Fans are about to see a lot more of the PGA Tour’s star players.
The Masters kicked off a stretch of two major championships and three signature events in a six-week stretch that culminates with the PGA Championship May 14-17. The RBC Heritage is played this week in its traditional post-Masters slot, and the newly added Cadillac Championship at Trump National Doral in early May makes for a more congested part of the calendar.
Justin Thomas, speaking to reporters Tuesday before he attempts to defend his RBC Heritage title, said it’s “not how (he) would prefer to draw it up,”
“The season is important,” Thomas said. “Obviously it’s very important for your FedEx Cup standing, how your season is going, getting into events, not in events, whatever it may be. But majors are kind of what guys will generally build their schedule off of, in a sense, of what they need to do to prepare for a major, and it’s also how kind of your legacy in the game is remembered for a lot of people.
“Going to very difficult courses into a major I don’t think is probably how it would be drawn up for a lot of guys, but it’s one of those things that it’s obviously — we’ve had some changes and probably will continue to see some in the next, I don’t know, couple years until it gets — it’ll never be perfect, but at least something that’s maybe a little more ideal for guys in their eyes.”
Thomas was alluding to the expected changes to the sport’s calendar being planned by the PGA Tour and the Future Competition Committee.
Instead of eight or nine “signature events” with elevated purses, fixed fields and no cuts, the tour is looking into a two-track system that would ensure the best players are playing similar schedules of 21-26 events over the course of the season. A lower track would feature tournaments that help less-accomplished players qualify for the upper tier.
As it stands now, the PGA Tour’s elite are expected to play the Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links, the Cadillac at the “Blue Monster” and the Truist Championship at Quail Hollow Club in the run-up to the PGA Championship, the second major of the year.
Doral and Quail Hollow are especially challenging, while this week’s event has been won with scores of 17 or 19 under par four of the past five years. Thomas beat Andrew Novak in a playoff last year after they tied at 17-under 267. Many golfers see the South Carolina-based tournament as a place to unwind with family after the Masters.
“It is tough, but I mean, at least for me, I’ve found that using (Monday) as just a day off helps,” Thomas said. “We stay Sunday night, just drive here yesterday and just take the day off. I came and saw my physio and hung out, but just really need a day of rest and to decompress and kind of get back to it today has been a pretty decent recipe for me the last however many years.”
One thing going for Harbour Town: It is a far easier walk than hilly Augusta National.
“The physio room yesterday afternoon was pretty busy,” Thomas said. “I think a lot of guys with hips and quads, everything like that, very, very sore. It feels like you kind of are floating and running around here a little bit.”
