The PGA Tour is starting to fill in the Championship Series portion of its 2028 schedule with a pair of announcements this week, one of them a surprise.
Sompo, a multinational insurance holding and financial group that is part of Japan-based Sompo Holdings, will be the title sponsor of one of the premier events on the 2028 schedule that will have $20 million purses and the top tier of players.
Sompo will get started next year at a familiar place 鈥� Silverado Resort in Napa, California, where Scottie Scheffler won the 19th and final edition of a fall event in 2025. But it won’t be staying there when the tour shifts to its 鈥淐hampionship鈥� and 鈥淐hallenger鈥� tracks in 2028.
The 2027 tournament will be July 29 to Aug. 1 鈥� two weeks after the British Open 鈥� and televised by CBS on the weekend. Still to be determined is the name of the tournament and, of greater interest, the new market for 2028 and beyond. That will be announced later.
The PGA Tour is eager to hit larger markets where it doesn’t have a regular presence, such as Denver, Philadelphia, Seattle, San Francisco and New York.
James Shea, the CEO of Bermuda-based Sompo Property & Casualty, said the partnership is a 鈥渕ajor opportunity for Sompo to further expand our global brand awareness and showcase the strength of our business to customers, partners and communities around the world.鈥�
On Monday, the tour announced the Travelers Championship outside Hartford, Connecticut, would also be part of the Championship Series. That was expected. The Travelers has been one of the highest performing tournaments during the FedEx Cup era that began in 2007 and has offered $20 million prize funds since 2023.
鈥淭his has been an extremely successful tournament by every metric,鈥� PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp said last month at the Travelers Championship, where he introduced the concept of the Championship and Challenger series. “I think they do a lot of things that we鈥檙e looking for in a Championship Series event.鈥�
The chase is on to catch Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods went to the top of the PGA Tour career money list when he was runner-up at Torrey Pines on Feb. 13, 2000, and he has stayed there ever since. His last check for finishing last at the 2024 Masters ($44,400) pushed his career earnings to $120,999,166.
Being passed is inevitable and now is in clear view. It’s just a matter of who tops him first.
Rory McIlroy, who lost in the quarterfinals of the 2009 Match Play in his PGA Tour debut, is second on the list at $116,446,772. Scottie Scheffler, who cashed his first PGA Tour check in 2018, moved to $116,364,411 with his runner-up finish in the 3M Open.
That leaves both of them just over $4 million away from Woods coming into the lucrative FedEx Cup postseason 鈥� $20 million purses at two playoff events, and the Tour Championship with its $40 million bonus pool that now counts as official money.
The Army captain is expanding his horizons
reached one goal when he qualified for his first major at the British Open and made the cut. And then his journey just got started.
Plunkett raced back from Royal Birkdale to play in U.S. qualifying tournament for the PGA Tour of Australasia. First, he had to stop at a sporting goods store to buy a push cart for the four-round event. He tied for second at Kinderlou Forest Golf Club near Valdosta, Georgia, to earn his card for the 2026-27 season.
鈥淚 was definitely a little delirious round one, but as the week鈥檚 gone on, started to feel a little bit back to normal,鈥� Plunkett said.
He said he has never been to Australia, but all his friends from Down Under have told him the coffee is the best, 鈥渟o I鈥檝e got to see if they鈥檙e pulling my leg or not about that.鈥�
Plunkett, who spent five years in the Army after graduating from West Point, already has had a Korn Ferry Tour card and currently plays the Asian Tour.
鈥滻 have Asian Tour status so I鈥檓 trying to figure out the balance of the two moving forward,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut I鈥檓 really excited to get out to Australia and get on the links out there.鈥�
Scheffler’s majors mirror his season
Scottie Scheffler had the lowest combined score to par in the majors this year, finishing at 21-under par, but without a major trophy for the first time since 2023.
The world’s No. 1 player was runner-up at the Masters, tied for fourth in the U.S. Open and British Open and tied for 14th in the PGA Championship. What does it all mean? That he’s been playing pretty good golf, much like the rest of a 2026 season that features five runner-up finishes but only one win.
鈥淥ne of the things that I鈥檝e always kind of prided myself on is the consistency. That鈥檚 something that shows that I鈥檓 playing some pretty good golf,鈥� Scheffler said last week before the 3M Open. “It just hasn鈥檛 been quite good enough to win some tournaments. I still feel like my game鈥檚 in a good spot and I鈥檝e played some nice golf.
鈥淚 haven鈥檛 played any great golf yet, but I鈥檝e played some nice golf over the course of the season.鈥�
The not-so-magic number
Scott Stevens on the PGA Tour Americas in the opening round in the second round of the 3M Open are the latest to join the growing list of 59 or lower on golf circuits around the world.
Most surprising is that it took until July 23 for the first person of 2026 to post a sub-60 round.
Golf’s 鈥渕agic number鈥� has lost a little bit of magic during the inevitable evolution of scoring. Al Geiberger was the original Mr. 59 in the 1977 Memphis Classic. Since then, there have been 69 sub-60s rounds on 21 recognized tours around the world.
There were eight sub-60 rounds in 2025, and nine sub-60 rounds in 2024.
Divots
The last six winners of the Women鈥檚 British Open have come from six countries 鈥� Japan, New Zealand, the United States, South Africa, Sweden and Germany. … Michael Roman, the former chairman and CEO of 3M, has been elected to the PGA Tour policy board filling an open seat for independent directors. … Jackson Koivun became the fourth PGA Tour winner this year to play bogey-free on the weekend, joining Matt Fitzpatrick (Valspar), Ricky Castillo (Puerto Rico) and Nico Echavarria (Cognizant Classic). … The R&A has put together double major winners Nelly Korda and Haeran Ryu for the opening two rounds of the Women’s British Open. They will be joined by Lydia Ko.
Stat of the week
The last six players to shoot 59 on the PGA Tour did not win the tournament.
Final word
鈥淚 don’t really see it as a rivalry at the minute because, no offense, Nelly has got however many majors and I’ve got none.鈥� 鈥� Charley Hull on the potential of a rivalry with Nelly Korda.
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