Golf’s “prime gamers” have dedicated to play a minimum of 20 PGA Tour occasions a 12 months, the Tour’s commissioner, Jay Monahan, has introduced.
The 20 occasions embody the 4 main championships, the Gamers Championship and 12 “elevated” tournaments on the PGA Tour which may have a median purse of $20m (£17m). Gamers will then select three different PGA Tour occasions so as to add to their schedules because the Tour bids to fight the risk posed by the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Sequence.
“Our prime gamers are firmly behind the Tour, serving to us ship an unmatched product to our followers, who shall be all however assured to see the perfect gamers competing towards one another in 20 occasions or extra all through the season,” Monahan mentioned in a press convention forward of the Tour Championship.
Requested if LIV Golf gamers who had been impressed by the modifications to the PGA Tour can be welcomed again, Monahan mentioned: “No. They’ve joined the LIV Golf Sequence and so they’ve made that dedication and plenty of have made a multi-year dedication.
“I’ve been clear all through, each participant has a selection and I respect that selection. I believe they perceive that.”
The Tour’s announcement comes per week after Tiger Woods flew to Delaware forward of the BMW Championship to steer a players-only assembly, with Rory McIlroy additionally a key determine. “Everybody in that room realised that that is one of the simplest ways ahead,” McIlroy mentioned. “Now we have all made a dedication to get collectively extra usually to make the product extra compelling.”
McIlroy additionally mentioned he had spoken to Cameron Smith, who has been strongly linked with becoming a member of LIV, two days after the Australian beat him to the Open Championship at St Andrews. “I don’t care in the event that they go away or not, it’s not going to make a distinction to me, however I’d a minimum of like folks to decide that’s utterly knowledgeable,” he added.
McIlroy additionally revealed some particulars of his three way partnership with Woods, which is able to see six, three-man groups compete in a “high-tech golf league” on 15 Monday evenings, beginning in January 2024. The 18-hole contests will take simply two hours to finish.
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