PGA Tour Lineup 2018: Players to Watch, Major Tournaments and More
The 2017-18 PGA Tour officially teed off in October. However, as usual, it wasn’t until the New Year that the majority of the circuit’s big guns joined in the tournaments.
While eight PGA events were played between October 8 and November 19, it wasn’t until January’s Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii that the PGA season got ratcheted up a notch.
Dustin Johnson picked up his 17th career PGA win and a cool $1.26 million in the process.
Golf fans will now see golf tournaments filling their weekends.
The best of the PGA will be hard at work every Thursday through Sunday as the chase for the FedEx Cup is on.
Which players will be battling it out for the top prize on the PGA Tour this season?
Players to watch out for
Justin Thomas starts 2018 on a high. The seven-time PGA Tour event winner was crowned the FedEx Cup champion at the end of last season.
Not only did Thomas claim the FedEx Cup, but the Louisville-born golfer won his first major as he claimed August’s PGA Championship.
With the two wins, Thomas earned the PGA Tour Player of the Year award and finished the season as the tour’s highest earner.
Thomas has already parlayed that success into this season as he claimed the CJ Cup in South Korea at the World Golf Championships.
Despite his successes, Thomas still has to overcome his rivals to replicate 2016-17.
Dustin Johnson is one of the most difficult golfers he will be competing against. Johnson won four times on the tour last season.
However, three of those wins came in February and March. Johnson experienced a long drought until his fourth win of the season. It occurred in August at the Northern Trust event.
As of writing, Johnson is the No. 1 ranked golfer in the world.
Jordan Spieth is ranked just below Johnson and the Texan will be one of the top players this year.
Spieth won the 2017 British Open along with the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Travelers Championship.
Like the other top PGA professionals, Spieth will be gunning for Thomas and Johnson in 2018.
Jon Rahm continues to impress golf fans and experts alike. Although he hasn’t won a major tournament yet, it is only a matter of time until he does.
Rahm’s drives continue to amaze, but it is his inability to be consistent on the big stage that has cost him. Rahm is only in his second full season of professional golf.
Last season saw him win his first ever PGA Tour event, the Farmers Insurance Open. He then finished the year with two wins on the European Tour at the Irish Open and the World Tour Championship.
Everyone should watch out for Rahm. If he is on his game, he could be the best thing for golf since the rise of Tiger Woods.
When are the PGA’s major tournaments?
The 2017-18 PGA Tour season will be the final year of the current major tournament schedule. For years the PGA has played the Masters, US Open, British Open and PGA Championship in successive order in the spring and summer.
However, that will change next year. In 2019, the PGA’s schedule will place the PGA Championship event as the first of the four majors and it will take place in March.
The year’s Masters, as always, will take place at August National in Augusta, Georgia. It will be the 82nd edition of the famous tournament. The event will be played the first weekend of April just as spring is reaching the south in the U.S.
The US Open tees off on June 17th at the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, New York. It is the fifth time the event has been held a Shinnecock Hills.
Following the US Open will be the British Open, or the Open Championship, depending on which side of the pond you live on.
Teeing off on July 19th, fans descending on Scotland’s Carnoustie Golf Links should be ready for all types of weather on the east coast of the country.
The final PGA Tour major tournament will be played just outside of St. Louis, Missouri. Emanating from the Bellerive Country Club.
The tournament will see 156 players competing for a $1.89m winner’s purse. The PGA Championship tees off on August 9th.
The 2017-18 PGA Tour is just a few months old. However, the best golf is yet to be played as the circuit kicks into high gear once the warmer months descend over the US.
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