Legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus voiced his disapproval of how the PGA Tour currently arranges its tournament schedule during a Tuesday press conference before this weekend’s Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club.
“I don’t want to comment on the tour’s schedule because I’m not exactly in favor of what they’re doing right now,” Nicklaus stated, though he went on to outline what he views as upcoming difficulties for the tour.
“I hate to see tournaments bunched too much together with too many big tournaments too close together. That’s a problem, I think. And I think that’s going to be a problem for the tour in the future,” Nicklaus explained during the media session in Dublin, Ohio.
The golf icon, whose tournament debuted in 1976 as a pioneering event when active players didn’t typically host competitions, argued that the present scheduling format prevents individual tournaments from distinguishing themselves.
“If you looked at the schedule, we’re involved in the Cognizant down in Florida, and, you know, we have Pebble Beach and Los Angeles, Tiger’s event, and then Cognizant, and then we had Bay Hill and The Players. I mean, what chance does that tournament have? I mean, it sits right in the middle of those. They don’t have a chance.”
The 18-time major champion also expressed concern that the compressed schedule creates excessive demands on the golfers themselves.
“The other tournaments also say, you know, I got four out of five. It’s hard for guys to play that. See, the problem is not so much from the standpoint of players, it’s hard for the players to really be focused to play that much and be on top of their game,” Nicklaus explained.
“I look at it from the way I was as a player. I could play a couple weeks in a row, maybe three weeks in a row, but I needed some time off to be able to recharge the batteries. And I think everybody needs to recharge their batteries. So to jam it all in in one period of time, and then leave the rest of the year open, I think it’s tough.
“I don’t think it’s a problem yet, but I think it will be if we don’t address it.”
Nicklaus mentioned he has not yet discussed this matter but intends to speak with PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp and outgoing commissioner Jay Monahan, joking, “I probably shouldn’t have brought it up here. I’ll get chastised for that later.”
