Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy proposal for PGA Tour changes reportedly includes ‘elite’ tournaments, bigger purses
Details of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s player-only meeting at the BMW Championship have been revealed, according to reports from No Laying Up and The Fire Pit Collective.
The meeting, which was attended by 22 PGA Tour players, was reportedly to come up with a proposal that would significantly transform the PGA Tour to combat the loss of several top talents to LIV Golf. Per No Laying Up, the players present at the meeting unanimously supported the agreed terms.
Some of the biggest proposed changes include elevating several events currently taking place on the PGA Tour – up to 15 – to Elite status. That would mean larger purses, more limited fields (subject to exceptions and weekly qualifiers), and a commitment for the tour’s top players to attend these events.
The Fire Pit Collective also provided details on the proposal, reporting that up to 18 tournaments would be upgraded to “Elite” status. These tournaments would feature a no-cut field of 60 players with proposed purses of $20 million. That would match the current record at the 2022 Players Championship.
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For comparison, none of golf’s four majors have reached that mark: The PGA Championship is the richest at $17.5 million; the Masters and US Open have $15 million in prize money; and the Open Championship has a purse of $14 million.
The proposal also includes provisions that the remaining tournaments on the tour will be used to offer qualifying spots for the top tier events. The provision would also require players who are exempt from elite tournaments to play at least three non-elite tournaments.
These non-elite tournaments would keep their current wallets but would at least allow lower tier players to play in the larger tournaments.
The players reportedly present at the meeting include, in alphabetical order:
- Sam Burns
- Patrick Cantley
- Tony Finau
- Matt Fitzpatrick
- Ricky Fowler
- Tyrell Hatton
- Max Homa
- Billy Horschel
- Victor Howland
- Kevin Kisner
- Shane Lowry
- Rory McIlroy
- Collin Morikawa
- Joaquin Niemann
- Jon Rahm
- Xander Schauffele
- Scottie Scheffler
- Adam Scott
- Jordan Spieth
- JustinThomas
- Tiger Woods
- Cameron Young
- Will Zalatoris
The proposal itself would result in no PGA Tour policy changes; No Laying Up reports that the next step for players is to submit their proposal for the tour to assess feasibility.