If it turns out that Colonial Country Club loses the PGA Tour's Charles Schwab Challenge, what does that mean for the Charles Schwab Cup Championship and its current host city of Phoenix?
According to reporting by Golfweek's Adam Schupak, Colonial, home of the longest-running non-major event on the PGA Tour schedule, might see the PGA Tour depart after the 2027 event. This all has to do with the 2028 changes coming to the home to the Tour for 80 years, not being placed in the upcoming Championship Series, the premier level of golf in the PGA Tour's future.
Colonial officials reportedly don't want to be in the second-tier Challenger Series and thus could bring the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, the Champions tour season finale, to Fort Worth.
The senior Schwab event is the last of three postseason events. Schwab is also the sponsor of the Champions tour's season-long Charles Schwab Cup, which goes to the golfer who wins the overall points race. The 2026 rendition will be at Phoenix Country Club, its home since 2017, Nov. 12-15.
Then, Andrew Green will begin a long-awaited renovation of the central Phoenix course first established in 1921. The club hosted the Phoenix Open from 1932 to 1986, but it's time for a facelift. This means the Charles Schwab Cup Championship had to find a home for 2027 and the popular Phoenix municipal course Papago has stepped up to host.
Papago was a stop-gap host on the LPGA once, too, in 2009 when that tour left Superstition Mountain in search of a new permanent Phoenix home.
The contract between the tournament and Phoenix Country Club featured an out-clause which both sides agreed to after the 2026 event, according to tournament executive director Tiffany Nelson-Thorne.
"It's not to say that we won't come back," she told Golfweek at a media day event ahead of the Charles Schwab Cup Championship. "I think they just need some breather, and you know, they're going to spend $15 million on their renovation in '27." A Golfweek source did indicate that the Schwab tournament would head back to PCC in 2028. From there? That's TBD but given Charles Schwab’s longstanding sponsorship of the senior circuit, Colonial appears to be a natural fit for the championship.
Kapalua, longtime host of the Sony Open in Hawaii, was the first longtime Tour venue to find a safe landing as part of PGA Tour Champions beginning in 2027, and it likely won't be the last. Asked last month at Furyk & Friends if PGA Tour events that get left out of the Championship Series might move to the senior circuit, Miller Brady, president of PGA Tour Champions, confirmed that he had been fielding calls from interested parties.
“I don’t want to be seen as taking anything away from the PGA Tour,” Brady told Schupak. “They need to come to their own conclusion, and then I’m happy to have that discussion. If it’s a good fit, let’s try to figure something out. Our schedule is pretty full, but we can find a way for them to come on board.”
PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp said in August that the PGA Tour plans to unveil its complete 2028 schedule on Feb. 27.
Rolapp is scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the PwC SMU Athletic luncheon in Dallas on Nov. 11, leading to speculation that an announcement could be forthcoming early next week, which coincides with the playing of the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Phoenix, which starts Nov. 12.
Adam Schupak contributed to this article.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: What's the future of the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Phoenix?
