Rory’s WD From Harbor Town Signals Trouble with the PGA Tour Schedule

Regardless of what side you stand on when it comes to the concept of these new “Elevated Events” on the PGA Tour, the concept as a whole was sold to golf fans, media, and even the players as a positive. 

It was a way to guarantee that the best golfers in the world got together to compete against each other far more often for more money, more FedEx Cup points, and more bragging rights.

The idea, whether it was an answer to the Saudi-backed LIV Tour or not, was relatively simple: instead of all the big names only showing up at the 4 majors and a handful of regular Tour events throughout the year, take some regular Tour events, slap an “Elevated Event” tag on it, and watch all the top names come to town.

“Build it and they will come.”

Or will they?

On Monday Rory Mcllory announced that he was withdrawing from the RBC Heritage, the latest “Elevated Event” on the PGA Tour schedule. He likely won’t be the last big name to withdraw either as the event is being held the week after the Masters, the season’s first major that saw weather delays result in a marathon final round on Sunday.

While WDs are nothing new in golf, the timing of this one and the name of the one who did it is worth noting as it shows the first “crack” in this new elevated event system for the Tour.

If we are to believe many of the early reports that came out of the various closed-door meetings involving the players and the Tour, it would seem that Rory had a very large role in the creation of the Elevated Event concept. 

In fact, back in February, it was Rory that said, “The best players should be playing in the elevated events because the PGA Tour needs to be built around the best players. That will maximize the value of the product.”

Yet here he is, the first of the big-name players to WD from an Elevated Event before the event starts.

The timing of this and the other Elevated Events on the schedule though is a larger issue. 

Since the start of the 2023 calendar year, the big-name players that the Tour is presumably trying to keep happy and away from LIV have had very few natural breaks in their schedule. 

In the lead-up to the Masters alone, there were 5 either elevated or large-purse events in a 9-week span starting with the Waste Management Pheonix Open and ending with the final WGC-Match Play. If you go all the way back to the Tournament of Champions to kick off the calendar year, for many the Masters put them into double digits of events played just since January.

We knew that there would be a learning curve as the Tour implemented these “Elevated Events” this year seemingly on the fly. We also know that the Tour has made a point over the past several years to have their season wrap up before we get into the meat of both the college football and NFL seasons. However, if Rory’s WD this week is any indication, it is a signal to the Tour that going forward they need to spread these Elevated Events out a little more and maybe, not schedule one the week after a major.