WINNERS
................
Golf fans who would really
rather watch football
T
he biggest problem with the FedEx Cup
Playoffs and their continued growth is
that they inevitably would butt heads for at-
tention during the early weeks of the foot-
ball season.
The solution? End the golf season before
college or professional football starts. That's
why the Tour Championship will conclude
on August 25 in 2019.
"It's been our stated objective for several
years to create better sequencing of our
tournaments that golf fans around the world
can engage in from start to finish," said
Monahan in July. "This will enhance the vis-
ibility of the FedEx Cup Playoffs and overall
fan engagement with the PGA Tour and the
game as a whole."
Bottom line: Autumn tournaments and
January PGA Tour stops will still compete
against the NFL, but the FedEx Cup Playoff
events won't.
Unchanged is the concept of one flagship
event per month, for six straight months,
only with The Players in March, the Masters
in April, the PGA Championship in May, the
U.S. Open in June, the British Open in July
and the FedEx Cup Playoffs/Tour Champi-
onship in August. Nice and neat, and prop-
erly spaced.
....
The PGA Championship
and warm-weather venues
F
ans, players and caddies have generally
sweltered at the PGA, no matter where
it has been played in early August. More-
over, while the tournament has continued
to rightfully retain its status as a major, the
heat misery, inevitable rain delays and
some general golf ennui have rendered it
as a distant fourth among the four majors,
even as it draws the finest field.
With new mid-May dates, there will be
fresh energy with the PGA's place as the sec-
ond major of the year, along with venue
possibilities that would have been unthink-
able, or at least unwelcome, in August.
Could Arizona see its first major? Why
not? With an average daytime high temper-
ature for May 10 of 93 degrees in Phoenix,
but with such low humidity that it feels like
85, and virtually no chance of rain, it sure
beats many of the rain-delayed sweat-fests
that have marred the PGA over the years.
....
The Players Championship
and the Florida Swing
T
PC Sawgrass and The Players Champi-
onship reunite with March for the first
time since 2006, dates it enjoyed since the
event moved there in 1982. The course best
tests the pros in the March winds and it
once again anchors a legitimate Florida se-
ries of events that includes The Honda at
PGA National, the Arnold Palmer Invita-
tional at Bay Hill, The Players and then the
Valspar at Innisbrook. For many fans, this
is when the season really begins, as this is
when Europe's best and the Australia/
South Africa contingent arrive in the run-up
to Augusta.
OB SPORTS GOLF & LEISURE
x
FALL 2018
x
obsports.com
l
TOUR REPORT
WATCH! Tour pros analyze the new schedule.
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<<
>>>
A CLOSER
LOOK
...................................................
›› CHECK OUT the revamped
2018-19 PGA Tour schedule,
which includes 46 tournaments
beginning on October 4.
...................................................
›› Starting in 2019, the PGA
Championship will move to the
month of May.
HERE is a list of
5 great things about the move.
...................................................
›› A $15 million prize, simpli-
fied scoring system and regu-
lar-season rewards highlight
changes to the 2019 FedEx
Cup. Read about it
HERE.
