PGA sets dates for WGC-St. Jude Invitational
The PGA Tour officially announced its revamped schedule for the 2018-19 golf season Tuesday, and officially set the dates for the prestigious new tournament coming to the Memphis area beginning next year.
The World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational is scheduled to take place July 22-28 at TPC Southwind, more than a month later than the FedEx St. Jude Classic had been occurring in recent years. The event will be one week after The Open Championship in Northern Ireland, which will become the PGA Tour's final major championship moving forward, and two weeks before the start of the FedExCup playoffs.
The PGA Tour elected to overhaul its schedule beginning next year in order to end its annual playoff series at the end of August and avoid sharing the spotlight with college football and the NFL. As part of its changes, the PLAYERS Championship will move from May to March and the PGA Championship will move from August to May.
The WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational will replace the FedEx St. Jude Classic on the PGA Tour calendar. The FedEx St. Jude Classic, which ended last month with American Dustin Johnson reclaiming the No. 1 ranking in the world in dramatic fashion, occurred later than July 2 nine times during its 61 years of existence.
Memphis golf fans are expected to see a significantly upgraded field with the arrival of a WGC event, a change that was prompted by FedEx when the locally based shipping giant signed a new 10-year sponsorship agreement with the PGA Tour. Only golfers ranked among the top 50 in the world, representatives of the prior Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup teams, as well as select winners from the biggest tournaments on various international tours, are eligible to compete in WGC events.
The PGA Tour previously held the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio before announcing its move to TPC Southwind and a name change in April. Last year's Bridgestone Invitational featured every one of the world's top 50 golfers at the time.
The PGA Tour announced last month that FedEx St. Jude Classic tournament director Darrell Smith had been elevated to executive director of the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. Erin Mazurak Stone, who previously served as the tournament director of the now-defunct Memphis Open (tennis), will be the new tournament director for the WGC event.