If Jon Drago, the longtime tournament director of the PGA Tour’s CJ Cup Byron Nelson, were writing a book about the current status of his Dallas-area event, he might call it “A Tale of Two Tournaments.”
On one hand, Drago has a venue — TPC Craig Ranch — that is coming off a multi-million dollar renovation by Hall of Famer Lanny Wadkins, and a reigning champion — Scottie Scheffler — who is not only world No. 1 but also a hometown hero.
Yes, the best of times.
On the other hand, Drago and his lead sponsor, the Salesmanship Club of Dallas, do not have a 2027 date for the event, and now, in the tournament’s seventh decade, potentially sit in the crosshairs of a pending schedule reduction by the PGA Tour. If the Nelson were not to survive PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp’s sweeping makeover, it would mean the end of an event that in its lifespan has raised more money for charity, nearly $200 million, than any other PGA Tour stop. Today, the Momentous Institute, a local mental health nonprofit, is the Nelson’s sole beneficiary.
The worst of times? We shall see.
Drago is attuned to the questions swirling around forthcoming changes to the Tour’s schedule. He knows some Tour stops could be in trouble. But he isn’t jumping to any conclusions.
“It can be maybe frustrating, sure,” he said. “We would love to know the future and we don’t. If you had told me five years ago we would have video golf on TV [TGL] and a breakoff Saudi golf league [LIV], I might not have believed it. We are not going to believe in speculations or chase rumors. We are going to only deal in facts.”
Drago said that’s exactly the message he delivered to CJ Group executives who were in town from South Korea recently for pre-tournament planning sessions. CJ renewed its title sponsor deal last year, and the Nelson has a contact in place with the Tour to run the event this year from May 21-24.
Drago hasn’t met with or spoken to Rolapp but knows the new CEO is striving for more “scarcity” in the schedule. If moving dates would help the Nelson’s prospects, Drago said he’d be open to it. “We would prefer to be in May because it allows the Zoysia grass to grow in at the course,” he said. “But we have been in April and in May and could move earlier if we had to.”
According to a Salesmanship Club committee member, Tour officials told the club that, with the goal of recouping money for their equity partners, the Tour is looking at taking over management of more Tour events, as it did with the PGA National stop, the Cognizant Classic, in 2023. (The Tour declined to comment for this story.)
The Nelson isn’t the only Texas Tour event mulling questions about its future. Same goes for the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth. The Schwab, at historic Colonial Country Club, is the longest-running professional golf event at the same site outside of the Masters at Augusta National. The course recently underwent a renovation by Gil Hanse, and long has been one of the more revered events on the Tour schedule, with 2026 marking its 80th playing.
Schwab tournament director Michael Tothe doesn’t have a 2027 date, but said he expects to know more this month, perhaps as soon as later this week when Rolapp makes his State of the Tour address at the Players Championship.
“I’ve talked to Brian a couple of times and I think he’s really a sharp guy, very impressive,” Tothe said. “Change will get everybody excited or, in some cases, not excited. Change can be fun or scary because there is a lot of it.”
Still, Tothe said, he is confident the Nelson and Colonial will continue as a North Texas two-step.
“I would be shocked, stunned if there is not a Byron Nelson tournament next year,” he said. “I mean they have a new [renovated] course and a new title sponsor for only a few years in CJ. What are your going to do, just tell them to go away?”
Complicating matters further for the Texas events in 2027 is that year’s PGA Championship, which is slated for PGA Frisco’s East Course. If the Nelson and Schwab dates go unchanged in 2027, that would mean the PGA Championship, Nelson and Colonial would fall in back-to-back-to-back weeks. Three tournaments in just a 40-miles radius is a geographical logjam that has never happened on Tour before.
“We can pull it off,” Tothe said.
Tothe and Drago live within five miles of one other in Mansfield, Texas, and talk often about their tournaments’ futures.
“I think we both feel the same way,” Tothe said. “We have great historic events, excellent title sponsors and lots of fans, volunteers and money raised for charity in one of the biggest areas in the country. How many people can say that?”
Not many, but the news Tothe and Drago will receive in the coming weeks (or months) will say a lot about the new era of the PGA Tour.
