After a whirlwind year for golf the PGA Tour season is entering its final month of competition, with the FedEx Cup play-offs kicking off later this week. The end of season play-offs begin at the St Jude Championship this coming Thursday, where the tour’s top 125 players will compete.
The play-off field is then cut from 125 to 70 when the circuit heads to the penultimate event of the year at the BMW Championship, before the top 30 players in the standings battle it out for the FedEx Cup title at the campaign-ending Tour Championship.
As well as being crowned the tour’s top player, the victor will also claim a cool £15million ($18m) in prize money along with the trophy.
The £15m prize is the biggest the US-based circuit has ever handed out in their end of season winnings, and comes at a time when player’s prize money is a huge talking point following the emergence of the LIV Golf Series.
The new Saudi-backed circuit has sent shockwaves around the world of golf and lured in some of the game’s best players thanks to their remarkable financial offerings. As well as offering lucrative signing on fees, those who have made the LIV switch compete for a total £20.6m at each event.
The PGA Tour now finds itself competing with a new-found Saudi-funded competitor, but its own mega-money prizes through the FedEx Cup are looking to challenge former world No. 1 Greg Norman and his LIV team. Whilst the tour is unable to compete with the remarkable prize pots at individual events, their end of season prize is right up there.
This year’s improved FedEx Cup prize pot consists of £62m ($75m) with £18m of course going to eventual victor. Across the three events a total of £12.4 million ($15m) sits in each of the prize pots at the opening two tournaments in the St Jude Championship and BMW Championship.
From that each winner of the first two FedEx Cup play-off events will receive a cool £2.2m ($2.7m) in prize money, as well as maximum points in the standings ahead of the finale at East Lake. The leading 30 players will then head to the Tour Championship, where the winner will take the title and the record-breaking £15m prize.
This mega-money PGA Tour reward compared to their LIV Golf rivals is exactly the same. As a result, the golfer leading the LIV individual championship come the end of the 2022 series will also pick up a prize of £15m, but is required to have played at least four events throughout the eight-tournament season.
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As is the case with LIV Golf though, the playing quota will also have the chance to earn a cool bonus through the team element of the series. Their inaugural campaign will come to a close with the Team Championship, with a doubled prize fund of £41.3m ($50m) up for grabs.
As a result, the winning team will take home £13m ($16m) split four ways to each player. This means if the same player wins both the individual and team prize they will come away with £18.25m in prize money.
