It's been several weeks since the end of the major championship season, with our winners for the year being Rory McIlroy, J.J. Spaun, and Scottie Scheffler, who, of course, won two of them. My predictions for this year, by the way, were Tony Finau, Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa, and Shane Lowry.
I wrote more about this here, but when the PGA Championship moved to May, it was better from a business standpoint, but it has caused the major season to be done a bit early.
So, what else is there? Easy answers, of course, are the FedEx Cup Playoffs, the Tour Championship, and the Ryder Cup.
The weather at the Genesis Scottish Open and The Open Championship had its usual variety of rain, wind, and cooler temperatures. I live in the Southeast, and the weather has been hot, humid, sticky, and, as the British might say, Sweaty Betty.
If I were a Tour player, from a weather standpoint, I might enjoy a trip to the British Isles for a few weeks, at least to escape the heat. Even the weather at the Barracuda Championship in the Lake Tahoe area saw temperatures in the low-to-mid-70s.
Over the years, the PGA Tour schedule has had the occasional headscratcher week or stretch of weeks. I wrote more about this here, but earlier in 2025, PGA Tour players potentially had 17 straight days of golf (including golf on travel days) given events with multiple courses and a Saturday finish.
After returning stateside, the Tour made a stop in Minnesota for the 3M Open. Though unseasonably hot temperatures hit this year’s event, finding temperatures not too cold in the winter and not too hot in the summer is the idea.
If you look at the PGA Tour schedule over the years, you may notice a trend. Start the year in Hawaii, then desert areas of the West Coast in February, Florida in March, the Southeast in April, Texas in May, and the Midwest and New England in June and July with a brief stop in the United Kingdom.
But where does the PGA Tour go from there? One would think the schedule would gradually work its way from North to South and/or West again. That is exactly what the PGA Tour did prior to the PGA Championship’s move to May and before the Tour Championship moved from the end of October to its current date.
In 1995, for example, after John Daly lifted the Claret Jug at The Old Course, in order and in fast forward, the remainder of the schedule was Massachusetts, Michigan, California (PGA Championship), Colorado, Ohio, Wisconsin, Ontario, New York, Illinois, Georgia, Florida, Nevada, Texas, and Oklahoma. That summer and early fall, the first half of that list was in the northern parts of the U.S., plus Canada. When did the Tour play that event at Callaway Gardens in Georgia? October 1.
So why the trip down Memory Lane?
After the 2025 3M Open, the Tour’s next four stops were this past week's Wyndham Championship in Greensboro; this week's FedEx Cup Playoffs opener in Memphis, the FedEx St. Jude Championship, a week in Baltimore for the BMW Championship, and the Tour Championship in Atlanta. And all of that is in August.
On average, each city’s high temperature in August is right around 95 degrees.
Yikes.
Why would the Tour play its biggest events of the year in such sweltering heat?
I can generally understand how the Tour landed on events in the Southeast on such hot weather dates. I wrote more about how events find host venues here, but FedEx is the longtime host of the Memphis Tour event, which makes sense as their worldwide headquarters are in Memphis. When they became the title sponsor of what would become the FedEx Cup season, they wanted an event in Memphis.
By the time the FedEx Cup was created, the Tour Championship had settled into a longtime host in East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. The next option for a FedEx title sponsored event was a playoff event.
It all makes sense that the FedEx event would be played before the Tour Championship, given its playoff event instead of the finale. The unfortunate result is that when the PGA Tour, not wanting to compete against college football and the NFL, decided to move the Tour Championship to the end of August and early September.
With the Tour attempting to keep its events from having too much travel distance between events, it makes sense that the Wyndham in Greensboro would be semi-nearby to the next and first FedEx Cup event in Memphis.
Unfortunately, the result was two weeks of stifling heat. A week elsewhere is likely welcomed by the players in the BMW, and sometimes the thrill of an unfamiliar venue, as it moves around the country year to year. But then, the Tour Championship settles back into Atlanta, again in the heat.
The heat has been an issue in the past for the Tour in these events. Periodically, you hear unfortunate news about a caddie, spectator, tournament official, or player who suffers a heat-related illness.
Now I ask, is the best product for television and sponsors really watching players slog through such temperatures? What is the best for the Tour between more eyes players suffering through heat or fewer eyes on players playing in cooler temperatures?
Hard to say really, but the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup, played in alternating autumns, seem not to have much trouble.
I have two questions about the August schedule of the 2025 season: Should players be allowed to wear shorts? If FedEx decides to not renew their sponsorship of the FedEx Cup, would any of the events move to other areas?
I wrote more about professionals wearing shorts here, so I will skip that for now.
If FedEx decides to drop their sponsorship, the question will become who would take over? Let’s say a hotel chain based in Chicago decides to take over. Would the Memphis event move to another part of the PGA Tour schedule (perhaps April or May) to make way for a playoff event in Chicago, home of its headquarters?
Perhaps the Wyndham would move also, since going from the 3M in Minnesota to North Carolina back to Chicago would not make too much sense.
Either way, given current sponsorships and agreements, we are in for a few hot weeks, and I hope everyone takes diligent care of themselves. And I am glad the players can wear shorts for the practice rounds.
And yes, may the FedEx Cup Playoffs yield the best of the best.