago, Golfingdad said:

The PGA would be in May and the Masters is early April.  Did you mean to say the Players two weeks before the Masters, or the PGA two weeks before the US Open perhaps?  I'm not sure either way. :)

I must have confused a proposed date for TPC then. That 'pairing' of two big tournaments near each other like that seems like a good kick-off for the golf season, then. Leaving space for the Olympics does make sense.

Shackelford makes some interesting points about how the early season timing will likely take some nice 'traditional' northern venues out of the equation.

[Chilli Dipper]

28 minutes ago, natureboy said:

That's a good benefit. But did the proposal I saw put the PGA only two weeks before the Masters? I kinda like at least 4 weeks between them personally.

It's not the PGA, but the Players would be rescheduled to prior to the Masters, which is when it was played in the pre-FedEx Cup days. I can't say I like that part of the proposal, because Sawgrass is a better course in May (firm, Bermuda grass in-season) than March (soft, overseeded).

[natureboy]

3 minutes ago, Chilli Dipper said:

It's not the PGA, but the Players would be rescheduled to prior to the Masters, which is when it was played in the pre-FedEx Cup days. I can't say I like that part of the proposal, because Sawgrass is a better course in May (firm, Bermuda grass in-season) than March (soft, overseeded).

Thanks for clarifying. Hard to work out the permutations perfectly, I guess.

[Buckeyebowman]

On 1/3/2017 at 8:01 PM, iacas said:

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I think they'd actually be up for it. They sometimes feel almost forgotten right now. Despite having the strongest field by far (not necessarily compared to the Players).

Good thinking. The PGA Championship has kind of become the tail that DOES NOT wag the dog! Placing them as the kickoff to the major season could add to the cachet!

Hmmm. Also makes we wonder how the folks at the R&A would feel about being last in line. My guess is they wouldn't care all that much. The Open Championship is such a unique event no matter what course on the rota is being played, and I've been a fan for many, many years.

I have buddies who watch and say they'd never want to play a course like that! I ask them if they are insane! The Old Course? Carnoustie? Royal Lytham? Muirfield? Of course, Muirfield is out of the picture now, but you get my point.

[Thrash13]

On 1/4/2017 at 2:47 PM, iacas said:

Because the first two events on the PGA Tour are limited field (week 1) and then in Hawaii (week 2).

Doing that year-round would prevent guys who have status on both tours from being able to play a Web.com event one week and then a PGA Tour one the next, for example. Or Monday qualify. Or whatever.

I didn't think of that, but that's definitely valid reasoning. I try to follow the Web.com Tour more, but it's tough because a high number of events aren't on TGC. It was nice watching today without PGA TOUR competition. The same goes for college golf during the Mon-Wed NCAA Championship coverage.

[Golfingdad]

This fits perfectly within my thread title as well: http://www.golfdigest.com/story/a-combined-pga-tour-and-lpga-tournament-of-champions-the-new-commish-says-its-in-the-works

Quote

According to a Golf Channel report, new PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan is "exploring the possibility" of adding LPGA players to the tournament. Monahan didn't provide details on the potential event's format, but he said he's already had talks with LPGA commissioner Mike Whan.

“You could see men and women here at the Tournament of Champions,” Monahan told Golf Channel’s Rich Lerner in a two-part interview that will air on Monday and Tuesday's edition of Morning Drive. “That is something we are thinking about and talking to Mike and the LPGA about. We would like to see that happen. We have some interest from sponsors.”

They don't elaborate as to the format, whether they'll be competing against each other somehow or if they'll be side by side tournaments, but I'm certainly curious.

[iacas]

4 minutes ago, Golfingdad said:

They don't elaborate as to the format, whether they'll be competing against each other somehow or if they'll be side by side tournaments, but I'm certainly curious.

I'd guess side-by-side tournaments.

The PGA Tour has nothing to gain from "competing" against women. If any of them beat their players, even if from shorter tees or anything, it doesn't look great.

Really, the PGA Tour has little to gain from involving the women at all, except maybe to get a few more viewers, or maybe even just someone to help share in some of the costs…

[Golfingdad]

2 minutes ago, iacas said:

I'd guess side-by-side tournaments.

The PGA Tour has nothing to gain from "competing" against women. If any of them beat their players, even if from shorter tees or anything, it doesn't look great.

Really, the PGA Tour has little to gain from involving the women at all, except maybe to get a few more viewers, or maybe even just someone to help share in some of the costs…

I'd agree.  Competing against each other would be way too gimmicky in my book.

[Chilli Dipper]

43 minutes ago, Golfingdad said:

This fits perfectly within my thread title as well: http://www.golfdigest.com/story/a-combined-pga-tour-and-lpga-tournament-of-champions-the-new-commish-says-its-in-the-works

They don't elaborate as to the format, whether they'll be competing against each other somehow or if they'll be side by side tournaments, but I'm certainly curious.

The Tournament of Champions was held concurrently with its senior counterpart for many years, when the event was held at La Costa. It's definitely feasible with a limited field.

[Golfingdad]

8 hours ago, Chilli Dipper said:

The Tournament of Champions was held concurrently with its senior counterpart for many years, when the event was held at La Costa. It's definitely feasible with a limited field.

Really?  That's fascinating.  The last one at La Costa (98) I was lucky enough to attend.  There were no senior guys there then.

[Chilli Dipper]

7 minutes ago, Golfingdad said:

Really?  That's fascinating.  The last one at La Costa (98) I was lucky enough to attend.  There were no senior guys there then.

The senior tournament broke away at some point in the mid-90s, but the sponsor-approved name of the "Mercedes Championships" (note the plural) hung on for over a decade of only one event actually taking place.