PGA Tour rolls out bigger bonus, schedule change

ATLANTA • The PGA Tour's top golfers have committed to playing against one another 20 times next year while the bonus pool for players who positively impact the game was doubled to US$100 million (S$139 million), commissioner Jay Monahan said yesterday.

The changes represent the PGA Tour's most serious response to the threat posed by the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf series.

In announcing the changes, Monahan said he was inspired by the PGA Tour members and singled out those who held a players-only meeting last week to discuss a number of proposals in the face of the LIV Golf threat.

"It's important to understand that this process represents a remarkable moment for the PGA Tour and showcases the essence of what being a membership organisation is all about," Monahan said ahead of the season-ending Tour Championship in Atlanta.

"Those players rallied together to strengthen the tour platform, recognising that if fans are going to invest in the PGA Tour it means a hell of a lot more if they know the players are investing right back."

Monahan said the top players, assuming they qualify, have agreed to at least a 20-event schedule consisting of the four majors, The Players Championship, three FedExCup events and 12 "elevated events".

An additional four "elevated events" that will have an average purse of US$20 million are still to be announced.

For the 2022-23 season, a "top player" will be defined as those who finish in the top 20 under the current Player Impact Programme as well as those who finish in the top 20 under the revised criteria for the bonus pool.

Among the other changes, the PGA Tour announced an "earnings assurance programme" that guarantees players at the developmental Korn Ferry Tour priority category and above will earn at least US$500,000.

Aside from the PGA Tour's announcement, the complex and often criticised system for determining the FedExCup champion is also a topic of discussion at the Tour Championship.

And as he sets out to retain his title this week, Patrick Cantlay continues to be among the system's detractors.

Before 2019, the winner of the Tour Championship did not necessarily win the season-long FedExCup title too. The PGA Tour changed it so that any of the 30 players who qualify for the Tour Championship had a theoretical shot at winning the FedExCup by tying the two together.

The PGA Tour accounted for the difference in FedExCup points among players by implementing a "staggered" start, in which the points leader begins the Tour Championship at 10 under, second place begins at eight under and so on down the list.

Though a beneficiary of the system, Cantlay remains opposed to it. "I've talked before about it. I'm not a fan," he said on Tuesday at East Lake Golf Club. "There's got to be a better system, although frankly I don't know what that better system is."

So how to solve it?

Reigning US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick floated the idea of placing the qualifying players into a matchplay setting.

"Golf is just so different from the other sports," he said. "That's why I think looking at match play would probably be more of an answer because you've got a team that makes the play-offs in last place or whatever and you don't think they're going to go anywhere, and then they end up going all the way."

As it stands this week, Scottie Scheffler will start the Tour Championship at 10 under, Cantlay in second place at eight under and Xander Schauffele third at six under.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS