Schedule – Golfing Networks

PGA Tour schedule upheaval claims its first tournament

admin — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 08:19:37 +0000

The PGA Tour’s time in the motor city is coming to an end.

On Tuesday morning, the Rocket Classic announced that it would be ending its tenure as a PGA Tour stop, ending an eight-year run for the tournament in Detroit.

“After nearly 13 years as a PGA Tour title sponsor, including eight years in Detroit, 2026 will mark the final Rocket Classic,” tournament director Mark Hollis said in a statement reported by the Associated Press’ Doug Ferguson. “We are incredibly proud of what this tournament has meant to the city, from creating unforgettable moments for fans to raising more than $10 million for local organizations.”

The Rocket Classic — nee Rocket Mortgage Classic — will play one final time in late July before drifting off into a sponsor-less sunset, with tournament title sponsor Rocket Mortgage declining its option to host the event in 2027, per the Detroit News’ Tony Paul.

The decision follows years of weaker fields in the event, which had fallen out of favor with top stars returning from summer travels at the Open Championship and preparing for the final sprint of the PGA Tour season, the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

But perhaps more pressingly, the decision represents the first of what is expected to be a groundswell of changes for longtime PGA Tour events in 2027 and beyond. PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp is expected to speak publicly in the coming weeks about the status of the Tour’s new “two track” schedule — a plan to reorient the Tour around a more coherent, easy to follow season-long competition stratified into two distinct buckets, one with larger purses and elevated events for the better players. It is expected that Rolapp’s next update will provide more clarity around the shape of each of those tracks, which could produce even bigger windfalls for the Tour around its biggest events, but could leave some smaller events, like the Rocket Classic, in limbo.

The status of golf’s calendar represents Rolapp’s biggest swing since being announced as PGA Tour CEO a year ago. The PGA Tour schedule has existed under its current general shape and dimensions for the better part of three decades, and to no small degree of financial success. At one point in the early LIV days, its predictably and repeatability were mentioned as strengths by players for both tours.

But critics have suggested that the Tour’s model, while profitable, comes at the expense of a greater (and even more profitable) sense of coherence and drama. Tour events take place twelve months out of the year, and many of the biggest moments on the Tour schedule come in the earliest months of the season, costing the Tour the kind of season-long narrative arc with a dramatic conclusion that fills the calendars (and bank accounts) most other professional sports leagues.

Under the first track of Rolapp’s “two track” vision, the Tour would coalesce the lion’s share of financial support around a smaller, more prominent series of tournaments. Supporters of this vision suggest it amounts to a relatively small shift in the overall pro golf calendar — the underlining of an already existing, if unspoken stratification between certain “big” PGA Tour events and other “local” ones.

Still, there is fair reason to be skeptical: The FedEx Cup Playoffs were initially intended to serve as a bridge to the same outcome of a unified, season-long Tour; they proved to be a ramp to tens of millions in sponsor-dollars and not much more. Rolapp’s vision not only aims to pursue these same ends — it also threatens to undercut the “local” events that have served as the bedrock of the tour for decades.

The Rocket Classic is the first of those events to be shown the door. But with change still lingering in the air at PGA Tour HQ as the heart of the golf season comes into focus, it may very well not be the last.

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TV schedule, streaming, how to watch

admin — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 13:12:41 +0000

The 2026 U.S. Women’s Open gets underway this week at historic Riviera Country Club in California. Here’s everything you need to know to watch the tournament, including a full U.S. Women’s Open TV schedule, streaming info and complete tee times for the first and second rounds once they are released.

How to watch U.S. Women’s Open

This week golf fans will be treated to the second women’s major of the year at an iconic golf course. While the U.S. Women’s Open is second on the major schedule, it’s widely considered the most important women’s tournament of the season. It also features the biggest purse, which reached $12 million last year.

Nelly Korda will likely draw the most attention this week, as she often does. But there’s a good reason for the increased interest this week: Korda won the first major of the year, capturing her third career major title at the 2026 Chevron Championship in April.

Korda is back at World No. 1, but she has never won a U.S. Women’s Open. Last year at Erin Hills, Korda finished T2 behind champion Maja Stark.

Stark is back in the field to defend her title, as are several other high-profile major winners, including Lydia Ko and Mao Saigo, while World No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul will make yet another attempt at winning her first major.

Riviera CC has a long history in pro golf. In addition to hosting the PGA Tour’s annual Genesis Invitational, the club was the site of the 1948 U.S. Open and two PGA Championships. In 2028, the club will be the venue for the Olympic golf competition, and in 2031 it will host its second men’s U.S. Open.

Fans can watch all the action all week long on TV and streaming live online. NBC and USA will handle the TV broadcasts, while streaming coverage will be available via Peacock and USWomensOpen.com, including exclusive coverage of all four rounds.

SIGN UP FOR PEACOCK PREMIUM TO WATCH COVERAGE OF THE 2026 U.S. WOMEN’S OPEN

You can check out full information about streaming the 2026 U.S. Women’s Open online or watching the action on TV below.

Tournament basics

What: 2026 U.S. Women’s Open
Where: Riviera Country Club, Pacific Palisades, Calif.
When: Thursday-Sunday, June 4-7
Purse: $12 million; $2.4 million winner’s share (2025 figures)

How to watch on TV (ET)

NBC and USA will provide TV coverage of the 2026 U.S. Women’s Open. USA will handle coverage on Thursday and Friday and early Saturday, with an assist from Peacock. NBC will carry the primary TV coverage of Rounds 3 and 4 on Saturday and Sunday.

Here’s the full U.S. Women’s Open TV schedule for the week:

Thursday, June 4: 2-7 p.m. (USA); 7-10 p.m. (Peacock)
Friday, June 5: 2-7 p.m. (USA); 7-10 p.m. (Peacock)
Saturday, June 6: 5-7 p.m. (USA); 7-10 p.m. (NBC/Peacock)
Sunday, June 7: 3-5 p.m. (Peacock); 5-8 p.m. (NBC/Peacock)

How to watch online, streaming (ET)

Peacock will offer extensive streaming coverage of the 2026 U.S. Women’s Open, including exclusive late coverage for the first two days of the tournament, early coverage on Sunday and simulcasts of NBC’s coverage. Featured group coverage will be available Thursday-Sunday via USWomensOpen.com, the USGA App, Peacock, YouTube TV, DirecTV and Xfinity.

SIGN UP FOR PEACOCK PREMIUM TO WATCH COVERAGE OF THE 2026 U.S. WOMEN’S OPEN

2026 U.S. Women’s Open Round 1 tee times (ET)

(TBA)

2026 U.S. Women’s Open Round 2 tee times (ET)

(TBA)

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Golfweek Q&A: Why TaylorMade is slowing its driver release schedule

admin — Fri, 29 May 2026 13:46:25 +0000

Learn why TaylorMade believes longer product cycles could benefit golfers, fitters and future innovation.

Last Friday, TaylorMade Golf confirmed that it is moving its metalwood lineup (drivers, fairway woods and hybrids) to a two-year product cycle. That means the Qi4D family introduced in 2026 will remain the company’s flagship metalwood line through 2027, with the next major driver launch expected in 2028.

Golfweek spoke with Brian Bazzel, a vice president at TaylorMade who is in charge of product creation, as well as research and development, about why the company made the decision, what it means for golfers and fitters, and how modern driver production is changing.

Golfweek: TaylorMade, for a long time, has been one of the companies that leads the metalwood category. The cadence has been that every year new drivers come out. What changed internally that made you decide the time is right to now move to a two-year product cycle?

Bazzel: I don’t know if it was so much an internal change as it was sort of studying what was going on in the market. Certainly, there’s things happening inside the building related to the advancements of innovation, and the impact or the complexity of those innovations to deliver more performance. We’re definitely studying and understanding what it takes these days to stay on top of things. And the reality is, it just is more complicated to show significant gains. So, between what consumers are doing externally and what it would take internally to do the things that we think are meaningful, it kind of added up to this decision.

Golfweek: How much did the fact that you’re getting close to the limits on things like moment of inertia (MOI), ball speed and overall performance factor based on the USGA and R&A rules, go into this decision?

Bazzel: We still believe there’s meat on the bone. We do believe there are advancements. And if you think about it, in a perfect state, I know they won’t allow it for it, but if you can get maximum COR [coefficient of restitution, a measure of a club face’s springiness] across the entire face every time for the player and add all the corrective nature to that driver so that even your worst swings would result in something better. I mean, that’s still what we’re going after. And there’s still ways to do that. But the reality is we are pushing up against a lot of the rules. But, I’d also say that the creativity and sort of innovative spirit that we have here still leaves us with a lot of opportunity.

Golfweek: Do you think golfers have become skeptical about year-over-year gains in drivers?

Bazzel: I think humans are naturally skeptical. To some degree, it’s a good quality of people to question things. And I would say in this world, and certainly with our company in the golf space, when we make these advancements, even if they’re small things, we like to ‘story tell’ them. We like to speak loudly about them and be proud of them. And sometimes I think people either don’t see it the same way or are expecting something more. Or (they) think maybe what we’re talking about is not as consequential as it would be to them as it is to us. It is the nature of the business and that’s okay.

Golfweek: How much does price factor into this? Drivers have become significantly more expensive over the last several years.

Bazzel: Well, I think every company is dealing with the same thing. It’s quite challenging to push performance without any cost. I mean, if you want to stay ahead, these products are complicated. The manufacturing, the materials, and so on. And so, I think more than anything, what we’re looking at is the understanding that golfers are forking over real money for these products, a meaningful amount of money. And we want to ensure that they’re getting every bit, if not more, than they even expected out of that product. And I don’t think it’s going away. I don’t think an extended life cycle gives us huge opportunities to be more efficient or more cost-effective. But planning our business, I think, will become a little bit more stabilized. And if it does turn out to stabilize pricing in the future, that would be great. But I don’t think that’s the spirit of the decision at this point. It’s just, again, I would say if there’s any connection, it’s the value of what people are spending versus what they’re getting.

Golfweek: How does a two-year cycle change the way TaylorMade approaches product development internally?

Bazzel: “Well, it’s still a little bit new, but as we look to the future, we’re so used to having these ideas just constantly flowing and then chipping away at those ideas. As you get further out, the funnel gets a little wider. For us, now, I would say it’s changing right now internally and it’s exciting. It’s energizing to the teams because I think we feel like we can dive even deeper on these products than we maybe have been able to in the past.

Golfweek: You’ve mentioned that keeping Qi4D in the market for two years could benefit fitters and consumers. How?

Bazzel: “Yeah, I think, honestly, it’s an exciting time for our fitters to be able to recognize the fact that they’re going to be able to use this tool, this sort of weapon, and that they can ensure that the golfers that for they’re fitting, it’s optimized for them. And it takes time, learning the product. And they don’t just learn TaylorMade products. They have to learn across the whole breadth of our competitors as well. But, understanding the nuances and how it applies to all these unique swings out there, I think this is an area where we’re really interested in and we want to be very supportive to our fitters

We have a fitting council, and they’ve asked for some things like this. And again, I think they’re just as excited as we are to be able to, in this case with Qi4D, kind of continue down the path. And they know they’re going to be able to feel more confident, I think, in what they’re doing on a daily basis. That leads to golfers being more enthused with their product, which is what we’re all trying to do.

Golfweek: Were you surprised by how much attention this decision received in the equipment world when the news broke last week?

Bazzel: I don’t know if I’ve read all the reactions, to be honest. I think we believe we’re doing this for all the right reasons. And honestly, and transparently, we’re constantly looking at the portfolio of our products in Qi4D and beyond. Are we addressing all the golfers out there in the way that’s most beneficial? And if we find opportunities that we’re not currently addressing, we’re going to introduce things that make sense

At the end of the day, I think most golfers have leaned in and said this is the right move. They’re listening, they understand, and can kind of see the bigger picture on this one. So far, even our partners, our retailers, have embraced this idea as we’ve been talking to them over the last couple of months. They’re in the business of selling more products as well, but they think this can lead to, again, a better business in the future.

Golfweek: You mentioned that fitting technology continues to evolve rapidly. How important is that to the future of metalwoods?

Bazzel: I think the fitting tools that are coming at us, the data acquisition, is enabling us to learn more. Even if you did get fit a year ago or two years ago, I think the advancement in fitting, and being able to apply these products in a way that golfers and understanding golfers at a deeper level, is going to lead to even better products in the future. Let’s just say you had an incremental change in a product, but you had a massive improvement in the fitting technologies and understanding the golfer so that you can get an even better fit. That’s part of this as well.

I think that’s changing rapidly in terms of understanding the golfer’s swing, 3D motion, certainly launch monitors and so on and so forth. And then, just the understanding of the golfer’s psyche within that. I mean, there’s so much opportunity that we think beyond just the physical part itself, but the applying of the part to the golfer, this is ripe for innovation.

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PGA Tour schedule is changing for 2027. Here’s what you need to know

admin — Wed, 27 May 2026 09:52:02 +0000

The PGA Tour, in the midst of its 2026 schedule, now has an idea of some of its 2027 slate — and the early part of the year will have a different look.

Several tournament sites have recently posted dates for next year, though the Tour has not yet released an official statement. Josh Carpenter of the Sports Business Journal reported Tuesday that players were sent a memo outlining schedule changes.

To break down the schedule, let’s use a question-and-answer format.

The PGA Tour season won’t start in Hawaii, right?

Right. The Tour announced last month that it would no longer play its two Hawaii events, the Sentry tournament and the Sony Open, both of which had started the year.

When will the season start?

Based on tournament announcements, the season will start Thursday, Jan. 21 at the American Express event in La Quinta, Calif. This year’s event was won by Scottie Scheffler.

Then what tournaments will be played?

After the American Express, an as-of-now unnamed tournament will be played the following week at Torrey Pines, according to a story written by Golfweek’s Adam Schupak. Farmers Insurance ended its sponsorship of the event after this year’s tournament.

Here is what follows, based on tournament announcements:

– Feb. 4-7: AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am

– Feb. 11-14: WM Phoenix Open

– Feb. 18-21: Genesis Invitational

– Feb. 25-28: Cognizant Classic

– March 4-7: Cadillac Championship

– March 11-14: Players Championship

– March 18-21: Arnold Palmer Invitational

– March 25-28: Texas Children’s Houston Open

– April 1-4: Valero Texas Open

– April 8-11: Masters

– April 15-18: RBC Heritage

– April 22-25: Zurich Classic

– April 29-May 2: CJ Cup Byron Nelson

– May 6-9: Valspar Championship

– May 13-16: Truist Championship and One Flight Myrtle Beach Classic

– May 20-23: PGA Championship

What’s changing?

In order, here are the changes from this year, besides the Hawaiian events:

– The Pebble Beach and WM Phoenix Open events will swap dates, presumably for the Pebble Beach tournament to avoid the Super Bowl. (On a mostly unrelated note, next year’s Super Bowl will be followed by a federal holiday.)

– The Cadillac Championship moves from May to early March, taking the date of the Arnold Palmer Invitational. The Cadillac will now precede the Players. Why the move? It likely has to do with the fact that this year’s Cadillac went head-to-head with a nearby F1 race. Plus March in Miami tends to make for better golf weather.

– The Arnold Palmer moves to mid-March, taking the date of the Valspar Championship. The API will now follow the Players — and it will go up against the start of the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments.

– The CJ Cup Byron Nelson will be played three weeks earlier, taking the date of the Cadillac Championship.

– The Valspar Championship will move from March to May, taking the date of the Truist Championship.

– The Truist Championship and the PGA Championship will each be played one week later.

– This year, starting with the Masters and ending with the PGA, six tournaments were played, including two majors and three signature events. Next year, starting with the Masters and ending with the PGA, seven events will be played — and one less signature.

– The Puerto Rico Open, which this year was played opposite the Arnold Palmer, has yet to announce its date.

What about beyond the PGA?

At this point, little is official, but here is what we know:

– The Charles Schwab Challenge, which is being played this week, will likely follow the PGA. Interestingly, had the Tour followed this year’s schedule, the Tour would’ve played three straight weeks in Texas, as the PGA is in the Lone Star State, at PGA Frisco.

– The U.S. Open, which will also be played at Pebble Beach, is set for June 17-20. Given that and the Charles Schwab assumption, the Memorial will likely be played June 3-6, so it doesn’t precede the Open.

– The Open Championship will be played July 15-18 at St. Andrews.

– A number of events have also made recent announcements. The Canadian Open said it would play its 2027 event at TPC Toronto; Travelers Companies, John Deere and 3M extended sponsorships of their tournaments through 2030; the Genesis Scottish Open said it would play its tournament at the Renaissance Club through 2030; and ISCO and Grupo Puntacana will be the title sponsors of their events through 2027.

– The 2027 BMW Championship will be played at Liberty National in New Jersey.

What about 2028?

Potentially several changes.

Carpenter of the Sports Business Journal reported a week ago that Tour CEO Brian Rolapp, in early May, showed players a “two-tier” schedule. The first tier would feature 16 Tour events, three playoff events and four majors, while the second tier would have 20 tournaments.

When asked last week about the tier system, Brooks Koepka said it was news to him, though.

“I don’t know anything about that,” he said. “I don’t have the information on that. I don’t know anything, unless something came out in the last week or so. I haven’t really paid much attention to it. Yeah, I’m probably not educated enough to answer that one.”

When will there be more information?

Likely next month at the Travelers. At the Players Championship in March, Rolapp said he would hold a press conference at the tournament at TPC River Highlands.

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