The PGA Tour is set to expand its Player Equity Program which has already handed out over $1 billion in grants to over 200 players who have played on the tour.
The top 50 players in this year's FedEx Cup standings after the BMW Championship will all earn recurring equity grants in PGA Tour Enterprises - the Tour's for-profit arm handling all commercial, sponsorship and media deals.
First created in 2024, the Player Equity Program was introduced to reward players for their performance and also value to the Tour - with 193 players given equity grants worth around $930m.
A further 20-plus players won grants in 2025 for their three-year performance and also scores on the Player Impact Performance scale - and they'll be handed their rewards in April to take the total to over 200 players and $1bn.
After taking into account feedback from the membership, new PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp has now decided to expand the 2026 grants and make them soley judged on performance.
So the 50 on offer for 2026 will be given out to players purely for finishing in the top 50 of the FedEx Cup.
Rolapp feels it's an extra way to make players feel invested, quite literally, in the PGA Tour's success - and promote loyalty to the Tour through players feeling a stronger sense of ownership.
“As the sports industry continues to evolve and attract significant investment, your ownership in the PGA Tour is becoming an increasingly important part of the conversation,” Rolapp wrote in a memo as quoted by the Associated Press.
“The PGA Tour’s player ownership model stands out as a groundbreaking approach - giving you the opportunity to benefit from the PGA Tour’s growth and success in ways that go beyond weekly purse earnings. In short, as the PGA Tour does better, so do you.”
Woods still working on schedule revamp
The AP's Doug Ferguson has seen the Rolapp memo and adds that the boss says Tiger Woods and his Future Competition Committee are still working on a revamped season schedule.
A delayed start seems to be on the table with the consensus being the NFL season must be avoided at all costs - so a mid-February kick-off looks likely,
While there are currently numerous events in Florida, California and Texas, there's talk of moving into bigger markets for iconic events in huge cities such as New York and Chicago.
Rolapp has spoken about wanting every event to mean more and hinted at a reduction in tournament numbers - but he's insisted to the players that it won't be a huge cull of events.
“When we talk about scarcity, the goal is to make every event matter more to fans, players and partners, not dramatically reducing the number of total events, playing opportunities or access,” Rolapp wrote in his latest memo sent on Thursday.
“The Committee is still exploring all options, and our priority is to create a schedule that maximizes engagement and value for everyone involved.”
