Golf’s final major championship is moving from the dog days of summer and into the middle of May in two years. Earlier this week, the PGA announced that its annual men’s golf championship (which will begin on Thursday in Charlotte, NC) will be shifted away from the second week of August and into May beginning in 2019. To accomplish this, the tour will shift “The Players’ Championship” in Florida from May back to a March date.
This move makes a lot of sense in many ways. The August heat removes a lot of terrific golf course venues in both the South and Midwest regions from consideration as late summer temperatures average into the 90’s. In 2007’s PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, the August temperatures soared above 100 degrees to scorch the fans and the players alike. Since then, the PGA has sought venues generally north of the Mason-Dixon Line (New Jersey and Wisconsin the past two years, for example).
Let’s face it. By August, many golf fans are also turning their attention toward the start of the NFL preseason and/or the stretch run of the Major League Baseball season. Plus, many families are scrambling to squeeze a little more summer vacation in August prior to the start of another school year. And don’t forget, college football is right around the corner in about three weeks, too. Golf? Most sports fans aren’t thinking about golf or likely care about watching another golf championship being played in the middle of August.
The numbers prove it. That’s the real reason why the PGA is wise to make this move. Money talks, and the PGA’s ratings have been sinking faster than the stock price of former retail giant, Sears, the past few years.
Calling golf’s television ratings dismal is being nice. Disastrous is more like it. The final round television ratings for this year’s US Open in June (won by a bland relative newcomer, Brooks Koepka) were the second lowest ever, slightly ahead of the 2014 snooze fest won by another android-like golfer named Martin Kaymer. Sure, Koepka and Kaymer played great golf and deserved to win their respective US Open trophies, but both players could use a shot-in-the-arm of Arnold Palmer charisma or Phil Mickelson’s enthusiasm by at least acknowledging the fans’ appreciation when sinking a putt or hitting a great shot.
With Tiger Woods’ potential return to the game fading fast, Phil closing in on eligibility to play on the Champions Tour, and a surplus of personality-devoid robo-golfers taking the stage, televised golf is in trouble. By moving one of its four premier events to the middle of spring when the only real competition is the NBA’s never-ending playoffs, the PGA Tour has made a smart business decision. The television ratings in May should, hopefully, top those in August.
Next up – time to end the PGA’s golf season (FedEx Cup) by early September and, like other major sports, simply go away for a few months to give both the fans and players a chance to get some R&R.