PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan rolls out scheduling changes, increased purses in response to LIV Golf

On a day in which another golf governing body said it would let players who have joined LIV Golf play in its major championship and four-time major champion Brooks Koepka reversed course to join the breakaway series, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan laid out the particulars for a revamped schedule and purse structure.

Monahan admitted that if it comes down to money against a tour backed by the Saudi Investment Fund, an arm of that country's repressive, oil-rich regime, the Tour can't win.

But he insisted that the Tour will win any battle when it comes to integrity.

"We welcome good, healthy competition," he said at the TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Conn., the site of this week’s Travelers Championship.

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"The LIV Saudi Golf League is not that. It's an irrational threat, one not concerned with the return on investment or true growth of the game ... our members compete for the opportunity to add their names to history books, and, yes, significant financial benefits, without having to wrestle with any sort of moral ambiguity."

Players purse increases again

Monahan said three new events will be added in 2024, reserved for the top-50 on the final FedEx Cup standings, with $20 million purses. They will be played outside the U.S. in the fall.

The Tour also will return to a calendar-year schedule, rather than beginning the FedEx Cup season in the fall, and five regular-season events, led by The Players Championship, will increase their purses.

The Players purse, which has increased to $15 million in 2020 and $20 million last year, will now offer $25 million, with the winner earning $4.5 million.

The purses for the Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational, The Memorial and the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play will increase to $20 million and the purse for the Sentry Tournament of Champions goes to $15 million.

The first two stops on the FedEx Cup playoffs, the St. Jude Classic and the BMW Championship, will be bumped to $20 million.

This season, those seven events have average purses of $13.4 million. The increase will give them an average of $20 million.

"I am not naive," Monahan said. "If this is an arms race and if the only weapons here are dollar bills, the PGA Tour can't compete. The PGA Tour, an American institution, can't compete with a foreign monarchy that is spending billions of dollars in an attempt to buy the game of golf."

Golf legacy can't be bought

Having losing Kopeka and other major champions such as Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel, Monahan said he will be focused on working with golf's governing bodies to ensure that their competitions are based more on legacy than dollars and cents.

"Currently no one organization owns or dominates the game of golf," he said. "Instead, the various entities, be it Augusta National or the USGA or the LPGA or the PGA Tour or the PGA of America work together to meet our own respective priorities, but with the best interests of the game overall at heart."

Monahan said those best interests don't come with a price tag.

"... when someone attempts to buy the sport, dismantle the institutions that are intrinsically invested in its growth, and focus only on a personal priority, that partnership evaporates," he said. "Instead we end up with one person, one entity, using endless amounts of money to direct employees, not members or partners, toward their personal goal, which may or may not change tomorrow or the next day."

But the LIV Golf Series and CEO Greg Norman couldn't resist tweaking Monahan and the Tour. At one point Monahan was asked about reports that Kopeka was jumping to LIV Golf. He stated correctly that Kopeka or LIV Golf had not yet gone on the record with that news.

Within minutes, LIV Golf texted the news that Kopeka was leaving the PGA Tour -- going against previous statements he had made that he wasn't interested.

Rory McIlroy, among the most vocal critics of LIV Golf, later said that Kopeka's reversal was "duplicitous."

McIlroy also said that lost in the money battle is the fact that LIV Golf has no plan for charity or outreach in the communities in which they play. To date, the PGA Tour has contributed more than $3 billion in charity dollars since 1933.

"That's not lost on the players that when they come and play PGA Tour events," he said. "They're helping to do something really good in the community that they're playing and I think that's important."

Scottie Scheffler supports Tour

Scottie Scheffler, the world's No. 1-ranked player, doubled down on his support of the Tour.

"The money that we have on the PGA Tour, I never dreamt of playing for this much money as I do now," said the current Masters champion who already has broken the Tour's annual money record. "I don't know how much money I've made this year, but it's definitely more than I deserve for whacking a little white golf ball around. For me, the memories that I have playing on this tour and the dreams I have of wanting to be on this tour, it can't be replaced by anything financial.”

Before Monahan's news conference, the Royal & Ancient Golf Club announced it would allow members of the LIV Golf Tour to play in the British Open next month, following the lead of the USGA when it said it was an open event and those who had already qualified should be able to play.

"Each organization operates independently, and whether the USGA and the R & A, they're going to make decisions that are in their best interests," Monahan said. "We have a long history of working closely with those organizations, but again, I would stress the fact that we're independent. Ultimately we're the pathway to those championships and to compete in those championships you need to compete against the best and the best way to prepare is through, is on the PGA Tour."

Changes affect rank-and-file

Monahan also said that the coming changes will come at a cost to the Tour's rank-and-file. The top 70 players at the end of the FedEx Cup season, beginning in 2024, will be fully exempt for the coming season and be eligible for the playoffs. Those below that benchmark will have to scramble in fall events to finish among the top 125 and keep their cards.

Currently, the top 125 on the FedEx Cup points list advance to the playoffs.

"This is a significant change, and it affects every member of the PGA Tour," he said. "So it's less about where you are today and it's more about where the opportunity is, where the ultimate opportunity is."

Monahan said the contrast between the vision for professional golf held by the Tour and other governing bodies and LIV Golf is that money can't buy history.

"I doubt that's the vision any of us have for the game," he said of the plans for the Saudi Investment Fund to spend $2 billion over the next three years. "I know legacy and purpose sound like talking points that don't mean much, but when I talk of those concepts, it isn't about some sort of intangible moral high ground. It is our track record as an organization and as a sport."

Monahan told players in a memo obtained by various outlets that the purse increases will be funded by sponsors and if need be, from reserves.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: PGA Tour commissioner announces changes in schedule, money