Report: PGA Tour Expenditures Include Private Air Travel, Multimillion-Dollar HQ, and Millions to Retired Execs

With LIV Golf posing a financial and competitive threat to the PGA Tour, the main golf tour in the world upped its financial commitment to its best golfers.

A new Wall Street Journal report dug into the PGA Tour’s financials and found some expenditures for employees (both current and former) to be far more lucrative than what most golfers are able to earn.

The Journal reported that some of this spending isn’t disclosed in the nonprofit Tour’s annual tax filings, and it also said that around 55% of the tour’s $1.52 billion in revenue goes to the players.

NEW: PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan travels everywhere by private jet, an undisclosed perk. It’s one of several signs of big corporate spending at the nonprofit golf league, now scraping for dollars in its battle with LIV Golf. w/@andrewlbeatonhttps://t.co/mO7f3fILt0 via @WSJ

— Mark Maremont (@MarkMaremont) September 14, 2022

Some of the findings included:

• The use of a private jet for anywhere PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan travels, including if it’s for personal use. The Tour told WSJ in a statement that this is policy because it “provides the necessary level of efficiency, privacy, and security.”
• Monahan’s 2020 earnings of $14.2 million were more than any other golfer on Tour earned that year except for Masters winner and FedEx Cup champion Dustin Johnson.
• In a four-year span from 2017-20, retired executives got $8 million in severance and $32 million in other compensation—half of that going to former commissioner Tim Finchem.
• $81 million spent on a new PGA Tour headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

The PGA Tour promised higher purses and more big-money events for players in response to LIV, but with these findings coming public, it will be interesting to see if Tour golfers vie for a bigger piece of the pie.

Cover Image Via Planet Sport