Last week’s 98th staging of the PGA Championship of the United States was a dreary, sodden affair in more ways than the ground conditions alone.

True, Jason Day’s late fireworks and Jimmy Walker’s steady, brave play – along with an on-time finish that looked unlikely 24 hours earlier – saved the tournament from descending into mere Tour-level status. Preferred lies were in place for the first time in major championship history as the Lower course at Baltusrol Golf Club was repeatedly peppered by Mother Nature and the turf supported more worms than firm, dry lies.

Heavy rain disrupts play during the third round of the PGA at Baltusrol. PHOTO: Andrew Redington/Getty Images.

It’s the third time in the past five PGAs that volatile weather has impacted the schedule of the championship after storms interrupted play at Kiawah Island in 2012 and Valhalla two years ago. It’s summer in America’s sultry centre so such conditions are hardly surprising. But there are remedies at hand.

This year’s global golf schedule has been chaotic to say the least. There’s a lesson for the various governing bodies and Tours for 2020 and any other subsequent years with golf in the Olympics that merely shuffling the majors by a couple of weeks to accommodate the Games isn’t enough. The 2020 PGA is scheduled for TPC Harding Park in San Francisco. Anyone who’s either spent time in the City by the Bay or heard the oft-repeated line attributed to Mark Twain – “the coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco” – will be aware that July or August may not be ideal for the 102nd PGA Championship (in 2020, the Tokyo Games are scheduled for July 24 to August 9).

The PGA lacks the identity of the other three majors. It would rank fourth on every pro’s list of the Grand Slam events. The Open is untouchable; the Masters and Augusta National have their own, unmatchable aura; the US Open is America’s national championship and diabolically difficult most years. Where does the PGA sit? As US Open, Mk II?

Two solutions to the PGA’s malaise – both bandied about before – became all the more pertinent last week as the fourth-most important golf tournament was sandwiched between the timeless Open Championship and the relative youth of the Olympics. One answer is to move the PGA’s date; permanently.

October is usually a magic month for weather in San Francisco. Beginning with that year’s PGA, the championship ought to move from August to a date away from the two summer Opens. Doing so would give the PGA the point of difference it needs while opening up more parts of the country as potential venues. The interior and southern courses deemed too hot in August would be ideal in, say, February or March, while somewhere like San Francisco is ideal in the autumn months. A roving timing might initially seem erratic, but there’s method in the madness.

And while on the subject of location, the PGA of America should revisit the ideal of staging the championship outside the USA. Sacrilege? Hardly. Think about this: there is no global equivalent of Augusta National, the USGA or R&A, but there is a Professional Golfers Association in basically every golf-playing nation on earth. The PGA should nurture its worldwide colleagues, utilise that unique asset and take its major to the world. Now that would create some identity.

OK, so we’re a little biased here because the golf courses and climate in Australia fit both bills ideally. But who wouldn’t want to see a major played at Royal Melbourne one February? Perhaps every four or five years, take the PGA on the road to a nation, host golf course and at a time that suits.

Rory McIlroy was forced to finish in the dark when he won the PGA at Valhalla simply because of earlier rain delays. PHOTO: David Cannon/Getty Images.

Sadly, the PGA has all but nixed the idea.

“Our emphasis right now, certainly as a staff person that reports into our officers and the board, is what can we do for the benefit of our PGA members,” PGA of America chief executive Pete Bevacqua said at Baltusrol last week. “What can we do in terms of employment opportunities and education opportunities, knowing that we have a great curriculum to train PGA professionals; how can we take that expertise abroad.

“Will a PGA Championship ever happen internationally? Who knows. Is it something that will happen in the immediate future? I would say no. It’s certainly been placed on the backburner for the time being.”

There’s a saying that in life, change is mandatory but progress is optional. If the PGA of America is content with its weather-plagued championship’s standing at the bottom of the majors totem pole, then go right ahead and alter nothing. But if they’d rather bring the PGA Championship in line with the other majors, then move it – in every sense.