Jack Nicklaus said that he "would not stand in the way of a proposed drastic change to the PGA Tour schedule that would see the PGA Championship move to May, thus possibly impacting his annual Memorial Tournament," according to Bob Harig of ESPN.com. Nicklaus ahead of the Memorial this week said that he met with PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan yesterday to "discuss the matter, suggesting that such a change could help his tournament as well as the game." The scenario would see the Tour move The Players "from its early May date to March." The PGA Championship would then "move into the Players date in May." Nicklaus: "To do that, (Monahan) has many moving parts. But he wanted us to know he wasn't going to slight us in any way, he wants to encourage us and promote us" (ESPN.com, 5/30). Nicklaus said that a PGA Championship calendar shift "would likely help his tournament 'because the Memorial Tournament would be the only tournament they have to promote in there in the middle' between the PGA and U.S. Open." In Columbus, Bill Rabinowitz writes depending on the calendar, having two majors close to the Memorial could "cause more players to bypass" the Muirfield Village tournament. Golfer Zach Johnson said that he "believes the Memorial’s status would buffer it from being squeezed into a lesser event even if majors flanked it." Talk of moving the PGA Championship and other late-summer tour events earlier in the schedule has "increased because TV ratings have declined as fans’ attention in August has turned to the start of football" (COLUMBUS DISPATCH, 5/31).
