CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The PGA of America and PGA Tour made the worst-kept secret in golf official on Tuesday, announcing that the PGA Championship will be moved from its current date in Augusta to May, beginning in 2019.
That’s when Bethpage Black will host what always has been the fourth major, but will then be the second major of the season.
The idea behind the change is multi-fold, beginning with the fact golf’s governing bodies recognize that completing their big-tournament season before the NFL opens its regular season is better for business (see: TV ratings and fan interest). With golf now a part of the Summer Olympics, it also helps with that schedule.
The move, which will coincide with the Players Championship moving back to March, also makes for a strong monthly flow of the game’s biggest events — the Players in March, Masters in April, PGA in May, U.S. Open in June and British Open in July. Then the PGA Tour will conduct its FedExCup series in August and complete it before the NFL’s opening game.
No announcement was made Tuesday by the PGA Tour about a change in the FedExCup series, but that’s expected to be forthcoming.
“We are doing this primarily for three reasons: It’s in the best interests of the PGA Championship, we feel it’s in the best interests of the players who play in the PGA Tour, the PGA Championship, around the world, and maybe most importantly for our organization, it makes the most sense to our members,’’ CEO of The PGA of America Pete Bevacqua said Tuesday. “In weighing the complex evolution of the golf calendar, the PGA of America’s key objectives were to promote the best interests of our signature spectator championship, do what is best for the game and its great players, and find the most advantageous platform to fulfill our mission of serving our nearly 29,000 PGA Professionals and growing the game.
“Our analysis began in 2013 and included an extensive list of factors, including having to shift the date every four years to accommodate the Olympic Games. In the end, we determined that playing the PGA Championship the week prior to Memorial Day in May, making it the second major championship of the golf calendar, will achieve those three objectives.
“We are excited about this move to May. It provides our PGA Championship a strong landing spot on the calendar and a consistent major-championship rhythm that golf fans can embrace.’’
Other than announcing the move of the Players Championship back to March, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan was not forthcoming on what the plan is for the FedExCup series or what will happen to whichever event in March the Players supplants.
“There are a number of dominoes, and there are a number of other decisions we need to make, and as you can imagine there’s a fair amount of complexity within that, and we have a number of constituents we have to work with,’’ Monahan said. “When we have more specifics, we’ll come back and make those announcements. We are just not far enough along in our process to be able to say definitively where we are. We will announce our 2019 schedule obviously when we get into 2018 as we typically do. But the mid-March time frame is exactly where we’re targeting.’’
The PGA Tour events in March include the Honda Classic, WGC-Mexico, Arnold Palmer Invitational and Valspar Championship.
Asked what will happen to whichever March event is supplanted by the Players, Monahan said: “Well, I guess I answered the question by not answering the [other] question, because I’ve said that we are not going to get into the specifics of anything other than the move that we’re making,’’ Monahan said. “If we had made all the decisions and everything was ready to go, that’s what we would be announcing today, but we’re not there. We have more work to do.’’
The players have been universally in favor of the schedule change.
“I think they’ve done a nice job spacing [the majors] out [because] as of late it seems like the summer gets rally cramped and crammed,’’ Jimmy Walker said.
“I like the changes,’’ Dustin Johnson said. “It’s going to space everything out a little bit more instead of it all being crammed together. It gives you a little bit more time to prepare for each event.’’
Rory McIlroy called for golf to have an actual offseason, with no tournaments for a stretch, instead of the “wrap-around’’ season the PGA Tour has. The theory being absence makes the heart grow fonder.
“I think that’s one of the things that benefits the NFL so much — the exclusivity of it,’’ McIlroy said. “They play 16, 18 weeks a year, but for the other 30-odd weeks a year everyone’s still talking about it. They’re talking about what’s going to happen next season. The anticipation and hype builds.
“I’ve always thought an offseason on golf would be good. Not just for the players to get a little bit of rest, but from a fan perspective to create a little bit of hype before the season starts again.’’