It’s a tough task pleasing professional golfers, but the decision to move the PGA Championship from August to May seems to be a popular one. On Tuesday, the PGA Tour and the PGA of America officially announced the major change in schedule, which also includes moving The Players Championship back to its traditional spot on the calendar in March.
“It’s great for the golf schedule,” Rory McIlroy said at his press conference. “A May date for the PGA of America is a really good thing, and just from a player’s perspective, to now have one really big tournament every month from March – The Players to the Masters to the PGA Championship to the U.S. Open to the Open Championship – it just has a better flow to it.”
The move will also help alleviate scheduling conflicts during Olympic years.
“I know last year, it was very crazy with the Olympics thrown in there, and we had two majors in three weeks, and there’s a World Golf Championships. It’s always kind of crammed in there,” said Jimmy Walker, this week’s defending champion.
“It’s great for the golf schedule.” Lots of the games biggest names applauded the decision to move the #PGAChamp: https://t.co/Qkm2ioyLuo pic.twitter.com/S2JaaB55xo
— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) August 9, 2017
Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods, who have won both the PGA and The Players, also approved of the changes.
“I like it a lot,” Mickelson said. “It’s a good move for the PGA Championship because you end up having a little bit more excitement as an earlier major as opposed to some of the excitement as golf tends to wane.”
Really like & support decision by PGA & the Tour. A big event every month and flexibility with schedule including the FedExCup.
— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) August 8, 2017
In wake of the move, the European Tour also announced that they also have decided to shift their flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship to September.
“Significant changes to the global golfing calendar have given us the opportunity to move the BMW PGA Championship to a more favorable date from 2019 onwards,” European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley Pelley said in a release.
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