Last autumn appearance for Texas Open

U.S. PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem held up his index finger during a visit to the press room at the 2006 Ryder Cup, which seemed a bit premature since the Americans had been getting trounced in recent matches.

"Valero Texas Open - No. 1 in charitable giving this year," Finchem said to clarify.

When someone mentioned that he had rewarded tournament officials for their charity efforts by sticking them in the less-popular autumn, Finchem jokingly replied, "Why ruin a good thing?" before adding with a more serious tone that the event soon would move to the spring.

The Valero Texas Open starts on Thursday in San Antonio, its final autumn appearance before it leads off the tour's new Texas Swing next May.

It's a just reward for a tournament that never complained about being held in the same week as the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup, or when it was relegated to the not-so-illustrious "Fall Series" when the FedEx Cup came along.

The move gives the tour a three-week Texas Swing after The Players Championship in May.

While the tour has not released its 2009 schedule, individual tournament Web sites indicate the Texas Open will be from May 14-17, followed by the Byron Nelson Championship in Irving (May 21-24) and the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Fort Worth (May 28-31).

The other Texas event, the Shell Houston Open, will be from April 2-5, the week before the Masters.

Because of how the calendar falls, the 2009 season starts a week later in Hawaii, with the winners-only Mercedes-Benz Championship at Kapalua from Jan. 8-11, followed by the Sony Open.

The Florida Swing also involved musical chairs. The Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens again will go first (March 5-8), followed by the CA Championship at Doral, which had anchored the Florida rotation. The Transitions Championship in Tampa will go third, with the Arnold Palmer Invitational in the fourth spot, two weeks before the Masters.

The rest of the FedEx Cup portion of the schedule looks similar to 2008, with the Buick Open the biggest exception. Instead of being held at the end of June, it will move to the first weekend in August, two weeks before the U.S. PGA Championship.

Depending on Tiger Woods' schedule when he returns next year, it will be hard to imagine him playing the Buick Open, Bridgestone Invitational and U.S. PGA Championship - all of which he has won multiple times - then playing all four playoff events, which again are scheduled to start two weeks after the U.S. PGA Championship.

Still to be determined is whether to build a week off into the playoff schedule. Finchem indicated that officials were contemplating both scenarios - four straight playoff events or a week off during the playoffs - before finalizing the schedule.