PGA Tour's glut of signature events, majors is killing events like Zurich

The PGA Tour schedule is in the midst of a stretch that is narrower than the Strait of Hormuz. This week’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans comes on the heels of the Masters and RBC Heritage, a signature event, and will be followed by two more signatures with limited fields of 72 — the newly created Cadillac Championship and the Truist Championship — and then another major, the PGA Championship. The rank and file will get an opposite field event, the OneFlight Myrtle Beach Classic, the week of the Truist to play for $4 million and 300 FedEx Cup points to the winner.

One event is not like the others and that is the Zurich, which has a glorified Korn Ferry Tour field outside of the well-compensated Zurich ambassadors — Ben Griffin, Billy Horschel, Shane Lowry and Sahith Theegala — because what star player is going to play for this week’s purse of $9. 5 million during a six-week stretch when the rest are a minimum of $20 million and the winner gets 400 FedEx Cup points compared to 700 for a sig event and 750 for a major? “Yeah, it's a busy stretch,” conceded Patrick Cantlay, a player director on the PGA Tour policy board and member of the Future Competitions Committee.

“There's a lot of big tournaments throughout the year so it's no surprise that at one part of the year it's a little congested. Hopefully my game is rounding into form at a busy time, at an important time of the year. ” Asked if he will play them all, Cantlay answered, “I will, the five out of the six.

” The one left out? New Orleans, where he is a past champion and has enjoyed success with partner Xander Schauffele. Another past champion, Rory McIlroy, dropped the Zurich from his schedule this year, leaving his pal Lowry, who became one of the newest Zurich ambassadors, to team with Brooks Koepka this year in what may be one of the formidable duos if they can gel.