The Cadillac Championship at Doral is getting its old spot on the schedule, moving back to March next year as part of a reshuffle on the Florida swing that moves the Valspar Championship to early May.
The change also puts the Arnold Palmer Invitational a week after The Players Championship for the first time, leaving a three-week gap between The Players and the Masters.
The Cadillac Championship returned to the PGA Tour schedule this year at Trump Doral for the first time since 2016 and had an awkward spot on the schedule. It was held the first weekend in May under humid conditions and a smaller crowd than when LIV Golf played at Doral. Several players skipped as it preceded another signature event and then the PGA Championship.
For decades — before the advent of World Golf Championships or even signature events — Doral led off the Florida swing and perceived as the start of the road to the Masters.
But putting it back in the Florida swing meant something had to move. That turned out to be the Valspar Championship at Innisbrook in the Tampa Bay area, which usually attracted a reasonable field despite coming after four big events in a five-week stretch.
It will be held May 6-9, the first time it ends on a May date since 2021 when the Match Play Championship was still on the schedule.
“I think there’s a lot of positives,” tournament director Tracy West said Tuesday. “We’re not on spring break. We’ve got three things we can rally around. We’re already the most colorful tournament. We have May 4th, Cinco de Mayo and Mother’s Day.”
West said the tournament likely will pick up more local sponsorship. She also said there could be a shortage in volunteers as the part-time residents head back to northern homes. But the weather is typically warm without being stifling and too early in the year to be humid and sticky.
It also beats the alternative — the Florida swing starts with the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches on March 25-28. That date on the schedule is immediately after a run of events that goes from Pebble Beach to the Phoenix to Riviera, and it precedes Doral, The Players and Bay Hill.
Bay Hill has been held the third full week in March previously, but that was when The Players Championship had moved to May.
This will be the first time it follows the tour’s signature event at the TPC Sawgrass. Bay Hill this year was held March 5-8.
The 2027 schedule is now set through the PGA Championship on May 20-23 in Frisco, Texas.
Other changes include moving The CJ Cup Byron Nelson in Dallas to April 29-May 2, instead of being back-to-back with neighboring Colonial as it was this year. Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth are both missing Colonial for the first time.
The schedule will go from Dallas to Tampa, following by the signature event Truist Championship at Quail Hollow and the PGA Championship.
The changes have no bearing on 2028, the earliest the PGA Tour can overhaul a new schedule that aims to have two tracks — one with signature events for the elite, and another track that will essentially be a proving ground to get back to the top.
PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp is to give an update on those plans a week after the U.S. Open.
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