REPORTS- PGA STEPS UP RESPONDS TO RIVAL LIV GOLF LEAGUE WITH PROPOSED SCHEDULE CHANGES AND PURSE INCREASES.
LIV Golf has drawn in several top-ranked players with its notable signing bonuses and prize winnings.
The PGA Tour has stepped up its response to the rival Saudi-backed golf league this week, proposing an eight-event series worth at least $160 million in total prize earnings, according to multiple reports.
Commissioner Jay Monahan met with players on Tuesday ahead of this week’s Travelers Championship to discuss changes to the tour schedule that will include “eight limited-field no-cut events, with purses of $20 million or more each, for the top 50 finishers in the prior season’s FedEx Cup standings,” Gold Digest reported, citing several players present at the meeting.
Sources told ESPN that while nothing official has been put into place, the changes are expected to be approved for the 2023 season.
The increase in prize earnings will impact several existing tournaments and will be paid for by sponsors or the tour’s reserves, according to ESPN.
Two players also told the Associated Press that the topic of returning to a calendar season and changing the FedEx Cup playoff eligibility from the top 125 players to the top 70 was also discussed.
The news followed reports that eight-time PGA Tour winner Brooks Koepka was the latest player to join LIV Golf. He remained in the field for the Travelers Championship, though he was not at a player meeting Tuesday morning at the TPC River Highlands.
Koepka is expected to join his brother, Chris Koepka, at the Pumpkin Ridge Gold Club for the first LIV Golf Invitational Portland beginning next Friday.
LIV Golf, backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, has slowly drawn in some of the PGA Tour’s top-ranked players with its notable signing bonus and purses.
Two-time PGA Tour winner Charl Schwartzel became the first-ever LIV Golf Invitational champion last week and took home a whopping $4.75 million, making it the richest tournament in golf history.
