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The PGA Tour may have too many Signature tournaments in too short of a time span. How does the Tour fix it?
Too many Signatures, not enough time
The PGA Tour has another Signature event this week, with the Cadillac Championship played at Trump National Doral’s Blue Monster in Florida. This is the second post-Masters Signature event, with the first coming the week after Augusta National at the RBC Heritage in South Carolina. There’s another Signature event next week as well, with the Truist Championship in Charlotte being the appetizer before the PGA Championship at Aronimink in the Philadelphia area.
That’s three Signature events in four weeks. The best players in the world don’t like to compete that often — particularly between majors. Now, there’s a little bit of backlash.
Rory McIlroy isn’t playing this week, and he didn’t play at Harbour Town either. He’s playing at Quail Hollow next week, a venue he loves and at which he’s won several times.
Scottie Scheffler played Hilton Head and lost in a playoff to Matt Fitzpatrick, who isn’t playing this week either after winning the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with his brother Alex (who is playing this week). He won’t play Quail Hollow to rest up for his Wanamaker defense in Pennsylvania.
Among the other top players skipping this week are Xander Schauffele, Ludvig Aberg and Robert MacIntyre. A full quarter of the world top 20 aren’t at Doral. Some will interpret this as a political statement, and I can’t tell you either way if that has anything to do with it. The more likely explanation is that the PGA Tour has jammed too many Signature events into this time period.
There’s one Signature event in January (The Sentry, though that could change). There are two in February at Pebble Beach and Riviera. There’s one in March at Bay Hill. There are two in April, with another one right after them to start May. There are two in June, with a little break after Memorial for the US Open before the Travelers the following week keeps the Tour in the northeastern US. July is the letdown month, with no Signature events, and then August is go, go, go with the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Players have to find a schedule that works for them, and they’re going to adjust to the concentration of Signature events by skipping some of them. With nine scheduled Signature events, the four majors, The Players and anticipating playing in three playoff events, a top player is looking at 17 starts. Most like to get to that 22-event range in a year, leaving little time for other events outside the scope.
The Tour is certainly considering this when they look at the future PGA Tour schedule. However, they’ve already nixed the Hawaii events, and they’ll move The Sentry to the mainland — perhaps by a month. That change alone creates a seven-month schedule for top players, who play at least 17 times in 26 weeks for players who compete in every available amazing opportunity for them.
Yes, anyone complaining about that looks aloof, but they can be tired just like any one of us. If the Tour wants a better flow to the schedule, they should seriously consider moving The Players back to May and working with the PGA of America to bring the PGA Championship back to August to effectively end the season. Bringing back Glory’s Last Shot as the true finale to the season — post FedEx Cup playoffs, which could move into July and early August — would make a lot more sense. It gives room for Signature events in March beyond Bay Hill and creates a better flow to the year.
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