PGA Tour boss confident of full schedule next year

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem is upbeat that next year’s PGA Tour schedule will remain intact despite the fact five events still without a major sponsor.

Finchem said that there was always the possibility of events being cut from the schedule if sponsors couldn’t be found, but was optimistic this wouldn’t be the case.

He said: “We have to have sponsorship to put on events, so if it got to a point where sponsorship wasn’t available, it’s always a possibility (that events will get cut).

“But candidly, we are on track with where we are in most years, good or bad economy, in terms of the amount of work we have to do either to renew sponsors or bring in new sponsors.”

Among the five events yet to have secured sponsorship are the World Golf Championships event in Miami and the tournament at Hilton Head Island in South Carolina, but Finchem said that progress was being made.

“We have conversations going on right now and we feel good about where we are headed. The market is soft generally, but for our product it continues to perform well and we don’t anticipate any need for contraction.”