The PGA Tour calendar for 2027 is beginning to take shape and it does so with significant moves. These are not mere date adjustments. What has been announced is a deep overhaul of the Florida Swing, one of the classic stretches of the season, with changes that directly affect the Cadillac Championship, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, THE PLAYERS Championship and the Valspar Championship.
The big news is the return of the Cadillac Championship to March. The tournament, which this year was played in May, will once again occupy a much more prominent place in the first part of the season. It will be the second leg of the Florida Swing, immediately after the Cognizant Classic, which will retain its role as the starting point of the Florida Swing.
That move causes a domino effect. The date that the Cadillac will take had until now been the territory of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, one of the most traditional and recognisable events on the calendar. The Bay Hill tournament moves two weeks later and will be played after the The Players Championship, from 15 to 21 March. In other words, the Arnold Palmer tournament will be positioned immediately after the big event in Ponte Vedra Beach. It gives the impression that it’s a worse date, immediately after something as important as the THE PLAYERS.
The result is a Florida Swing with an order quite different from usual: Cognizant Classic, Cadillac Championship, The Players Championship and Arnold Palmer Invitational. A powerful sequence, although also with a relevant detail in the US sports calendar: the Arnold Palmer Invitational will now coincide with March Madness, the decisive phase of college basketball. Definitely, the sensational Bay Hill event seems to have come off worse.
The other big mover is the Valspar Championship. The Innisbrook tournament leaves March and moves to May. Specifically, it will occupy the first week of the month, from 3 to 9 May, as the final regular tournament before the PGA Championship. It’s a notable change for an event that for years has been part of the natural landscape of the Florida Swing and that will now be separated from the main block of tournaments in the state. It doesn’t have to be bad news for the Valspar, a tournament that has always been characterised by its toughness and demands and that many players could adopt as the perfect stop before the PGA.
May, therefore, will also look different. The CJ Cup Byron Nelson, in Dallas, will be moved up one week and will be played after the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Next the Valspar will come into play, now as the direct prelude to the second major of the season. The PGA Tour thus reorders an area of the calendar that is usually especially delicate, compressed between big tournaments, tournaments signature and majors.
There are also changes at the start of the season. The PGA Tour had already indicated that there will be a tournament in San Diego, at Torrey Pines, the week after the season begins with The American Express in Palm Desert, California. For now, the event appears on the calendar simply as the Torrey Pines tournament, after Farmers Insurance did not renew its contract as title sponsor. The replacement has not yet been announced.
The change also has a historic nod. The last time that The American Express, then known as the Bob Hope, opened the season was in 1985. That year, Lanny Wadkins defeated Craig Stadler in a five-hole playoff at Indian Wells Country Club.
