The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
PGA Tour season starting 17 days after East Lake finale
Seventeen days after Rory McIlroy cashed in by winning the FedEx Cup, a new season begins at The Greenbrier.
That’s nothing new.
A year ago, there were only 10 open days between the final putt in the Tour Championship (Tiger Woods) and the first shot of the next season (Nick Taylor). It was an even shorter turnaround when factoring in the Ryder Cup in France, which ended four days before the Safeway Open in California.
The biggest difference is the amount of golf in the fall — and the amount of streaming coverage.
“PGA Tour Live” is adding weekday featured group coverage from seven tournaments in the fall, along with live streaming of featured matches all four days of the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne in Australia.
It adds up to 140 extra hours of live content, bringing the total for subscribers to 1,100 hours over the new season. “PGA Tour Live” is available in the U.S. on NBC Sports Gold and Prime Video channels and internationally on Discovery-owned Golf TV.
The other tournaments to get live streaming of featured groups are the Sanderson Farms Championship, the Safeway Open, the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas, the Houston Open and the RSM Classic at Sea Island.
There are 11 tournaments over 10 weeks in the fall portion of the PGA Tour schedule, which includes a new event in Bermuda held the same week as the World Golf Championships event in Shanghai. That also includes a three-week swing through Asia with limited fields and no cuts.
When the wraparound season began, there were six tournaments.
As for the value of the fall, six of the eight winners last fall reached the Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta.
Stricker looks ahead
Steve Stricker used to have a short PGA Tour season even when it ended in late October. Even with a compact schedule, this one ended earlier than usual. He hasn’t played since July 14, a sixth-place finish at Firestone in the Senior Players Championship.
Despite playing only nine events, he is No. 3 in the Charles Schwab Cup standings but still unsure how much he will play on the PGA Tour Champions the rest of the year. There is an elk hunting trip coming up in the fall.
Stricker also played seven times on the PGA Tour, his last appearance a tie for 22nd at the Memorial, and now the Ryder Cup captain is thinking about one more full season on the regular tour. He has taken his one-time exemption from being top 25 in career money on the PGA Tour. He is contemplating a tournament or two in the fall. And then next year figures to be plenty busy with the Ryder Cup.
“I’d like to get in those FedEx Cup playoffs. Those looked pretty cool,” Stricker said.
As a vice captain in the Presidents Cup in Australia, he is not likely to start next year with another long trip to Hawaii. But he figures to play more than seven times. And that includes two majors — the PGA Championship and the U.S. Open.