The PGA Tour Outlines Its Future, But Questions Remain

There have been days of waiting and wondering what is going to happen next with the PGA Tour, with LIV, and what happened at the “secret” player meeting held at the BMW Championship.

Finally, we got some answers. Most information came from Jay Monahan in his press conference at the Tour Championship.

The biggest takeaway for golf fans, whether in person, on television, or other media forms is that the players want what everyone wants: more stars more often.

“Our top players are firmly behind the TOUR,” Monahan said.

Then he added that golf fans “will be all but guaranteed to see the best players competing against each other in 20 events or more throughout the season.”

That’s big.  In the past, PGA Tour players often didn’t have to play in more than 15 tournaments.  But now, they are promising that they will show up more frequently.

Jordan Spieth said he plans to play in more than 20 tournaments.

"“That’s including the majors, when you say 20 events, so that’s less events than I play right now,” Spieth said.  “I’m going to play more than 20 times because I love to play golf. I’m 29 and I’m healthy, so I will be playing other events.”"

He also has some commitments for his sponsor, AT&T, so that means he plays the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the AT&T Byron Nelson, at least.  Spieth supports the  Texas tournaments, and next year, he defends at the RBC Heritage.

Other players may have similar situations with sponsors, like Zurich Insurance for the New Orleans event or RBC for the RBC Heritage and RBC Canadian Open, to name two.

In addition to the so-called 12 “elevated events,” the ones with the big purses and the majors, the top 20 players will commit to playing in three additional tournaments that don’t have the $20 million purse.

The elevated events include Sentry, which has a $15 million purse, Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational, Memorial, WGC-Dell Match Play, FedEx St. Jude Championship, BMW Championship, all of which have a $20 million purse, The Players, which has a $25 million purse, and the Tour Championship, which hands out $75 million.

Four more events – not yet named — will get top billing and a $20 million purse. These events will rotate among the other tournaments on the PGA Tour schedule.

We don’t know what tournaments will get picked the first year, but there’s likely to be a lot of lobbying by tournament directors who want to be able to say they have the top 20 players.

Monahan noted how unusual last week’s player meeting was, adding that there have only been two player meetings like the one held last week in the history of the Tour.  And the one last week didn’t include all players.

The previous meeting was in 1994.  Greg Norman caused both of them to happen, but Monahan didn’t say that.

The 1994 meeting was when Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer basically told the players who were considering joining Norman’s 1994 World Tour that they shouldn’t do it. And nobody wanted to go against Jack and Arnold.  That’s when Norman began his vendetta against the Tour.

With Tiger Woods injured, Norman must have decided that there was a weakness in the PGA Tour that he could exploit, but he didn’t count on the influence that Tiger still has.

"“I think what transpired last week to me is a moment in time that we’ll always look back on as a moment that made this TOUR, made this game even greater than it already is, and that’s because of the tremendous loyalty and commitment that those players and other players — I want to emphasize, those players are representing not just themselves as top players but many of them have been not-top players,” Monahan insisted."

There was plenty of other news, too. Monahan dangled some bait that we won’t be able to catch for a while.

Those who opted to join LIV and now see what the Tour is doing and want to return to the PGA Tour, can’t come back, at least not right now.

“They’ve joined the LIV Golf Series, and they’ve made that commitment. For most of them, they’ve made multiyear commitments,” Monahan noted.

"“As it relates to any of the scenarios for LIV players and coming back, I’ll remind you that we’re in a lawsuit. They’ve sued us. I think talking about any hypotheticals at this point doesn’t make a lot of sense.”"

But that doesn’t mean that they can never apply for reinstatement, unless the Tour has changed its regulations.  However, a former LIV player would have to sit out for a year and then be voted in by some entity, perhaps the Policy Board.  That’s going to be a hard sell.

In other questions we don’t have answers to, we know what the Tour will look like starting in January of 2023 from January to August, but what happens after that? We don’t know what will happen in the fall of 2023.

Will there be new special events for top players?  Will there be a fall series for those who are not in the top 70, for those who are between 125 and 150?  Will there be both? Answers are to be determined.

In news that no one particularly anticipated:

The Tour will not lower the age for PGA Tour Champions to some number in the 40s.

"“The only way I would respond to that is that 50 has worked very well, and when you look at the impact you can have by lowering the age level and thinking about who is going to start playing on PGA TOUR Champions versus continuing to play here competitively and thinking about those that are on PGA TOUR Champions today and the records that are there, it’s complicated,” Monahan said."

For the Presidents Cup: Charlotte will have 500,000 square feet of hospitality space.

“That’s more than we have at The Players, 40,000 people a day; a first tee experience like you’ve never seen before,” Monahan said about the event.

The first-place winner in the PIP competition (Player Impact Program) will receive $15 million.

The Tour is not giving up its 501(c)6 status, which means it is a non-profit organization.

“The 501(c)6 status and the integrity of that and all it does for us, that’s always going to be a central fabric to who we are as an organization,” Monahan insisted adding that there can be for-profit subsidiaries.

"“If you think about our impact in the communities where we play, our history, our legacy, that’s a point of differentiation for our sport, that’s a point of differentiation for the Tour, and that will continue to be that way.”"

The second PGA Tour Commissioner, Deane Beman, was the one who suggested to the members that they become a 501(c)6 organization.

It has made a significant difference to the communities where PGA Tour tournaments are held and to the PGA Tour itself. According to a representative of the PGA Tour, the organization has raised more than $3.2 billion dollars for charities since its inception.