PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan has announced enhancements to the PGA Tour for the upcoming 2022/23 season.
The move comes after a much publicised players meeting which took place prior to the BMW Championship last week.
The meeting took place in attempt to get players working together to improve the Tour, and help combat the threat of the newly formed LIV Golf Tour.
Details were expected to filter out in the coming weeks/months, and the speed of Monahan's announcement is a testament to the seriousness of the situation and the threat of players defecting to LIV Golf.
The new enhancements to the PGA Tour will see the top players commit to 20 tournaments (assuming they qualify), including 12 elevated events, the four major championships, The Players Championship, and three other events of their choosing.
The elevated events are Sentry Tournament of Champions, The Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, Memorial Tournament presented by Workday, World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play and the three FedExCup Playoffs events (FedEx St. Jude Championship, BMW Championship and TOUR Championship), and four additional events to be announced in the coming weeks.
All elevated events will have a purse of at lease $20m.
Big Changes To The PGA Tour
Commissioner Jay Monahan discusses the state and future of the PGA TOUR ahead of @PlayoffFinale. https://t.co/x8ADYFdINZ
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 24, 2022
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The changes also see the introduction of the Earnings Assurance Program, which will guarantee all fully-exempt TOUR members will earn at least $500,000 per year.
Rory McIlroy, who is a Player Director on the PGA TOUR’s Policy Board, explained the reasoning behind the changes:
“When I tune into a Tampa Bay Buccaneers game, I expect to see Tom Brady throw a football. When I tune into a Formula 1 race, I expect to see Lewis Hamilton in a car. Sometimes what's happened on the PGA TOUR is we all act independently and we sort of have our own schedules, and that means that we never really get together all that often.
"I think what came out of the meeting last week and what Jay just was up here announcing is the fact that we've all made a commitment to get together more often to make the product more compelling.”
Further benefits for Korn Ferry Tour graduates were also announced, and you can read the full list of enhancements here.
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