Potential 2018-2019 PGA Tour Schedule....

UPDATE 7/10/18 - Final Schedule Released... No big surprises, pretty much as expected as of last updates. Also Houston and Greenbrier confirmed to move to fall schedule in 2019-20.




UPDATE 7/3/18  - Canadian Open to be week before US Open instead of between the US and British Opens...

UPDATE 6/13: Schedule seems 99% set for 2018-19. Some changes to be sure, but not quite the upheaval as when the Tour went to wrap-around schedule in 2007.  

Recap:

SEASON:  Will end week prior to Labor Day (end of August)... Prior ended at end of September

EVENTS/VENUES GONE FROM SCHEDULE:  The National, Firestone (goes to Champions Tour), Boston Playoff event

NEW EVENTS: 3M Minnesota, Quicken Detroit

UPGRADES: Memphis upgraded to WGC at expense of Firestone, still to play after the OPEN

MOVE TO FALL:  Houston, Greenbrier

SIGNIFICANT MOVES within schedule:
* Players moves to March
* WGC Mexico moves earlier to finish off West Coast Swing
* Colonial/Nelson split up
* PGA moves to May
* Canada moves between the Open's

- - - - -
The FALL portion of the 2018-19 PGA Tour Schedule is expected to remain the same as it was this past year. It's the FOLLOWING season this portion of the schedule will be expanded...

FALL of 2018
7-Oct - Safeway Open
14-Oct - CIMB Classic (Malaysia)
21-Oct - CJ Cup (Korea)
28-Oct - WGC - HSBC (China)
28-Oct - Sanderson Farms
4-Nov - Shriners Hospital for Children Open (Las Vegas)
11-Nov - OHL Classic at Mayakoba
18-Nov - RSM Classic

JANUARY Forward - Lots of Changes in this portion as the PLAYERS moves to March, The PGA Moves to May and the FedEx Playoffs conclude before Labor Day.   This is my "best guess" based on bits and pieces from various reports as to what the schedule is likely to look like.  Also please see the notes... as some items are left to be firmed up.  UPDATED JUNE 13, 2018

6-Jan - Sentry Tournament of Champions
13-Jan - Sony Open in Hawaii
20-Jan - CareerBuilder Challenge
27-Jan - Farmers Insurance Open
3-Feb - Waste Management Phoenix Open
10-Feb - AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am
17-Feb - Genesis Open
24-Feb - WGC-Mexico Championship (Moves 1 week earlier as Finish of "West Coast" swing)
24-Feb - Puerto Rico Open
3-Mar - The Honda Classic
10-Mar - Arnold Palmer Invitational
17-Mar - The Players Championship (Move from May)
24-Mar - Valspar Championship
31-Mar - WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play
31-Mar - Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship
7-Apr - Valero Texas Open (Replaces Houston in this spot, see Note 2)
14-Mar - Masters Tournament
21-Apr - RBC Heritage
28-Apr - Zurich Classic of New Orleans
5-May - Wells Fargo Championship
12-May - AT&T Byron Nelson (Split apart from Colonial see Note 1)
19-May - PGA Championship (Move from August)
26-May - Charles Schwab Colonial (Split apart from Nelson, see Note 1)
2-Jun - The Memorial Tournament
9-Jun - RBC Canadian Open (replaces Memphis in this spot)
16-Jun - U.S. Open
23-Jun - Travelers Championship
30-Jun - Quicken Loans Detroit (Moves from DC to Detroit could flip-flop with Minnesota)
7-Jul - 3M Minnesota (could flip flop with Detroit)
15-Jul - John Deere (Note 3)
21-Jul - The Open Championship
21-Jul - Barbasol Championship  (Seen Note 4)
28-Jul - WGC-St Jude Memphis  (Seen Note 4)
28-Jul - Barracuda Championship  (Seen Note 4)
4-Aug - Wyndham Championship
11-Aug - PLAYOFFS - The Northern Trust (See Note 5)
18-Aug - PLAYOFFS - BMW Championship
25-Aug - PLAYOFFS - Tour Championship


Note 1: Byron Nelson has confirmed their date for next year (week of May 6-12) in a tweet after the 2018 tournament... which seems to 99% assure Colonial will follow the week after the PGA...

Note 2: Houston is tentatively slotted to replace Memphis the week before the U.S. Open assuming it gets a title sponsor situation settled QUICKLY.  If not, Houston will likely move to Fall and Minnesota is likely candidate to  take this spot. But supposedly, Houston has the funding to survive a minimum of 1 more year even without a sponsor. But without a sponsor, Fall might be better as the the funding required is about 60-70% of an event on the "Network" portion of the schedule)  UPDATE: 6/7... appears Minnesota will in fact emerge the week before the U.S. Open and Houston will "downsize" to fall with Jim Crane putting it together (Astro's Owner)  UPDATE: 6/13 Confirmed Houston will move to October in 2019-20 season with Jim Crane (Astro's owner taking over the sponsorship/operation of the event.

Note 3. UPDATE 7/3...  Canadian Open confirmed for week BEFORE US Open.
Canadian Open & between the Opens - Most recent reports  indicate Quicken Loans Detroit will occupy same spot as prior National. No firm word on National, but looks to be gone.  Canadian Open will get the next week (to avoid Canada Day the week before).  From all appearances, John Deere will remain in the 4th slot in this segment, with Greenbrier moving to the fall. UPDATE 6/7 - Confirmed Quicken will move to Detroit after sponsoring one more year in DC in 2018 season.

Note 4. Both Barracuda and Barbasol agreements are currently set thru this year. Talk is ONE of these might go away but not sure as the media focus hasn't been on alternate events. It is the Tour's objective to have an alternate event to every WGC, but there is talk about removing the alternate event to The Open if only one of them renew.  If The WGC Memphis does in fact play the week after the Open, that would mean back to back alternate events as well if both Barbasol and Barracuda were to remain on the schedule. Also see note 6.   UPDATE 6/7 WGC Memphis is confirmed to be moving to August. Only question is will the order after the OPEN and before the FE Playoffs be  Memphis/Greensboro or Greensboro/Memphis... the former is most likely.

Note 5. Playoffs are reduced to 3 events with Boston the odd event out.  Boston possibly to be part of a "rota" with the Northern Trust and/or BMW Champ.  TPC Boston is Tour operated year round and the event is PGA Tour managed, so I wouldn’t expect they would want to give up on the city/venue entirely.

Note 6. This is intended to be a calendar SHIFT, not a schedule reduction. With exception of Mayakoba, All the current fall events have sponsor agreements thru at least 2020. Mayakoba expires after 2018 but is expected to renew. What that means is,  there are 4 empty slots in September. As of now, Minnesota or Houston will have one of those (See Note 2 on Houston caveats).  Greenbrier likely another to move to fall. And if the Tour doesn't want back to back ALTERNATE events with The OPEN and WGC Memphis, it's possible one of the ALTS (more likely Barbasol recently announced to move to Kentucky) could take a FULL event status in the fall. Also it is not impossible that the National survives and moves to Fall (unlikely though). UPDATE 6/13  Houston is confirmed moving to fall... Greenbrier is still expected to move to fall.

Golf Channel's Rex Hoggard put out his best guess at next year's schedule... It's very similar to what I have above as he has all the same events in essentially the same spots. His only differences is he has Wells Fargo playing before the Nelson going into the PGA... And he has Quicken Detroit and the Canadian Open flip-flopped from what I have.

https://www.golfchannel.com/article/rex-hoggard/putting-together-2019-pga-tour-schedule-puzzle/

I prefer your version robo!

Whichever calendar one views, it suggests the Valero and Byron Nelson continue to hold very marginal dates.
Valero will have to depend upon international golfers to subsidise the field, but don't see a viable way forward for a strong Nelson until/unless the pros embrace Trinity Forest.
The Salesmanship Club is doing a poor job of selling its tournament - when I lived there it was the biggest deal in town except for the Cowboys, Rangers included.

kwinigolfer wrote:I prefer your version robo!

Whichever calendar one views, it suggests the Valero and Byron Nelson continue to hold very marginal dates.
Valero will have to depend upon international golfers to subsidise the field, but don't see a viable way forward for a strong Nelson until/unless the pros embrace Trinity Forest.
The Salesmanship Club is doing a poor job of selling its tournament - when I lived there it was the biggest deal in town except for the Cowboys, Rangers included.

IMO Valero the week before the Masters and the Nelson the week before the PGA is a heck of a lot better for BOTH of them than what they have now.  
Valero won't be quite the good Masters prep Houston was, but there's still a lot of players that prefer to "play in" to majors.  In 2013 Valero was the week before the Masters, and had a "decent" 44 OWGR field strength... it's best was 2 weeks before the Masters in 2015 at 52.  Nelson might benefit similarly unless the players hate Trinity Forest even more than TPC Southwind.  IMO the tournament that's likely to suffer most is Wells Fargo if it goes before the Nelson... again... DEPENDING on the players attitude towards Trinity Forest.  

The Nelson folks screwed up hosting a caddie tournament at Trinity Forest the Monday after last year's Nelson.  The caddies didn't get it and pretty much eviscerated the course to the players... thus the crap field this year.  And most the players who are in Dallas this week... came in with a negative attitude.

PS... and the biggest problem with the Nelson compared to it's hey-day.... is when they moved the PLAYERS into May and elevated Quail Hollow... both Colonial and Nelson suffered from that. Considering the crap date, and crap course... Salesmanship club has done a helluva job with the Nelson. Helluva well attended event and usually among the top-3 charity contributors..

Yup,
When I wrote "selling its tournament", I meant to the Tour, not to sponsors or the public.
Only Finchem & Monahan can explain why they would "elevate" Quail Hollow's sponsor, that bunch of crooks and scumbags masquearading as Wells Fargo, over AT&T and Valero. Biggest problem with the Nelson really is that Nelson went and died . . . . . .
And: Wasn't aware of the caddie "issue".

But I largely agree with you - tho' that 2015 Valero had a host of highly ranked competitors who've subsequently given it the cold shoulder, whether because of the date or the course remains to be seen! (I see that the very young Sam Burns was in that field!)

Byron Nelson Tournament confirmed their date for next year (week of May 6-12) in a tweet late last night.  I doubt they would have done so without Tour approval...  So looks like that pretty much SETS where Dallas and Fort Worth (Colonial) will be next year...  OP Edited...

@attbyronnelson
What a week!
See you May 6-12, 2019.

Only other note about the "regular" events on the MAY portion of the new schedule... There's pluses and minuses to field strengths for all of them...  But in the end, probably more pluses except Quail Hollow..

Biggest plus for all is with the PGA in May, there should be more interest in the general MAY PGAT schedule.  And just as important would be the European Tour for sure moving the BMW PGA out of May, and the other Rolex Italian Open likely moving out as well.  That saves the dual PGAT/ET contingent a trip back to Europe... and I suspect more will stay in the states during that time and pick up an extra event or two. All three of the Nelson, Colonial and the Memorial (1st June event finish) could benefit by that.

Quail Hollow might be the one to step back in field strength a bit... but there's also been renewed talk about them maybe voluntarily removing themselves from the schedule after the 2021 Presidents Cup.  The reason forwarded is they might prefer to be an "occasional" venue in a FedEx Playoff Rota as opposed a regular every year event...  However... a Charlotte, NC stop is NOT necessarily tied to the whims of Quail Hollow... Other N.C. Interests (and maybe the sponsor) would very likely be looking for an alternate full time "every year" venue... And there's plenty of other good options in that area...

Confirmation today that Note 3 has come to pass - the "Quicken Loans" event switches from Washington DC to Detroit starting next year.

Well done robo, just a few more loose ends for you to tie up

Golf Channel reporting this morning that the Minneapolis/St.Paul area is destined to take the "Memphis" spot prior to next year's US Open at Pebble Beach.
Remember, the Tour's visit to Memphis will now be a WGC in late July or early August - can't imagine how much of an attraction that'll be but that's the plan.
Musical chairs still being played, the music not stopping yet.

Interesting to see Peter Kostis on twitter earlier, canvassing support for the idea that losing one of the five Texas events would be no bad thing. IF the slot went to an under-represented area of the US: Pacific Northwest, Northern Midwest and New England amongst areas mentioned. Sounds spot on to me, only stumbling block may be persuading stronger fields to travel out of their comfort zone, figuratively and literally.

NedB-H wrote:Interesting to see Peter Kostis on twitter earlier, canvassing support for the idea that losing one of the five Texas events would be no bad thing. IF the slot went to an under-represented area of the US: Pacific Northwest, Northern Midwest and New England amongst areas mentioned. Sounds spot on to me, only stumbling block may be persuading stronger fields to travel out of their comfort zone, figuratively and literally.

Don't know what robo feels about this but, from this vantage point, Austin's Match Play action has rather skewed the balance. Trouble with the northern states is the fact that hardly any Tour players live in these areas (regardless of where they come from originally) and the season is short (still have nightmares about hypothermia at early October Turning Stone misery when hail/sleet stopped play).
"Boston" would be a big market to lose if the Play-Offs are shrunk, but then so was Chicago and Detroit, plus nothing in Denver or St.Louis (Quad Cities relatively close I suppose). Seattle seems a natural but never hear any buzz about an event going there or Portland - plus you'd probably have to dovetail it with another (new) NW event, or perhaps the Safeway in Napa.

Ironic how many of the Florida events are "subsidised" by non-Americans. Don't know the answer!

Kwini... I actually think Kostis has a point, 5 Texas events might be too many, but I don't think the PGAT wants to abandon a market as big as Houston (especially on the heels of losing Boston).  And I agree something else in the NE or NW would be a good add.  But what Kostis doesn't realize... is there's room on the new schedule to not only keep Houston, but add BOTH a NE and NW event if one were to come about.

To make sense of these things... you really need to put the schedule down on paper...  Remember the schedule this year will end Sept 23, but next year it will end on August 25.  So that means there's FOUR SPOTS in which to slot/move/create events... while still leaving a week open for the Ryder or Presidents Cups.

As of now Greenbrier and Houston are slated to take two of those spots... That leaves two more. Plus the general feeling seems to be Greenbrier will not renew after fulfilling it's 2021 Contract term (which means it may play last in Fall of 2020 instead of fall 2021). So that could open another spot.

So in the near-mid term expect the Houston in the Fall, + at LEAST 2 more.. Greenbrier for now, probably another Asian event as another.  

NORTHEAST - I have heard ZERO chatter about any new event emerging in the N.E.  And what we already know about the new schedule makes it even harder as the ONLY window is probably in September (due to weather). If anything... Boston might re-emerge as a fall event, keeping in mind the Tour's heavy investment in the Facility/Course and the fact the Tour itself is the operating entity for Boston since Deutsche Bank got out.

NORTHWEST - Now there HAS been speculation on top of rumor on top of more speculation of a potential N.W. event since at least 2010...  first talk I heard of a potential Champions Tour sponsor upgrade was actually Boeing (way before 3M announced a desire to move from the Champo to PGAT was ever talked about).  If that were to be the case... and with Boeing having facilities from Seattle all the way down to Portland.. there's a lot of possibilities.   But if there were another sponsor in the mix.. there's some other tremendous course opportunities further south in Oregon... Bandon or Bend area.. etc..

But again with an NW or NE event... it's all about 'weather window" with the regular portion of the schedule from January thru August "FULL UP" with a waiting list...

Another piece of the jigsaw:

https://www.pgatour.com/news/2018/06/18/new-pga-tour-event-3m-minnesota-2019.html

kwinigolfer wrote:Another piece of the jigsaw:

https://www.pgatour.com/news/2018/06/18/new-pga-tour-event-3m-minnesota-2019.html

yep... As expected from the last update.  They did not confirm the date, but the current Memphis spot still seems like the place it has to go.

Schedule is now supposedly to be announced on July 10, but the policy board meeting to approve the final schedule is set for next Monday. I wouldn't be surprised to see the announcement moved earlier...  Unless there's some issues RE Greenbrier or the Deere or something...

Only other remining issue would be if both Alternate events remain on the schedule or as alternates. One is expected to stay for sure (Reno)... The other in Kentucky could either go away, stay on the schedule as an alternate event or upgrade to full status in the fall. Both Barbasol and Barracuda sponsor Agreements are up after this summer. So they'll need renewals or new sponsors.

Appears that Canadian Open will be getting the spot immediately BEFORE the U.S. Open instead of being between the US and British... that's probably a good thing. I could see a decent international contingent coming in early... and even more top full time PGAT players participating in more moderate weather. GOOD for Canada.

Thanks robo,
"September" is quite the conundrum . . . . . . . .