PGA Tour said to have made a decision which is ‘hard to believe’ as golf tournament is removed from schedule

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It is fair to say that the PGA Tour has come in for a fair share of criticism over the last few months, as the tour looks to map out its future.

Of course, there are so many question marks over the future of the game, with talks between the PGA Tour and the PIF continuing over an agreement which will bring the sport back together. But the tour has also made a number of significant changes which look set to be implemented no matter when an agreement with the PIF is reached.

It has already been announced that the number of players who automatically keep their cards each year will drop from 125 to 100 from 2026. Meanwhile, fewer players will be promoted from the Korn Ferry Tour. Field sizes are set to be reduced at most events, with the PGA Tour claiming that the changes are designed to help address slow play.

PGA Tour criticised as 2025 Fall schedule is announced

Unsurprisingly, they have been heavily criticised. Padraig Harrington described the proposals as ‘terrible’. And he was not alone in his view.

And it seems that another controversial decision has been made. It was announced that the Shriner Children’s Open has been left off the 2025 schedule. The event has been played since 1983.

And with that, Rick Gehman has told The First Cut Podcast that he cannot believe that the PGA Tour have not been able to make a success of the event.

“I just find it hard to believe that an event that has history, the event that has a lot of professional players who live there, an event that is in a desirable destination, and an event that is held at a course that you completely own and control, which makes the process of running an event, managing it so much easier, that all of those things get the checkbox and the event can fail. I don’t know how that’s possible,” he said.

“I don’t know if that is telling of the state of professional golf. In my opinion, the Vegas event should be over the top. It should be a lot like Phoenix, it should be kind of crazy. It never happens, so I don’t know if that’s just the nature of the way it was run. That checks off all the boxes for managing a PGA Tour event and it’s not going to be on the schedule. That’s jarring to me.”

Notable winners of the Shriner Children’s Open, including Tiger Woods

The event, under its various names, has had a number of notable winners over the years. In recent years, it has provided two of the three PGA Tour victories on Tom Kim‘s resume.

Meanwhile, Bryson DeChambeau won back in 2018. And Jim Furyk emerged victorious three times between 1995 and 1999. But perhaps the 2024 Presidents Cup captain is not the most famous winner from that period.

It was at the 1996 tournament that Tiger Woods won on the PGA Tour for the first time. Woods defeated Davis Love III in a play-off. So it is certainly a shame that the event is now set to be taken off the schedule, particularly when you consider some of the other tournaments which remain in place.