The PGA Tour will increase prize pools at five of its biggest events, with two FedEx Cup playoffs now offering $ 15 million on a schedule that brings prize money closer to the $ 500 million barrier this year.
The increases, which include $ 12 million in the three invitational tournaments, were approved at a board meeting held two weeks ago in Houston and explained in a memo that the PGA Tour commissioner, Jay Monahan, sent the players on Monday.
“We are positioned to grow faster in the next ten years than we have at any time in our existence,” Monahan said in the memo. Monahan adds that the forecast for the tour is that 55% of the proceeds will go back to the players in the form of prizes, bonus programs and other benefits.
The $ 838 million allocated to players includes $ 32 million from the reserve fund. Prize money for official events is $ 360.1 million. That doesn’t include the $ 75 million FedEx Cup, nor does it include the Grand Slams, which now lag behind regular PGA Tour events.
The ‘majors’ do not usually announce their awards until the date of the event approaches. A year ago, the richest tournament was the US Open, with $ 12.5 million. The PGA Championship purse was $ 12 million and the Masters and British Open shared $ 11.5 million.
Atentos al World Tour
It should be noted that these numbers have come earlier than usual, in part due to the announcement earlier this month that a group led by the ‘white shark’ Greg Norman and financed by the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia plans to inject 200 million dollars into the Asian Tour as a step towards the creation of a world tour that promises millionaire bags in prizes and ‘fixed’ starting.
Monahan did not mention the competition circuits in his note. The tour has already released the 2021-22 schedule which shows that most tournaments increase the prize money by almost a million dollars. Board-approved updates include postseason events (FedEx St. Jude Championship and BMW Championship, which go from $ 11.5 million to $ 15 million in prize money, meaning the winner would win $ 2.7 million. ). This represents an increase in the stock market of 9.5 million dollars from a year ago.
In addition, prize money for the Genesis Invitational at the Riviera CC in Los Angeles, the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Orlando’s Bay Hill and the Memorial at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio, increase to $ 12 million, up from $ 10. $ 5 million earlier and $ 9.3 million from a year ago.
The World Golf Championships-Dell Match Play will also have a $ 12 million purse. The average PGA Tour purse, not including the four non-US events, is about $ 9 million. In addition to the cash prizes, the FedEx Cup bond bag goes from $ 60 million to $ 75 million, and the winner will win $ 18 million.
The tour said that $ 685 million of the $ 838 million allocated to players would be compensation to players, such as prizes and bonuses. The rest goes to retirement plans and benefits. The increases come largely from the roughly $ 7 billion (network and digital) nine-year media rights deal that takes effect in 2022.
