This exercise -- creating one world tour for golf and thinking about what it would look like -- is equal parts fun and aggrevating.
It's fun because hypothesizing about anything in sports is almost always enjoyable but frustrating because it's always odd to realize that golf is one of the only sports in the world (soccer being another) in which you have two relatively equal leagues that don't combine to form a super league with the upper crust of talent.
I'm in favor of combining the tours to form a super tour if only because it would create more competition at the top of the golf world.
It's true that the PGA Tour is more heavily populated with the top golfers on the planet but there seems to be no reason to not sprinkle in the top European guys (Jamie Donaldson and Joost Luiten come to mind) and take advantage of more of the European (and other) golf courses.
I walked through what a world tour would look like back at the beginning of 2014, but I have a few tweaks for this year.
Let's jump in.
January
Week 1: Australian Open (Australia)
Week 2: HSBC Champions (China -- WGC)
Week 3: BMW Masters (China)
Week 4: Indian Open (India)
Tennis opens its season in Australia, so why not golf? This would be your Asia-Pacific swing which, as golf continues to grow globally, will only become more important over time. Plus, more of these photos (maybe even with Tiger Woods).
February
Week 1: Farmers Insurance Open (US)
Week 2: Phoenix Open (US)
Week 3: Northern Trust Open (US)
Week 4: PGA Championship (US or global)
This is the west coast portion of the tour and would include the PGA Championship. I hate that the four majors are all within 120 days of each other and would spread these out more evenly throughout the season.
Granted, you'd be excluding parts of the world from hosting (because it's still cold in February) but that tournament should be taken global anyway. Or played in California (or Florida like it was back in the day).
March
Week 1: Nedbank Golf Challenge (South Africa)
Week 2: Dubai Desert Classic (Middle East)
Week 3: Abu Dhabi Championship (Middle East)
Week 4: Cadillac Championship (US -- WGC)
This is an odd mixture of locations, but I want to keep golf in Africa and there's really not a great place on the schedule for it so in it goes with two Middle East tournaments and a WGC.
There's a good argument to be made that this would be the weakest of the eight months.
April
Week 1: Arnold Palmer Invitational (US)
Week 2: Masters (US)
Week 3: RBC Heritage (US)
Week 4: Wells Fargo Championship (US)
Week 5: Honda Classic (US)
The Florida swing paired with the Masters to form a strong five-week stay in the southeast United States where it will be nice and balmy this time of year (and every time of year).
May
Week 1: Players Championship (US)
Week 2: The Memorial (US)
Week 3: Crowne Plaza Invitational (US)
Week 4: Bridgestone (US -- WGC)
A quick finish to Florida and a tour around the US preceding the US Open month. I want to try and have a WGC event or a major in every month.
June
Week 1: Canadian Open (Canada)
Week 2: BMW Championship (US)
Week 3: US Open (US)
Week 4: Quicken Loans National (US)
I don't love the playoff tournaments as they stand right now but if you just picked a location for the BMW Championship (Cherry Hills or Crooked Stick would work fine) then I'd be okay with keeping them.
The Opens are great. I want all of the Opens I can get.
July
Week 1: French Open (Europe)
Week 2: Irish Open (Europe)
Week 3: BMW PGA Championship (Europe)
Week 4: Scottish Open (Europe)
Week 5: British Open (Europe)
This is quite the tour of England, Scotland and Ireland -- as I noted last year a rotation should be created for all of the Opens. Maybe my favorite of the eight-month schedule though Patrick Reed might have to sit this stretch out.
August
Week 1: Turkish Airlines Open (Europe)
Week 2: Off
Week 3: Match Play Championship (US or Europe)
Week 4: Match Play Championship (US or Europe)
Here's my big playoff idea. Take the top 32 golfers from the season -- use OWGR, money earned or the BCS (I don't care) -- and put them in a two-week match play tournament.
Here's the catch though -- it's handicapped. That is the No. 1 golfer starts with, say, a 5 up lead over the No. 32 golfer and so on. This puts a heavy emphasis on the regular season and makes those crazy upsets even more improbable though you still get the allure that match play offers.
September
Week 1: Tournament of Champions (Global)
Week 2: Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup
The Tournament of Champions would be a big purse tournament in a sexy locale with all the winners from the entire year -- like the World Series of Golf if it was bigger and good.
Beyond that tournament, there's no reason for non-Ryder Cup (or Presidents Cup) golf to be played after football starts. None. Bang out the team play the week after the Tournament of Champions and hang up the sticks until the Australian Open in January.
Here's the final tally for which countries and/or continents tournaments would be played in (33 tournaments total if you count match play as one).
US: 16 or 18
Europe: 6 or 8
Asia: 5
Canada: 1
Australia: 1
Africa: 1
Global: 1
There's still a heavy emphasis on the United States, but in a year where the playoffs are in Europe, you play for almost a month across the pond (not to mention the Asia swing).
There are issues with the schedule (travel and grind being the two most prominent), but I would be delighted to see something like this worked out in the future.
It's absurd to me that the PGA Tour competes with other tours (European, Asian, etc.) for talent and the best fields. That would be like someone willingly choosing to play Canadian football or basketball in the Euroleague. Sure, there are exceptions, but for the most part folks are always choosing the supreme league.
Not so with golf, though I wish it were.
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