Fort Worth’s future as DFW’s premier PGA Tour event will come down to one man
The dividing line on the PGA Tour schedule has existed for decades, but beginning in 2028 that border will be a de facto wall that looks a lot like college football’s Power 4-and-everyone-else calendar.
Think of the PGA Tour’s future Track 1 tournaments as Georgia vs. Tennessee football, and Track 2 closer to Washington State vs. Oregon State. It’s all football, but the difference is Big Time versus Small Time.
Which side of the wall, class or tier, the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club will reside has yet to be determined. The same for The CJ Cup Byron Nelson at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney. Their future status will be part of a bid process that will be intense and expensive.
This week, the PGA Tour announced the eagerly anticipated changes to its schedule and format, which will begin in 2028. This will have a dramatic effect on tournaments that are not Track 1 as the top players on the PGA Tour will only play events that will be on “The Championship Series,” while the others will play “The Challenger Series.”
From a branding and marketing standpoint, selling and pitching a golf tournament that is not “The Championship Series” will have a profound effect on potential advertisers, the size of the crowd and the price of tickets. It may as well be called The Big Leagues and The Minor Leagues.
In conversations with officials from the PGA Tour, CBS Sports, Charles Schwab and Colonial Country Club, there is cautious optimism that the Charles Schwab Challenge will be Track 1. Charles Schwab Challenge tournament director Michael Tothe did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story.
Texas is on the outside of the PGA Tour’s current Championship Series plans
As it stands today no PGA Tour tournament in Texas is slated as Track 1. The tournaments in Houston and San Antonio as well as McKinney, which for the sake of the PGA Tour is “Dallas,” are in the same position as Fort Worth.
The PGA Tour’s Challenger Series will consist up to 24 tournaments, with “signature” events and others to be played at major markets. The signature events are the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational, RBC Heritage, Cadillac Championship, Truist Championship, Memorial Tournament and Travelers Championship.
Other markets expected to be in the running for Championship tournaments are Boston, Denver, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C.
The other tournaments interested in being a “Championship Series” event will go through a bidding process, which will include the Charles Schwab Challenge.
Why the Charles Schwab Challenge could be a Championship Series
The PGA Tour has said tradition matters when considering tournaments to be Track 1. If tradition is a real data point, and not just an empty rah-rah pitch, Fort Worth should have a real chance.
No other PGA Tour event has been played on the same course longer than the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club, which started in 1946. There are nine other PGA Tour events that are older than Colonial, but all of them have changed locations.
As wonderful as it sounds, however, this decision will come down to money and whether Charles Schwab himself wants the tournament that bears his name to be a “Champion” or a “Challenger.”
Schwab’s relationship as the title sponsor of the PGA Tour event at Colonial began in 2019, and the current contract expires after the 2027 season. According to people familiar with the negotiations between Schwab and the Tour, the relationship is solid; the Tour told Schwab officials to wait on extending the contract before changes to the ‘28 schedule were announced.
To be a Championship Series event will require at least a purse of $20 million, a figure that Schwab declined on several years ago when the PGA Tour offered him the chance for his event to be an “elevated tournament.” That wrinkle was added to prevent players from joining LIV Golf.
The purse at the 2026 CS Challenge was $9.9 million.
Schwab has a long relationship with the PGA Tour, and sponsors other Tour events, including its seniors tour.
The Tour does not want to lose Schwab. And Schwab wants to retain his spot with the Tour. Officials believe he may be willing to concentrate the money earmarked for all of his PGA Tour sponsorships and dedicate it all to the tournament at Colonial Country Club. To do so would mean a purse in the neighborhood of $30 million.
The Tour will likely want a Championship Series event in DFW; but does it want Dallas, even if the event is actually in McKinney? And will the CJ Group want to spend the type of money necessary to win a bid?
If the CS Challenge is not awarded a “Championship Series” distinction, will Schwab want to remain as title sponsor of an event that will be bereft of marketable names, a purse of $4 million, and potentially have a “small time” feel?
Expect the Tour to finalize and announce its 2028 schedule in the first quarter of 2027; between then and now, both Schwab and the Tour have decisions to make that will have a profound effect on Fort Worth.
This story was originally published June 25, 2026 at 12:45 PM.
