PGA Tour signs off on rich getting richer
An additional 2026 signature event at Doral will clog schedule and rile up rank-and-file
The PGA Tour last played the Blue Monster in Doral, Fla., in 2016 (Chris Condon/PGA Tour/MetLife Blimp)
The PGA Tour is returning in 2026 to the Blue Monster in Doral, Fla., a decade after a controversial and contentious departure from the Donald Trump-owned resort.
Returning to Doral next April will come with its own set of uneasy circumstances, and we’re not just talking about the polarizing American president — who in 2022 accused PGA Tour leadership of stealing pension funds to bolster purses in order to combat the LIV Golf threat.
Now the PGA Tour is bending the knee to Trump, but some of its players may not be too happy about it.
That’s because the Doral event April 30-May 3, inexplicably, will be another signature event, meaning the number of $20 million, limited-field tournaments grows to nine — offering more chances for the rich to get richer while the rank-and-file have playing opportunities decreased by one.
So … starting with the 2026 Masters, there will be a total of three major championships and five signature events in a 12-week stretch from the second weekend in April until the last weekend in June. If you’re not one of the roughly 80 players in the signature tournaments — reserved for the top 50 in FedEx points this year, players who play their way into the field via the 2026 points list and sponsors exemptions — tour members will have very few playing opportunities during that stretch.
It also increases the likelihood that some big-name players will skip signature events during congested stretches of the season. Rory McIlroy skipped three of the eight signature events in 2024 and said he might do the same next year. Wasn’t the point of having these elite events to bring the best players together more often?
Due to the 2026 season starting a week later, the signature AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Genesis Invitational will be played in consecutive weeks. There will be three more signature events in the four-week stretch between the Masters and the PGA Championship — the RBC Heritage, Truist Championship and new Miami Championship (sponsor TBD) — with only the Zurich Classic team event and an opposite event in Myrtle Beach inviting the rank-and-file during that six-week window.
Three weeks after the PGA finishes at Aronimink in Pennsylvania, the Memorial Tournament will be played two weeks ahead of the U.S. Open at Shinnecock, which is immediately followed by the signature finale Travelers Championship.
It’s a lot of golf top-level players will be expected to compete in during a very condensed window when the four most important tournaments in golf are held over four consecutive months. When you consider that world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler skipped one signature event this year (the Truist) and still won more than $23 million in official prize money, it’s easy to see why he might be willing to skip another. Same for McIlroy, who skipped the season-opening Sentry, post-Masters Heritage, pre-U.S. Open Memorial and playoff-opening FedEx St. Jude Championship this season and still win more than $16 million not including bonuses.
“It’s quite a bit of a workload for the players to play that much golf in that stretch, but I think it’s not as if we’re having to travel halfway around the world to do it,” said McIlroy on Tuesday at East Lake. “These are all pretty easy stops on the East Coast for the most part. But I think it’ll be good. It’ll be a good schedule.
“I’ll always choose the schedule that best fits me, and this year that meant skipping a few signature events,” he added. “I might skip less next year. I might skip the same amount, I don’t know. It’s all just — 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.”
While the top players like McIlroy enjoy that luxury of having choices, those who miss out on the signature gravy train have fewer. From the Masters through the PGA, those who are not eligible for any of the majors or the signature events will have just two playing chances in a six-week stretch — the Zurich team event and the opposite event in Myrtle Beach that is played the same week as the Truist Championship for a $4 million purse that’s $16 million less than the Truist.
Oh yeah, 2026 will also be the first year of the new leaner PGA Tour on which only the top 100 players will earn full exemption cards for 2027 — down from 125.
The tour could have alleviated some of these concerns by bringing Doral on board as a regular tournament for a year and perhaps sorting out whether one of the current signature events would agree to dialing down the sponsor commitment roughly in half to being a regular event in 2027.
Trump quite likely put pressure on the tour to make his resort a signature event — the previous tournament at Doral was a World Golf Championship event for 10 years before moving to Mexico. To appease him, the tour finds itself in this over-scheduling bind.
Of course, there will be those who find irony in the entire deal. The PGA Tour left Doral because it didn’t have a title sponsor. Trump cried foul back in 2016 and declared he hoped the tour “has kidnapping insurance” when it was learned that event was moving to Mexico City in 2017. He then criticized the tour during the first LIV Golf event at Doral in 2022. And now the PGA Tour is back there again — without a title sponsor for now.
During a year in which the PGA Tour made considerable gains, with TV ratings climbing back to pre-LIV Golf levels and marquee stars Scheffler and McIlroy having historic years, this schedule for 2026 certainly gives one pause.
And it will give the tour’s have-nots more ammunition to complain about being treated as second-class on their own tour.
2026 Signature and significant events
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)
Players Championship (March 12-15)
Masters (April 9-12)
RBC Heritage (April 16-19)
Miami Championship (April 20-May 3)
Truist Championship (May 7-10)
PGA Championship (May 14-17)
Memorial Tournament (June 4-7)
U.S. Open (June 18-21)
Travelers Championship (June 25-28)
Open Championship (July 16-19)
FedEx St. Jude Championship (Aug. 13-16)
BMW Championship (Aug. 20-23)
Tour Championship (Aug. 27-30)
2026 full-field regular and opposite* events
Sony Open in Hawaii (Jan. 15-18)
The American Express (Jan. 22-25)
Farmers Insurance Open (Jan. 29-Feb. 1)
WM Phoenix Open (Feb. 5-8)
Cognizant Classic (Feb. 26-March 1)
Puerto Rico Open* (March 5-8)
Valspar Championship (March 19-22)
Texas Children's Houston Open (March 26-29)
Valero Texas Open (April 2-5)
Zurich Classic of New Orleans (April 23-26)
ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic* (May 7-10)
The CJ Cup Byron Nelson (May 21-24)
Charles Schwab Challenge (May 28-31)
RBC Canadian Open June 11-14)
John Deere Classic (July 2-5)
Genesis Scottish Open (July 9-12)
ISCO Championship* (July 9-12)
Corales Puntacana Championship* (July 16-19)
3M Open (July 23-26)
Rocket Classic (July 30-Aug. 2)
Wyndham Championship (Aug. 6-9)