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Spring!
By Jaime Diaz, Sports Illustrated
There are a few things wrong with moving the PGA Championship back on the schedule, not the least of which is competition from football and postseason baseball. So when should it be played? I think May is a natural window, in that you have the Masters in April, the U.S. Open in June and the British Open in July. Players would be fresher earlier in the year. A May date would also move the PGA out of the stifling heat and humidity that often makes it seem like a Bataan Death March in August. You might have a problem with rain in northern climates, but the PGA has always had kind of a southern bias, and those courses are almost ideal in May.
A May PGA Championship would make the tournament more of a factor in determining who is going to be the top player at the end of the year. Its significance would be greater because it would set up the U.S. Open and then the British Open as a climax. The PGA would be part of the major mix rather than an appendage. And I've always thought the British Open, with its unparalleled history, would be a nice way to end the major season.
An added benefit would be to provide a cleaner slate for things like the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup. The second half of the year would become a better showcase for second-tier events because the schedule wouldn't seem so bunched up.
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Fall!
By Alan Shipnuck, Sports Illustrated
If it's August, then we must be puzzling over the PGA Championship, golf's shapeless major. The Masters has flowers and white-gloved tradition and the glory of Augusta National; the U.S. Open has high rough and the best of the old courses; the British Open is linksland and foul weather and tweed hats. What exactly is the PGA? The tournament should've gone back to its old match-play format years ago, but now the World Golf Championships have co-opted the idea. If the PGA Championship is ever going to carve out an identity, its only hope is to move to the fall. Golf is now a year-round sport. Why cluster three majors in 10 weeks, during the dog days of summer? Following on the heels of the Opens only highlights the PGA's inferiority.
Moving to, say, late October would give the PGA months of buildup, allowing more plot lines to develop and putting the tournament in the thick of the money list and Vardon Trophy races. A pushed-back PGA could also rescue a late-season schedule dominated by B-list tournaments and fan apathy. Best of all, the fall would give the PGA different weather and different conditions from its big brother, the U.S. Open. Until the PGA shakes things up a bit, it is destined to be the golf equivalent of a Jerry Bruckheimer film -- the fizzle that ends every summer. |
