The PGA Tour has an opportunity to be ruthless with their new changes after Wyndham Clark’s CJ Cup win

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TPC Craig Ranch did not look like a suitable venue for a PGA Tour event.

After $20 million was invested into the Texas golf course to make it more of a challenge for the players at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, they once again ate it alive. 

The changes Lanny Wadkins made to the golf course, which largely focused on making the greens more undulating, were rendered insignificant, as Wyndham Clark won the CJ Cup with a score of 30-under par. 

Despite all the effort put into making this venue a challenge, it’s been exposed as unfit for purpose on the PGA Tour. And CEO Brian Rolapp has the perfect opportunity to be ruthless with the course when the tour makes its planned changes. 

The PGA Tour should be ruthless with golf courses on its new season schedule

The PGA Tour will be drastically changing its season schedule in 2028. The new schedule will feature two “tracks,” with promotion and relegation between them, and 20 events per year will be played on the first track, including majors and the playoffs. 

Rolapp spoke extensively about which golf courses and markets will be targeted under the new, shortened schedule, which suggests he is making a much-needed change to the places the tour visits.

Places like TPC Craig Ranch, which clearly isn’t suitable for PGA Tour players in serious competition, must be axed, and this shorter schedule with fewer events is the perfect opportunity to do just that.

With less golf on the schedule, every single event should be at an iconic venue. We should go seamlessly from Pebble Beach to Riviera to Harbour Town from week to week without these soulless birdie fests in between. 

So with these changes coming into effect in 2028, expect next season to be the last year of these types of events, which are effectively putting contests and a race to 30-under par.