A global golf tour will likely happen at some point in the future. The question is no longer "if" but rather "when." Folks in golf a lot smarter than I have hypothesized about this for years, of course, and outgoing PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem considers not pushing more outside the United States as one of his biggest regrets.

"We've done a lot of great things globally, and doing a lot of things in a hurry probably is not going to make sense globally anyway, but I would have liked to see a little bit more acceleration there," Finchem said in September. "I still maintain that, over time, golf will come together."

Despite his comments, the PGA Tour under Finchem was pretty progressive compared to previous regimes when it comes to global development. It played the first Presidents Cup in South Korea. It built a World Golf Championship event in China. And now it now has a three-tournament Asian swing in the fall.

Could more be done? Of course, but like Finchem said, these things take time. As Rex Hoggard noted for Golf Channel, there have been recent rumors about a merger between the PGA Tour and European Tour which would allow the PGA Tour to really spread its tentacles as the European Tour already goes to 26 different countries.

I have no idea how a merger would work -- probably nobody does -- but I can tell you I'm fascinated by it. I think it makes sense as golf expands in China, Africa and elsewhere. I am in favor of it and have actually built a hypothetical global golf schedule based on a potential future merger. This has been a yearly exercise, so let's take a look at this year's version, which has been tweaked and prodded.

There are a few other issues I want to take into account here. First, what do you do with the Olympics (we will solve that below) and what do you do about the length of the season (it is absurdly long right now)? We will try and offer solutions to both of those problems with a new 37-week schedule. Also, I like the idea of uniformity here. Right now we have the two biggest golf tours in totally different seasons during the same calendar year. It is confusing and insane.

Let's jump in.

January

  • Week 1: Australian Open (Australia)
  • Week 2: HSBC Champions (China -- WGC)
  • Week 3: CJ Cup at Nine Bridges (South Korea)
  • Week 4: Indian Open (India)

One thing we need to do is spread the WGC events out so they don't conflict with major championships. We need one in each month that does not also feature a major. There also needs to be a more defined schedule for these players. Week 1 should be Week 1 for everyone. And it should start in January.

This is a little bit of a brutal travel schedule (which will be a consistent theme throughout the schedule), but most players will probably skip at least one event. The CJ Cup at Nine Bridges is the PGA Tour's new foray into South Korea. The Indian Open is not a prominent event currently, but I would like to see golf grow there.

February

  • Week 1: Farmers Insurance Open (U.S.)
  • Week 2: Phoenix Open (U.S.)
  • Week 3: Genesis Open (U.S.)
  • Week 4: PGA Championship (U.S. or global)

Yeah, I said it. PGA Championship in February. Let's do it. We have to spread the big tournaments out more and this solves your Olympics problem.

Play it at Pebble Beach every year. How about that? Play the PGA Championship at Pebble Beach every single year. You get rid of the silly pro-am played out there and assure a classic PGA Championship yearly. Or take it to Australia or Hawaii. I don't care. This will never happen because a lot of the PGA Championship courses are in the northeast, but then again, all of this is hypothetical anyway.

March

  • Week 1: Nedbank Golf Challenge (South Africa)
  • Week 2: Dubai Desert Classic (Middle East)
  • Week 3: Abu Dhabi Championship (Middle East)
  • Week 4: Mexico Championship (Mexico -- WGC)
  • Week 5: Arnold Palmer Invitational (U.S.)

I don't love going Asia-Pacific to U.S. and then back to Africa and the Middle East in consecutive months. I really don't, but I'm not sure how else to solve that. This seems like the most reasonable slot in the schedule.

April

  • Week 1: Honda Classic (U.S.)
  • Week 2: Masters (U.S.)
  • Week 3: RBC Heritage (U.S.)
  • Week 4: Wells Fargo Championship (U.S.)

You are staying in the southeast United States for over a month now, which is a nice reprieve for the road-weary and should be honored because some of the best tournaments in the world every year happen in Florida.

May

  • Week 1: The Players Championship (U.S.)
  • Week 2: The Memorial Tournament (U.S.)
  • Week 3: Dean & DeLuca Invitational (U.S.)
  • Week 4: Northern Trust (U.S. -- WGC)

You will notice I'm keeping tournaments at the classic American courses: Colonial, Muirfield Village and TPC Sawgrass. Also, I'm replacing the Bridgestone Invitational on the calendar with the Northern Trust (which is the old The Barclays). It has been played in recent years at Bethpage Black, Liberty National and Westchester Country Club. Yeah, that will do for a WGC.

June

  • Week 1: Canadian Open (Canada)
  • Week 2: BMW Championship (U.S.)
  • Week 3: U.S. Open (U.S.)
  • Week 4: Quicken Loans National (U.S.)
  • Week 5: French Open (Europe)

We are getting rid of the traditional playoffs, so I want to find homes for some of those discarded events (BMW Championship, Northern Trust etc.). I'm going to need the BMW Championship to have a good home like Crooked Stick or Cherry Hills, though. Also, bring me all the opens. I would make a 30-tournament schedule made up of only national opens.

July

  • Week 1: Irish Open (Europe)
  • Week 2: BMW PGA Championship (Europe)
  • Week 3: Scottish Open (Europe)
  • Week 4: Open Championship (Europe)

You get three of the best non-WGC and non-majors here on the European Tour calendar. This might be my favorite month on the new world tour schedule.

August

  • Week 1: Turkish Airlines Open (Europe)
  • Week 2: Spanish Open (Europe)
  • Week 3: OFF / Olympics
  • Week 4: Match Play Championship (US or Europe)
  • Week 5: Match Play Championship (US or Europe)

The new playoffs will operate as the old Match Play Championship (which I am getting rid of) did. Take the top 32 or 64 golfers and let them play two weeks of match play for the FedEx Cup prize (still a $10 million bonus).

I do have a catch, though, so you don't get the randomness of a regular match play event. The higher seeds get a handicap against their counterparts. So if you're the No. 1 seed, you get three-hole (or whatever) lead against the No. 16 seed. This puts emphasis on the regular season and makes upsets even more memorable.

September

  • Week 1: Tournament of Champions (Global)
  • Week 2: Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup

The Tournament of Champions would be a big-purse tournament in a sexy locale with all the winners from the entire year -- like the World Series of Golf if it was bigger and good. You can throw your Match Play Championship money here and blow it up. Make it huge.

Then play the team events (Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup) and boom, you're done before football really gets cranking.

Are there flaws with this plan? Of course. Travel and the grind of a global tour are probably the most prominent. Maybe you lose interest within the United States for golf. Maybe not. I'm just saying I'm incredibly interested in a true global schedule when it comes to golf. Tennis already has one, and I think it could make golf more popular worldwide.

You could then turn the other tours (Web.com, Challenge Tour) into the minor leagues of the big boy tour. Let them interact like they already do where the bottom 25 golfers go down a level every year and the top 25 in each league move up annually.

Would all of this mesh and work fluidly? Probably not, but it sure is fun to think about in a week where Jordan Spieth is playing in Australia, Rory McIlroy is playing in Dubai and most other superstars aren't playing at all. Let's bring them all together for more massive golf tournaments.