Latest news with #Miami Championship
Yahoo
21 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
More scheduling challenges await top players in 2026
ATLANTA – The PGA Tour's 35-event slate for 2026 had few surprises. The majors will remain major, the signature events will again dominate the landscape and everyone else, both non-signature tournaments and players, will continue to scramble for relevancy. Outside of Trump National Doral's return to the lineup – a somewhat curious move given the Blue Monster's status as a LIV Golf venue the last four years – next year's schedule looks much like this year's version and that is not entirely a good thing. While the expansion to nine signature events with the addition of the Miami Championship seemed inevitable given the success of the limited-field, big-money events, the return to Doral only compresses a schedule that was already as congested as Interstate-20 at rush hour. Consider one six-week stretch next spring features two majors (the Masters and PGA Championship) and three signature events (the RBC Heritage, Miami Championship and Truist Championship). For star players who were already looking for relief – not to mention tournaments like the CJ Cup Byron Nelson which now finds itself wedged between the Truist Championship, Charles Schwab Challenge and the Memorial, an invitational and signature event, respectively – next year's schedule is even more loaded with can't-miss stops. It's not just the star players who will feel more of a pinch in '26. Those players who will begin the year outside the top 50 on the FedExCup bubble will face a nine-week stretch from April to early June that includes just four full-field events, with two of those being the Zurich Classic (a two-man team event) and an opposite-field event that awards less than half the FedExCup points (300) than a signature event (700). There will be a similar crunch heading into the Florida swing with the Cognizant Classic framed by two signature events (the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Genesis Invitational) and the Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Players Championship, yet another signature event and the Tour's flagship event, respectively. The Tour's new CEO Brian Rolapp, who is scheduled to meet with the media Wednesday at the Tour Championship, has probably already discovered the foolishness of trying to please everyone but it is noteworthy that next year's schedule doesn't seem to land with either the stars or journeymen. 'I look at it in the sense of if there's a particular golf course or there's something to where I don't feel like I can play well or it's a place that maybe doesn't fit my eye historically, whatever it may be, then as a professional golfer, I have a hard time [going],' Justin Thomas said. 'If there are places that I think people look at that way, then you have to do what's best for that particular person. Obviously, the perfect model would be for all of us to be at all the events as often as possible.' Whether the addition of Doral as a signature event was an inevitable expansion that could signal the Tour's long-term intent or a political reality is unclear, but it does further aggravate the fear of 'load management' for the game's top players. It is a fear that took on new life earlier this month when Rory McIlroy skipped the year's first playoff event in Memphis. Never mind that McIlroy appeared to strongly indicate following last year's FedEx St. Jude Championship that he would not be returning to TPC Southwind in 2025, or that he was the only player out of the 70 who qualified to skip the opener, the handwringing reached feverish levels. 'I'll always choose the schedule that best fits me, and this year that meant skipping a few signature events. I might skip less next year. I might skip the same amount, I don't know,' said McIlroy, who played five of this year's eight signature events. 'The luxury of being a PGA Tour player is we are free to pick and choose our schedule for the most part, and I took advantage of that this year and I'll continue to take advantage of that for as long as I can.' The working theory at East Lake is the Tour is considering making participation in all the signature events mandatory to be eligible for the Tour Championship, which would be another workaround that will likely be equally unpopular among the star players. To be clear, players are not against the kind of limited-field, big-money events that are becoming the norm on Tour. What they typically don't like, however, is the kind of scheduling that requires five starts in six weeks which is why professional golf's version of load management has become a legitimate concern. When the Tour first introduced signature events there was an attempt to leverage bonuses from the Player Impact Program with participation but that was met with mixed results. On this the independent contractors are surprisingly unified. Instead of trying to concoct a new way to mandate participation in top events the Tour would be better served by focusing on building a better schedule.
The Guardian
21 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
PGA Tour ends decade-long absence from Trump-owned courses with Doral return in 2026
The PGA Tour will return to Donald Trump's Blue Monster course in Miami next spring, ending a decade-long absence from Trump-owned venues. The Miami Championship, a $20m Signature Event scheduled for the first weekend in May 2026, will mark the 56th time the Tour has played at Trump National Doral but the first since 2016, the year Trump won his first US presidential election. That year, the WGC-Cadillac Championship was pulled from the resort and relocated to Mexico City after Cadillac ended its sponsorship. At the time, then-commissioner Tim Finchem stressed that the decision was 'fundamentally a sponsorship issue' and not political, despite Trump's incendiary remarks on immigration and his insistence the Tour was punishing him for his first US presidential run. 'We value dollars for our players,' Finchem said in 2016. 'We were not able to secure sponsorship for Doral. From a golf standpoint, we have no issues with Donald Trump. From a political standpoint, we are neutral.' Trump, who had spent $250m redeveloping the Doral property, publicly lashed out at the Tour and quipped that he hoped officials had 'kidnapping insurance' for the event's new Mexican host city. For the next decade, the Blue Monster fell off the PGA calendar and instead became a regular site for the upstart LIV Golf series, serving as a centerpiece in the Saudi-backed league's schedule. Now the course returns at a moment of transition for the PGA Tour. The Miami Championship expands the roster of Signature Events to nine and sits at the heart of a crowded spring. Beginning with the Masters in April, players will face four Signature Events and two majors in a seven-week stretch, with only the Zurich Classic in New Orleans breaking the run. Next season's PGA TOUR schedule is here!2026, we're ready for you 💪 'We're excited to showcase the game's greatest players competing at golf's most iconic venues,' said Brian Rolapp, the Tour's new chief executive. 'Inspired by our players and fans, we're accelerating the Tour's evolution and ushering in a new era of innovation on and off the course.' The Miami Championship is expected to secure a title sponsor before its debut. Its addition shifts the Mexico Open into the FedExCup Fall and removes the Barracuda Championship in California, which had been played opposite the British Open. Doral has been synonymous with PGA Tour golf since 1962, when it launched as the Doral Open. It became a World Golf Championship site in 2007 but struggled to sustain sponsorship after Trump's 2012 purchase of the property. The 2016 split was, in Finchem's words, pragmatic rather than political, though it coincided with Trump's polarizing rise.
Reuters
a day ago
- Sport
- Reuters
PGA Tour releases 2026 schedule, will return to Trump Doral
August 19 - The 2026 PGA Tour schedule, released Tuesday, includes 35 official FedEx Cup stops and nine signature events and marks the return of play to Trump National Doral. The Doral course, in Miami, had hosted PGA Tour events annually from 1962-2016. It will be one of nine venues next season with at least 50 years of PGA Tour play when the Miami Championship is contested beginning April 30. "We're excited to showcase the game's greatest players competing at golf's most iconic venues," CEO Brian Rolapp said. The PGA Tour left Doral after the tournament's title sponsor pulled out. It occurred at the same time that presidential candidate Donald Trump made derogatory statements about certain ethnic groups to the dismay of the PGA Tour. The marquee signature events, which feature the top players on tour competing for an enhanced purse, are as follows: The Sentry (Jan. 8-11) AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am (Feb. 12-15) The Genesis Invitational (Feb. 19-22) Arnold Palmer Invitational (March 5-8) RBC Heritage (April 16-19) Miami Championship (April 30-May 3) Truist Championship (May 7-10) Memorial Tournament (June 4-7) Travelers Championship (June 25-28) The season starts with The Sentry, in Hawaii, and culminates with the 20th FedEx Cup Playoffs and the grand finale Tour Championship in Atlanta. "We're thrilled with our momentum in 2025, as our season-long ratings and event attendance are confirming that our players and their stories are resonating with fans," Rolapp said. The four majors are as scheduled: The Masters Tournament, Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga. (April 9-12) PGA Championship, Arnonimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pa. (May 14-17) U.S. Open, Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y. (June 18-21) The Open Championship, Royal Birkdale in Southport, England (July 16-19) The 2026 season will include some previously announced changes, including to eligibility requirements and field sizes. Other notable moments on the schedule include the return of The Genesis Invitational to The Riviera Country Club, displaced in 2025 because of the Los Angeles-area wild fires. The Truist Championship also will be back where it belongs at the Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte after being played in Philadelphia as the PGA Championship occupied the course in 2025. And the BMW Championship, the second leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs, will be played at the Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis for the first time since 2008. In 2026, Medinah Country Club near Chicago will host the 16th edition of the Presidents Cup, which pits the United States team of captain Brent Snedeker against captain Geoff Ogilvy's international team. --Field Level Media
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
PGA Tour ends decade-long absence from Trump-owned courses with Doral return in 2026
The PGA Tour will return to Donald Trump's Blue Monster course in Miami next spring, ending a decade-long absence from Trump-owned venues. The Miami Championship, a $20m Signature Event scheduled for the first weekend in May 2026, will mark the 56th time the Tour has played at Trump National Doral but the first since 2016, the year Trump won his first US presidential election. That year, the WGC-Cadillac Championship was pulled from the resort and relocated to Mexico City after Cadillac ended its sponsorship. At the time, then-commissioner Tim Finchem stressed that the decision was 'fundamentally a sponsorship issue' and not political, despite Trump's incendiary remarks on immigration and his insistence the Tour was punishing him for his first US presidential run. 'We value dollars for our players,' Finchem said in 2016. 'We were not able to secure sponsorship for Doral. From a golf standpoint, we have no issues with Donald Trump. From a political standpoint, we are neutral.' Trump, who had spent $250m redeveloping the Doral property, publicly lashed out at the Tour and quipped that he hoped officials had 'kidnapping insurance' for the event's new Mexican host city. For the next decade, the Blue Monster fell off the PGA calendar and instead became a regular site for the upstart LIV Golf series, serving as a centerpiece in the Saudi-backed league's schedule. Now the course returns at a moment of transition for the PGA Tour. The Miami Championship expands the roster of Signature Events to nine and sits at the heart of a crowded spring. Beginning with the Masters in April, players will face four Signature Events and two majors in a seven-week stretch, with only the Zurich Classic in New Orleans breaking the run. 'We're excited to showcase the game's greatest players competing at golf's most iconic venues,' said Brian Rolapp, the Tour's new chief executive. 'Inspired by our players and fans, we're accelerating the Tour's evolution and ushering in a new era of innovation on and off the course.' The Miami Championship is expected to secure a title sponsor before its debut. Its addition shifts the Mexico Open into the FedExCup Fall and removes the Barracuda Championship in California, which had been played opposite the British Open. Doral has been synonymous with PGA Tour golf since 1962, when it launched as the Doral Open. It became a World Golf Championship site in 2007 but struggled to sustain sponsorship after Trump's 2012 purchase of the property. The 2016 split was, in Finchem's words, pragmatic rather than political, though it coincided with Trump's polarizing rise.
Fox News
a day ago
- Business
- Fox News
Trump Doral makes return to PGA Tour with $20M purse Miami Championship in 2026
Trump National Doral has returned to the PGA Tour schedule. The Miami resort owned by President Donald Trump will host a PGA Tour signature event next year with a $20 million purse during the first weekend in May. The tournament will fall in the middle of a six-week stretch that begins with the Masters and ends with the PGA Championship. There will be three signature events staged in the four weeks between those two majors. "We're excited to showcase the game's greatest players competing at golf's most iconic venues," PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp said. A title sponsor for what is currently being called the Miami Championship has yet to be determined. Doral first became part of the PGA Tour schedule in 1962, but after Trump purchased the resort, it struggled to consistently secure a title sponsor. The Tour eventually moved its event from Trump Doral to Mexico City in 2016, prompting then-presidential candidate Trump to remark, "I hope they have kidnapping insurance." While the PGA Tour distanced itself from Trump Doral, Saudi-backed LIV Golf embraced it, staging tournaments there in each of the past four years. That streak, however, will end in 2026, though Trump National, just outside Washington, D.C., will host a LIV event. Ahead of LIV Golf's 2025 stop at Trump Doral, the 47th president voiced optimism about a potential merger between the two rival tours. PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan even dubbed Trump the "facilitator" earlier this year, as discussions between the leagues continue without a finalized deal more than two years after it was first announced. "Ultimately, hopefully, the two tours are going to merge. That'll be good. I'm involved in that, too," Trump said in April. "But hopefully we're going to get the two tours to merge. You have the PGA Tour and the LIV Tour. And I think having them merge would be a great thing." Monahan echoed that sentiment in March. "Those talks are real. They're substantial, and they're being driven at the top levels of both organizations. Those talks have been significantly bolstered by President Trump's willingness to serve as the facilitator," Monahan said. "President Trump is a lifelong golf fan. He believes strongly in the game's power and potential, and he has been exceedingly generous in his time and influence to help bring a deal together. He wants to see the game reunified. We want to see the game reunified, and his involvement has made the prospect of reunification very real." The new Miami Championship will begin the week of April 27, 2026, with the first round played on April 30.
