Three tournaments on the PGA Tour have had Tuesday Pro-Ams: The Tour Championship, Jack Nicklaus’s Memorial, and Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Invitational. Starting in 2006, they will all change to the traditional Wednesday Pro-Am schedule that all other tournaments use.

The reason involves player commitments. Many pros plot out the entire year in advance, including dates on which they have obligations to sponsors and corporate outings. Having all PGA stops conform to the Wednesday Pro-Am schedule injects some needed consistency. Instead of losing out on a big name player’s attendance because of scheduling conflicts, this change will help all events draw the best players. It’s a good idea. Arnie agrees:

I’m not objectionable to it, Palmer said. In the beginning, we tried to do some extra stuff to make it attractive to the players, but now the indication is the guys want to come in on Tuesday night and play Wednesday in the pro-am as their practice round.

Obviously, a big draw for each tour stop is the player roster. If someone like Tiger or Mickelson can’t make an event because of the old schedules, it can severely curtail ticket sales. So kudos all around to the PGA and the personalities involved for getting everybody on the same page!