The Zurich Classic of New Orleans is the latest PGA Tour event to announce its dates for a 2027 season that is looking to be similar to this year, minus Hawaii.
The American Express in La Quinta, California, is set for the third full week in January again. The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (Feb. 4-7) and WM Phoenix Open (Feb. 11-14, the week of the Super Bowl) already have announced dates on their websites.
The Masters, around which the early season revolves, is April 8-11, and again will be followed by the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town and the Zurich Classic.
The mystery remains Florida, except for The Players Championship set for March 11-14. Adding to the intrigue was the return of Doral to the schedule, which looked nothing like the Doral of old except for all the water on the course and airliners descending on nearby Miami International Airport.
Five of the top 15 players in the world were missing from the Cadillac Championship, as were the fans that used to pack the Blue Monster even when Tiger Woods wasn’t winning. The PGA Tour was last at Doral in 2016. LIV Golf was there the last four years and had better crowds.
It didn’t help the Cadillac Championship that Formula 1 was in Miami last weekend and attracted some 275,000 spectators over three days. The weather was dodgy on Sunday, and Cameron Young eliminated any suspense with his six-shot win.
It’s looking more likely that big changes to the PGA Tour won’t be ready until 2028. Still to be determined is how soon the PGA Tour will act to move the Cadillac Championship back to the Florida swing that leads to the Masters.
Florida currently has four tournaments — the Cognizant Classic at PGA National, the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, The Players and the Valspar Championship, which gets a good field despite a bad date because Innisbrook is such a proper test.
Is there room for Doral? That’s more moving parts for the PGA Tour to figure out.
CEO Brian Rolapp didn’t have answers last August when he announced a schedule of two majors and three signature events in a six-week span, saying of Doral, “I think we’re looking forward to bringing that back as a PGA Tour tradition.”
