It is a big day for golf in North Texas.
First, NBC 5 confirmed the PGA Tour will announce at the end of the week it will play its first tournament back in Fort Worth at the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club.
The tournament will be moved to June 11-14, and will allow no fans in attendance. But golf’s return from time away because of COVID-19 will begin right here in North Texas.
Meanwhile the AT&T Byron Nelson has a new home at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney.
“There’s so much energy up there,” said Mike McKinley, chairman of the Salesmanship Club. “We just believe that community is ready to embrace an event like this. It wasn’t a business transaction to them, it was a partnership. That means a lot to us.”
“Everyone pulled together really well,” said McKinney Mayor George Fuller. “Of course, McKinney is a great community and TPC is a great course. Byron Nelson is such a philanthropic event on the tour and that fits McKinney really well.”
The Nelson will make its home in McKinney for at least five years beginning in 2021 after two disappointing years at Trinity Forest in southern Dallas.
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“There was nothing wrong with the golf course itself,” McKinley said. “It’s a great golf course. But everything around it made it almost impossible to operate a tournament. The flood plain, the lack of parking, we learned some things and the PGA Tour learned some things.”
Lessons learned, and a bright future ahead for both of North Texas’s PGA Tour events — with a new home for the AT&T Byron Nelson in 2021 and Colonial Country Club continuing its streak of 74 consecutive years hosting a PGA Tour event June 11.
