Please, Cry me a River, South Florida. The rest of the world has lost more than 20 events this century.
- SHANK
- Feb 26
- 4 min read
Gleneagles. Woburn. Walton Heath. Celtic Manor. K Club. Valderrama. Forest of Arden. Loch Lomond. Penina. St Nom La Breteche. Barseback. Iconic golf courses across Europe which were staple venues on the European Tour. Gone from the schedule.
World Match Play Championship, Australian Masters, and the Trophee Lancôme. 3 Mark McCormack/IMG-backed golf events which are integral to the development of professional golf worldwide. Gone from the schedule.
The Johnnie Walker Classic. An event which took the best golfers in the world, including Tiger Woods, to the Asia-Pacific region. Gone from the schedule.
The German Open. One of the oldest national Opens in golf. Gone from the schedule.
Deutsche Bank SAP Open TPC of Europe. A tournament which was one of the flagship events of the European Tour schedule, and attracted Tiger Woods on many occasions. Gone from the schedule.
Scandinavian Masters, German Masters, European Open, English Open, Wales Open, and Benson and Hedges International Open. Classic European Tour events. Gone from the schedule.
World Cup of Golf, Alfred Dunhill Cup, Seve Trophy, Royal Trophy and EurAsia Cup. Important team events played around the world. Gone from the schedule.
Greg Norman Holden International, Heineken Classic, the South African Masters. Gone from the schedule.
South Florida, welcome to our world.
This week the Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches, the ridiculously titled PGA TOUR event at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, will be played for the 54th time. The event has been played at seven different golf courses and had 6 different titles since it was first played in 1972, and prior to its move into the Palm Beach Gardens area in 2003, and to PGA National in 2007 had very little in the way of global recognition or importance attached to it. It was just another early-season PGA TOUR event in the leadup to The Masters.
2003 saw the first year when the leading European Tour players used it as the start of their path towards the Masters, and the next 15 years saw several leading golfers in the world contend for and win the title including Luke Donald, Padraig Harrington, Ernie Els, YE Yang, Camilo Villegas, Rory McIlroy, Adam Scott, Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas lift the Crystal Trophy on the 18th green. Since 2019, however, the event has been in rapid decline, with the fields ranking among the weakest on the PGA TOUR, and the calibre of its champions reflecting that.
The PGA TOUR schedule has not helped the event maintain its elite level status. In 2019 and 2020 the event followed the WGC Mexico Championship and preceded Bay Hill and Sawgrass, in 2021 the event followed The Players Championship and preceded the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play Championship, in 2022 the event followed Riviera and preceded Bay Hill and Sawgrass, and that is the spot it has held in 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026.
This week just 8 of the world's top 50 players will tee-it-up at PGA National.
In 2012 Rory McIlroy won the Honda Classic to become World Number One. That field included 17 of the world's top 50 and it was genuinely looked by players around the world as the start of the countdown to the first Major of the year.
With the emergence of LIV Golf the PGA TOUR has had to rethink its future, and it seems very likely that the tournament will be one of up to 13 to miss out on top-level status on the future PGA TOUR schedule. Some players are sad, some in the media are sad, and the local organisers and fans are sad. I am afraid it may sound callous, but I am short on sympathy.
62 years ago Mark McCormack's International Management Group created an event at Wentworth to showcase his clients and players from around the world. The 1964 Piccadilly World Match Play Championship was played from 9-11 October and featured Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Peter Butler, Neil Coles, Ken Venturi, Tony Lema and Bruce Devlin. Palmer defeated Coles 2&1 in the final, and an autumn tradition was born.
Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Bob Charles, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Weiskopf, Hale Irwin, David Graham, Isao Aoki, Bill Rogers, Greg Norman, Seve Ballesteros, Ian Woosnam, Sandy Lyle, Nick Faldo, Corey Pavin, Ernie Els, Vijay Singh and Mark O'Meara lifted the trophy in October over the course of the next 34 years. Then in 1999 the PGA TOUR, under the guise of the World Golf Championships, created its own Match Play Championship.
The WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship debuted in February 1999 at La Costa near Carlsbad in California, featuring the world's top 64 golfers according to the Official World Golf Ranking. This sport already had a World Match Play Championship, it did not need, and there was not room for another one.
The Wentworth event struggled on for another 9 years, still producing great champions, but in 2007 would be the last at Wentworth, before 5 unsuccessful years touring Europe saw the eventual cessation of the event in 2014. Never again would the phrase "Hole Halved in Four. Els remains 2-up" be heard again.
Tournament golf has evolved over the last 165 years, and it will continue to evolve. If the PGA TOUR can rebrand the Western Open, founded in 1899, into the BMW Championship, then I am sure the world of golf can cope with the loss of the Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches.
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