More money, new schedule, no way back for LIV golfers

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CROMWELL, Conn. — The Travelers Championship, with a day that numerous men and women would think is amongst the worst on the PGA Tour calendar—the week after the U.S. Open—is a accomplishment tale that commissioner Jay Monahan loves to examine. He is aware of the tournament nicely, acquiring graduated from Trinity School, which is just 11 miles absent from TPC River Highlands in Hartford. But on a soggy Wednesday afternoon, Monahan was in the media center to communicate about some thing else: the risk the LIV Golf Collection poses to the PGA Tour and what the tour options to do relocating ahead.

As it turns out, Monahan spoke for just in excess of 40 minutes and outlined a new framework the PGA Tour ideas to put into action shortly.

Listed here are 5 important takeaways from his information meeting:

FedEx Cup playoff time gets revised for 2023

At the end of this period, which concludes with the ultimate spherical of the Tour Championship on Aug. 28, the players rated No. 125 and superior on the FedEx Cup place checklist will qualify to compete in the first match of the FedEx Cup playoffs (the FedEx St. Jude Championship) and make entire exemptions on the PGA Tour for next period. But Wednesday, Monahan introduced that the amount would drop to 70 starting in 2023.

There will nevertheless be 3 FedEx Cup playoff activities, but the best 50 in the issue standings will transfer on to the next spherical in 2023, and then the leading 30 will advance to the Tour Championship just after round two.

Golfers who are unsuccessful to qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs will have to have to gain their exemptions for the following period by enjoying in a collection of occasions in the tumble.

The calendar-dependent period returns

Commencing in the tumble of 2013, the PGA Tour adopted a wraparound schedule that finished in the late summer season of 2014, but Monahan announced Wednesday that the tour intends to return to a calendar-primarily based season in 2024. That usually means the 2024 PGA Tour period will begin in January and conclusion in late August, creating it extra condensed.

The benefit of this system, specially for elite players, is golfers can get pleasure from an off-year and not get worried about returning to motion in a reduced FedEx Cup position situation.

“Selfishly, for me, I would like an off-season,” Rory McIlroy reported Wednesday. “I would like to not switch up in February and be 150th in the FedEx Cup point listing mainly because I just didn’t want to play in the drop and I required to get some time off and spend some time with my loved ones.”

Even so, starting off in 2023, golfers who make it to the 2nd round of the FedEx Cup playoffs will also qualify for a new collection of up to three international events held in the slide. These functions are expected to be held in Asia, Europe and the Center East and have purses in the variety of $20 million each.

Enormous purse will increase at 8 functions

Some of the most significant-profile occasions on the PGA Tour will have drastically much more prize revenue out there to gamers setting up following period, like the Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational, WGC-Dell Systems Match Participate in and the Memorial Event. Individuals situations will go from a overall purse of $12 million to $20 million. The Sentry Match of Champions will go from $8.2 million to $15 million, the Players Championship will have a purse of $25 million, and the FedEx St. Jude Invitational and BMW Championship will jump to $20 million.

“One of the factors that we have heard in excess of the previous a number of months from our sponsors is, ‘Please convey to us what we can do to aid,’” Monahan explained. “So the improvements that we’re making, which will be around $45 million in incremental purse, is coming from a blend of sponsor contribution, you know, means to proceed to sell much more in individuals situations by themselves, and our reserves.”

No no cost lunch on the PGA Tour

The LIV Golf Series contracts players to compete in its occasions, then pays them more dependent on their overall performance and the effectiveness of the crew they perform for that week. However, PGA Tour players gain their cash dependent on how they end at that week’s match.

Around the past handful of weeks, there have been murmurs that golfers who make it to the PGA Tour should really be compensated a set quantity at the beginning of the period to spend for items like journey and coaching. Asked about that topic, Monahan did not say it was off the desk, but did not say it was coming quickly.

“The basis of this tour, the meritocracy of participating in on the PGA Tour, how challenging it is to get out listed here, how challenging it is to get at the highest degree of the recreation, that is in the long run likely to be the attribute,” Monahan explained. “That is finally likely to be the ingredient that will go on to make this tour the biggest tour in the globe.”

For players signing up for the LIV Series, there is no coming again

On June 9, Monahan sent a letter to all PGA Tour customers asserting that he had suspended the 17 members who performed in the LIV Sequence celebration in London, including Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Sergio Garcia. That produced them ineligible to play in any PGA Tour-sanctioned functions.

As he spoke, LIV Golfing took to social media to announce that Brooks Koepka has joined the business, confirming the speculation and experiences that commenced circulating on Tuesday.