PGA Tour announces a big increase in wallet for 2022

You can’t blame Rory McIlroy if he green thinking In more ways than one.

On Tuesday, the PGA Tour announced more than $100 million in extra money for the 2022 season, according to a three-page memo from Commissioner Jay Monahan sent to players that went viral on social media. social and first reported by Golfweek. The increments, which go far beyond traditional prize money and into a variety of potential revenue streams for players, represent the Tour’s biggest movement yet in response to the rumored tournament-driven outside competition. are from LIV Golf Invest led by Greg Norman. (The news also came just two weeks after the European Tour was announced it is doubling its prize fund by 2022.)

In the memo, Tour offers a $105 million increase for 2022, about $70 million of which will come from a spike in revenue (Tour forecasts total project revenue to grow to $1.522 billion by 2022. ). According to Monahan, the remaining $32 million came from the Tour’s “reserves” – money that was clearly unspent from previous years – rounding out the remainder of the increased purse.

Some of the biggest personal highlights of the new group of wallets:

Not on the list above is $60 million in new prize money, bringing total prize money for the year-long PGA Tour to $427 million (from $367 million in 2021). As part of the increase, the average Tour wallet will grow by a million dollars to $9.1 million, while prize money at player-organized invitationals (Genesis, Arnold Palmer, Memorial) and WGC events will grow to $12 million.

PGA Tour money has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years, especially over the past few months as activity awash around Norman’s rumored new tournament (and its deep-pocketed financiers. it). Fully guaranteed contracts, guaranteed ownership stakes and limits serve as some of the biggest appeal of the new tournament and appear to be in direct contrast to the PGA Tour’s push for compensation. for his players, which are sometimes criticized as inferior.

“I think if we change the way we pay, where the top 30, 40 guys get paid a lot and then you don’t get paid as much as the bottom, so that really motivates the guys. really do everything they can to be the best player they can be,” Billy Horschel said last week, echoing sentiments shared by many around the game over the past few years. “By doing that, I think that will take care of any other Tour that competes with the PGA Tour or the European Tour. Like I said, I think we’re doing great things, but I think we need to make sure we’re looking at all the scenarios before making a final decision on the way forward. ”

To address those issues, the Tour announced a series of player-driven initiatives to put more money in the pockets of the top earners, including the aforementioned PIP Program. Monahan’s memo represents the latest attempt at those changes – and just in time for the holidays!

James Colgan

Golf.com Editor

James Colgan is an assistant editor at GOLF, contributing stories to websites and magazines on a variety of topics. He writes Hot Mic, GOLF’s weekly media column, and uses his broadcasting experience on the brand’s video and social media platforms. A 2019 graduate of Syracuse University, James – and his golf game, of course – is still defrosting after four years of snow, during which time he’s cut his teeth at NFL Films, CBS News and Fox Sports . Prior to joining GOLF, James was a caddie scholarship recipient (and a keen roundabout) on Long Island, where he hails from.