PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has ruled out letting any LIV Golf players return to the PGA Tour after revealing a host of impressive changes to the Tour ahead of the season-ending Tour Championship.
The changes include a number of new ‘elevated events’ with an average prize fund of $20m, an expansion of the Player Impact Program and guaranteed financial security under the “Earnings Assurance Program”, where both PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour Players will be guaranteed to earn $500,000 a year regardless of performance.
“No. They’ve joined the LIV Golf Series and they’ve made that commitment and many have made a multi-year commitment,” said Monahan when asked asked if LIV Golf players who were impressed by the changes to the PGA Tour would be welcomed back.
“I’ve been clear throughout, every player has a choice and I respect that choice. I think they understand that.
“Where we’re competing [with LIV] is with our product, and our product is our schedule. We’ve made some strong enhancements to that for top players and for our entire membership, coming into this year and certainly as we go into 2023.
“When you look at being a member of the PGA Tour and you look at the financials moving forward, you can have a tremendous career. You’re doing it in a way where you’re preparing yourself to achieve at the highest level of the game. You’re competing for trophies that matter. You’re competing for history and legacy.
“When you’re dealing with a non-economic actor [LIV Golf], you have to come back to the core of who you are, and if the core of who you are is providing the single greatest competitive access and opportunities for players, and pipeline, then how do you make that stronger? And that’s what everything starts with.”
The Tour’s announcement came just a week after Tiger Woods flew to the BMW Championship to lead a players-only meeting, with Rory McIlroy also in attendance, who revealed he had spoke to Cameron Smith, widely rumoured to be joining LIV Golf, shortly after he won The Open Championship.
“I had a conversation with Cameron Smith two days after the Open,” said the Northern Irishman. “Firstly, I wanted to congratulate him, but also I wanted — guys that are thinking one way or another, honestly I don’t care if they leave or not. It’s not going to make a difference to me. But I would at least like people to make a decision that is completely informed and basically know this is what’s coming down the pipeline. This is what you may be leaving behind.
“I just don’t want people making decisions — hearing information from one side and not from another. So I think that’s sort of been my whole thing this entire time. I’ve always said guys can do whatever they want. Guys can make a decision that they feel is best for themselves and their families. But I want guys to make decisions based on all of the facts.
“Sometimes I don’t think some guys made those decisions based on having all the facts in front of them.”
