Jack Nicklaus ‘Concerned’ That PGA Tour Enhancements Will Create ‘Two Tours’

Much has been made of the adjustments PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has made in response to the threat of LIV Golf, including elevating ten other events (besides the four majors and three FedEx Cup Playoff events) to an average purse of $20 million.

The Memorial Tournament at Jack Nicklaus’ Muirfield Village Golf Club in Ohio is one of those events, but even so, the Golden Bear worries that with 17 big-money events on the schedule, it could leave weak fields for the remaining PGA Tour stops. Monahan said in August that top golfers will be required to play in 20 tournaments.

Jack Nicklaus concerned how big purses, new elevated events could affect PGA Tour: https://t.co/N9kVB2wX6X pic.twitter.com/CX7s5RwJn6

— Golf Central (@GolfCentral) October 11, 2022

Nicklaus said last week:

“I think the tour was going to get there, but the LIV thing pushed them. That’s pretty obvious… What it’s done is made the PGA Tour almost two tiers. All of a sudden the other tournaments become feeders.”

Nicklaus explained that his biggest concern would be that “two tours” would be created, adding, “[Monahan] has a little work to do to figure out how to make it work.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

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While Nicklaus’ Memorial tournament will benefit, his Nicklaus Children’s Health Care Foundation is the primary charity involved with the Honda Classic in south Florida each March, and with that event carrying an $8.2 million purse and sandwiched between elevated events, The Genesis Invitational and Arnold Palmer Invitational, his concern is that top players will elect to skip that event and play in the other two.

“Since we’re beneficiaries, I’ve had some reasonable talk with Jay about it… [But] you go there, you’ll find out the people will still be there. There will be great crowds, they’ll raise a lot of money and it will do well in spite of not having some of the players. It’s still pretty good.”

Something that may allay Nicklaus’ concerns is that the PGA Tour is planning on rotating four events among existing tournaments to elevated status, so tournaments like the Honda Classic may have a $20 million purse during one season. The elevated events for 2023 have not yet been announced.

The five fixed elevated events, in addition to the three playoff events, are The Players Championship, Sentry Tournament of Champions, Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational, Memorial Tournament, and the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.

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