Each week on the PGA Tour is different. Whether it’s the course, the field, the type of test, or the atmosphere, each event feels a little different.
Some weeks can be boring, with uninteresting courses that don’t challenge the best golfers in the world. Other weeks have fans on the edge of their seat with some of the most demanding courses and battles between players.
Fans are almost guaranteed drama and difficulty at each of the four major championships, the Masters Tournament, the PGA Championship, the U.S. Open, and the Open Championship, but regular PGA Tour events are different.
Here are the five best PGA Tour events, excluding the four major championships:
The Memorial Tournament presented by Workday
The Memorial Tournament presented by Workday is played on one of the best and most challenging courses on the PGA Tour, Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio. Hosted by 18-time major champion Jack Nicklaus, the Memorial Tournament consistently identifies some of the best players each week. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is coming off back-to-back wins at the tournament.
When the PGA Tour switched its tournament structure, the Memorial Tournament became one of the eight signature events, which are elevated compared to other week-to-week events on the PGA Tour. The field at the Memorial Tournament is always one of the best out of the entire season, despite being played so close to the U.S. Open, which is one of the four major championships each season.
THE PLAYERS Championship
THE PLAYERS Championship is widely considered the fifth major, despite only including PGA Tour players and excluding other tours, like the LIV Tour. However, it’s still one of the best events on the PGA Tour.
TPC Sawgrass’ Stadium Course has one of the most iconic holes in golf. The par-3 17th hole is an island green on the finishing stretch of the tournament. In 2025, the tricky risk-reward hole got in J.J. Spaun’s head as he tried to close out a playoff over Rory McIlroy. Spaun hit his approach shot off the back of the island green and into the water to hand McIlroy the championship.
THE PLAYERS consistently produces some of the most iconic moments each season, and the 2025 iteration of the event is just one example. Getting all the best players into an event field is one of the keys to getting a good tournament, and THE PLAYERS gets the best on the PGA Tour in its field. Scottie Scheffler won back-to-back PLAYERS Championships in 2023 and 2024, before McIlroy took the title in 2025. Cameron Young won the most recent iteration of the event in 2026.
The Genesis Invitational
Like the Memorial Tournament, the Genesis Invitational is one of the eight signature events on the PGA Tour, which means the best players on the PGA Tour consistently play against one another at the event
One of the main reasons why it’s consistently one of the best tournaments is the course. The Genesis Invitational is played at The Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, California. While the weather doesn’t always help the course in mid-February, it’s still one of the most iconic places in golf. The final hole on the course is situated in a lower bowl with fans sitting on a hill surrounding the 18th green, giving it an amphitheater-like feel.
The Genesis Invitational wasn’t hosted at Riviera in 2025 after it was damaged because of the wildfires in Pacific Palisades, but it returned to the historic venue in 2026, when Jacob Bridgeman won the event by one stroke over Rory McIlroy and Kurt Kitayama.
The Genesis Scottish Open
The Scottish Open is one of the few times each season when the PGA Tour goes outside of the United States of America. It’s refreshing to see tour players compete on a golf course that requires a different style of play from the typical week on the PGA Tour.
The Scottish Open takes place the week before the Open Championship, which is typically played in the United Kingdom or Ireland. So, despite the tournament not having the “Signature Event” title, many of the top players compete in the event to prepare for the Open Championship, which is one of the four majors.
The Waste Management Phoenix Open
The Waste Management Phoenix Open has arguably the worst overall field compared to the other four tournaments on this list, but it’s the atmosphere of the tournament that makes it one of the best.
The Phoenix Open is infamous for its par-3, 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course. The tournament builds stadium-like stands for spectators that completely surround the hole. If players hit a good shot on the hole, fans let them know. If they hit a bad shot, the fans will also let them know.
The tournament has arguably gotten out of hand in recent years, as there have been instances of fans yelling in the middle of players’ backswings, but it’s usually a different atmosphere from typical PGA Tour events, which can be nice.
