Never have so many won so much in golf: 271 players over a million dollars | Sports

The champion has been expelled. The American golf circuit, the PGA Tour, began the season this Thursday with the dispute in Hawaii of the Sentry Tournament of Champions, the tournament that brings together the winners of the previous course and the 50 best of the FedEx Cup. In that select club it should There is Jon Rahm, who in 2023 was crowned four times: in the same Sentry, American Express, Genesis and Augusta Masters. But the Basque, world number three, slammed the door and signed for LIV, the Saudi league, so the PGA has given him a kick.

Thus, with one eye on the game and the other on the dance of millions, world golf gets underway. The previous exercise was closed with an email sent by Jay Monahan, commissioner of the PGA Tour, to the players shortly before midnight. It was the limit that the rectors of the North American circuit and the heads of the PIF, the Saudi Sovereign Fund, had set in June to unify the calendar and put aside the disputes that have divided the sport. But time ran out and Monahan explained to the golfers that the deadline is being extended, with a view to 2025, and that negotiations continue with the PIF, the European circuit and an American investment fund, Strategic Sports Group, which would allow for lightening dependence on petrodollars.

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The Saudi turn is inevitable. Rahm’s departure was a very hard blow to the PGA’s chin; the legendary Royal and Ancient, one of the organizations that govern world golf, is studying promoting the sport in Arabia; and even Rory McIlroy, always very belligerent with the new league, softens his position. “Maybe I judged the guys who went to LIV. It was a mistake on my part. I wouldn’t say I’ve lost the battle, but I accept the fact that they are part of our sport. “They have been able to completely disrupt our game with their money,” assumes the Northern Irishman, understanding with “Rahm’s intelligent commercial move.” McIlroy resigned from the PGA governing board, another symbol of that confidence that has grown among players towards the American circuit. “They see us as labor and not as members. We are the PGA Tour. Without us there is no circuit,” complains another figure, the Norwegian Viktor Holvand, winner of the FedEx. And some sponsors like Honda and Wells Fargo have stepped aside.

Rahm packed his bags (he will debut on February 2 in Mexico) and McIlroy longs for a peace that will be complex: “I hope we will be united again, although there are people on both sides who do not want that to happen. The LIV guys don’t want to return to the PGA because they don’t feel well treated. And those at the PGA don’t want to deal with those who left either. But people have to leave their egos behind so that we can all move forward, which would be the best thing for golf.”

Jon Rahm, after his signing for the Saudi league. Scott Taetsch (AP)

The war continues in an unusual scenario. Never in history has golf distributed more money than in 2023. Never have so many players won so much. According to an estimate by Golf Digest and Ten Golf, 271 golfers surpassed $1 million in earnings last year. The majority, 139, from the American circuit; 49 in LIV, all who played at least six tournaments; 32 on the European men’s circuit; 28 from the LPGA, 19 from the Champions Tour… Among those 271 are nine Spaniards: Rahm, Sergio García, David Puig, Eugenio López-Chacarra, Jorge Campillo, Pablo Larrazábal, Adrian Otaegui, Carlota Ciganda and Miguel Ángel Jiménez

The American Talor Gooch, middle class in LIV, was last year the golfer who has ever amassed the most money in 12 months: 35 million dollars after winning in Adelaide, Singapore and Valderrama and scoring the individual classification in the Saudi league. Scheffler, world number one and named the best of the year in the PGA above Rahm, collected 21 million by winning the Phoenix and The Players crown and accumulating 15 top ten in 21 tournaments; Rahm rose to 17, plus a bonus of nine for the player impact program… And 2024 points to a new record. To begin with, the Sentry distributes 3.6 million in prize money, $900,000 more than last year.

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2024-01-05 04:15:00
#won #golf #players #million #dollars #Sports