The PGA Tour has upped the ante in its battle with the LIV Invitational Golf Series.
The biggest item to come out of PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan’s press conference at the Tour Championship Wednesday was news that top golfers on the tour will commit to play the same 20 tournaments beginning in January.
This revelation came on the heels of a players-only meeting held at the BMW Invitational the week before. Even Tiger Woods, who was not competing in the event, flew up from Florida to attend the meeting.
“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,” Monahan said.
Monahan said Wednesday that four additional tournaments will become Elevated Events in 2023. The Travelers Championship, held every June following the U.S. Open, could be one of those events.
Monahan said those tournaments will be determined within the next 45-60 days.
“We were very excited to learn about the changes outlined by the PGA Tour. We remain committed to being the best partner and the best tournament we can be,” Travelers Championship officials said in a release. “As the Tour said, many more details will be available over the next 45-60 days.
“We continue to focus on our upcoming Charity Celebration at TPC River Highlands on Sept. 13, and we’re also working hard in preparation to host the best golfers and fans in the world at next year’s Travelers Championship June 19-25.”
The major championships, the FedEx Cup playoff events and the Players Championship were previously announced at last June’s Travelers Championship in June as part of the Elevated 20 events. Five other events on the FedExCup schedule are also included.
The other five tournaments are the Sentry Tournament of Champions, the Genesis Invitational, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the WGC Match Play and the Memorial Tournament. All of the Elevated Events will have total purses of at least $20 million.
“We haven’t identified the eligibility criteria yet for those events, but we’re not going to change the criteria of the other events. That’s our plan at this point,” Monahan said. “They’ll rotate between domestic events on the schedule.”
Other things that will occur include the expansion of the Player Impact Program (PIP), doubling the number of players that will be impacted (from 10 to 20) and doubling the bonus pool ($100 million, up from $50 million) and expanding and revising the criteria for the PIP, which will include how the golfers engage on their respective social media platforms, how often the player’s names come up in media and golf fan awareness.
The LIV series opened play with two events in June. Four players who were in the Travelers Championship field, 2020 winner Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and Abe Ancer, withdrew to join LIV, which will have eight events this year and is scheduled to have 14 next year.
Bubba Watson, a three-time Travelers Championship winner, has also joined LIV. Several others are expected to join after the conclusion of the Tour Championship on Sunday. All players were or will be suspended upon teeing it up in their first LIV event.
Three LIV golfers failed to get an injunction to be able to play in the FedExCup playoffs. Monahan remains steadfast in not allowing any players back on the PGA Tour if they wanted to come back.
“As I’ve been clear throughout, every player has a choice, and I respect their choice, but they’ve made it. We’ve made ours,” Monahan said. “We’re going to continue to focus on the things that we control and get stronger and stronger.”
The next FedExCup season begins in a few weeks and will conclude in August of 2023. The PGA Tour schedule returns to a single-calendar year format in 2024.
[email protected]; @nhrJoeMorelli
