Jack Nicklaus Says The PGA TOUR's Crowded Schedule Is a Problem Waiting to Happen

Jack Nicklaus knows a thing or two about resumes. Seventy-three PGA TOUR wins, 18 major championships (and 19 runner-up finishes), and GOAT status—to some. So when he said Tuesday that Rory McIlroy has one more thing to check off, I believed him.

During his annual pre-tournament press conference at the Memorial Tournament, Nicklaus was asked about the Northern Irishman once again slipping into his Green Jacket, a win that earned McIlroy an invitation into yet another of golf’s most exclusive clubs: back-to-back Masters champions. Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, and Nick Faldo are the only other players who have defended their title at Augusta National.

“This year, I saw him on the practice tee just before he was teeing off, and why he was out there that early—because I was getting ready to go to the first tee to do our opening, and I put my hands on his shoulders, and I said to him, ‘No effing double bogeys,’” Nicklaus said.

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McIlroy’s resume only continues to grow more impressive by the season. Six major championships, 30 TOUR wins, three FedExCups, seven Race to Dubai titles—I could go on. But there’s one glaring omission: he’s yet to shake Jack’s hand off the back of Muirfield Village’s 18th green as a Memorial champion.

“I've been a big Rory fan,” Nicklaus said. “Now he's only got one thing left on his resume that he really needs to have and that's to win here. So you tell him that he's got to do that.”

While he’s had some success in Dublin, Ohio, with four straight top-20 finishes, McIlroy’s yet to get one across the finish line. But with how he’s swinging it this season, that elusive moment with Jack could come Sunday afternoon.

As for the rest of Nicklaus’ sit down with the media, he mentioned his displeasure with the direction the TOUR is headed with its schedule. According to him, the changes are making it nearly impossible for smaller events to pull a needle-moving field.

“Well, I don't want to comment on the TOUR's schedule because I'm not exactly in favor of what they're doing right now,” he said. “I want to sit down with Brian and Jay and have that conversation. I mean, I hate to see tournaments bunched too much together with too many big tournaments too close together. That's a problem, I think. And I think that's going to be a problem for the TOUR in the future.

“I think it's harder for your tournaments to stand out. I mean, if you looked at the schedule, we're involved in the Cognizant down in Florida, and, you know, we have Pebble Beach and Los Angeles, Tiger's event, and then Cognizant, and then we had Bay Hill and THE PLAYERS. I mean, what chance does that tournament have?”

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Last week, the Sports Business Journal reported the TOUR’s ‘27 schedule through the PGA Championship, and the Coignizant’s problem isn’t getting any easier. Next year, the event at PGA National will be preceded by Pebble Beach, the WM Phoenix Open, and Riviera, and the events that follow are the Cadillac, THE PLAYERS, and the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

A brutal, brutal spot for a tournament that’s struggled with its field quality for years.

Nicklaus added that with a bunched-up schedule, with several Signature events and majors in a condensed space, it’s hard for top players to focus and be at the top of their game.

“I look at it from the way I was as a player,” he said. “I could play a couple weeks in a row, maybe three weeks in a row, but I needed some time off to be able to recharge the batteries…So to jam it all in in one period of time, and then leave the rest of the year open, I think it's tough…I don't think it's a problem yet, but I think it will be if we don't address it.”

Come Thursday morning, the talk won’t be about the schedule or any of the other extracurriculars happening in golf at the moment. It’ll be about Jack, Muirfield Village, and one of the best events in the sport—oh, and the milkshakes.

I don’t plan on leaving my couch much.