Increase in purses and overhaul of the calendar: the boss of the PGA Tour, Jay Monahan, made several proposals on Tuesday in order to counter the emergence of the lucrative dissident league LIV, financed by Saudi Arabia.
According to several media, the PGA would like to increase the purses of eight renowned tournaments to at least $20 million from 2023, in addition to introducing three new events endowed with $25 million each, without cuts, as is the case in competitions of the LIV circuit.
The calendar could also evolve with a season modeled on the calendar year, between January and December, whereas currently, the PGA starts its campaign in the fall.
These changes were presented to players during a meeting held on Tuesday on the sidelines of the Travelers Championship tournament, which takes place this week in Cromwell, Connecticut.
I am not naivesaid Jay Monahan on Wednesday at a press conference at Cromwell.
” If it’s an arms race and the only weapons are banknotes, the PGA Tour won’t be able to fight. It will not be able to compete with a foreign monarchy which spends billions of dollars trying to buy golf. LIV is not healthy competition. It’s an irrational threat that doesn’t care about return on investment or the true growth of the sport. “
However, he acknowledged that the threat posed by the breakaway league had obviously accelerated the PGA’s plans to rearrange its schedule. But we had [déjà] plans to increase tournament purseshe assured.
The torch has been burning for several months in the world of golf around the creation of the LIV circuit.
Led by Saudi Arabia and former champion Greg Norman, the LIV, with an extraordinary budget, aligns unprecedented purses on the greens ($25 million per tournament for only three days of competition, instead of four) and has already attracted several renowned golfers such as Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau.
The first LIV tournament took place in early June in London with 17 PGA Tour members participating, all barred from the North American Tour until further notice. It was won by South African Charl Schwartzel, who walked away with a check for four million dollars.
This is the biggest crisis since the creation in 1968 of the PGA Tour, the North American professional circuit where the best golfers in the world play.
Radio Canada
Source: Radio-Canada
