Jack Nicklaus is saying the quiet part out loud when it comes to the current and likely future makeup of the PGA Tour schedule.
Speaking to the media ahead of this week’s Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village, the Tour event Nicklaus has hosted for decades, the 18-time major champion was asked about the signature events on the schedule and how others may, or may not, stand out.
Nicklaus immediately said that he did not want to comment on the Tour’s schedule because he was “not exactly in favor of what they’re doing” at the moment. Seconds later, however, he was teeing off on the current setup of the calendar and how events are being laid out.
“I mean, I hate to see tournaments bunched too much together with too many big tournaments too close together. That’s a problem, I think. And I think that’s going to be a problem for the TOUR in the future,” Nicklaus explained.
“I probably shouldn’t have brought it up here. I’ll get chastised for that later. Anyway, I think it’s harder for your tournaments to stand out,” the 86-year-old continued. “I mean, if you looked at the schedule, we’re involved in the Cognizant down in Florida, and, you know, we have Pebble Beach and Los Angeles, Tiger’s event, and then Cognizant, and then we had Bay Hill and The Players. I mean, what chance does that tournament have? I mean, it sits right in the middle of those. They don’t have a chance.
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“The other tournaments also say, you know, I got four out of five. It’s hard for guys to play that. See, the problem is not so much from the standpoint of players, it’s hard for the players to really be focused to play that much and be on top of their game. And that, to me, is — I look at it from the way I was as a player. I could play a couple weeks in a row, maybe three weeks in a row, but I needed some time off to be able to recharge the batteries. And I think everybody needs to recharge their batteries.”
Nothing Nicklaus said about the current makeup of the Tour’s schedule is profound — the majority of players, media and fans seem to agree with him — but the words of arguably the greatest golfer ever, who has a hand in certain events on the calendar, carry a bit of extra weight.
The Tour’s introduction of signature events during the 2023 season was a direct response to LIV Golf and the circuit’s high-purse, no-cut structure. The events were, and still are, an incentive to keep the biggest names on Tour content.
In 2026, however, the signature events have become overwhelming.
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On paper, eight signature events on the calendar do not feel like too many, but the placement of them is where the issues and complaints arrive.
In February, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am marked the first signature event of the year, only to be followed by another signature event, The Genesis Invitational, the very next week. From there, you have the Arnold Palmer Invitational leading into The Players, essentially another set of back-to-back signature weeks.
The signature RBC Heritage, coming the week after the Masters, lacked juice lacked juice, and then there was the most baffling stretch of them all with back-to-back signature events of the Cadillac Championship and Truist Championship leading into the PGA Championship in May.
From June to the end of August, when the FedEx Cup Playoffs wrap up, no more back-to-back signature events remain, although the signature Travelers Championship comes the week after the U.S. Open later this month.
As for the fix, it’s not a simple one, nor will it check every box for all involved in the golf world. For starters, eliminating signature events the week after major championships feels like an easy initial step, but from there, PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp has his hands full.
