Last week a number of the best players in the world, including the GOAT, Tiger Woods, had a special meeting before the BMW Championship in which they discussed changes that could be made to the PGA Tour to not only make it better, but to possibly save it from dying off because of LIV Golf and the endless Saudi money that has thrown the professional golf world into a you-know-what storm over the past few months.
Well, it didn’t take long for those changes to go from ideas to real things because on Wednesday PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan announced a number of huge moves that should be great news for players on the Tour and also golf fans who want to see the best players in the world remaining on the PGA Tour.
Here’s the letter Monahan sent out to Tour members:
Memo from commissioner to players re: schedule/purse changes: pic.twitter.com/67gXQmXBg0
— Rex Hoggard (@RexHoggardGC) August 24, 2022
Let’s get into those changes.
The top players in the world will play against each other much more often.
One of the biggest problems the PGA Tour has had over the years is that the top players don’t play against each other enough during the season. Sure, they all play in the four majors and the Players, but other than that their schedules don’t meet up enough.
That’s going to change going forward as their will 12 elevated tournaments where the top players will be required to play and the purses will all be over $20 million. They will all also play in three other FedExCup events during the year, the Players, and the four majors.
PGA Tour updates:
– More elevated events with avg. purse of $20M
– Top players commit to elevated events, as well as Players, majors, at least 3 other Tour events
– PIP expands to 20 players, $100M
– Earnings program: $500k minimum to fully-exempt players, rookies paid up front pic.twitter.com/hJSnlk22PA— Adam Woodard (@AdamWoodard) August 24, 2022
It’s huge that the top players are recognizing that they need to be playing against each other more often and now they’ll be doing that. It’s also great for fans because we’ll all get more opportunities to see the best play against the best.
Rory McIlroy said of this on Wednesday:
“I think having the top players in the world playing together more often and competing against each other more often is what everyone wants. It’s what the players want. It’s what the fans want, most importantly.”
Heck yeah we do.
All fully exempt players on Tour are guaranteed a $500K league minimum payment.
Exempt players will be guaranteed league minimum of $500,000 based on their earnings. If they come up short of $500K during their season the PGA Tour will make up the difference.
This $500k is a "league-minimum," basically the Tour will be filling in any gaps in earnings, so if a player makes $450k for a year, the Tour will kick in a extra $50k https://t.co/GKmMJ4NkHL
— Jack Hirsh (@JR_HIRSHey) August 24, 2022
Non-exempt players (players ranked 126-150 and below) will also get $5,000 for missed cuts in what is essentially a travel stipend to help cover the big costs that come with going for tournament to tournament.
The Player Impact Program (PIP) is going from $50M to $100M and will cover the top 20 players.
This program is the one where golfers who have the most impact on the game (decided by a formula that the Tour hasn’t really made all that clear) get huge payments from the Tour for growing the game with casual and hardcore fans. It will now cover the top 20 players, instead of the top 10 as it previously had done.
Again, more money to be made.
PIP going from top 10 to top 20…good news for @collin_morikawa who got a whole bunch of nothing for being No. 11 in the inaugural year of the program.
— Adam Schupak (@AdamSchupak) August 24, 2022
All players who make it to the Tour Championship will get a 2-year exemption on Tour.
Any player who makes it to the Tour Championship, where the top 30 players on the FedEx Cup list battle it out in Atlanta, will get a two-year exemption from the Tour. Players usually get that for winning an event but if you make it to Atlanta and haven’t won a tournament you will now be covered for the next two years, which is cool.
Players who make it to the Tour Championship will also be added to the Sentry Tournament of Champions, which takes place every January in Maui and will be a new elevated tournament with a huge purse.
