A day after the PGA Tour and FedEx signed a 10-year sponsorship renewal of the FedExCup, it is still "to be determined" if the four-tournament playoff series "will be reduced to three events," according to Bob Harig of ESPN.com. The Dell Technologies Championship -- formerly the Deutsche Bank Championship, which PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan "used to run -- is working under just a one-year deal." There have been "rumblings about reducing the number of events to three to assure everyone plays and offer a possibly more exciting race to the finish" (ESPN.com, 5/9). Monahan yesterday ahead of The Players said that it is "too early to say" whether the news of the sponsorship renewal will "result in a schedule that would end by Labor Day." But in Jacksonville, Garry Smits notes Monahan "conceded that a schedule that runs into football season might not be the best situation." Monahan: “It’s fair to question that 46 or 47 weeks is a long season" (FLORIDA TIMES-UNION, 5/10).
ISSUES ABROAD: The AP's Doug Ferguson reported the PGA Tour China "might not be played this year" three years after its founding. The tour was "supposed to begin its fourth season this month," but instead its website "says only that ''information on the 2017 schedule is coming soon.''' Monahan: "There's a good chance that it won't happen this year and that we may take a year off. There's also a good chance that it will happen." Monahan "did not say what the issues were that was delaying the start of a fourth season" (AP, 5/9).
STICKING TO SCRIPT: Monahan said that golf fans looking for a change in the Olympic format should not "expect one" for the '20 Tokyo Games. ESPN.com's Harig noted individual stroke play "appears to be what will be used again, despite calls for more innovation and perhaps even a team component." Despite "immense scheduling difficulties last year, Monahan does not foresee much change in that regard" in '20. The Games "fall in early August, and unless the PGA Championship has plans to move to another time of year, the same scheduling crunch is likely to exist" (ESPN.com, 5/9).
