Last week, at the 2025 Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, Tiger Woods laid out a plan to overhaul the PGA Tour’s schedule, promising a product “far better than what we have now for everyone involved.” As chair of the newly formed Future Competitions Committee, he stated that the committee is looking at possible iterations for future schedules to try and keep the schedule lean. The goal is to roll out a revamped PGA Tour schedule by 2027. But as Rex Hoggard and Lav discussed on the Golf Channel’s podcast, this ambitious timeline might be overly optimistic.

“Tiger Woods was pretty clear that he wants this to happen in 2027,” Hoggard began. Lav seconded it and stated, “Right now, we are 13 months away from what could potentially be the beginning of the 2027 schedule if this sort of thing comes to fruition. Why the skepticism? Is it just because of the legal contracts they would have to be breaking with the tournament sponsors…”

And they have a point. While there may be other issues concerning these changes, the sponsor contracts and existing agreements could prove to be the toughest hurdle to clear. While the vision for a revamped schedule sounds exciting, the reality is far messier.

“It’s just not the legal contracts. There are contracts with tournaments. There are contracts with sponsors. There are contracts with golf courses. There are contracts with media partners. There are contracts across the board…” Hoggard pointed out.

He added that if the changes were to be done, and done cleanly, they would wait until “all of these contracts came due.” Which means we’re looking to wait at least until 2030, till most of the sponsors’ and media partners’ contracts end. But like Woods said, since they were likely looking to roll out these changes as early as 2027, it’s going to get messy and extremely difficult.

This is because what Woods and the committee are doing now is essentially a whiteboard exercise: reimagining the Tour without constraints. The goal, which is a 25-week window of events starting the week after the Super Bowl and ending with the Tour Championship in August, might be enticing.

But the reality will be that if they are looking to make the schedule leaner, shorter, and timed around the Super Bowl, it would require expensive buyouts and complex renegotiations with tournament sponsors and media rights. Changing dates, eliminating events, or reshuffling the calendar sounds easy on paper, but the reality will create new problems for a Tour already struggling with visibility.

Many of the PGA Tour’s biggest title sponsors are locked into multi-year deals, meaning a complete overhaul before contracts expire could prove impossible without upsetting major stakeholders.

Here’s a brief look at some key sponsorships and their expiration dates:

• Sony Open in Hawaii – Through 2026
• The American Express – Through 2028
• Farmers Insurance Open – Contract ends 2026; not planning to renew
• WM Phoenix Open – Extended through 2030
• AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am – Multi-year agreement; length undisclosed
• Genesis Invitational – Ends 2030
• Cognizant Classic – Ends 2030
• Puerto Rico Open – Through 2026
• Valspar Championship – Extended through 2030
• Texas Children’s Houston Open – Through 2028
• Valero Texas Open – Ends in 2028
• Zurich Classic – Commitment through 2030; likely to go if the schedule is reshaped
• CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Ends 2030;
• Travelers Championship – Ends 2030
• Events like the ISCO Championsip (ends 2027), Corales Puntacana (ends 2027), 3M Open (ends in 2030), Rocket Classic (ends in 2026)

Now, if Tiger Woods and Brian Rolapp plan to begin the schedule only after the NFL playoffs, it means the season on the PGA Tour would begin only in mid-February, bringing forth many changes.

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With this, one can infer that the events Sony Open, American Express, and Farmers Insurance Open wouldn’t be there anymore. While the latter is not planning to renew its contract, Sony and American Express will face issues if they plan on renewing. Events like the WM Phoenix Open, Genesis Invitational, Cognizant Classic, etc., are all secured through 2030. But some, like the Zurich Classic and the CJ Cup Byron Nelson may just cease to exist.

These sponsorship timelines show why 2027 might be an ambitious target. Let us just assume theoretically that Tour redesigns the schedule from scratch, the overlapping long-term commitments make a complete overhaul nearly impossible. At least realistically. For Woods and the Future Competitions Committee, 2028 or even later might be the earliest practical window to implement their vision.

Yet, despite these challenges, Woods was cautiously optimistic when he addressed players last week in the Bahamas.

“We’re working with all of our partners to create the best schedule and product; to deliver all that in ’27 is something we’re trying to do. I don’t know if we can get there, I don’t know if we will get there, but that’s what we’re trying to do…”