A brand new period of the PGA Tour will start in 2023. After saying late this summer season that 9 of its 2023 tournaments could be elevated events with huge purses, the PGA Tour will reportedly improve that variety of elevated tournaments to 13 per season with 12 of these 13 events paying out $20 million or more to golfers.
These big-time, big-money events will function all the highest gamers in the world, in accordance to a number of reports, with the Phoenix Open, RBC Heritage, Travelers Championship and Wells Fargo Championship being the four latest additions, per Golfweek.
Those events will be a part of the Tournament of Champions, Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational, Players Championship, WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, the Memorial Tournament, St. Jude Championship, BMW Championship and Tour Championship in the elevated class.
In whole, 10 of the 13 elevated tournaments will function purses of $20 million. The solely events which have various purses are the Tournament of Champions ($15 million), Players Championship ($25 million) and Tour Championship ($75 million towards the FedEx Cup total).
These are the 13 PGA Tour events that each one the highest gamers in the world agreed to play collectively on the now-famous lodge assembly in the course of the 2022 BMW Championship. Additionally, these gamers will ostensibly play the four main championships to carry the whole of assured appearances to 17 per season. It’s doable they could even be required to play three extra PGA Tour events on the calendar as a approach to unfold out star energy throughout the non-elevated tournaments. That’s a probable whole of 20 events in the course of the 2022-23 PGA Tour season for the sport’s prime gamers.
Those golfers, outlined yearly because the 20 gamers who completed highest in the Player Impact Program, have agreed to play in these elevated events shifting ahead as a approach to fight the newly-launched LIV Golf, which options restricted events (14 in 2023) in which all the highest gamers in that league play.
The solely top-ranked gamers which have left the PGA Tour for LIV Golf have been Dustin Johnson and Cameron Smith. Though different massive names have departed, none have been in the highest 20 in the Official World Golf Rankings.
“We need to get the top guys together more often than we do,” stated Rory McIlroy earlier this yr after the players-only assembly in Delaware forward of the BMW. “I’m talking about all in the same tournaments, all in the same weeks.”
Functionally, this elevated occasion path creates two totally different leagues for the PGA Tour. There would be the 17 elevated tournaments (together with the most important championships, that are run by non-PGA Tour organizations however are thought of PGA Tour events) after which the 30 non-elevated tournaments, most of which is not going to function the PGA Tour’s top-drawing stars. However, this consolidates star energy in a significant approach and packs it into fewer events somewhat than spreading it skinny all through the season.
Also, it seems possible the PGA Tour will rotating a few of these elevated occasion purses throughout totally different tournaments in order that, for instance, maybe the AT&T Byron Nelson shall be an elevated occasion in 2025 and provides these in the Dallas/Fort Worth market a chance to see all the very best golfers in the world. This is probably going to present a greater total fan expertise than the established order.
“Our top players are firmly behind the Tour, helping us deliver an unmatched product to our fans, who will be all but guaranteed to see the best players competing against each other in 20 events or more throughout the season,” stated PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan on the Tour Championship earlier this yr.
“This is an extraordinary and unprecedented commitment, a testament to who these guys are and what they believe in. To now have our top players rally around this organization and commit to a portfolio of tournaments like never before, I think our fans, our partners, our players are going to love it. I promise you, there’s more to come.”