US PGA to become second major of each year

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan speaks as Peter Bevacqua, CEO of the PGA of America, listens during a news conference at the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, North Carolina (Picture: Chris Carlson/AP).

The event, which began as a match-play competition in 1916 and became a stroke-play tournament in 1958, has been contested in July or August every year apart from 1971, when it was staged in February.

However, the PGA of America and PGA Tour have agreed to switch it from its traditional date to May, with the Players Championship moving from May to its old March date.

“In weighing the complex evolution of the golf calendar, the PGA of America’s key objectives were to promote the best interests of our signature spectator Championship, do what is best for the game and its great players and find the most advantageous platform to fulfil our mission of serving our nearly 29,000 PGA professionals and growing the game,” PGA of America chief executive officer Pete Bevacqua said.

“Our analysis began in 2013 and included an extensive list of factors, including having to shift the date every four years to accommodate the Olympic Games.

“In the end, we determined that playing the PGA Championship the week prior to Memorial Day in May, making it the second major championship of the golf calendar, will achieve those three objectives.

“The golf calendar is dramatically different, especially in the latter portions of the schedule, than it was in the 1970s when our PGA Championship took up residence in August.

“We are excited about this move to May. It provides our PGA Championship a strong landing spot on the calendar and a consistent major championship rhythm that golf fans can embrace.”

Moving to May will limit the available courses for the US PGA due to weather conditions, but going from last to second has obvious appeal to a tournament that has previously used slogans such as ‘Glory’s Last Shot’ in an attempt to make a virtue of its place in the schedule.

The biggest benefit to the PGA Tour is being able to complete the FedEx Cup play-offs before the start of the NFL and college football seasons.

Following the switch, the European Tour’s BMW PGA Championship will move from its current date in May to a new September slot from the 2019 season.

The European Tour reacted quickly to the biggest shake-up of the golfing calendar in recent memory by shifting their flagship event to avoid a clash with one of the game’s four major championships.

“Significant changes to the global golfing calendar have given us the opportunity to move the BMW PGA Championship to a more favourable date from 2019 onwards,” said European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley.

“Wentworth Club is an iconic location in the realm of British sport and the BMW PGA Championship is always hugely popular with the public, as was seen in May when it launched our Rolex Series with 110,000 spectators in attendance over the course of the week.

“This is a new chapter for the event, but we expect similar interest in the autumn, as was shown historically by the World Match Play Championship when it was played at Wentworth Club at that time of the year.”

Two-time US PGA winner Rory McIlroy welcomed the news, saying: “I think it’s great for the golf schedule.

“From a player’s perspective, to now have one really big tournament every month from March and to have the FedEx Cup most likely at the end of August or start of September, it just has a better flow to it, I think.

“I’ve been a big supporter of it from the first time I heard about it and the announcement I think has been very well received by a lot of the players in the locker room.”

This year’s event starts tomorrow at Quail Hollow, in Charlotte.

Huddersfield’s Charlotte Heath shot a four-under par 68 to share the lead after the first round of the English Under-16 girls’ open championship at Blackmoor, Hampshire.

She is tied with Finland’s Kerttu Hiltunen, with girl internationals Annabell Fuller and Caitlin Whitehead a stroke behind.

“I was just steady, took my chances when they came and scrambled well when I had to,” said the 15-year-old Yorkshire county player.

Hallamshire’s Alex Fitzpatrick and Sheffield-born Joe Pagdin, who lives in the USA, both won their singles matches as England Boys beat Wales 11-4 on day one of the Home Internationals at St Annes Old Links. Pagdin also won in the foursomes with Ben Jones (Northants).