PGA Championship moves to May; Players Championship reverts back to March slot; BMW PGA Championship to switch to September
Tuesday 8 August 2017 19:52, UK
The PGA Championship will move from August to May as part of significant changes to the golfing calendar from 2019.
PGA Tour and PGA of America officials confirmed the switch on Tuesday, which will see a major championship played each month from April to July.
Bethpage Black will host the 2019 PGA Championship from May 16-19, with The Open becoming the final major of the season.
The alterations also see the Players Championship, the unofficial "fifth major", revert back from the second week in May to the March position it last occupied in 2006.
"We are thrilled to announce these two significant changes, which will greatly enhance the professional golf calendar starting in 2019," said PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan.
"Our thanks to the PGA of America for its partnership in what will allow both organisations to meet our short and long-term objectives, while delivering incredibly compelling golf to our fans around the world."
As a result, the European Tour have confirmed that the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth will move from its traditional May slot to early September.
European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley said: "Significant changes to the global golfing calendar have given us the opportunity to move the BMW PGA Championship to a more favourable date from 2019 onwards.
"This is a new chapter for the event but we expect similar interest in the autumn, as was shown historically by the World Match Play Championship when it was played at Wentworth Club at that time of the year."
The PGA Championship has only once been contested outside of July or August since becoming a stroke-play event in 1958, with the 1971 contest held in February.
Venues are already confirmed to host the PGA Championship up to and including 2023, with TPC Harding Park and Kiawah Island among the others on the tournament roster.
"The landscape of golf is changing," PGA of America CEO Pete Bevacqua said. "We felt it was important as an organisation to seize this opportunity."
Although not confirmed in the press conference, the move is also expected to see the FedEx Cup play-offs brought forward to finish before the start of the NFL and college football seasons.
