PGA Championship boss dismisses “return to August” suggestion

So, you don’t like where the PGA Championship sits in the calendar? 

Too bad!

According to the PGA of America, there’s little-to-no chance of it moving from May any time soon.

The PGA moved forward in the calendar in 2019 as part of a calendar reshuffle for the men’s professional game. Many, however, have been critical of the move, insisting that it has made the men’s major season too short and that it has stripped the championship of its identity.

Indeed, it’s not so long ago that it traded under the slogan ‘Glory’s Last Shot’, such was its place as the last of the four men’s majors on the calendar.

• PGA of America boss relaxed on Tiger Woods Ryder Cup captaincy

• Rory: PGA Tour “in a worse place” following Dunne’s resignation

However, speaking on the eve of this year’s at Valhalla Golf Club in Kentucky, PGA of America boss Seth Waugh dismissed the prospect of the fight for the Wanamaker Trophy making yet another date switch, insisting that he and his colleagues are perfectly happy with where it is.

“I think it’s been amazing,” said Waugh of the May move. “You now have one major a month for four months and then obviously the tour gets to finish with our FedEx Cup. There’s a lot more logic to it.

“This summer, we would have been competing with the Olympics. Every four years, we’d be doing that.

“We think that it adds more venues than it takes away. It obviously takes away some of the potential in the north but we played in Rochester, New York, last year and it was pretty cool.

• PGA Championship – Round 1 tee times

• Scheffler set for PGA Championship after birth of son

“It also speaks to what we do. It’s the beginning of the season in a lot of the country and so to talk about who we are and what our professionals do every year in terms of, you know, ‘opening day’ for golf is another bonus for us.

“Our [television] ratings have been very good but that isn’t like why we did it. We did it for all those other reasons.

“So yeah, from our perspective, and I think from golf’s perspective, which is the lens that we look at everything through quite frankly, we are better in May than we were in August.”

Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor