Overcrowded, jam-packed, and hardly a perfect fit for everyone, the PGA Tour’s summer schedule in 2016 — juggled dramatically to accommodate golf’s return to the Olympics — received a jolt Tuesday when the European Tour announced that it would not co-sanction the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club.
What prompted the decision was a clash with the French Open, as both tournaments will be held June 30-July 3.
“The Alstom Open de France is the oldest national open championship in continental Europe, and has been a fixture on the European Tour international schedule since the tour’s formation in 1972,” read a European Tour statement.