Trump has pulled the PGA Tour into a growing fight on Capitol Hill. What began as a dispute over changing clocks twice a year has now taken an unexpected turn. That has now made professional golf a part of the argument for federal change. The change could directly affect tournament schedules and the millions of recreational golfers who rely on late-afternoon daylight.

“Nobody wants to spend their precious time running all over the place, turning Clocks back twice a year and, having sunshine in the afternoon is better than early in the morning! The PGA TOUR, as an example, needs more Daylight in the afternoon in order to finish their Tournaments. Likewise, regular Golfers, Tennis Players, Hunters and, perhaps most importantly, Farmers who want more Daylight to play or work,” Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social, as reported by the Chief White House Correspondent, Kaitlin Collins, via an X post.

“See letter from Brian Rolapp, CEO of the PGA TOUR below. 65% PLUS want more sun in the afternoon, Daylight Saving Time (The way it is now!), but 100% don’t want to change their Clocks twice a year. They want to, as they say, ‘LOCK THE CLOCK!'”

On October 1, 2026, the PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp wrote a letter to Donald Trump. Rolapp had already expressed his and the PGA Tour’s support for the Sunshine Protection Act personally, but he also wanted to do that in writing.

He wrote that setting the clock permanently on daylight savings time will expand access to golf. Many everyday Americans play the sport after their work or after taking their children to the course post-school. They simply try to squeeze in a nine-hole round before it gets dark.

“An extra hour of evening light sounds simple, but for everyday Americans, it can be the difference between getting on the course and not,” Rolapp wrote.

In fact, the PGA Tour has also faced this problem for several decades, as its events run on usable daylight. When autumn and winter bring shorter days, the Tour can no longer complete scheduled rounds. This forces players to come back early the next morning to continue. It also alters the competitive schedule, reduces field sizes, and sometimes finishes on Monday rather than Sunday.

A clear example of this occurred at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Astara Golf Championship presented by Mastercard in February 2026. The first round ran a little late and was cut short by darkness. Officials suspended play at 6:05 p.m. Seven players had to complete their rounds early the next morning, before the second round.

The PGA Tour even has to treat daylight as a scheduling and field-size constraint. The Tour’s efforts to revise field structures have explicitly linked smaller event fields to pace of play and the need to complete competition in available daylight.

In 2024, Sports Business Journal reported the Tour’s proposed daylight-related changes for full-field events. One-course events before daylight saving time were to be limited to 120 players. Similarly, events after daylight saving time began and before the Masters could be 132 players.

Permanent daylight saving time would obviously not create more daylight. But it would move an hour of it from the early morning to the late afternoon. That could make it valuable for golfers, especially for casual players whose usable golf time is after work.

The bill has already been proposed, but Arkansas Republican Representative Tom Cotton has opposed it. He opposed it on safety, health, and geographic grounds. In a Senate speech last year, he argued that year-round daylight saving time would delay winter sunrises. This could potentially leave Arkansas children going to school and workers commuting in darkness before sunrise. He said some Arkansas communities could see winter sunrises after 8:00 or even 8:30 a.m.

Donald Trump has specifically asked Arkansans to ask Cotton to vote in favor of the bill. He even shared Tom Cotton’s cell phone number. Although the number’s authenticity is unverified, Trump’s public pressure on Cotton represents an escalation.

He shared another post on Truth Social on Friday. In that post, he said that changing the clocks twice every year costs the country a fortune. He also noted that it “is bad for Crime, stress on people, Sports, and just about everything else you can imagine.”

He then posted once more later Saturday. This time, he said Tom Cotton should give the people of Arkansas an extra hour of daytime.

Cotton has shared his own views on X. He said that no one likes to change the clocks, including himself. But Congress had enacted permanent daylight saving time in the past, and the results were not positive.

Tom Cotton’s opposition shows why the debate extends beyond the PGA Tour’s need for additional afternoon daylight. As Donald Trump continues pushing the measure, the question is whether Congress will prioritize longer evenings for golf and other outdoor activities or keep the current clock-changing system.