PGA Tour chief Jay Monahan has announced LIV golfers wanting to return to the American-based circuit will be unable to. The Tour boss spoke at East Lake ahead of this week's Tour Championship, and revealed a whole host of mega-money plans to challenge their new-found LIV Golf rivals.
A group of the Tour's top players, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and Justin Thomas met in a players-only meeting in Delaware last week ahead of the BMW Championship. In the meeting PGA Tour bosses - with the help of Woods and McIlroy - spoke to the players and informed them of the steps the circuit were taking in battle against LIV Golf.
These measures have now been released by commissioner Monahan, who again took a hard stance against LIV Golf ahead of this week's FedEx Cup finale in Atlanta.
In an effort to keep all eyes on the PGA Tour, Monahan confirmed that the circuit's top players have committed to play at least 20 events across the season, with an additional four 'elevated events' added to the 2023 calendar with an average of a '$20 million purse' at each.
He said: "In addition to the elevated events we announced in June, we are planning to elevate another four events within the 2023 FedEx Cup regular season... They will feature an average purse of $20 dollars."
Monahan went on: "Our top players are making a commitment to play in all 12 elevated events, as well as the Players Championship, the Masters Tournament, the PGA Championship, the US Open and the Open Championship. They will also add at least three PGA Tour events to their schedules."
As well as fans benefitting from the changes, there will also be plenty of reward for the players too. The commissioner announced that the Tour's Player Impact Programme list will be doubled from 10 to 20 players, as will the payout with prize money going from $50 million (£42m) to $100 million (£84 million).
Aside from the tour's big names, all playing members will benefit from the new plans after Monahan confirmed an 'earning assurance programme', which sees the tour provide a guaranteed $500,000 (£424,000) minimum to all fully exempt members.
And after being asked if LIV Golf stars would be able to make a return to the PGA Tour amid the new tournaments being announced, Monahan unequivocally responded 'No'.
The battle between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf is set to continue for some while, but in the meantime, the likes of Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson will have to remain very patient if they want to return to the American-based circuit.
