Seems like just yesterday that we were talking about gnomes and azaleas and pimento cheese sandwiches, and here we are at the end of golf’s major season. Seems that way because it practically is that way — from the moment that Jack Nicklaus strokes the ceremonial opening tee shot at the Masters to the moment that the Open Champion lifts the Claret Jug is a run that lasts barely 100 days.
Consider: Indiana won the national championship, Seattle won the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics came and went before the 2026 Masters even began. Golf’s major season — the four tournaments which shape players’ legacies like no others — arrives in late spring and departs in mid-summer, leaving us all with nearly nine months to wait before it all comes around again.
“This major season always feels like it goes quicker and quicker every year,” Rory McIlroy noted from Royal Birkdale on Tuesday. He’s not wrong.
The intensely packed schedule is the result of several factors pushing on the golf calendar from all sides, most notably the 2019 move of the PGA Championship from August back to May. The PGA Championship did that in part for some professional courtesy, allowing for the PGA Tour to wrap up its playoffs before the start of the NFL season.
Plus, the move opens up more venues for the PGA Championship, most notably the PGA’s upcoming flagship course in Frisco, Texas. That course would be unpleasant at best, unplayable at worst, if the PGA returned to August. And the Players Championship’s move from May to March offers agronomic possibilities for the course that aren’t possible once Florida temps hit May levels.
Players tend to hold close their opinions on matters outside their control; why expend effort that doesn’t need to be expended? Scottie Scheffler is a perfect example; when asked about the tight turnaround, he offered his own perspective but no solutions.
“I felt like we were at the U.S. Open a couple weeks ago,” he said. “It does happen pretty quickly. Maybe there could be more of a break, but that’s one of those things that’s so far out of my control, I couldn’t even begin to think about it.”
McIlroy, of course, is a constant exception to that rule. He offered up what he saw as the “pros and cons” to the tight major season on Tuesday afternoon at Royal Birkdale.
“I’d like to see the major season spread out a little bit longer,” he said. “The Masters is always going to have the buildup, but I think then PGA into U.S. Open, U.S. Open into here, it just seems like it’s very, very quick.” He noted that the powers-that-be could benefit from a longer major season — expanded interest in the game’s largest tournaments is always a plus, from any side.
On the player side of the equation, though, a tight major schedule offers a substantial opportunity to anyone who can get hot. “If you get on a bit of a run,” McIlroy added, “it’s nice to be sort of playing well and go from one straight into the next.”
So who’s on that kind of run this year? As Normal Sport’s Kyle Porter notes, 22 players have made the cut at all three majors to date, with 11 at even par or better:
22 golfers have made the cut at all three majors so far. Here are the 11 who have played those three majors at par or better.
Scottie: -13
Burns: -12
Rose: -11
Rory: -10
Xander: -10
Ludvig: -5
Morikawa: -3
Rai: -2
Cam Young: -2
Matt Fitz: -2
JT: E— Kyle Porter (@KylePorterNS) July 9, 2026
Worth noting: of the top 7 major players this season, only McIlroy actually carried through and won his.
There’s little opportunity for the majors to move far off their current slots, given the demands of the PGA Tour’s regular season and the outside pressure from other sports (football and more football). Weather remains a constant concern; there’s a narrow window for each of the majors to play out successfully. (The November Masters was a delight, true, but let’s never do that again.)
If golf wanted to truly go bold, the sport could unhitch itself from the weather report, at least, by looking elsewhere in the world. That would bring a whole new series of challenges, starting with viewing windows, but let’s get weird for a second. Why not a major in Australia or Asia?
“From what I’ve seen the last few years, having a major in Australia could be very successful,” said Spain’s Jon Rahm, referencing LIV Golf’s highly popular Australia events. “Not that Europe deserves two, but having two in Europe would also be good fun. Preferably home court in my case. And same in Asia. I think there would be some great venues and great places to possibly have them.”
Some minor schedule expansion is on the horizon. In 2028, the Olympics’ golf event will take place at Riviera in Los Angeles in mid- to late July, traditionally the Open’s dates. As a result, the 2028 Open Championship will now extend into August, ending on Aug. 6, 2028. That’s a one-year adjustment that will come around every four years. Is it enough? Depends on whom you ask.
“There’s so much to play towards the end of the year. No matter what tour you’re playing on, you have the final events of the year, the final prize of the year,” Rahm said. “You have to focus on that, right? By the time it’s done and it’s December already, it’s only four months until Augusta.”
Four months to Augusta sounds pretty good right now, doesn’t it? Alas, we’re not there yet.
