General chairman Jack Sammons will be there, just as he has been for what feels like its entire run.
Shaun Micheel will be there.
John Moore, and the more than 1,500 volunteers like him, will be there, too.
When the FedEx Cup Playoffs begin on Aug. 13 with the FedEx St. Jude Championship — lame-duck in elevated prestige though it may be — at TPC Southwind in Memphis, they will show up.
And so should you.
“I will continue on as long as there’s a tournament in Memphis, for sure,” said Moore, who supports approximately 80 volunteers as chairman for gallery management on holes Nos. 3-6.
As the PGA Tour makes its 69th annual stop in the Bluff City, bringing with it 69 of the best golfers the world has to offer, it is undoubtedly walking into an awkward,
uncomfortable situation (the expected extreme heat notwithstanding), even if the perceived undoing of nearly seven decades of tradition is completely of the tour's own doing.
After all, it was just one week ago, when the tour confirmed Memphis is not retaining the premier, elite-level status it has enjoyed since 2019 — "the stature that it deserves and the stature that FedEx deserves," as defending champion Justin Rose put it Aug. 11.
But that should not stop Memphis from being Memphis.
‘We need to build this town up’
In June, Brian Rolapp — barely a year into his tenure as PGA Tour CEO — unveiled a radically restructured competitive format, set to be implemented in 2028. There will be the Championship Series, which will include the majors and tournaments featuring only the best of the best, almost all of which will be played in cities that tour leaders consider critically important (read: most financially promising).
Then there is the Challenger Series, where the stakes won’t be as high, the fields won’t be as exciting and the visibility will pale in comparison.
That’s where Memphis is poised to land following the conclusion of the FedEx St. Jude Championship in 2027. It should be noted that not even that is official yet, because the tour has not formally identified which cities will host Challenger Series events.
But the expectation is for PGA Tour play to continue in Memphis.
There may be little-to-no solace that can be taken from that line. Micheel, who was also the PGA Championship runner-up (to Tiger Woods) in 2006, has lived in Memphis since the early 1970s. That’s when his father, upon being hired as one of the first FedEx pilots, moved the family here.
So, he gets why so many people around here were hurt by the PGA Tour’s decision. Because on one hand, it does feel like yet another slap in the face, another good thing turning its back on Memphis.
But . . .
“We don’t need any more negativity around this town. We need to build this town up,” Micheel said. “We can’t afford to let this event leave. (So) that means support. It means being vocal. It means coming out this year and next year. It means not being down.
“Most people don’t like change. I’m definitely in that camp. But you’ve just got to roll with it sometimes.”
'Ain't no runnin' in the M'
So much of what makes this city special is the way it shows up in trying times.
A big reason why Ja Morant, now a member of the Portland Trail Blazers, was (and still is) so beloved by Memphians is because he understood that so well.
"There ain't no runnin’ in the M, man. We climb up the chimney, we ain't ducking no smoke. We're going to let everybody know we're here," the notoriously spirited Morant famously said after he led the Grizzlies to a big win over the New York Knicks in February 2022.
Will the temperatures be searing at TPC Southwind? Almost certainly.
Will these last two iterations of professional golf there feel a bit like a charade? Maybe so.
But there are too many reasons why you shouldn’t give the tournament the cold shoulder now — far from the least of which is what it means to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and its noble mission.
"Obviously, the hospital and the kids that you meet this week is so heartwarming, there is definitely something special. It has a special feel," Rose said. "Hopefully, (the tournament) can continue to have the support from the community and continue to do great things for the hospital.
"That's probably the most important thing, that the support for the hospital remains and us players can continue to support that endeavor."
It may feel like the PGA Tour is minimizing what FedEx, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and Memphis stand for. It can be enough to break your heart. But don’t let it break your spirit.
Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com, follow him @munzly on X.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Dear Memphis, the PGA may have broken your heart. Don't let it break your spirit
