The Honda Classic has a new name, but it's only temporary until a title sponsor is signed
The Honda Classic officially has a new name ... for now.
Until the tournament finds a new sponsor, the event will be known as the Classic in the Palm Beaches.
The event, held at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, continues to seek a new title sponsor after American Honda ended its 42-year partnership with the event this year.
While talks continue — about five possible title sponsors have emerged — tournament officials remain confident that one will be named by next year's event, scheduled for Feb. 29-March 3, although that is not a certainty.
With the PGA Tour and tournament officials involved in finding a new sponsor, those talks were slowed by the tour's negotiations with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund over the merger with LIV Golf, and the remaking of the schedule.
Still, plenty of time remains to sign a new sponsor for 2024, and on the outside chance it does not, the event would be held for a year under the Classic in the Palm Beaches name with a new title sponsor in 2025.
Besides the uncertainty of a new title sponsor, the impact of the PGA Tour's deal with the PIF, which owns LIV Golf, next season remains unknown. The 2024 PGA Tour schedule, obtained Thursday by Golfweek, does not reflect the tour's deal with the PIF. Still unknown is whether LIV golfers, such as Jupiter's Brooks Koepka, will be playing in PGA Tour events next season.
The 2024 schedule confirms what The Palm Beach Post reported in March, that the Palm Beach event is in a much better spot, which should help boost the field.
More: How PGA Tour-LIV Golf merger impacts Honda Classic and its search for new title sponsor
The tournament follows the Mexico Open instead of the Genesis Invitational, which will allow golfers to take off a week at the end of the West Coast Swing before the start of the Florida Swing.
This year, the Palm Beach event was stuck between four designated events with increased purses. Although the Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Players Championship remain designated events, of the three tournaments leading up to Palm Beach, only Genesis, two weeks prior, will be designated.
The new schedule shows a return to a calendar-year season for the first time in 10 years with 39 regular events, culminating with the playoffs, followed by a fall season.
The season will include 12 designated events with lucrative purses that this year were at least $20 million, in addition to the four majors.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Honda Classic has temporary name as PGA Tour negotiates for new title sponsor
