The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Shake up of golfing calendar sees US PGA switch to May slot
US PGA Championship to be played in May rather than August from 2019
The BMW PGA Championship will move from May to September from 2019 onwards in response to the US PGA Championship switching from August to May.
The European Tour reacted quickly to the biggest shake-up of the golfing calendar in recent memory by shifting its flagship event to avoid a clash with one of the four major championships.
As part of the changes, the Players Championship will revert from May to its old March date, allowing the PGA Tour to complete the lucrative FedEx Cup play-offs before the start of the NFL and college football seasons.
“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,” European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley said.
“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.”
Moving to May will limit the available courses for the US PGA due to weather conditions, although PGA of America chief executive Pete Bevacqua said he was “very comfortable” that it would not be an issue with the venues already announced through 2023.
“We feel the television markets in general are stronger in May and we are 100% confident we can continue to go to the great golf courses where we have brought this championship,” Bevacqua said. “We spent a lot of time determining and analysing that aspect of it.
“And it opens up other parts of the country. It’s more comfortable in the south east. It’s more comfortable in Florida. It’s more comfortable in Texas.”
Two-time US PGA winner Rory McIlroy welcomed the news, adding: “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.”
The change of date could also allow the Ryder Cup to be played earlier in September, but the prospect of taking the US PGA abroad remains an outside possibility.
“Will we ever do an international PGA Championship?” Bevacqua added. “I think the answer is not in the next 10 years but it’s something we will always consider because potentially at the right time for the organisation, it could be an interesting move.”
Bethpage Black in New York will stage the 2019 US PGA from May 16-19, the first conducted in May since Sam Snead’s triumph in 1949.