NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — The PGA Championship is upon us, and you could be forgiven if you thought, “Wait … already?” The afterglow of the Masters hasn’t even faded before the PGA sneaks up each year. Sandwiched between Augusta and the majesty of the U.S. Open, the PGA is a bit of an awkward fit, a tricky major hemmed in even more by the PGA Tour’s Signature Events.
So even though the PGA Championship is a major that counts every bit as much as the other three legacy-wise, there’s a bit of an identity crisis at work here. The Masters is aspirational tradition, the U.S. Open is bring-it muscle, The Open Championship is generational sophistication. But the PGA is … what, exactly? Famous for getting its best player arrested a couple years back, yes, but is that something the PGA really wants to promote going forward?
“Every year we play a new, different golf course: Different grass, different architect, different climate, different geography,” PGA chief championships officer Kerry Haigh said Wednesday. “So the championship never favors one particular player. This week is totally different than last year, will be totally different than next year. So in that way, that's our identity.”
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Here are a few options for some more concrete ways to create that identity.
Move back to August
“Glory’s Last Shot” wasn’t a great PGA Championship slogan, although it was so much better than the neurotic “This Is Major.” At least it was an ethos, one last chance to claim a life-changing win before the long winter. The PGA moved out of the summer slot in 2019 in order to avoid the Olympics every four years and keep the PGA Tour’s playoffs from extending into the NFL season, which are both valid concerns.
The move to May changed the slate of available venues, allowing states like Texas and Oklahoma to host tournaments. (More on that in a bit.) But it also created a calendar that is tightly packed from April to July, one that may not allow players to be at their best for every major. A return to August could let the calendar breathe … but it sounds like a return to August won’t be happening any time soon.
“I think we have a great slot. … I like that we don't have to think about changes for the Olympic years,” Terry Clark, CEO of the PGA of America, said Wednesday. “There's a real way to not only continue to strengthen our identity, but to lean into that time in May. So I don't see that [change back to August] as one I'm really pushing on a change right now.”
Scottie Scheffler stands next to the Wanamaker Trophy after his victory during the final round of the PGA Championship on May 18, 2025 at Quail Hollow Country Club in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) (Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Move to Match Play
This would be an outstanding test, a gathering of, say, 128 players going head-to-head with a late-Sunday mano-a-mano battle for the Wanamaker Trophy. It’s how the PGA Championship was contested early in its existence. And except for the fact that it could be a broadcast nightmare if your top players get eliminated early, it ought to be the way the PGA is decided.
“I think match play is the purest form of the game,” Rory McIlroy said earlier this week. “I think it's a shame that we don't have any match play really in the schedule apart from the Ryder Cup or the Presidents Cup. It would be nice to get some more match play on the schedule for sure.”
Move up to March
This is an intriguing, though highly unlikely, possibility. Golf writer Michael Bamberger pitched the idea to McIlroy earlier this week: a 54-hole tournament at Pebble Beach, with the top 16 advancing to four rounds of match play on Saturday and Sunday. Winner of that match play is the champion.
“Sounds amazing,” McIlroy said, adding with a wry grin, “I thought we didn't like 54-hole tournaments, though?”
Lean into courses’ identity
The PGA Championship has plotted out its venues through the 2034 championship, and the courses will range from new ones like PGA Frisco to stalwarts like Congressional and Baltusrol. The PGA has taken grief for choosing less-than-inspiring courses like Valhalla and the PGA Tour mainstay of Quail Hollow. One way to counter that: Lean into the identity of every course, every future venue. No course can ever match the mythology of Augusta National, the indelible imagery of Pebble Beach or the historical weight of St. Andrews. But if the PGA can make the courses co-stars of the event, starting months or years beforehand, then so much the better for the event.
A Tiger Woods comeback win
Yeah … this one’s not happening. But we’re still contractually obligated to put it in anyway.
An epic tournament
This right here is the key. The best way for the PGA Championship to elbow its way in among the other three giants is to produce the best inside-the-ropes tournaments, year after year. Of course, that’s neither a revolutionary statement nor an easy trick to pull off. With all due respect to the one-and-dones who have won this tournament, the PGA needs a few more battles like 2014 (Rory vs. Phil vs. Rickie at Valhalla in the dying light) or 2021 (Phil vs. Father Time at Kiawah).
Imagine a PGA where several of the game’s best — McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, pick three — make the turn on Sunday afternoon within a stroke of each other. That’ll get the blood pumping, and that’ll raise the PGA’s game. Will it happen? Tune in starting Thursday at Aronimink.
