Wednesday, July 11, 2018

PGA Tour shuffles schedule to finish Playoffs before football season

Movement — and plenty of it — highlights the PGA Tour’s upcoming 2018-19 wraparound season.

Start with The Players Championship, the Tour’s flagship event, which moves back to March from its May spot. The PGA Championship, for decades the last major of the year, moves to May. And the FedExCup Playoffs, shortened from four to three events, moves so it will finish by the end of August and before the beginning of the NFL and college football seasons.

And two events — the Houston Open and A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier — are moving to the fall and will be played next as part of the 2019-20 season.

The Tour released the schedule of 46 events on Tuesday.

“We are extremely pleased with the way the schedule has come together, particularly with the number of changes that were involved and the strength of the partnerships required to achieve this new look,” PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said in a news release.

“By concluding at the end of August, the FedExCup Playoffs no longer have the challenge of sharing the stage with college and professional football. This will enhance the visibility of the FedExCup Playoffs. We have created a schedule that will heighten interest in all tournaments while further elevating the FedExCup Playoffs.”

The Playoffs are now three events and will be played in consecutive weeks. The annual Boston stop, which played as the second postseason event the first 11 years of the Playoffs, is moving starting in 2020 into an every other year rotation with the New York area, which has annually hosted the first event.

Next season the Playoffs will start with the Northern Trust on Aug. 8-11 in New Jersey, move to Medinah Country Club in Chicago the following week and end in Atlanta at East Lake Golf Club Aug. 22-25.

Significant scheduling challenges await the game’s best players as they look to peak for the sport’s biggest events and arrange for proper rest.

With the revamped schedule, there is an eight-week stretch that includes the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship Feb. 21-24, The Players Championship March 14-17, the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play March 27-31 and the Masters April 11-14. The other four events in this stretch are important to the players, too — the Honda Classic, Arnold Palmer Invitational, Valspar Championship and Valero Texas Open.

Two of the season’s most popular events precede the eight-week stretch — the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Open at Riviera Country Club. And the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links once again is the week after the Masters and has annually been a big hit with players looking to decompress after the first major of the year.

There’s also a six-week stretch that begins July 18-21 with the Open Championship at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland. The following week the last WGC event of the season, which is now moving from Akron to Memphis and will be called the FedEx St. Jude Invitational, will be played. The next week is the Wyndham Championship, the last spot for players to earn a spot in the FedExCup Playoffs. And then you have the playoffs.

 

Other significant changes include the addition of two new events. The Rocket Mortgage Classic will be the first PGA Tour event held in Detroit from June 27-30 and will be followed by the 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities July 4-7.

The RBC Canadian Open moves from its traditional spot in late July to June 6-9, the week ahead of the U.S. Open.

The season begins the week after the 2018 Ryder Cup in France. The Safeway Open in Napa, California, is Oct. 4-7 and kicks off a seven-week, eight-tournament fall stretch before the Tour takes a break in late November.

The schedule resumes the first week of January in Hawaii with the Aloha State two-step — the Sentry Tournament of Champions Jan. 3-6 and the Sony Open in Hawaii Jan. 10-13.

SCHEDULE

Oct. 1-7: Safeway Open, Silverado Resort and Spa (North Course), Napa, Calif.

Oct. 8-14: CIMB Classic, TPC Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Oct. 15-21: The CJ Cup at Nine Bridges, Jeju Island, South Korea

Oct. 22-28: World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions, Sheshan International Golf Club, Shanghai

Oct. 22-28: Sanderson Farms Championship, Country Club of Jackson, Jackson, Miss.

Oct. 29-Nov. 4: Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, TPC Summerlin, Las Vegas

Nov. 5-11: Mayakoba Golf Classic, El Camaleon Golf Club at the Mayakoba Resort, Playa del Carmen, Mexico

Nov. 12-18: The RSM Classic, Sea Island Resort (*Seaside Course, Plantation Course), St. Simons Island, Ga.

Dec. 31-Jan. 6: Sentry Tournament of Champions, Kapalua Resort (The Plantation Course), Hawaii

Jan. 7-13: Sony Open in Hawaii, Waialae Country Club, Honolulu

Jan. 14-20: CareerBuilder Challenge, PGA WEST (*Stadium Course, Nicklaus Tournament Course); La Quinta Country Club, La Quinta, Calif.

Jan. 21-27: Farmers Insurance Open, Torrey Pines Golf Course (*South Course, North Course), San Diego

Jan. 28-Feb. 3: Waste Management Phoenix Open, TPC Scottsdale (Stadium Course), Scottsdale, Ariz.

Feb. 4-10: AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, *Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill Golf Course, Monterey Peninsula Country Club (Shore Course), Pebble Beach, Calif.

Feb. 11-17: Genesis Open, The Riviera Country Club, Pacific Palisades, Calif.

Feb. 18-24: World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship, Club de Golf Chapultepec, Mexico City

Feb. 18-24: Puerto Rico Open, Coco Beach Golf & Country Club

Feb. 25-March 3: The Honda Classic, PGA National Resort & Spa (The Champion Course), Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

March 4-10: Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, Bay Hill Club and Lodge, Orlando

March 11-17: The Players Championship, TPC Sawgrass (THE PLAYERS Stadium Course), Ponte Vedra Beach, Calif.

March 18-24: Valspar Championship, Innisbrook, a Salamander Golf and Spa Resort (Copperhead Course), Palm Harbor, Fla.

March 25-31: World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play, Austin Country Club, Texas

March 25-31: Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship, Puntacana Resort & Club (Corales Golf Course), Dominican Republic

April 1-7: Valero Texas Open, TPC San Antonio (AT&T Oaks Course)

April 8-14: Masters, Augusta National Golf Club, Augusta, Ga.

April 15-21: RBC Heritage, Harbour Town Golf Links, Hilton Head, SC

April 22-28: Zurich Classic of New Orleans, TPC Louisiana

April 29-May 5: Wells Fargo Championship, Quail Hollow Club, Charlotte

May 6-12: AT&T Byron Nelson, Trinity Forest Golf Club, Dallas

May 13-19: PGA Championship, Bethpage State Park (Black Course), Bethpage, NY

May 20-26: Charles Schwab Challenge, Colonial Country Club, Fort Worth

May 27-June 2: the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide,
Muirfield Village Golf Club, Dublin, Ohio

June 3-9: RBC Canadian Open, Hamilton Golf & Country Club, Hamilton, Ontario

June 10-16: U.S. Open, Pebble Beach Golf Links, Pebble Beach, Calif.

June 17-23: Travelers Championship, TPC River Highlands, Cromwell, CT

June 24-30: Rocket Mortgage Classic, Detroit Golf Club

July 1-7: 3M Open, TPC Twin Cities, Blaine, Minn.

July 8-14: John Deere Classic, TPC Deere Run, Silvis, Ill.

July 15-21: The Open Championship, Royal Portrush Golf Club, Portrush, Northern Ireland

July 15-21: Barbasol Championship, Keene Trace Golf Club (Champions Trace), Nicholasville, Ky.

July 22-28: World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational,
TPC Southwind, Memphis

July 22-28: Reno-Tahoe Tournament, Montrêux Golf and Country Club, Reno

July 29-Aug. 4: Wyndham Championship, Sedgefield Country Club, Greensboro, NC

FedExCup Playoffs

Aug. 5-11: The Northern Trust, Liberty National Golf Club, Jersey City, NJ

Aug. 12-18: BMW Championship, Medinah Country Club (Course No. 3), Medinah, Ill.

Aug. 19-25: Tour Championship, East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta

SOURCE:  USAToday

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