Johnson, McIlroy yearn in vain for off-season

CHARLOTTE: Top-ranked Dustin Johnson and four-time major winner Rory McIlroy applaud moving the PGA Championship to May, but their hopes for a golf off-season aren’t likely to be realised anytime soon.

That was the upshot from Tuesday’s PGA of America announcement that the tournament, the 99th edition of which opens today at Quail Hollow, would shift to May starting in 2019 at Bethpage Black.

“It’s great for the golf schedule,” McIlroy said. “A May date for the PGA of America is a really good thing just from a player’s perspective.

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

The schedule features one big event a month from the Players in March as a tune-up for the Masters in April, with the PGA now in mid-May, the US Open in mid-June and the British Open in mid-July ahead of the US PGA playoffs and a Ryder or Presidents Cup.

“Obviously it’s still a couple years away, but I’m excited to play a schedule like that going forward,” McIlroy said. “It just has a better flow to it.”

August-September schedule overload had been an issue since the US PGA Tour playoffs began.

“I actually like the changes they are going to make,” Johnson said. “It’s going to kind of space everything out a little bit more instead of it all being kind of crammed together. So it gives you a little bit more time to prepare.”

Players said they would enjoy having an golf off-season, allowing down time for them to rest and time to whet the appetite of golf fans between campaigns.

“I’ve always thought that an offseason in golf would be good,” McIlroy said. “Not just for the players to get a little bit of rest and work on their games and whatever, but just from a fan perspective. Create a little bit of hype before the season starts again. So I’d be a big advocate for an off-season, if we ever had one.”

Johnson wouldn’t mind the chance to let his body recover from the grind of a season.

“You need to give your body a rest,” he said. “Every sport has to have time off to prepare for the next year, training a little bit and trying to get stronger. Now there are tournaments every single week.”

Both players cited the NFL, the world’s richest team sports league, for having basically four months of regular-season matches and six months off.

“They play 16, 18 weeks a year, whatever it is, but for the other 30-odd weeks, everyone’s still talking about it, talking about what’s going to happen next season,” McIlroy said. “The anticipation, the hype, builds.”

As Johnson said of the NFL, “I know I can’t wait until it comes back and I’m definitely not the only person.”

Add 2016 PGA Championship winner Jimmy Walker to the offseason supporters.

“An off-season does sound nice. I’m not going to lie. A couple months off would be great,” he said. AFP