In March, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan suggested it was his “hope” to announce the 2018-19 schedule at last week’s Players Championship, but as the circuit’s flagship event came and went there was no news.
“We have the situation in Houston and we’re doing everything we can to get that solved,” Monahan said last weekend at TPC Sawgrass. “The optimist in me thought there was a good chance we might have it solved by now. While we’re having good discussions, it’s not yet complete.”
Monahan touched on a number of elements that still need to fall into place – chief among them a title sponsor for the circuit’s annual stop in Houston – before the schedule is ready for public consumption and he added that there is currently no timeline for when the schedule might be announced.
“You’re fundamentally changing your season. You’ve got to work with everybody and explain to them what your objectives are,” he said. “You have to recognize that in some cases there might be change and there might be some negative elements to it and just being a good partner. That just takes time.
“I do look at it as it’s been a lot of fun and I’m really excited about what we’re doing.”
The vast majority of that new schedule, however, is relatively straightforward. According to various sources, in many cases tournament’s own websites, the central elements of next year’s lineup are already in place.
| Jan. 3-6 | Sentry Tournament of Champions | The West Coast swing remains unchanged. |
| Jan. 10-13 | Sony Open | |
| Jan. 17-20 | CareerBuilder Challenge | Although job site CareerBuilder signed a six-year deal to sponsor the event in 2015, sources say a new title sponsor could be stepping in soon. |
| Jan. 24-27 | Farmers Insurance Open | |
| Jan. 31-Feb. 3 | Waste Management Phoenix Open. | |
| Feb. 7-10 | AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am | |
| Feb. 14-17 | Genesis Open | The tournament received a boost this year with Tiger Woods’ return to Riviera, but it remains to be seen how the WGC-Mexico Championship’s relocation will impact the field |
| Feb. 21-24 | WGC-Mexico Championship | This event had been played in the middle of the Florida swing in early March and the move should make it geographically more convenient for players. |
| Feb. 28-March 3 | Honda Classic | The event should receive a lifetime “most improved” award with its move to PGA National in 2007 and Jack Nicklaus’ involvement, but like the Los Angeles stop it could suffer around so many high-profile events. |
| March 7-10 | Arnold Palmer Invitational | A week before The Players, two weeks after the World Golf Championship in Mexico and two weeks before the Match Play. That’s a tough neighborhood. |
| March 14-17 | The Players Championship | After 12 successful years in May, the circuit’s flagship event moves back to March, which is a central part of the schedule makeover. |
| March 21-24 | Valspar Championship | Like Bay Hill, the annual Tampa-area stop will likely take a hit because of the crowded spring calendar. |
| March 28-31 | WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play | There was talk about this event sliding to the fall portion of the schedule, but it seems officials ultimately decided it’s best to avoid putting a marquee event up against football. |
| April 4-7 | Valero Texas Open | The folks in Houston had made the pre-Masters stop an interesting addition for some players. The challenge for San Antonio is replicating that success. |
| April 11-14 | Masters Tournament | |
| April 18-21 | RBC Heritage | |
| April 25-28 | Zurich Classic | The transition to a team event last year has proven to be a boost for a tournament that has historically struggled to draw a deep field. |
| May 2-5 | Wells Fargo Championship | Some predicted the success of the 2017 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow would be the end of a normal Tour event in Charlotte, but officials appear committed to keeping the Wells Fargo Championship on the schedule. |
| May 9-12 | AT&T Byron Nelson | A new course this year could backfire on tournament officials and having the PGA Championship wedged in the middle of the Dallas-Fort Worth swing won’t help. |
| May 16-19 | PGA Championship | The move to May is the biggest piece of the schedule makeover, giving golf five consecutive months of “major” events. How this will impact the PGA of America’s ability to play on traditional venues in the Northeast remains to be seen. |
| May 23-26 | Fort Worth Invitational | Charles Schwab & Co., recently agreed to a four-year sponsorship deal starting in 2019, and one of the circuit’s most popular courses will assure a solid field. |
| May 30-June 2 | Memorial Tournament | |
| June 6-9 | Houston Open | Houston, we have a problem. Monahan confirmed that finding a title sponsor for the event contributed to the schedule not being complete in time for a Players announcement, and sources say officials have until early June to find a new sponsor. If no sponsor can be found, Minneapolis and 3M are poised to step in. |
| June 13-16 | U.S. Open | |
| June 20-23 | Travelers Championship | |
| June 27-30 | Quicken Loans (Detroit) | Officials at Quicken Loans have been rather outspoken about this in recent weeks. “Quicken [Loans] has stated where we’re at, so I don’t have anything to add to that,” Monahan said. This event would replace The National on the schedule, which currently doesn’t have a sponsor. |
| July 4—7 | RBC Canadian Open | This could be a temporary landing spot for the event, which historically has been played after The Open, but it’s not a bad long-term option. |
| July 11-14 | John Deere Classic | |
| July 18-21 | The Open | The game’s oldest major will now become the year’s final major. |
| July 25-28 | WGC-FedEx Invitational | With Bridgestone out, FedEx stepped up to sponsor the event, although moving from Akron, Ohio, to Memphis in July will make for, let’s say, a steamy transition. |
| Aug. 1-4 | Wyndham Championship | The final regular-season event will essentially become something of a “play in” tournament for players looking to shore up their playoff chances now that the post-season will go to three events with the loss of the Boston-area stop. |
| Aug. 8-11 | The Northern Trust | Sources have suggested that this event could feature a golf course rotation that would include TPC Boston, which had hosted the now-departed third playoff event. |
| Aug. 15-18 | BMW Championship | With one fewer playoff event, the second post-season stop will take on added importance. Monahan confirmed that the structure will “likely” remain unchanged, with the top 125 players on the regular-season points list qualifying for the first playoff event, 70 for the second and 30 for the Tour Championship. It also seems likely that with one fewer playoff stop the Tour will need to rework the post-season points format to add some volatility. |
| Aug. 22-25 | Tour Championship | According to numerous sources, the Tour is looking to change the way it crowns a FedExCup champion, although details of that plan remain unclear. “We’re looking at everything. When we have the schedule finalized we’re get into all the details,” Monahan said when asked about a potential change at East Lake. “It’s just too early, we haven’t made any decisions. We continue to look at the best possible outcome for our fans. We realize that there are some elements to it [the playoffs] that aren’t easy to understand, so trying to get to a world where it might be more understandable than it is today.” |
| Sept.-Nov. | Wraparound season | To be clear, the Tour is not contracting its schedule. There will still be a wraparound season with events in the fall, most notably the Greenbrier Classic, which had been played in July but appears poised for a September date. |