PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan will address the media on Wednesday ahead of this week’s Tour Championship following last week’s player-only meeting in Delaware.
Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy were amongst the leading players in world golf gathered together ahead of last week’s penultimate FedEx event in a meeting designed to get everyone on the same page for the greater good of the tour.
It’s understood that players left that meeting in unanimous support of a plan to bring the top players together more often and for larger prize funds as part of a transformative vision to protect the future of the PGA Tour.
No Laying Up reported that; ‘According to multiple sources close to the situation, the proposed plan would involve limiting fields and elevating purses at up to 15 events on the PGA Tour, creating a series of events around which the game’s top players have all committed to build their schedules.’
The NLU report also confirmed the players in question were; ‘Scottie Scheffler, McIlroy, Patrick Cantlay, Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Will Zalatoris, Viktor Hovland, Matt Fitzpatrick, Sam Burns, Jordan Spieth, Tony Finau, Billy Horschel, Cameron Young, Joaquin Niemann, Max Homa, Shane Lowry, Tyrell Hatton, Kevin Kisner, Adam Scott, Rickie Fowler and Woods.’
The 15-event, limited field and mega-money events were said to have been first discussed at the JP McManus Pro-Am where Woods was again heavily involved in a player meeting, after which, suggestions were put to Commissioner Monahan.
Monahan is said to have fully grasped the fact that big changes are needed to the current PGA Tour structure in order to retain its best players against the growing LIV Golf threat.
The PGA Tour had already announced mega prize money increases ahead of next season. From 2023, the Sentry Tournament of Champions will see its prize fund increase from $8.2 million to $15 million, while marquee events like the Arnold Palmer, the Genesis Invitational, the WGC-Dell Match Play and the Memorial Tournament will increase from $12m to $20m, matching new prize pots for the FedEx St Jude Invitational and BMW Championship.
The Players Championship, which boasted a $20m purse in 2022, will rise to $25m next year.
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