DUBLIN, Ohio – Putting together the pieces of next year’s reimagined schedule is turning out to be as challenging as many imagined as evidenced by a “sample” of the 2024 lineup the PGA Tour is circulating to players and managers.
The sample schedule is a broad outline of what next year might look like as the circuit transitions back to a calendar year lineup and a better flow to the new designated-event structure.
According to the schedule that’s being circulated, the season begins with the Sentry Tournament of Champions (Jan. 4-7), followed by three full-field events (likely the Sony Open, The American Express and the Farmers Insurance Open). The Feb. 1-4 slot on the schedule is noted as a designated event and, according to various sources, will be the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, followed by the Genesis Invitational (Feb. 8-11), which is also a designated event.
Commissioner Jay Monahan told reporters earlier this month that the goal is to avoid leaving non-designated events isolated between designated events, like this year’s Honda Classic, and the three-week, elevated break after the Genesis Invitational would likely include the West Palm Beach, Florida, event (which has not named a replacement sponsor for Honda), an event in Mexico and a third tournament.
As was the case this year, the Arnold Palmer Invitational (March 7-10) and The Players Championship (March 14-17), both designated events, are followed by another three-week full-field swing (which would likely be the Valspar Championship, Houston Open and Texas Open) before the Masters (April 11-14). The week after the year’s first major (April 18-21) will be a designated event and will likely be the RBC Heritage.
The sample schedule features two weeks of full-field events before a designated event, May 9-12 (which is currently the Wells Fargo Championship), followed by the PGA Championship (May 16-19).
Perhaps one of the more dramatic changes to the current schedule would be the run up to the U.S. Open, which includes the Memorial, played June 6-9. Jack Nicklaus’ tournament has been played the week after Memorial Day (the last Monday of May) since the mid-1990s. The sample schedule features three consecutive designated events – Memorial, U.S. Open (June 13-16) and the Travelers Championship (June 20-23).
The remainder of the schedule includes The Open Championship (July 18-21) sandwiched between a pair of three-event, non-designated-tournament swings before the playoffs begin with the FedEx St. Jude Championship (Aug. 15-18). The BMW Championship is scheduled for Aug. 22-25 followed by the season-ending Tour Championship (Aug. 20-Sept. 1).