The 2011 PGA Tour, the 44th season since the Tour became independent from the PGA of America, will consist of a total of 49 sanctioned events running from early January to late November. The schedule, announced on December 2, 2010, has four phases:
Contents
- Comparison between 2010 and 2011
- Changes for 2011
- FedEx Cup off week
- Match Play Championship final
- Fall Series
- Schedule
- Unofficial events
- Money leaders
- References
The regular season will include all four major championships and three of the World Golf Championships events. All four majors and all four WGC events are also sanctioned by the European Tour.
Comparison between 2010 and 2011
In late 2009, after the 2010 schedule had been announced, it was noted by golf media that most of the Tour's contracts for sponsorship of individual tournaments were locked in through that season. However, it was speculated that the expiration of those sponsorship contracts in 2011 would see substantial changes in the PGA Tour landscape.
As it turned out, the 2011 schedule was largely the same as in 2010. The number of official money events was reduced by one with the demise of the Turning Stone Resort Championship, but the tour's total prize money will remain virtually the same. Seventeen tournaments will increase their prize money by a total of $3.8 million, almost completely offsetting the loss of the $4 million prize fund at Turning Stone. Assuming that the majors maintain their 2010 prize funds, the tour will offer a total of $288 million in purses.
Changes for 2011
The Tour announced several changes from the 2010 schedule. Apart from the aforementioned demise of the Turning Stone Resort Championship, switches in scheduling of existing tournaments, and changes in sponsorships, the most important changes are:
FedEx Cup off week
The off week for the FedEx Cup playoffs, which had previously been the week prior to The Tour Championship, will move to the week before the BMW Championship. This alleviates concerns about a short turnaround after the second playoff event, the Deutsche Bank Championship, which is the only tournament on the schedule that normally ends on Monday (specifically on Labor Day).
Match Play Championship final
The final of the Accenture Match Play Championship will be reduced from 36 holes to 18.
Fall Series
With the move of the Viking Classic into the regular season, specifically opposite The Open Championship, the Fall Series has been reduced to four events.
Schedule
The following table lists the main season events for 2011. "Date" is the ending date of each event. The numbers in parentheses after the winners' names are the number of wins they had on tour up to and including that event.
Unofficial events
The following events did not carry official money.
Money leaders
This shows the final money leaders for the 2011 PGA Tour season. These figures do not include FedEx Cup bonus money.
There is a full list on the PGA Tour's website here.