Colonial Country Club Set To Drop Of PGA Tour Schedule After 80 Years

Colonial Country Club 16th hole — (Image credit: Getty mages)

The iconic Colonial Country Club is the longest running host on the PGA Tour schedule, but 2027 will reportedly bring that 80-year streak to an end.

The esteemed course in Fort Worth, Texas, hosts the Charles Schwab Challenge but Golfweek reports that the tournament will not be making it onto the new PGA Tour Championship Series in 2028.

Citing inside sources, the report states only one Championship Series event will be staged in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and the CJ Cup Byron Nelson sponsors have made a greater bid.

Colonial officials aren't keen on dropping down to host a second-tier Challenger Seires tournament and instead, given their current sponsors, the expectation is that the course will look to become the new host for the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship on the PGA Tour Champions.

Also known as Hogan's Alley after Ben Hogan won five times at the venue, Colonial has been a PGA Tour host for the past 80 years - the longest running tournament on the schedule outside of the Majors.

There's still some hope of gaining a late reprieve but officials at both Colonial and Charles Schwab aren't best pleased about the prospect of missing out on a top tier event after so many years backing the PGA Tour.

Brian Rolapp is proving to be a more cutthroat operator these days and money will talk when it comes to the new coveted Championship Series events.

PGA Tour Champions a more attractive proposition?

Russell Henley with the Charles Schwab Challenge trophy

Colonial wouldn't be the first course to make the switch from PGA Tour to the senior circuit - the Sony Open in Hawaii has made that same move and PGA Tour Champions president Miller Brady says other interested courses have been in contact about doing the same.

With plenty of household names now joining the seniors, there are tournament sponsors and hosts who feel that the PGA Tour Champions may offer a better opprtunity than staging a second-tier Challenger Series event - especially if it's one which clashes with a Championship Series containing all the top PGA Tour stars.

And especially when you consider a certain Tiger Woods is being tipped to play on the seniors when he returns then you can see why the PGA Tour Champions would be seen as a more attractive proposition.

If Colonial does leave the PGA Tour schedule it'll end a run that began in 1946 and saw some of golf's biggest names join Hogan on the club's iconic Wall of Champions - including Jordan Spieth, Phil Mickelson, Tom Watson, Ben Crenshaw, Arnold Palmer and Sam Snead.

There could be some challenges with Colonial bidding to make the switch, but the long association with Charles Schwab, a main sponsor on the seniors circuit, could be a deciding factor.

It'll still be a sad day when the PGA Tour's finest don't make the stop at Hogan's Alley though.

Paul Higham is a sports journalist with over 20 years of experience in covering most major sporting events for both Sky Sports and BBC Sport. He is currently freelance and covers the golf majors on the BBC Sport website. Highlights over the years include covering that epic Monday finish in the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor and watching Rory McIlroy produce one of the most dominant Major wins at the 2011 US Open at Congressional. He also writes betting previews and still feels strangely proud of backing Danny Willett when he won the Masters in 2016 - Willett also praised his putting stroke during a media event before the Open at Hoylake. Favourite interviews he's conducted have been with McIlroy, Paul McGinley, Thomas Bjorn, Rickie Fowler and the enigma that is Victor Dubuisson. A big fan of watching any golf from any tour, sadly he spends more time writing about golf than playing these days with two young children, and as a big fair weather golfer claims playing in shorts is worth at least five shots. Being from Liverpool he loves the likes of Hoylake, Birkdale and the stretch of tracks along England's Golf Coast, but would say his favourite courses played are Kingsbarns and Portrush.