LA QUINTA, California — Palm trees are about the only similarity between the Sony Open and The American Express, consecutive weeks on the PGA Tour where one course is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean and the other by mountains and desert.
And now they share something else in common: an uncertain future.
That’s true about most things this year as the PGA Tour moves toward an overhaul of the schedule for 2027 (at the earliest). It most likely will look nothing like it has except for the Masters being the first full week of April and the US Open ending on Father’s Day.
Aloha can mean hello or goodbye, and there was a tangible vibe of the latter at the Sony Open even without Chris Gotterup saying after his two-shot victory, “Hopefully, I’m not the last champion.”
The Sentry at Kapalua was canceled amid a water dispute in Maui now caught up in lawsuits that probably won’t be heard until 2027, well after the Future Competition Committee wraps up its work on a new schedule.
Wisconsin-based Sentry has a title sponsorship contract through 2035 and no one would be surprised to see it associated with another tournament. This is the last year of Farmers Insurance as the title sponsor at Torrey Pines, a tournament that dates to 1952 and has been at Torrey since 1968, a year before the modern PGA Tour began.
There’s a lot of moving parts.
“It definitely felt like last week was the last time in Hawaii, which was disappointing because I grew up in North Dakota, live in Texas now, and Hawaii was a great place to go for two weeks to start off the year,” Tom Hoge said. “I’m going to miss those trips.”
He was on the practice range Monday at PGA West, and there was no guarantee he would be returning to The American Express next year through no choice of his own. Adam Scott is playing for the first time. As it relates to so much uncertainty, he added with a laugh, “Maybe the last time.”
Everything is in play. Is any tournament that’s not a $20 million signature event safe?
“I have no idea how it’s going to work,” Hoge said in California, echoing the comments of Tommy Fleetwood, who was 12 time zones away in Dubai (“Where the schedule goes and where the tour goes, I don’t know,” Fleetwood said).
Brian Rolapp, the CEO of the PGA Tour who speaks of changes more significant than incremental, has not ruled out starting a new season after the Super Bowl. He has talked about scarcity, simplicity and parity. Golf only has parity.
“Competing with football in this country for media dollars and attention is a really hard thing to do,” Rolapp said during a CNBC forum in November.
The L is contemplating adding a game. The PGA Tour is looking to reduce tournaments.
There has been chatter about roughly 20 tournaments for the A-listers, all of them strong fields and big purses, woven together in a schedule that is meaningful and makes sense. It’s clear that some tournaments, no matter their history, won’t be coming back in a place they once were.
“I did think about it once I heard if a 20-tournament season was a potential thing,” Matt Kuchar said. “Which ones might not survive? There’s certainly been talk about Hawaii events going away. This could be the last year for the Sony Open if Hawaii doesn’t make the cut. That’s a real shame.”
Sony’s sponsorship contract ended this year. By all accounts, the company is ready to renew except that it doesn’t have a date because no one knows what 2027 will look like.
