PGA Tour Date Changes May Include TPC And Tour Championship

PGA Tour May Move Players Championship To May

PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem is “looking very hard at possibly moving” The Players Championship from March to May to give it “more of its own identity,” according to Glenn Sheeley of the ATLANTA CONSTITUTION. Finchem said, “If we were to move ahead with the decision, it would be because we had concluded that by doing so we could continue to enhance the stature and the impact of The Players Championship.” Sheeley notes Finchem is also considering a plan to start the season in September rather than January by moving The Tour Championship from November to Labor Day weekend (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 3/24). Honda Classic Tournament Dir Cliff Danley said that there “has been talk about changing the early season schedule, possibly flip-flopping events from” the West Coast Swing and Southern Swing (PALM BEACH POST, 3/24). Finchem: “We’re not so much focused on the length of schedule as we are how the schedule works from the standpoint of presenting the season and the competition within the season. That goes to how some of the significant tournaments during the course of the schedule are juxtaposed with each other. ... We’re six or eight months away from completing it” (Ft. Lauderdale SUN-SENTINEL, 3/24).

NO PAY-FOR-PLAY: Finchem, on sponsors offering players incentives to participate in events: “I’m speculating that we will have guidelines, and my guess is that they will have an impact on the activities that happen during the week” (Ft. Lauderdale SUN-SENTINEL, 3/24). More Finchem: “It raises the specter in the fans’ mind that the player is only there because he was paid to be there and not really to compete. If the player doesn’t play well, in light of that perception, there is a secondary perception that he didn’t even come to compete, he just showed up to get his appearance money. That is not a good thing for your image” (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 3/24).