Jay Monahan: Tour looking to establish ‘long-term’ designated event sites

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – One PGA Tour official tasked with piecing together next year’s reimagined schedule compared the process to trying to build an airplane while it’s flying.

Among the puzzle pieces that must be melded together are a collection of designated events that need to be positioned among the non-designated events in a way that produces what officials hope creates an acceptable cadence.

“It’s shaping up,” Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said Wednesday when asked about next year’s schedule. “One of the things we’re working on for next year as it relates to cadence, we wanted a clear separation between designated events and full-field events to get out of the position we’re in this year where we have a few isolated weeks.”

Monahan and the Tour want to avoid events like this year’s Honda Classic, which was played the week after the Genesis Invitational and the week before the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which are both designated events. The plan is to have a series of full-field events, anywhere from two to four, between designated events to give the top players breaks and create a better flow for the non-designated tournaments.

Monahan said the schedule is still a work in progress but expects to announce the new lineup in late June or early July, which is normally when the circuit unveils its new schedule.

The commissioner was also asked if the plan is for the designated events to rotate to different tournaments each year or remain relatively consistent from season to season: “We’ll set the schedule for ’24 and see how we perform, and if we need to make adjustments, we will,” he said. “When we do announce the schedule it’s more likely those events that will be in those [designated] positions will be in those positions long-term.”