Rory McIlroy’s $30million warning ignored in latest PGA Tour statement release

Rory McIlroy’s fears over the future of some of the PGA Tour’s oldest events have been realised with its latest schedule release.

The 2028 PGA Tour calendar will undergo a major revamp with the new Championship Series plus a reworked Tour Championship.

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The change is designed to see the best players in the world face off on a more regular basis with nine elevated events.

But inevitably the schedule tweaks have hurt some tournaments currently on the calendar.

The PGA Tour confirmed on Thursday that the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town will be one of the nine Championship Series events.

It joins the Arnold Palmer Invitational, The Travelers and the Memorial among the elevated events with the GO by Raymond James and Sompo Tournament also selected.

The news means some popular and historic tournaments have not been given the special treatment.

The RBC Canadian Open, the third oldest running tournament on the PGA Tour after The Open and the US Open, has effectively been downgraded.

And that will likely not sit well with two-time Canadian Open winner McIlroy.

The Grand Slam legend spoke about the proposed plans back in June and expressed his concerns over the futures of some of golf’s greatest tournaments.

He feared events with genuine heritage would be overlooked in favour of big-money sponsorship deals.

He said prior to the US Open: “An event like the Canadian Open potentially going to one of these Track Twos? Track Two is like a glorified Korn Ferry event. Like that’s what Track Two is going to be. 

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“I don’t think the Canadian Open should be one of those. And I just think there’s going to be certain events that might lose their stature if a sponsor doesn’t pony up $30million.”

Other historic events like the Texas Open, Phoenix Open and Houston Open could all suffer a dip in quality from 2028 onwards.

Despite concerns, PGA TOUR CEO Brian Rolapp is pressing ahead with the plans.

He said in June: “From day one, the focus of the Future Competition Committee has been to build the best version of the PGA TOUR, and to do so in a way that reflects the voice of our players and the expectations of our fans. 

“The result is a new competitive model grounded in meritocracy, with clearer pathways, higher stakes and more consistency when the best players compete together.

“This model positions the PGA TOUR for the future. Our focus now shifts to finalizing the details and preparing for implementation in 2028.”

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The 2026 PGA Tour concluded last Sunday with world number one Scottie Scheffler winning the Tour Championship and the FedExCup title.

The fall schedule will get underway in two week’s time before the 2027 season gets going in late January.

The American Express at La Quinta will open up the new year in a change to recent years.

Other tweaks include The Sentry being moved from Hawaii to Torrey Pines, the Cadillac Championship being played in March and the BMW Championship moving to Liberty National in New York.