PORTRUSH, NORTHERN IRELAND | Golf’s major championship season lasted a little more than 100 days this year, from the Thursday morning in April when Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player brought the Masters to life until Sunday at Royal Portrush when Shane Lowry was handed the Claret Jug.
It felt quick, compressed and almost urgent. It also leaves a blank space of 263 days between the end of this year’s last major until the game gathers again for the opening tee shots at the 2020 Masters.
Under the old schedule, the PGA Championship would still be out there, shimmering in the summer heat to put a sweaty end to the majors calendar. Not anymore, not with football season approaching and the revamped FedEx Cup playoffs to be resolved before kickoff.
It’s not just different, it’s better.
It may not feel that way yet, the way a new workplace can take some getting used to, but it will become familiar soon enough.
For the players, who value routine as much as they value their wedges and putters, there has been a forced adjustment to what feels like a streamlined schedule. If the top players, in particular, construct their schedules around being at their best for each of the majors, this year has been something of a trial run.
“I really do think it’s going to take everybody two or three years to find their groove,” Justin Thomas said.
“Before this year, you could probably get 40 or 50 guys in a room and they could tell you their schedules before the season even started, myself included. But I think it’s going to take a couple of years for everyone to figure out what kind of works for them.”
It is a bank account-enriching problem to have, weighed against the grind of hopscotching time zones while trying to keep a game sharp.
Next year, it should be added, includes the Olympics in Tokyo in August, adding one more layer to what the top-tier players must consider in making their 2020 travel plans.
“For me, major championships should be the things that are protected the most. That’s how all our careers ultimately are going to be measured.” – Justin Rose
Imagine the Olympics being next week. That’s what it will be like next year, the trip to Japan for the qualifiers falling two weeks after the Open Championship on England’s east coast at Royal St. Georges.
Oh yeah, and there’s a Ryder Cup next September also.
“I felt like majors were coming almost too fast, one after the other, and to add the Olympic Games, too. It’s not going to be an easy year for anyone. The schedule is what it is. We all have to adjust,” Francesco Molinari said.
Golf is never going to be fast and furious but this season’s major schedule has zipped along as quickly as the perfectly paced Rickie Fowler on an open course. Still, it is not without wrinkles.
Consider the Wyndham Championship next week in Greensboro, N.C. This year, the Wyndham Rewards debuts, a $10-million bonus pool split among the top 10 players in the FedEx Cup standings when the so-called regular season ends Aug. 4 at Sedgefield Country Club.
The points leader will pick up an additional $2 million with the money fanned out from there, with the player in 10th starting the playoffs picking up a fresh $500,000.
Yet few of the top 10 players are committed to play the Wyndham Championship. After the Open Championship and the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis this week, many players will roll the dice on their points standing to get a week of rest before the three-week FedEx Cup playoff race begins.
Wyndham Rewards could be like the FedEx Cup playoffs, which took a year or two before the players fully understood what was at stake. While it is still a luscious money grab, winning the FedEx Cup has become more important, enhancing résumés though not as much as the eight-figure payday enriches savings accounts.
As for the majors, it was a memorable collection this year regardless of the timing.
Tiger Woods provided a moment for the ages with his Masters victory in April, Brooks Koepka handled Bethpage Black and a few boorish fans to win the PGA Championship, All-American Gary Woodland won the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach and Lowry’s victory in the Open Championship capped an extraordinary return of the game’s oldest major to Northern Ireland.
Did the revised schedule diminish the majors?
No. In fact, the move to May enhanced the PGA Championship. Other than slotting the PGA in the middle of what would have been a two-month break between the Masters and the U.S. Open – a place where the Players Championship previously had occupied everyone’s attention – the biggest adjustment is having the majors finished by now, though not everyone agrees.
“It’s too condensed,” Justin Rose said. “As a professional in terms of trying to peak for something, the process involved in trying to do that can be detailed and can take longer than a month.
“But I also think it’s driven by the FedEx Cup; wanting to finish on a certain date, everything else having to fit where it can.
“For me, major championships should be the things that are protected the most. That’s how all our careers ultimately are going to be measured. … It’s the majors, they’re the benchmarks.”
There are still four of them and only one falls on a new date. That’s not changing any time soon. Nor should it.