There is no doubt that the golf world has a short offseason. Just 11 days after Patrick Cantlay of Long Beach, California won the 2021 Fedex Cup Playoffs, the 2021-22 PGA Tour season commences on Thursday. Here are five storylines golf fans should be aware of.
5) The season kicks off with the Fortinet Championship. This PGA Tour stop in the beautiful wine region of California’s Napa Valley, used to be called the Safeway Open, with 2009 British Open champion Stewart Cink as the defending champ. Other new sponsors are Butterfield, which is sponsoring the Bermuda Championship in October, and World Wide Technology, which is sponsoring the Mayakoba event in Mexico in November.
4) Changes to the FedEx Cup Playoffs. The first weekend of the FedEx Cup Playoffs in August will not be played in Boston or New York. The playoffs will start in Memphis, Tennessee, as the FedEx St. Jude Championship will no longer be part of the World Golf Championship. The playoffs will then move to Delaware for the BMW Championship before finishing in its normal spot in Atlanta for the Tour Championship.
3) Only one World Golf Championship event. There will be only one event in the World Golf Championships in 2021-22. That will be the World Matchplay Championships in Austin, Texas in March. The WGC HSBC Champions event in Shanghai, China has been cancelled due to coronavirus. Meanwhile, there will be a new PGA Tour stop in Mexico, but the event is no longer part of the World Golf Championship.
2) RBC Canadian Open returns. Due to tight border restrictions into Canada the last two years because of coronavirus, there was no Canadian Open in 2020 or 2021. Now with vaccinations on the rise, the event which started in 1904, will once again return to the PGA Tour and is set to take place at St. George’s in Toronto, a week before the U.S. Open.
1)Scottish Open joins the PGA Tour. Traditionally, the Scottish Open, which takes place one week before the British Open, is part of the European Tour. Now it is part of the European Tour and PGA Tour with the event being split between PGA Tour and European Tour members. A location is to be announced, with Genesis being the title sponsor.
