The PGA Tour is planning changes to its 2023 schedule that will include eight uncut, limited-field tournaments with purses of $20 million or more for the top 50 in last season’s FedEx Cup standings, according to a report from Golf. Digest published on Tuesday.
According to several players interviewed by Golf Digest after a mandatory players’ meeting at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Conn., the site of this week’s Traveler’s Championship, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan told the assembly that the events will be distributed throughout the season. — which will also return to a calendar-year format after the Tour moved to a full FedEx Cup schedule in 2013 that ran into next season.
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Monahan is scheduled to hold a news conference at River Highlands on Wednesday at 1 p.m.
Golf Digest reported that players outside the top 50 will still have a series of fall events that will give them a chance to keep their Tour cards or improve their status for the upcoming season. It was unclear how that will affect current fall events, such as the RSM Classic at the Sea Island Club in St. Simons Island, Georgia, and tournaments in Houston, Las Vegas, Napa, California and Jackson, Mississippi.
The eight-event series is similar to LIV Golf, the getaway tour that began two weeks ago and is funded by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, except that the Tour events will be 72 holes, while LIV Golf is 54 holes.
The Associated Press reported additional details of planned events and other changes to the FedEx Cup Tour season:
• Only the top 70 players on the points list will be eligible for the FedEx playoffs, reducing the current number of 125.
• The top 50 in the points list after the first event will move on, and the top 30 after that will qualify for the Tour Championship.
• The drop would be used for players over 70 to secure cards for the following year, though research showed most of the top 100 would be safe.
• The Tour was still seeking three fall events for limited fields, along with the eight proposed tournaments during the regular season.
Nearly two dozen PGA Tour players competed in the first LIV Golf event in London (such as Phil Mickelson, Louis Oosthuizen, Dustin Johnson and Charl Schwartzel, who won the first tournament) or have announced their intention to play since then (Patrick Reed , Bryson DeChambeau, Abraham Ancer and Rickie Fowler, with reports that Brooks Kopeka’s announcement to play LIV Golf is coming any minute.
LIV Golf, whose CEO is Greg Norman, will play eight 54-hole tournaments this year with purses of $25 million. Schwartzel earned more than $4 million, the most in professional golf history.
According to Golf Digest sources, Monahan spoke for 30 minutes, telling players that the Tour was “under attack.” He also urged them to stick together and reminded them of the Tour’s former corporate partners, many of whom are also associated with players.
Associated Press contributed to this report.