As competitive pressure from LIV Golf continues to mount, the PGA Tour has released its schedule for next season — with several measures seemingly aimed at battling the upstart golf competition.
The PGA Tour’s 2022-23 schedule will put on 44 events — including majors — and will feature a record $428.6 million in prize money.
Several key tournaments will see purse increases.
- The Players Championship leads the field with a $25M prize pool, up from $20M.
- The first tournament of 2023 — the Sentry Tournament of Champions — will increase to $15M from $8.2M.
- Three player-hosted invitationals — the Genesis Invitational, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and the Memorial Tournament — will increase purses from $12M to $20M each.
Bonus pools totaling $145 million will also provide incentive for players on the tour. These include $75 million for the FedEx Cup, $20 million for the Comcast Business Tour Top 10, and $50 million for the Player Impact Program.
The new PGA Tour season will place further emphasis on regular-season play and performance in the playoffs: Only 70 players will earn a start in the Playoffs’ first event, followed by 50 for the next event, and 30 for the TOUR Championship.
It will also be the final season to feature a wraparound schedule before the Tour switches back to a calendar-based season in 2024.
All changes are likely a response to competition from LIV Golf. The Saudi-backed venture has notoriously spent hundreds of millions of dollars to lure former Tour players.
Read the original article on FrontOfficeSports.com.
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