The new PGA Tour season begins today with the Frys.com Open in Napa, Calif., and after two full years of the Tour's wraparound schedule, it "still feels strange," according to Ryan Lavner of GOLFCHANNEL.com. There were 19 days "between the end of the Tour Championship" and the beginning of the new season. Golfer Patrick Rodgers said, "It’s almost comical, like, ‘How was your offseason?’ It was two weeks." Lavner noted posters around Napa "showed Rory McIlroy and the slogan, 'It All Starts Now,'” but it is "fair to wonder whether that elicits more groans or cheers." Lavner: "Does this feel like a fresh start?" Golfer Robert Streb said, “Well, it has to, whether you like it or not.” Lavner wrote the Tour "may have diluted its product, but it isn’t about to turn away seven sponsors." Players enjoy a $1M-plus first-place check in "all but one of the seven fall events." The hard-core golf fans "likely don't mind the seemingly never-ending schedule," but the "long-term concern is that those same fans will eventually grow weary of the nonstop global schedule." This season opener "should have had a bit more sizzle" (GOLFCHANNEL.com, 10/13). ESPN.com's Bob Harig noted the new season-opening stretch includes seven events over six weeks "counting in the FedEx Cup standings," and it is "typically viewed as a chance for PGA Tour rookies or those who regained their cards through the Web.com Tour to get off to a fast start." But if the Tour "insists on playing now or in the fall, it ought to consider a Pacific Swing." Harig: "Move the Hawaii tournaments to late October, head over to Asia for the tournaments in Malaysia and China, perhaps even co-sanction a tournament in Australia, delay the restart of the season until late January." At the "very least, it would be prime-time viewing of some beautiful locales while putting a bit more space in the schedule or allowing the FedEx Cup playoffs to end later" (ESPN.com, 10/13).
