A Date Shift Appears Likely for the Memorial as 2024 PGA Tour Schedule Comes Into Focus
More Weekly Read: To Play or Not Before a Major | Horschel's Emotional Interview | Fore! Things
As PGA Tour officials work to incorporate eight designated events into the 2024 schedule, certain aspects are starting to come into focus, while others still need to be resolved.
Among them is the possibility that Jack Nicklaus’s Memorial Tournament will move off its traditional date two weeks prior to the U.S. Open and slide into this week—a week before—which would give the Tour three consecutive designated or big events including the Travelers Championship the week after the U.S. Open.
The issue seems to be the Tour’s desire to not have regular PGA Tour events be “isolated" between a major or designated event and another designated event. For example, the Charles Schwab Challenge followed the PGA Championship and preceded the Memorial. Prior to that, the AT&T Byron Nelson was “isolated" between the Wells Fargo, a designated event, and the PGA.
The Tour is trying to make sure there are at least two regular PGA Tour events between designated events and majors.
Nicklaus said Sunday that he’s in favor of “whatever is best for the Tour" and while deep down he might prefer to keep his current date, the Memorial is never going to struggle to get the top players—especially as it will be a designated event with a cap of 80 players. With a $20 million purse and the potential for no cut, it’s a lot of FedEx Cup points and money to pass up.
“I would prefer to stay where we are," Nicklaus said. “I don’t like being the week before the (U.S.) Open, but if it’s for the betterment for the tour and what they’re trying to do then I would understand that, too."
The idea of a cut has not been abandoned for the “legacy" events—Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational, Memorial—but Tour executives Andy Pazder and Tyler Dennis made it clear at Muirfield Village that the size of the field would be contained to 80, as will be the case for the designated events.
“Our players would prefer to play consecutive weeks with designated events," said Pazder, the Tour’s chief tournaments and competitions officer. “They don’t like one on, one off, one on. It allows us to create swings of full-field events. We’ve announced our eligibility for the designated events and giving players that opportunity to play two or three full-field events consecutively to play their way into designated events."
The Tour announced previously that players not otherwise eligible for designated events via the top 50 in FedEx points at the end of this year or via top 30 OWGR can qualify via FedEx points, either from that year's standings or by a mini-run of full-field events that will award places for the top five points finishers in those tournaments.
Pazder said the four designated events aside from the legacy events have yet to be determined officially.
But most speculation centers around those being the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the RBC Heritage, the Wells Fargo Championship and the Travelers Championship.
The schedule is expected to be announced this summer.