Is The Tour Obligated To Work Harder To Save Historic Events?

In reading Joel Beall's Golf World look at a potential version of the PGA Tour's forthcoming 2019 schedule revamp, it's hard to look past the huge name, foundational events in danger. The likes of Colonial, Bay Hill and Houston, each important and steady presences on the PGA Tour schedule, all face uncertainty going forward.

Beall writes:

Meanwhile, some industry insiders wonder about the status of the Arnold Palmer Invitational. With its namesake gone, the tournament struggled somewhat to draw big names in 2017, and Bay Hill's layout is one that some tour pros aren’t fond of. The tour isn’t expected to pull the plug on the API, but the tournament needs to show signs of life this year to ensure its future.

Also in the spring fog: the Houston Open. Shell dropped out as sponsor, and the event, which has settled into a spot the week prior to the Masters, does not have a title holder for 2018. Redstone G.C., which sustained damage during Hurricane Harvey last summer but should be OK come spring, is a course that some players like because it is set-up to resemble the conditions they'll see at Augusta National. That said, if it returns in 2019, it looks likely to lose its pre-Augusta setting, with the Valero Texas Open moving to the first week in April.

Market forces certainly dictate the status of some of these events, but knowing that World Golf Championship events have taken sponsor possibilities away and weakened fields for non-WGC events, it's hard to pin any blame on these longtime PGA Tour stalwarts for struggling.

I have no doubt the PGA Tour brass is working to save all events. However, the potential demise of events that build the Tour could undermine any sense of connection to the distance or even recent past. You just can't put a dollar figure on those connections, but the legacy of the Finchem era is that no one's place in line matters. Whether that's the legacy of the Monahan era remains to be seen.