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PGA Tour Tournament Officials See Trouble Ahead As Costs Spiral

• Author: Bob Harig

The PGA Tour finds itself in the throes of a harrowing time in its history, dealing with the realities of a rival that has driven the cost of business to levels that go beyond what it can handle.

And while the Tour is in the midst of negotiations with the DP World Tour, Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia as part of a framework agreement —as well as potential other private equity firms that could potentially invest billions in a new for-profit entity—the decades-old nonprofit PGA Tour Inc. is having to make some tough decisions about how to fund purses.

That’s because the money that comes into the new venture can’t go to the old one.

"They have made it clear that none of the money will flow to the tournaments," is how one tournament official, who wished not to be identified, described the situation.

That puts the Tour in the position of courting billions while skimping to pay millions.

All of this is being discussed this week at annual meetings involving PGA Tour tournaments in Palm Springs, Calif.

And tournaments are well aware of what is being asked: that starting in 2025, they contribute a bigger portion to PGA Tour purses than they currently do.

Starting in 2025, PGA Tour events will have to cover higher purses and in doing so may face sponsor backlash and be forced to donate less money to local charities.

Keyur Khamar/PGA Tour via Getty Images

As Sports Business Journal first reported last month, a new funding model has been proposed that would see the non-profit tournaments provide an additional fee that would go to tournament purses.

And it has not been received well.

In interviews with several tournament directors and officials, Sports Illustrated found that "tournaments are not happy at all," said one tournament director. "They are asking each tournament for a large fee and a revenue share."

The fees would be based on the type of event, whether it is an opposite event, a regular Tour event, a signature event or a playoff event.

And at a time when tournaments are already stretched to pay the bills and give their proceeds to charity, they fear this will further cut into their abilities to run the tournaments properly.

"I’m not expecting any good news out of this," another tournament official said about this week’s meetings.

According to the Sports Business Journal story, the Tour is working on a three-year plan that would determine a fee for each event, with 50% of that fee due in the first year with the idea that the full amount would be due in 2027.

Since the LIV Golf League emerged in 2022 and began attracting players with guaranteed contracts and huge purses with no-cut events, the Tour has been put in a no-win financial fight.

To push back, the PGA Tour unveiled a Player Impact Program that will see $300 million in bonuses paid out over a four-year period as well as the introduction of a series of elevated tournaments to be called signature events in 2024.

There are eight such tournaments , all paying $20 million purses—except for the Sentry which will be $15 million. The first two FedEx Cup playoff events have also increased to $20 million. That means that 10 tournaments in a two-year span will have seen their purses rise by roughly $8 to $12 million per year.

Built into the original television rights deal that was signed in 2020 before the emergence of LIV Golf, tournaments were already contracted to raise their purses by some $400,000—depending on the event—per year.

And tournament sponsors are not happy. “Many of them are just saying they won’t do it, they’ve had enough," a tournament director said.

Hence, the Tour going to 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations to ask for help in funding the purses.

The PGA Tour, a 501(c)(6) nonprofit entity, has a unique arrangement with the television networks who broadcast and stream events, with title sponsors who help fund them and with the local host organizations that run them.

Basically, each title sponsor pays a sponsorship fee that typically equates to roughly 150% of the purse or more. For example, if a tournament has a $20 million purse, its outlay could be as much as $30 million, with part of it covering the purse, some of it going to the local host organization and the rest to the Tour. Some of that price might go toward activating the event, such as entertaining.

The rest of the purse comes from the Tour from its television rights fees. Each local host organization is given what’s called an “entitlement fee" from the title sponsor to help run its event.

But from there, every tournament is on its own. It raises funds through pro-ams, sponsorships, ticket sales, merchandise and concessions. It pays for all the infrastructure on site, course rental fees, food for players and volunteers, staging—everything associated with the event.

Each event also has a small full-time staff that must be paid. After paying all of its expenses, each tournament then donates its proceeds to charities, sometimes to the tune of multi-millions, depending on the event.

The PGA Tour lauds its charitable giving, but the real work is done on the local level. And now that is being threatened, tournament officials say.

"We have only so many pro-am spots we can sell, only so much we can charge for them," said one tournament official. “We can only build hospitality venues so high."

While the Tour is not telling tournaments to give less to charity, in essence, that is what will happen. Unless tournaments are able to raise revenue even more. And that task will be made more difficult by other asks from the Tour.

For example, tournaments will be required to provide more private restroom areas on both the front and back nines at each tournament site, among other things. Courtesy cars, while already common are most tournaments, will now be required for players. More nutritional food items and access for player coaches and trainers is also expected.

"We supply all of our financial information to the Tour," said another tournament official. "They know all of our expenditures and revenues. So they have access to what we are doing and can say they want a certain amount of it. It’s like maybe they can use that against us."

So what if a Tour event doesn’t comply? Each event has a contract with the Tour, which can simply choose to not renew it when it runs out. In its place, the Tour can install another organizing group that will comply, or use the Tour’s own for-profit arm—Championship Management—to run the event.

Already, Championship Management handles tournaments such as the Players Championship, Tour Championship, the Sentry and the FedEx St. Jude as well as several on the PGA Tour Champions. That is a money-making vehicle for the Tour.

"It’s a win-win situation for them," said one tournament director.

And as the PGA Tour potentially enters into a new era with a for-profit arm, it is leading to some uneasy times among those who have for years made the Tour run at the local level.

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The Deal That Shocked Pro Golf May Be in Trouble

Nine days after the PGA Tour merged with Saudi-backed LIV Golf , the Justice Department has stepped in to investigate the deal that shocked the sports world. On Thursday, the DOJ informed the PGA Tour that it is reviewing the merger over antitrust concerns, according to The Wall Street Journal .

The DOJ inquiry will likely be a huge pain for the operators of both leagues. When the merger was announced last week, the goal was to end the bad blood between LIV and PGA over LIV’s poaching of top talent from the American tour with nine-figure payouts. (It was also designed to kill LIV’s private antitrust suit and an already-in-motion DOJ inquiry into the PGA’s alleged anti-competitive response to that poaching.) In the new deal, the PGA would receive an unknown but assuredly exorbitant amount of money. In exchange, LIV, which is operated by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, would get the PGA to cease hostilities against it — for instance, to stop issuing statements claiming it is using “golf to sportswash the recent history of Saudi atrocities.”

With the DOJ investigation underway, a senior PGA Tour executive told the Journal that the status of the merger may not be clear for at least a year, with regulatory review adding additional months to the timeline. And that’s not the only roadblock facing this merger: The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations also intends to open an investigation into it.

How much will it cost to put everything on hold? PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan previously said that the league could not afford legal bills to cover its litigation with LIV. Another open question: What about the status of marquee golfers like Phil Mickelson, who joined LIV and are now awaiting their readmission to the American tour? That, too, is up in the air. To add to the atmosphere of uncertainty, the PGA is also running without Monahan at the helm: A week after the deal was announced, the commissioner announced he was taking a leave of absence due to an unnamed “medical situation.”

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FIRE PIT COLLECTIVE

The timeless appeal of pro golf is being destroyed by money

This article originally appeared on the Fire Pit Collective , a Golf Digest content partner.

Chris Graythen

Take-take-take-take-take-take-take-take-take.

Also: more-more-more-more-more.

Everywhere you look these days in professional golf, there’s a whole lot of taking going on, coupled with a demand for more. It’s not good for business.

The LIV Golf series—Greg Norman presiding; the notorious MBS lurking—is taking various name-brand players from the PGA Tour.

The players leaving for greener pastures—Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia and various other me-me-me’s—are taking all that Saudi have-you-over-a-barrel oil money and falling into the richest black hole in professional golf history.

Can you imagine the LIV events as competitive tournaments with meaningful outcomes, with events that paying fans and TV viewers and the mainstream sports media will ever really care about? Hard to see it. Maybe LIV Golf will try to buy Golf Channel, or start something similar, and pay people to watch.

Michael Reaves

Quick aside: On the Monday after a Masters, nobody has ever talked about the first-place money. But millions of us have discussed so-and-so’s second shot into 13.

And now comes the PGA Tour’s misguided response to the Saudis, as outlined on Wednesday at the Travelers Championship, Jay Monahan, playing an expensive round of tit-for-tat. Here’s the subtext of what he said: The tour will now take hundreds of millions of corporate dollars from publicly traded companies—our money, really—in a desperate attempt to stop the upstart league from buying more tour players.

By the commissioner’s own admission, adding all this eureka money into the pot is not a sound or sustainable business plan.

“If this is an arms race and if the only weapons here are dollar bills, the PGA Tour can’t compete,” Monahan said. Behind him was a scrim adorned with FedEx and Travelers and PGA Tour logos. By his right hand was a bottle of Dasani water, a Coca-Cola product. Coca-Cola is a proud sponsor of the PGA Tour. In 2018, Dasani Sparkling water became the official sparking water of the PGA Tour. Well, somebody has to pay the bills around here.

Quick Aside II: FOX Sports executives found they couldn’t make any money from the $1.1 billion deal they signed with the USGA in 2013. Plus, they didn’t understand golf and didn’t do golf-on-TV particularly well. Both sides couldn’t wait to get out. History has a tendency to repeat itself.

Monahan on Wednesday, from prepared remarks: “The PGA Tour, an American institution, can’t compete with a foreign monarchy that is spending billions of dollars in attempt to buy the game of golf.”

Nobody owns golf. You can’t buy it. But you can buy the appearance of looking modern and capitalistic and mainstream, and that’s what the Saudis are doing. Yes, this golf-washing is a real thing. We’ve all taken mud-encrusted golf balls, put them in those red-and-black ball-washing cylinders and seen the magic they can produce. Multiply that by infinity.

Donald Trump is all in on this LIV series, after being rejected by the PGA Tour and the USGA and the PGA of America and the Royal & Ancient. As the 45th president of the United States, he was our first president who would not publicly commit to the peaceful transition of power. Trump is fun to play golf with—I’ve played with him a bunch—but how can you not see that as dangerous? Yet as the de facto host of two LIV events in the U.S. between now and October, he will have opportunities to press flesh with Bryson and DJ and Phil. He will be engaged in some high-quality golf-washing, and the fellas will be his co-conspirators.

Quick Aside III: Trump, as president and now ex-president, has tried and is trying to turn a sacred American practice, trust in the independent counting of votes, into a piñata. Here’s a golf equivalent: Can you imagine any kind of serious golf where we could not trust the score the players say they shot?

Monahan guided the tour with considerable skill through the dark days of the pandemic. Now, though, the tour he leads is suddenly hyper-focused on the wrong thing, trying to keep the Saudis from buying more name-brand players. The starting point to the tour’s appeal is that millions of us like to watch golf, a notoriously difficult game requiring astounding ethics and self-control. There was barely a nod to us in his 40-minute press conference.

The players cashing in with LIV (including Graeme McDowell and Louis Oosthuizen) made their names by contending at multiple televised PGA Tour events and (most especially) in Grand Slam tournaments. Pretty much all of the players cited in this story could walk the Mall of America near Minneapolis for a week and be recognized about three times. As people, they have no cultural impact on the world at large. They take. Their lack of gratitude for the world that enriched them is stunning.

I cannot imagine any player making the jump to this LIV series having the mettle it takes to win another Grand Slam event, but maybe that’s just wishful thinking.

John Feinstein wrote this the other day in The Washington Post :

“[Rory] McIlroy and Garcia are good friends; they were in each other’s weddings. But when Garcia told McIlroy the reason to join the LIV Tour was `so we can finally get paid what we deserve,’ McIlroy laughed out loud. `Sergio,’ he said, `We’re golfers . We don’t deserve to be paid anything.’”

Maybe Rory will take over the tournament that Mickelson used to host, the old Bob Hope event. He has to be in line for something here. I wish I could take credit for this next idea, but I’m stealing it from one of Monahan’s compatriots. Here’s a message for any player who wants to leave the PGA Tour for the LIV series: Bye-bye .

Quick Aside IV: Create a new system for earning World Ranking points. You can only get them by playing in 72-hole events with a cut. If that forces the LIV series to redefine its whole MO, so be it. If that compels the PGA Tour to rethink the WGCs and the newly proposed big-money events, I’m all for that.

The tour is taking its cues from LIV, and we’re going to be stuck with it for years to come. All this emphasis on the top 70 players brings to mind the old tour, where only the top 60 money winners had full status for the following year. Top 60 used to be a magic number. Come 2024, top 70 will be. It guarantees you a place in four tournaments with giant paydays and small fields, including Tiger’s event (L.A.), Arnold’s (Bay Hill) and Jack’s (the Memorial).

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In professional golf, free and fair competition, to use a phrase Monahan likes, starts with full fields and four rounds with a cut. The PGA Tour, pretty much as is, might have been in for a couple of rocky years, but new players, new so-called stars, would have emerged, by winning these hard-to-win events and contending, and maybe winning Grand Slam events.

Quick Aside V: Will Zalatoris. There are others Willie Zs out there. We just don’t know their names yet. Did you know his name three years ago?

I think this needs to be said: It’s not like the PGA Tour is some cuddly us-against-the-world sports league. Over the years, I’ve had dozens of conversations with players, caddies, reporters, fans, course operators, sponsors, volunteers, TV executives and others who can cite for you, chapter and verse, the tour’s astounding arrogance. The tournaments do all manner of good works. They put on a show and raise money for charity. Nobody would ever accuse the NBA of taking itself too seriously. The modern PGA Tour strikes me as too self-satisfied for its own good. It’s overstuffed.

I won’t waste much time on this because it’s too late and it’s a fantasy, but I would have liked to see the Tour keep its traditional January-through-October schedule, pretty much, with some serious tweaks to the three playoff events. I would have used October, November and December to invent some forms of competition based on what fans might enjoy watching and players might enjoy playing. Team events. Events with men and women and seniors and top amateurs playing together. Maybe an event where the players can use only four clubs. Six similar-but-different events would have been plenty and maybe would have brought in new viewers. But the main point here is, start with the fans. Fans draw sponsors. Sponsors draw players.

The players want to be shown the money.

Instead, the tour has gone straight down the same rabbit hole as the Saudis. We all know the famous O’Jays lyric:

Money-money-money. MON-ey. Mon-EEE!

The song, you may know, is called “For the Love of Money.”

The oddest bit of news this week is Nick Faldo’s retirement announcement. Trevor Immelman, winner of the 2006 Cialis Western Open (its name then) and the 2008 Masters, will replace Faldo as the new CBS lead golf analyst. Faldo said he wants to spend more time on his Montana ranch with his wife, Lindsay De Marco. If you say so, Sir Nick.

Quick Aside VI: The comedian Tom Segura has a 3-year-old son who insists on being called “sir.”

What a shame, for golf if not for Phil, that he didn’t get Faldo’s job. What a shame that he danced with the Saudis as they showed all those sparkling rubies, got even more cocky (which had been his stock in trade) and then mouthed off to my colleague Alan Shipnuck.

Had he played his hand with a soupçon less greed, Mickelson could have played the Masters this year as the reigning PGA champion, maybe even made the cut, then climbed into the booth late on Saturday and been introduced as Sir Nick’s worthy successor.

This would seem more than realistic: a $100 million deal for 10 years, 10 tournaments a year and Mickelson could still play wherever he wished, including the Masters. (Imagine what Callaway and KPMG and Workday would have paid Mickelson in that scenario!) That would have made the PGA Tour a more interesting, as they say these days, product.

Maybe that’s the root of the problem, turning golf into a product, something that can be bought and sold. An entertainment product. None of us care about a product. What drew us in was the game.

Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments at [email protected]

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PGA Tour and LIV Golf Seek to Drop Litigation Against Each Other

Although the tour’s deal with the Saudi wealth fund has not closed, the request to a federal judge was a milestone in golf’s surprise détente.

By Alan Blinder

Reporting from Los Angeles

The PGA Tour, LIV Golf and Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund asked a federal judge in California on Friday to dismiss the litigation that catapulted golf’s economic and power structure into the American court system.

The request to dismiss the case with prejudice, meaning that it cannot be refiled, came less than two weeks after the tour and the wealth fund, which bankrolled LIV, announced a tentative agreement to form a partnership . Although the deal may not close for months and faces mounting scrutiny in Washington , Friday’s submission in Federal District Court in San Jose, Calif., was a milestone in the abrupt détente between the rival circuits.

Judge Beth Labson Freeman, who has been overseeing the case, is expected to approve the request, a cornerstone of the tentative agreement between the tour and the wealth fund. By abandoning the litigation, LIV, the PGA Tour and the wealth fund are limiting the potential for damaging revelations and surging legal bills, as well as closing off one avenue for recourse if the new alliance falls apart.

Justice Department officials, who were already conducting an antitrust inquiry into men’s professional golf, are expected to review the deal closely and could even try to block it or compel changes to it. At least two Senate panels are demanding information about the planned transaction and its consequences, and the deal has not even secured the approval of the PGA Tour’s board.

Much about the agreement itself also remains in flux, including the valuations of the assets of the tour, LIV and the DP World Tour, formerly the European Tour, that are to be housed inside the new for-profit venture. The tour’s commissioner, Jay Monahan, is expected to serve as the company’s chief executive, and Yasir al-Rumayyan, the wealth fund’s governor, is poised to be its chairman. The PGA Tour expects to hold a majority of the seats on the new company’s board, but the wealth fund will have extensive power over how it is bankrolled, assuring the Saudis of significant influence.

Until June 6, when the deal was announced, the PGA Tour had warned against allowing Saudi money and influence to take hold in golf, fueling California litigation that had a costly, complicated life.

The acrimonious proceedings began last August, when 11 LIV players, including the major tournament champions Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau, brought a lawsuit that accused the tour of violating antitrust laws. LIV itself joined the case later that month.

The tour also pursued its own claims against LIV, which it said had improperly interfered with existing contracts with players. The tour later received Judge Freeman’s approval to expand its case to include the wealth fund itself and al-Rumayyan , just one of the rulings that placed pressure on the Saudis and their allies, whose superior financial resources put the tour under immense strain.

The tour, the wealth fund and LIV waged a ferocious battle over evidence collection in the case, and many filings in the case were redacted, but a federal magistrate judge concluded this year that the wealth fund was “the moving force behind the founding, funding, oversight and operation of LIV,” undercutting its contention that it was a passive investor in golf.

A trial had not been expected until at least next year.

Hours before Friday’s filing from the tour and LIV, The New York Times filed a motion that asked the court to unseal records in the case. The Times cited a “substantial and legitimate public interest in these proceedings and their outcome” and suggested that the planned partnership could make concerns of competitive harm moot.

“To the extent that competitive harm existed at the time of sealing, those justifications may not apply with the same force today — or upon completion of the parties’ anticipated merger,” The Times’s filing said. “Sealing is a decision that can and should be revisited as facts change and circumstances require.”

It was not clear when the judge would rule on either of Friday’s motions.

Alan Blinder is a sports reporter. He has reported from more than 30 states, as well as Asia and Europe, since he joined The Times in 2013. More about Alan Blinder

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PGA Tour suspends 17 players for their participation in Saudi-backed golf tournament

Tom Goldman

The PGA Tour has suspended 17 players – including six-time major winner Phil Mickelson alo former world #1 Dustin Johnson – after they teed off at a controversial tournament backed by Saudi Arabia.

SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:

The normally sedate sport of professional golf is in full-on battle mode. The country's top men's tour - and its oldest one - the PGA Tour, announced it's suspending 17 players who competed in today's inaugural event of the LIV Golf series. This breakaway tour is backed by Saudi Arabia to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Joining me now is NPR sports correspondent Tom Goldman to tell us about this. Hi, Tom.

TOM GOLDMAN, BYLINE: Hi.

PFEIFFER: Tom, the PGA had threatened sanctions, and today that threat became real. What happened?

GOLDMAN: Yeah, Sacha. So last month, the PGA Tour denied player requests to play in this first LIV event in London, and the tour said anyone who defied that decision would be punished. So when players started teeing off today, that's when PGA Commissioner Jay Monahan sent a memo saying the 17 players at the LIV event are suspended or otherwise no longer eligible to participate in PGA Tour tournament play.

PFEIFFER: Are there any big names among those 17 players?

GOLDMAN: There sure are - none bigger than Phil Mickelson, six-time major winner and one of the most popular players ever on the PGA Tour. Dustin Johnson is another star, a former world No. 1-ranked player. D.J., as he's known to golf fans, is 1 of 10 of the PGA players playing in London who resigned from the PGA Tour before today's sanctions. Now, Mickelson hasn't resigned as of now. Also, at least one of the sanctioned players says he will appeal.

PFEIFFER: Tom, the PGA Tour is very lucrative and successful.

GOLDMAN: Yeah.

PFEIFFER: So why are these golfers playing the LIV series?

GOLDMAN: Because LIV is more lucrative - a lot. Everyone in the 48-man field gets paid well. The 48th place finisher in the individual competition gets $120,000 for finishing last, and the winner gets 4 million. Now, to be fair to these players - especially the guys who normally play on lesser-known tours - they are not rich, and they are grinding away all year to make what they can. LIV is a chance to make quick, guaranteed money.

For the already rich, like Mickelson and D.J., they are getting staggeringly rich - a reported 200 million and more than 100 million, respectively - just to sign up with LIV. Now, they say they're doing it to fit their lifestyles. Mickelson has said he's doing it to challenge what he and some others say is the PGA Tour's greed and iron grip on their careers. Now, that's a claim that's refuted by many other players, who are remaining loyal to the PGA Tour.

PFEIFFER: It's the Saudi money behind this tour that's controversial. It's being called sportswashing (ph)...

PFEIFFER: ...This idea that Saudi Arabia is backing the tour to polish an image that's tarnished by human rights abuses. Are the players who played in it addressing that?

GOLDMAN: Yeah, they are, and they're doing so very uncomfortably. In London this week, journalists grilled the players about being - what one reporter said - Saudi stooges. Mickelson has been embroiled in this since he was quoted as saying the Saudis have a horrible human rights record, but he's going to play LIV to gain leverage against the PGA Tour. At his press conference this week - Mickelson's first public appearance in months - he was asked whether he's being used in a sportswashing effort, and here's a bit of what he said.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PHIL MICKELSON: Nobody here condones human rights violations, and nobody's trying to make up for anything. Um...

GOLDMAN: And Sacha, after that um, Mickelson shrugged, and that was the end of his answer.

LIV Golf, on the other hand, was assertive in its response to the PGA sanctions. In a tweet, it said the sanctions were vindictive, and it deepens the divide between the tour and its members, adding, the era of free agency is beginning.

PFEIFFER: NPR's sports correspondent Tom Goldman. Thank you.

GOLDMAN: You're welcome.

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Is the PGA Tour in Trouble? 5 Reasons to be Concerned

The PGA Tour is one of the most prestigious golf organizations in the world, but it has been facing some challenges in recent years. In this article, we’ll explore whether the PGA Tour is in trouble and what the future holds for the organization.

We’ll start by taking a look at the tour’s financial situation. The PGA Tour has been facing declining viewership and revenue for several years, and the COVID-19 pandemic has only made things worse. In 2020, the tour’s revenue fell by 30%, and it lost $100 million.

We’ll also discuss the tour’s changing demographics. The average age of a PGA Tour player is now 37, and the tour is struggling to attract younger fans. This is a problem because younger fans are more likely to watch golf on TV and spend money on merchandise.

Finally, we’ll look at the tour’s competition. The PGA Tour faces competition from other golf organizations, such as the European Tour and the LPGA Tour. These organizations are offering players more money and better opportunities, which is making it difficult for the PGA Tour to retain its top talent.

After exploring these issues, we’ll conclude by offering our thoughts on the future of the PGA Tour. Is the tour in trouble? Or is it simply facing some temporary challenges? We’ll let you decide.

“`html

Is the PGA Tour in Trouble?

The PGA Tour is the world’s premier golf tour, and it has been a major part of the sporting landscape for decades. However, in recent years, the tour has faced a number of challenges, including declining viewership and revenue, financial difficulties, and a changing landscape of golf.

Declining viewership and revenue

The PGA Tour has seen a significant decline in viewership in recent years. In 2005, the average viewership for a PGA Tour event was 2.6 million viewers. By 2019, that number had fallen to 1.3 million viewers. This decline is due to a number of factors, including:

• Increased competition from other sports leagues: In recent years, the NFL, NBA, and MLB have all seen significant increases in viewership, while the PGA Tour has remained relatively stagnant.
• Rising costs of attending PGA Tour events: The cost of attending a PGA Tour event has risen significantly in recent years, making it more difficult for fans to afford to attend.
• Changing demographics of golf fans: The average age of a PGA Tour fan is 57 years old. This is a much older demographic than the average fan of other sports leagues, such as the NFL (38 years old) and NBA (30 years old).

Financial challenges

The PGA Tour has also faced a number of financial challenges in recent years. The tour’s operating income has declined by 40% since 2005, and its debt has increased by 50%. These financial challenges are due to a number of factors, including:

• Declining viewership and revenue: As mentioned above, the PGA Tour has seen a significant decline in viewership and revenue in recent years. This has led to a decrease in the tour’s overall revenue.
• Increased costs of operating tournaments: The cost of operating a PGA Tour event has risen significantly in recent years. This is due to a number of factors, such as increased prize money, higher costs for security, and rising travel expenses.
• Decreased sponsorship revenue: The PGA Tour has also seen a decrease in sponsorship revenue in recent years. This is due to a number of factors, such as the decline in viewership and the changing demographics of golf fans.

A changing landscape of golf

In addition to the challenges mentioned above, the PGA Tour is also facing a number of other challenges related to the changing landscape of golf. These challenges include:

• The rise of golf courses outside of the United States: In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the number of golf courses being built outside of the United States. This is due to a number of factors, such as the growing popularity of golf in developing countries and the increasing cost of land in the United States.
• The rise of alternative golf formats: In recent years, there has also been a rise in the popularity of alternative golf formats, such as disc golf and pickleball. These formats are often less expensive to play than traditional golf, and they can be enjoyed by people of all ages and skill levels.

The PGA Tour is facing a number of challenges, including declining viewership and revenue, financial difficulties, and a changing landscape of golf. However, the tour has a number of strengths that it can rely on to weather these challenges. These strengths include its strong brand, its global reach, and its commitment to innovation.

It is important to note that the PGA Tour is not the only golf tour that is facing challenges. In fact, all of the major golf tours are facing similar challenges. However, the PGA Tour is still the world’s premier golf tour, and it is well-positioned to weather these challenges and continue to grow in the years to come.

Increased competition from other sports leagues

The PGA Tour faces

3. Potential solutions

The PGA Tour has proposed a number of potential solutions to address its financial challenges. These include:

• Reducing the number of tournaments on the schedule. The PGA Tour currently holds over 40 tournaments each year, which is more than any other major golf tour. Reducing the number of tournaments would help to reduce costs and free up the players’ schedules.
• Increasing the purse size for major tournaments. The purse size for major tournaments has been stagnant for several years. Increasing the purse size would help to attract top players and generate more excitement for the tournaments.
• Lowering the cost of attending tournaments. The cost of attending PGA Tour events has been rising in recent years. Lowering the cost of tickets and other expenses would make tournaments more accessible to fans and help to increase attendance.
• Partnering with new sponsors. The PGA Tour has a number of long-term sponsorship agreements, but it is always looking for new partners. Partnering with new sponsors could help to generate additional revenue and support the tour’s operations.

These are just a few of the potential solutions that the PGA Tour has proposed to address its financial challenges. The tour is facing a number of challenges, but it also has a number of potential solutions. The outcome will depend on the tour’s ability to adapt to a changing landscape.

4. Future outlook

The future of the PGA Tour is uncertain. The tour faces a number of challenges, but it also has a number of potential solutions. The outcome will depend on the tour’s ability to adapt to a changing landscape.

Some of the challenges that the PGA Tour faces include:

• The growth of other golf tours. The PGA Tour is not the only major golf tour in the world. The European Tour, the Asian Tour, and the LPGA Tour are all competing for players and sponsors. The PGA Tour needs to find ways to differentiate itself from these other tours in order to maintain its dominance.
• The decline of the traditional golf audience. The traditional golf audience is aging and shrinking. The PGA Tour needs to find ways to attract new fans, such as younger people and women.
• The rise of new technologies. New technologies, such as streaming services and virtual reality, are changing the way that people watch golf. The PGA Tour needs to find ways to use these technologies to its advantage.

Despite these challenges, the PGA Tour also has a number of potential solutions. These include:

• Investing in new formats and events. The PGA Tour is experimenting with new formats and events, such as the FedExCup Playoffs and the Ryder Cup. These events have been successful in attracting new fans and sponsors.
• Partnering with new businesses. The PGA Tour is partnering with new businesses, such as technology companies and social media platforms. These partnerships help to generate new revenue and exposure for the tour.
• Expanding into new markets. The PGA Tour is expanding into new markets, such as China and India. These markets have a large potential for growth.

The future of the PGA Tour is uncertain, but the tour has a number of challenges and potential solutions. The outcome will depend on the tour’s ability to adapt to a changing landscape.

The PGA Tour is the world’s premier golf tour, but it faces a number of challenges. The tour needs to find ways to adapt to a changing landscape in order to maintain its dominance. The tour has proposed a number of potential solutions, such as reducing the number of tournaments on the schedule, increasing the purse size for major tournaments, lowering the cost of attending tournaments, and partnering with new sponsors. The outcome will depend on the tour’s ability to execute these solutions.

Is the PGA Tour in trouble?

The PGA Tour is not in trouble. While the tour has faced some challenges in recent years, it remains the most popular and successful golf tour in the world. The tour’s revenue has increased in each of the last five years, and it is currently valued at over $7 billion. The tour also has a strong television deal with CBS and NBC, which ensures that it will continue to have a large audience.

What are the challenges facing the PGA Tour?

The PGA Tour faces a number of challenges, including:

• Competition from other golf tours. The PGA Tour faces competition from other golf tours around the world, such as the European Tour and the Asian Tour. These tours offer players the opportunity to compete for big prize money, and they can sometimes lure away top players from the PGA Tour.
• A decline in viewership. The PGA Tour has seen a decline in viewership in recent years, as more and more people are watching golf on streaming services. This has led to a decrease in revenue for the tour.
• The cost of running the tour. The PGA Tour is a expensive operation to run, and it has to constantly find ways to cut costs. This has led to some unpopular decisions, such as reducing the number of tournaments on the schedule.

How is the PGA Tour responding to these challenges?

The PGA Tour is responding to these challenges by:

• Investing in new technologies. The tour is investing in new technologies, such as 3D-TV and virtual reality, in an effort to attract new fans.
• Expanding into new markets. The tour is expanding into new markets, such as China and India, in an effort to grow its audience.
• Reducing costs. The tour is reducing costs by cutting back on the number of tournaments on the schedule and by negotiating more favorable television deals.

Is the PGA Tour sustainable in the long term?

The PGA Tour is a sustainable business in the long term. The tour has a strong history, a loyal fan base, and a clear plan for the future. The tour is also constantly evolving and adapting to new challenges, which will help it to remain successful in the years to come.

the PGA Tour is facing a number of challenges, including declining viewership, competition from other golf leagues, and a changing media landscape. However, the tour has a number of strengths that it can draw on to weather these challenges, including its history, its brand, and its relationships with players. If the tour can adapt to the changing landscape and continue to innovate, it will be well-positioned to remain the premier golf tour in the world for years to come.

Here are some key takeaways from the discussion:

• The PGA Tour is facing a number of challenges, including declining viewership, competition from other golf leagues, and a changing media landscape.
• However, the tour has a number of strengths that it can draw on to weather these challenges, including its history, its brand, and its relationships with players.
• If the tour can adapt to the changing landscape and continue to innovate, it will be well-positioned to remain the premier golf tour in the world for years to come.

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PGA Tour signals its vulnerability

Confronted with a tough lie in the rough, the PGA Tour has opted to play it safe and lay up.

Facing the most serious challenge to its dominance in its half-century-long history, the Tour has handed out sweeping justice, indefinite but also uncertain. Players who have defected from the PGA Tour to play on the upstart LIV Golf tour are, as of Wednesday morning, suspended from the PGA Tour … and players who are thinking about leaping to LIV can expect the same treatment.

How long will the suspensions last? What are the options for reinstatement? What will the Tour do, aside from slamming down further hammers, to ensure no more defections occur? Answers TBD, across the board.

The vague, par-5-length gray area in the Tour’s statement is obviously because the Tour is anticipating a torrent of legal challenges. But while the Tour can mount a vigorous defense — there are a few lawyers out there who play golf now and then — it’s up against what’s now looking like an existential threat.

The fact that the PGA Tour is even announcing suspensions at all is a departure for the normally opaque organization. In most instances, the public only learns that a player has been suspended if that player actually speaks up himself, the way John Daly once did. The player who allegedly used illegal substances and then took a leave of absence for many weeks, the player who spoke out against the Tour and then didn’t make a public appearance for several months … were they suspended or just very quiet? The PGA Tour won’t say.

But when the subject is LIV Golf, the PGA Tour striped it right down the middle of the fairway: 17 players, from Phil Mickelson to Andy Ogletree, all suspended. No recourse, no appeal, just a you were warned, this is on you and boom, done.

The Tour has a massive fight on its hands, and the last week has proven that LIV isn’t just some what-the-hell flop shot of a league. With what amounts to limitless funding and a business plan that doesn’t rely on making a profit for success, LIV can afford to hack away at the Tour, one known name at a time. Yesterday, Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson. Today, Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed. Tomorrow: who knows? Masters winners? U.S. Open winners? Hall of Famers? Anyone south of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy seems like they might be in play.

That’s a headache today, but a catastrophe tomorrow. What happens if the next Jordan Spieth, the next Collin Morikawa, the next Jon Rahm decides to leap to LIV rather than work their way up through the PGA Tour? The challenge for the Tour isn’t just holding onto the players it has, but remaining attractive to the future players now in college, high school and pitch-’n-putt.

With that in mind, it’s worth asking exactly why golfers are racing away from the PGA Tour and toward LIV Golf with all the determined speed of golf journalists running for the open bar at the end of the Masters. Yes, there are the vast sums of money – life-changing money from even a single weekend’s work, like the $4 million prize for the winner of this week’s LIV tournament in London.

But there’s more to it than that, for Tour pros. Like every longstanding institution, the PGA Tour has been doing business one way for so long that it seems like the only way: specifically, the practice of not offering any kind of appearance fees or guarantees to anyone, no matter what. This is partly due to the Tour’s nonprofit status — charity is one of the Tour’s big selling points to sponsors, if not to players — but partly due to a deeply-embedded sing-for-your-supper approach to the game.

It’s a system that rewards weekly grinding, which means it’s a tremendous incentive for players in the middle of the pack. But it’s also a system that penalizes the true drivers of the PGA Tour, the players whose very presence draws galleries to the course and viewers to TVs on Sunday afternoons.

Every time Tiger Woods announces he’s playing in a tournament, for instance, ticket sales spike and so do ratings. And yet Woods flies into every tournament with no assurance that he’ll walk away with even a nickel. One bad day and he’s on a plane Friday night, five days’ worth of work for zero reward.

In his entire career, Woods has earned $120,895,206. That’s a vast sum, yes, but let’s speak in relatives rather than absolutes. Mike Trout has earned $196.7 million over the course of his career, and he hasn’t even won a single playoff game. Deshaun Watson has a guaranteed contract over the next five years that’s nearly twice what Woods has won his entire career. Steph Curry has matched Woods’ career earnings in the past two-plus seasons.

Yes, I’m sure that you, presumably with career earnings below $120 million, are extremely worried about how Tiger Woods is going to put food on his table tonight. But again, this isn’t about absolute dollar amounts, it’s about value — and it’s impossible to argue with a straight face that Woods has been compensated fairly relative to the value he brought to the Tour.

But instead of acknowledging the role that money has played in LIV defectors’ departure, the Tour attempted to downplay it, leaning heavily on history and legacy. “I am certain our fans and partners — who are surely tired of all this talk of money, money, and more money — will continue to be entertained and compelled by the world-class competition you display each and every week,” Tour commissioner Jay Monahan wrote, “where there are true consequences for every shot you take and your rightful place in history whenever you reach that winner’s circle.”

It’s an effective pitch — you’re part of golf history on the Tour — and one which resonates with Woods, McIlroy and certain others with secure legacies. But a less misty-eyed reading of that would note that at some point, perhaps there don’t need to be “true consequences” for every shot when you’ve already secured your “rightful place in history.”

The LIV tour has boxed in the PGA Tour quicker and more effectively than anyone outside LIV offices would have expected. Now the PGA Tour is reacting, because it failed to be proactive. The Tour isn’t invulnerable, and it isn’t too big to fail … especially not when facing a challenger with unlimited resources and the interest of players up and down the leaderboard.

When the club you’ve been using over and over again just doesn’t get it done, maybe it’s time to change your approach.

Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter at @jaybusbee or contact him at [email protected].

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'crossed the line': fans, players call for change after chaos at wm phoenix open, share this article.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. —  A volatile mix of huge crowds, mud and alcohol at the WM Phoenix Open had fans and players talking about changes needed to keep the event safe while maintaining its unique atmosphere.

On Saturday, the tournament shut its gates in the early afternoon, leaving ticketed fans unable to gain entry. At the same time, alcohol and food sales were cut off — all in an attempt to ease crowding near the entrance. The issue, organizers believed, was that muddy conditions left much of the course unsuitable for fans, forcing them to crowd into smaller areas.

The Scottsdale Police Department also cited the unusual weather.

“The course conditions were not normal due to the mud and rain,” Allison Sempsis, the department’s public information officer, said. “This resulted in the large crowds only occupying a small portion of the course and caused large buildup of crowds.”

Sempsis also noted that, at one point, fans were being allowed in without having their tickets scanned.

“There was a large group of attendees that were stopped before going through the gate,” Sempsis said. “Attendees were waved through for a short time period in order to keep everyone safe and to create a larger space for people to move around on the course.”

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The tournament stopped announcing daily attendance figures in 2019. The last time attendance was made public, 576,807 fans watched the four days of tournament action, including over 200,000 on Saturday, which is typically the most crowded and chaotic day.

Sempsis said, “Every year after the event, SPD and other partnerships continually assess and evaluate what can be done the following year to ensure everyone attending the event is safe and has a good experience.”

As intoxicated fans reveled in the conditions Saturday, safety came into question.

All over the course, shirtless fans found muddy hills to slide down. A shirtless fan leaped into a bunker on the 16th hole to do sand angels. Videos of fans who were unable to stand straight took hold on various social media sites.

For many tournament regulars, those events and other logistical issues tipped the scales.

One regular attendee, Todd Williams of Phoenix, has gone to the Open for 10 straight years but said the tournament would need to announce “drastic changes such as multiple new entrance points and more concessions” for him to continue attending.

“I’m all for the party and craziness,” Williams said. “The insane and rowdy crowds make the event. This year, Friday felt like a normal Saturday, and Saturday was just complete chaos. It was hard to enjoy the event when it took 30-plus minutes at any concessions and bathrooms were long waits, too.”

More: Viral videos of — let’s just say lubricated — fans at the 2024 WM Phoenix Open

Fans cheer from the stands on the 16th hole during the 2024 Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale on Feb. 8, 2024.

Elizabeth Suchocki, a regular attendee who lives in Tempe, echoed that sentiment.

“I felt cramped and anxious,” Suchocki said. “All of a sudden, there were just so many people in our area. … But people just kept packing in and packing in and there were people all over. And I was like OK, this is a lot of people, this is very uncomfortable.”

Suchocki was frustrated by the lack of communication from the tournament. At 2:05 p.m. Saturday, the Phoenix Open’s X account posted a message notifying fans that gates were closed but made no mention of food or alcohol sales being impacted. And with overcrowding on the course, many fans were unable to get cell service.

“If you’re going to shut down alcohol, if you’re going to shut down food, you need to communicate that over the speakers,” Suchocki said, “because it created more chaos.”

When the tournament’s account posted a video on X on Sunday morning celebrating the party atmosphere on the 16th hole, it received 50 replies, almost all of which were critical.

“Your event has become an embarrassment,”  one reply read . “It’s out of control.”

“Embarrassing the game,”  read another . “PGA players need to boycott next year.”

Fans pack the walkway near the 10th hole during the third round of the 2024 WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale. (Photo: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports)

Tour pros debate where to draw the line

Billy Horschel likes the WM Phoenix Open. Loves it, even. Every year, playing in the event is a priority for him. Partly because he believes TPC Scottsdale suits his game, but for more than that, too.

“I love the energy, I love the crowds,” Horschel said. “I love some of the funny things they say.”

Typically, the players who choose to participate in the Phoenix Open revel in the event’s unique role on tour. With a handful of notable exceptions,  like Chris DiMarco’s famous comments in 2004 , they celebrate the atmosphere.

After his win in Sunday’s playoff, champion Nick Taylor said, “The atmosphere has been incredible all week.”

But that sentiment began to shift for some. By Sunday afternoon, Horschel had seen enough. That’s when he was shown on video  yelling at a fan for heckling  during Nicolo Galletti’s backswing. “Buddy, when he’s over a shot, shut the hell up, dude,” Horschel told the fan. “He’s trying to hit a damn golf shot here. It’s our (expletive) job.”

Outside the clubhouse after his round, Horschel explained to The Republic where he draws the line.

“When you’re impacting the golf tournament, that’s where it gets a little bit too much,” Horschel said. “And when you’re saying personal things. The last couple of years, the guys I’ve played with, I’ve heard some personal stuff yelled at them. And I think that’s just not right.”

Whether players decide not to return to the tournament remains to be seen, but Horschel said it became a discussion point this week.

“It’s been talked about amongst players about, if this would continue to escalate over the next few years, you could see players not want to come here,” Horschel said. “And that’s an unfortunate situation.”

Horschel said he would be back, but Zach Johnson — another player who was shown in a viral video over the weekend  arguing with fans  — was not so committed.

“You’re hitting me at a very emotional point right now, so if I were to say if I’m gonna come back, I’d probably say no,” Johnson told The Republic. “But at the same time, I have no idea.”

Johnson added, “This tournament has been inappropriate and crossed the line since I’ve been on tour and this is my 21st year.”

He plays in it, he said, because he likes the course. But this week, his frustrations mounted.

“I don’t know what the line is, but you have people falling out of the rafters, you have fights in the stands,” Johnson said. “It’s to the point where now, how do you reel it in? Because it’s taken on a life of its own. I think the Thunderbirds probably need to do something about it. I’m assuming they’re ashamed. Because at some point, somebody’s either gonna really, really get hurt or worse.”

Fans cheer from the stands on the 16th hole during the 2024 Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale.

Like Johnson, Horschel worries about a tragedy occurring with the number of intoxicated fans on the course.

“We all know alcohol plays a massive factor in all of this,” Horschel said. “And I think limiting the alcohol sales, limiting what time alcohol starts, limiting how many drinks someone can buy. I think there’s a couple different (solutions) that can happen.”

Horschel said he spoke with the Thunderbirds — the group that runs the tournament — to voice his complaints.

“I think they understand the situation and they want to do right for everyone involved with this tournament,” Horschel said. “So we’ll see what happens.”

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Does the PGA Tour have a juice problem, and will Sunday solve it?

LOS ANGELES — It was all going to be so perfect. It had stars. It had records. It had one of the most beautiful stages in all of sports in prime time. It was supposed to be the PGA Tour’s big day.

Two weeks ago up in Pebble Beach, Wyndham Clark shot a third-round 60 to break the historic course’s record and take the lead at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. The tour couldn’t have drawn up a better Sunday — in theory. It was the off week before the Super Bowl, meaning it practically had the sports calendar to itself. It made the tournament a signature event, meaning one of golf’s most iconic venues had all the best players on tour competing. And suddenly it had the reigning U.S. Open champ — the star of the new season of golf’s Netflix show, “Full Swing” — Clark going into a Sunday duel with the most exciting young player in the sport, Ludvig Åberg.

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And it simply never happened.

Instead, extreme weather halted play Sunday with flooding and knocked down trees all over California. The course took so much water over five days that the tournament couldn’t even be finished Monday. Instead of a thrilling, star-studded prime-time finish with everyone talking about PGA Tour golf, the tournament ended with Clark’s Saturday 60 and a whimper.

This has been a strange six weeks for the tour. It’s in the thick of the best part of its calendar before the majors, and there’s an ongoing discussion about whether the PGA Tour season is lacking juice.

But it might just have the Sunday it’s been waiting for. At the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club — which many consider the best non-major on tour — the final round is setting up to get interesting. It has No. 7 player in the world Patrick Cantlay with a two-shot lead. It has his good friend and No. 5 golfer Xander Schauffele in second, tied with rising star Will Zalatoris back in the mix after missing 2023 due to back surgery. Throw in major-winner Jason Day and Ryder Cupper Harris English four back at an elite course, and this could be the Sunday that brings that juice.

About that juice, though.

It’s not really anyone’s fault. It’s not even clear whether it’s true. But something strange has been happening. All six tournaments thus far have been won by a long shot. Literally. They’ve been won by the so-called randoms, the “mules,” as some in the golf world like to refer to them. Chris Kirk. Grayson Murray. Nick Dunlap. Matthieu Pavon. Wyndham Clark. Nick Taylor. All six have entered the tournament at odds of 100-1 or greater. Five of the six entered the week outside of the Official World Golf Ranking top 50. The only winner inside that top 50, Clark, won without a final round.

PGA Tour Winners and pre-tournament starting prices to begin 2024: Chris Kirk 100/1 Sentry Grayson Murray 300/1 Sony Nick Dunlap (a) 400/1 Amex Matthieu Pavon 150/1 Farmers Wyndham Clark 100/1 AT&T Pebble Nick Taylor 100/1 WM Phoenix — Michael Verity (@MichaelVerity) February 12, 2024

It’s not even been bad. Much of the golf has been exciting. One tournament was won by a 20-year-old amateur who staked his claim as the potential future of the sport. Two have involved heartwarming stories of overcoming adversity. Two have gone to a playoff! And last week in Phoenix turned into national news due to the drunken crowds overrunning security.

But, for better or worse, this sport has become a business run on bottom lines. As wars go on between leagues and private equity firms buy in and all we hear about is ratings, Player Impact Programs and stars, there’s that debate over whether these results have been a problem.

To recap: Chris Kirk (100-1) won the signature event The Sentry in a low-scoring battle with stars like Sahith Theegala and Jordan Spieth. It wasn’t the greatest tournament, but Kirk’s win after taking time off to deal with alcoholism and depression was an awesome storyline. A week later was more of the same. Grayson Murray (300-1) also had issues with alcohol and mental health, even facing punishment from the PGA Tour years earlier, and won in a thrilling playoff thanks to two incredible shots in the clutch. These weren’t stars, but most agreed these were really cool finishes.

Then, at the American Express, which is by no means a big tournament expecting huge fanfare, the 20-year-old defending U.S. Amateur champ Nick Dunlap (400-1) took over the golf world by becoming the first amateur to win a PGA Tour event since Phil Mickelson 33 years earlier. This was gold.

Next was 31-year-old Frenchman Matthieu Pavon (150-1) winning at Torrey Pines. Then came the weather mess of Pebble Beach with the tour being robbed of its exciting final round, which also led to more of the golf world watching LIV’s final round in Mexico. And last week at the Waste Management Open in Phoenix — known for its loud, booze-filled atmosphere — it had a thrilling playoff finish between Nick Taylor and 47-year-old Charley Hoffman. And even that was drowned out by the news of the fans breaking containment and weather delays pushing that exciting finish into the first half of the Super Bowl.

The tour couldn’t quite get a win.

A subsection of people turned this into a conversation about LIV departures and a sign the tour wasn’t a great product anymore. This offseason, the PGA Tour lost one major star, Jon Rahm, and another top-20 player, Tyrell Hatton. Losing them stung. No doubt about it. But it’s likely misguided to act like the results of these tournaments were because those two weren’t there. Kirk and Clark beat loaded fields with most of the best players in the world. Even Sony, AmEx and Phoenix all had a good chunk of top-10 and top-20 players. Those players just beat them.

It’s likely more about the personality component. No matter your thoughts on LIV, it’s at least fair to say it took many of the biggest personas from the PGA Tour. Few are bigger than Mickelson. Brooks Koepka is a star. Bryson DeChambeau is a pariah. Dustin Johnson might not be a huge “personality,” but he’s been one of the most talked about golfers for a decade plus. Rahm and Hatton are two hot-blooded, emotional players who bring flair. Cameron Smith is a fishing-loving Aussie with a mullet who was on his way to becoming a bigger star. And everybody has opinions on Patrick Reed.

Even if you want to criticize the quality of some of these players, the truth is LIV has plenty of the golfers who attract the most eyeballs.

And though it’s nobody’s fault, the PGA Tour players playing the best aren’t exactly their eyeball winners. As Garrett Morrison of The Fried Egg pointed out, only one of the six winners ranked in the top 20 of the PGA Tour’s Player Impact Program rewarding players for bringing business to the tour (tickets, sponsorships, media consumption and fan engagement). And that one was Clark in a rain-shortened event.

If my data collection is right (it might not be?): – No one from the 2023 PIP top 10 has done better than third place this season – One player in the PIP top 20 (Wyndham Clark) has won, and it was a rain-shortened event — Garrett Morrison (@garrett_TFE) February 17, 2024

The biggest name brands for the tour right now are Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth and Tiger Woods. Well, Riviera is just McIlroy’s second event in the United States this year. Spieth is playing solid golf but not quite winning. And Woods is a 48-year-old legend averaging more surgeries per year than top-10s. Then, just to throw gasoline on the market share fire, Woods withdrew from the Genesis, the event he hosts, Friday due to the flu, and Spieth was disqualified Friday for submitting an incorrect scorecard. That’s two huge draws out of the equation.

Its next wave of young stars like Scottie Scheffler, Viktor Hovland and Collin Morikawa aren’t quite at the publicity level of those names, and even they haven’t quite played to their exceptional levels (yet) this season.

None of this is actually a problem, really. The tournaments are still good. Many have included cool storylines. Anybody acting like this is a huge issue is probably trying to make it one. But it is a thing. A thing worth keeping an eye on.

“It’s important, obviously,” Schauffele said Saturday, “but I was talking to the CEO of AmEx and he was talking about the ratings when Nick (Dunlap) won. People love the Cinderella story. I’m not sure what the ratings were for Waste Management, but Charley being — I’m biased, obviously, being from San Diego — but him being one of the older guys trying to win out here, being a younger crowd. It’s sort of the beautiful thing about the PGA Tour. Anyone can win any week, and there’s a lot of stories that go around.”

It’s just enough of a thing that it makes this Sunday somewhat important. Riviera is arguably the best course the tour plays at all year. Cantlay and Schauffele are year-in, year-out top-10 players, and Zalatoris is somebody the golf world is pulling for. But even this win of a leaderboard comes with a caveat.

Cantlay isn’t exactly a popular player. He’s only No. 19 in last year’s PIP rankings and has lost points with the masses at times for accusations of slow play and a heavily reputed report that he didn’t wear a hat at the 2023 Ryder Cup to protest players not being paid for the event. Schauffele is world No. 5 and one of the most consistent players of his era, but his career is primarily known for being consistent without winning many big events. Basically, even the PGA Tour’s big Sunday is coming via some of its more ho-hum stars.

But here’s where we need to pull away from PIP and popularity. Let’s just talk about golf. This final round is going to be awesome. It’s going to be the best course with the best players and something golf fans should be watching.

We’re six weeks into an eight-month season. Shut up and enjoy.

(Photo of Patrick Cantlay: Harry How / Getty Images)

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Brody Miller covers golf and the LSU Tigers for The Athletic. He came to The Athletic from the New Orleans Times-Picayune. A South Jersey native, Miller graduated from Indiana University before going on to stops at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Indianapolis Star, the Clarion Ledger and NOLA.com. Follow Brody on Twitter @ BrodyAMiller

"You're all in trouble" - Phil Mickelson expresses support for criticisms against PGA Tour Chief's handling of LIV Golf

A merican professional golfer, Phil Mickelson has consistently championed the LIV Golf series. While such a stance has inevitably attracted its fair share of criticism, Mickelson has never shied away from confronting it.

This time, however, it was him who dished out some criticism against PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan. Phil Mickelson supported the opinion of Bob Ball, who has repeatedly expressed his dissatisfaction about the way Monahan handled the disruption in the world of men's professional golf.

As soon as the framework agreement was made public by the PGAT and the Saudi Arabian PIF, Ball wrote an open letter to all PGA Tour players regarding their support in the matter. According to Golf Magic, Ball said:

"You are all in trouble and screwed if you don't support it."

Further, when Jay Monahan said that he would not see LIV Golf thriving under the new framework agreement, Ball hit back by saying that it was ludicrous to have LIV Golf 'shuttered' and that the PGA Tour should be doing a better job of promoting team golf.

Replying to this, Phil Mickelson expressed his support saying:

"This is spot on accurate. You nailed the most important part of the entire agreement. You're the first to do it."

Phil Mickelson believes that the framework agreement opens up opportunities for new golfers to join LIV

Phil Mickelson is confident about the future of LIV Golf and the fact that it does not plan to slow down despite the upcoming framework agreement. At the ultimate event of the 2023 LIV Season, Mickelson said that he is excited to welcome new players to the league in the upcoming years.

While he did not disclose any names, he said via Golf Week:

"I'm excited about who's coming for next year and over time, we'll just keep getting better and better and getting better and better players and that's the game plan and I love the commitment. I love that I'm a part of it,"

With the series now looking to the 2024 season, four to six new spots have opened up that have potential to be filled and there is even a possibility that it might increase its capacity to 15 teams.

Is The Pga Tour In Trouble?

As one of the premier professional golf tours in the world, the PGA Tour has long been synonymous with excellence and prestige. However, in recent years, there have been whispers and concerns about the future of the tour. From declining TV ratings to struggles with attracting younger audiences, there are several factors that have led some to question whether the PGA Tour is in trouble.

Declining TV Ratings

One of the biggest concerns for the PGA Tour is declining TV ratings. In recent years, viewership numbers have been on a downward trend, with fewer people tuning in to watch golf tournaments on television. This has raised concerns about the tour’s ability to attract and retain a broad audience, which is crucial for securing lucrative broadcasting deals and sponsorships.

Struggles with Attracting Younger Audiences

Another challenge facing the PGA Tour is attracting younger audiences. Golf has traditionally been seen as a sport for older, wealthier demographics, and the tour has struggled to connect with younger fans. With the rise of social media and digital platforms, younger audiences have more entertainment options than ever before, making it difficult for the PGA Tour to capture their attention.

Competition from Other Sports

Additionally, the PGA Tour faces stiff competition from other sports leagues and events. With the proliferation of sports streaming services and the increasing popularity of sports like soccer, basketball, and mixed martial arts, golf is facing more competition than ever for viewership and sponsorship dollars. This has put pressure on the PGA Tour to innovate and adapt to stay relevant in an increasingly crowded sports landscape.

While the PGA Tour is facing challenges, it is important to remember that the tour has a rich history and a loyal fan base. By embracing new technologies, engaging with younger audiences, and adapting to the changing sports landscape, the PGA Tour can position itself for long-term success. It will be interesting to see how the tour responds to these challenges and whether it can continue to thrive in the years to come.

Jason Gore commenced his golf journey at the age of 11, inspired by his father's gift of clubs. Progressing from junior success to collegiate achievements at the University of Arizona and Pepperdine University, he excelled in golf. His professional debut followed his wins at various events, including the 1997 Puget Sound Open. With notable victories like the 2005 Cox Classic and a PGA TOUR promotion, Jason's career soared. Off the course, he cherishes family time with his wife Megan and their children, actively supports autism charities, and enjoys playing guitar and rooting for the Lakers. Jason proudly contributes to KHI Management.

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Report: More Americans playing golf than ever before

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“Let’s go golfing” is more than DJ Khaled’s new favorite catchphrase.

Whether it’s traditional on-course golf or via increasingly popular and more accessible off-course opportunities such as Topgolf, more Americans are playing golf than ever before.

Roughly one in seven Americans played golf in 2022, resulting in $101.7 billion in direct economic impact, an increase of 20% from the $84.1 billion in economic impact in 2016, according to a new study released by the American Golf Industry Coalition to celebrate the 15th annual National Golf Day on May 9.

The American Golf Industry Coalition celebrates ‘National Golf Day’ with events in Washington, D.C.

“The new economic impact study is proof that golf – the sport and the industry – is thriving,” said Greg McLaughlin, CEO of World Golf Foundation. “It is truly contributing more to the U.S. economy than ever before and continues to grow and evolve, welcoming more people to the sport each day.

“Recent research highlights the game’s role in helping people to escape everyday stress, and many are playing it to recharge their mental battery. There are many benefits – economic, charitable and human – that our industry provides in communities.”

As a safe and socially distant activity during the height of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, golf became the go-to sport and outdoor respite for millions, giving the game and industry a boost it hadn’t seen since a young man named Eldrick “Tiger” Woods burst onto the PGA TOUR in 1996.

According to the latest economic impact report conducted by the National Golf Foundation, golf’s overall participation base in the U.S. is 41.1 million, up from 32 million in 2016.

While the pandemic reignited Americans’ passion for golf, a confluence of other factors has continued to keep the flame roaring since.

The popularity of off-course golf-entertainment venues such as Topgolf, Drive Shack, and Popstroke have made the game more accessible and appealing, especially to younger, diverse demographics. Last year, almost half (48%) of all golf participants (on- and off-course) were between the ages of 6 and 34, out-sizing their share of the United States’ 6-plus billion population (41%), per the new study.

At the professional level, the PGA TOUR continues to evolve, whether it is through its new schedule highlighted by a series of high-stakes designated events with the game’s best players competing for larger purses, or by embracing technology and sports betting.

Pulling back the curtain for more behind-the-scenes content such as Netflix’s “Full Swing” and TOUR broadcast partners introducing new features including on-course interviews from CBS, new camera angles such as NBC’s BagCam, and AR/VR make the world’s best players more accessible and relatable to viewers and patrons.

Joel Dahmen and Geno Bonnalie reflect on Netflix stardom

Organizations such as the APGA Tour, Underrated Golf Tour, and First Tee are providing more opportunities for young men and women to continue on the pathway to the game’s highest levels.

“The reality is we’re seeing a rapid evolution of a centuries-old game, with changes that were happening well before the pandemic-driven surges in participation and play,” said National Golf Foundation CEO Joe Beditz. “These changes are shaping the future of golf in a lot of positive ways. Golf’s participant base isn’t only increasing, it’s getting more diverse – younger, more females, more people of color. More like the U.S. population overall.

“In 2021, we saw more rounds of golf played in the U.S. than any year in history. And last year wasn’t far off that record total.”

National Golf Foundation CEO Joe Beditz

Not only is golf driving its largest economic impact ever, but the game also continues to prove to be a tremendous vehicle for fundraising.

In 2022, the total amount of money raised for charitable causes was approximately $4.6 billion, a 16% increase compared to the $3.9 billion raised in 2016. More than 90% of last year’s giving was driven by events on local courses, with four out of five facilities holding at least one charitable golf tournament or outing in 2022.

Along with providing valuable physical, mental, and emotional benefits for participants coupled with providing green spaces to benefit the planet, golf isn’t just more popular than ever, but it’s arguably more important than ever.

The onus falls on organizations, policymakers, corporate partners, and quite frankly, everyone involved in the golf industry to continue to make the sport more accessible with an unmatched customer experience that not only retains current participants, but appeals to new ones.

“The industry has to continue to do the good work it’s doing,” McLaughlin said. “That includes continuing to evolve to meet the changing needs of Americans – whether they are working, doing business, or participating in the game.

“Ensuring that we remain a sport that is accessible to all is critical.”