So here I am, minding my own business when Golf Channel broke the news of the PGA Tour announcing the full 2018-2019 schedule for next season. Analysts had speculated these scheduling shifts for months now, most notably the PGA Championship kicking off #majorszn by moving from August to May, and the PLAYERS Championship moving from May to March. Great move, everyone is in agreement. In fact, roughly the first half of the schedule remains the same, with the roundabout part of the opening stretch is almost identical to the dates of last year. Beginning the season ONE WEEK after last year's President's Cup was indeed a wild move, and there certainly won't be much wiggle room between France and the Brendan Steele Open in October.
Aside from California and Florida getting virtually they're own stretch of real estate, followed by the Texas events and the dog day of summer events, one glaring date stuck out that is more sad than upsetting. This is the removal of the Dell Technologies Championship over Labor Day weekend, or, most notably and will forever be known as, the Deutsche Bank Championship played at TPC Boston in BEAUTIFUL Norton, MA (shout out Wheaton Lady Lyons). Now I can sit here and get all sappy and say the 2009 Deutsche Bank Championship was my first pro golf event I ever attended. It was also the first time I got a glimpse (albeit for a split second) of one Eldrick Woods (you know, two months before IT happened...) as well as the first time I saw Rickie Fowler who was rocking the long hair and Redbull pro series look. With a full purple PUMA suit, I said to my buddy Nate "THERE is the man I'm going to run into at an In-N-Out Burger in Phoenix, AZ eight years later. I just KNOW IT!" Well damn if I'm not a fortune teller.
The reasoning for the removal of the Dell Tech (which gets it back in 2020 but who cares at the moment) is the increased competition for viewers at the end of August because of the big bad NFL. No one watches golf once football season kicks off, hell the numbers even start to dwindle once preseason starts. That's just the way it is, and I think the PGA Tour did an exceptional job at moving events around for the most part. But if you're telling me there is a tournament in RENO NEVADA in...JULY?! And only one event in the New England event all season? Have you ever been to New England in the summer? Aside from the Travelers which golf fans obviously know does big numbers because of last year's final round, and even this year's event which saw Bubba Watson win it for like the third time, how can there only be one event in New England? Same with in Canada, with only the RBC Canadian Open getting its event the week before Pebble in 2019. I know the market isn't crazy popular in Vermont or Maine, but the amount of incredible courses throughout the region and especially in Massachusetts to not have an event even on the Web.com come through simply doesn't sit well with me. It's cool that Michigan and Minnesota are adding events next season, but who doesn't love lobster rolls and the ocean? Figure it out Jay, and come hang out with us!
No comments:
Post a Comment