ATLANTA – The PGA Tour released next season’s schedule on Tuesday, a lineup that includes 49 events, two more than this season, and some questions.
The first half of the schedule remains virtually unchanged, with the West Coast and Florida swings the same as they were in 2017, with the addition of the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship, March 22-25, which will be played the same week as the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.
There is, however, uncertainty after that, with the Houston Open, March 29-April 1, and The National, July 28-July 1, both in need of a title sponsor. On Monday, members at Congressional Country Club were informed that the Tour had terminated its contract to hold the event at the Washington, D.C.-area course in ’18 and ’20.
Commissioner Jay Monahan releases 2017-18 schedule. pic.twitter.com/P0lp4ivpNG
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“This is a scenario that we’ve faced oftentimes. Oftentimes you don’t see the back and forth and the length of time and the complexity that these discussions and these decisions take and this is no different,” said commissioner Jay Monahan of The National, which currently doesn’t have a venue or a title sponsor.
“I’m not in any way suggesting we’re giving up on that. We’ve put the event on our schedule and in any situation like this we expect to be successful. I think this is fairly commonplace.”
The only other significant change was the shift of the bye week to after the BMW Championship. Normally, the bye week comes between the Dell Technologies Championship and BMW, but with some top players headed directly from the Tour Championship, Sept. 20-23, to the Ryder Cup in France the circuit shifted the schedule to give them a break.
The year’s majors will be played at Augusta National (Masters, April 5-8), Shinnecock Hills in New York (U.S. Open, June 14-17), Carnoustie in Scotland (Open Championship, July 19-22) and Bellerive in St. Louis, Mo. (PGA Championship, Aug. 9-12).
The Tour also added the CJ Cup, Oct. 17-20, in South Korea to the 2017-18 schedule.
Source: Internet
