The 2022-2023 PGA Tour schedule came together years in advance, but the upheaval of the designated events era has turned 17 events on the schedule into must-plays for the best players in the world.
While a lot of those events were already considered special in the eyes of the top players, there are four tournaments on the schedule that have been elevated, if you will, into this special stratosphere for 2023. The Waste Management Phoenix Open is one of them, along with the RBC Heritage, Wells Fargo Championship and Travelers Championship.
But, going forward, will the 13 other designated events always be the designated events? That's still very much in flux, but Jon Rahm is hopeful the PGA Tour will spread the love with the designated portion of the schedule.
"What I do hope is that some other tournaments that want to put up the resources to become elevated events might get the chance. That would be epic," Rahm said ahead of the week at TPC Scottsdale. "I would love to see this rotating, not always being the same ones every year. That's my personal opinion."
There are a lot of potential changes in store for next season, including a vast overhaul of the fall portion of the schedule -- which will again stand on its own, separate from the FedEx Cup events. Rahm did say he and his fellow top players are likely fine with a compromise number on the required events for players taking money from the $100 million Player Impact Program, provided that they have the freedom to rest or play elsewhere, like on the DP World Tour, in the fall.
"I think a lot of us want to have more time off in the fall. As long as we get that, I think people will play more or less what needs to be done to be able to have that time off," he said.
If the Phoenix Open goes back to being an undesignated event next year, though, Rahm will still come to Phoenix and thinks a lot of his peers will, too.
"I think this was a designated event before we ever knew what they were going to be," he said. "No matter what the purse is, this tournament is going to be what it is. Very few sporting events in the world can comfortably happen in the same week as the Super Bowl and still have the impact that they have like this one.
"With that said, I don't think it's everybody's favorite. I think either you love it or hate it. There's no in between. With my case, I love it. I want to come every year."
