Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods were the biggest beneficiaries of the PGA Tour’s Player Impact Programme, but one of their fellow players was unimpressed with the £78m payout.
The PGA Tour’s £80 million ($100 million) Player Impact Program has been criticized by one player after 20 of the tour’s most popular players received a share of the huge bonuses.
Rory McIlroy was the biggest beneficiary after the Northern Irishman earned a whopping £12 million ($15 million) for his first top spot. He replaced 2021 and 2022 leader Tiger Woods, who had to settle for second place this year and a payout of 9.6 million pounds ($12 million).
This program was started two years ago and was created to promote his PGA Tour during the campaign and reward players who generated interest.
Initially, the total prize money was £40 million ($50 million), split between 10 players, but a series of tour changes last year saw the number of winners and winners doubled . But not everyone is on board, including tour player Nate Lashley.
Lashley criticized the Tour’s programming policies on Instagram and called for changes in race management. He wrote on Instagram : Golf/PGA fans, would you like to know if this guy thinks $100 million was spent well?”
“The PGA Tour has 150-200 members and they just spent $100 million on 20 players. It seems a little ridiculous. It’s time for new leadership on the PGA Tour .This is an absolute slap in the face to the rest of the PGA Tour players, but Lashley wasn’t the only professional to feel mortified.
DP World Tour star Eddie Pepperell has had a say in payouts and is now in line with American players. I took a similar stance. Professional golf is a one-way street that goes on forever. “I lost my sanity and also my respect and love for it,” the British player wrote on X (formerly Twitter)
Pepperell comments were then echoed by fellow DP World Tour star Pablo Larrazabal, who highlighted the difference in payments between the PGA Tour and the Wentworth-based circuit. “@PGATOUR is contributing $100 million to the Players Impact Program (PIP), which is triple what we pay @DPWorldTour all year,” he tweeted.
The Spanish star then called on Jordan Spieth, who was recently appointed player director of the PGA Tour, to make some changes to benefit European golf. “Well, I hope @JordanSpieth (new PGA Players Board Chairman) makes the @DPWorldTour great again,” he added.
These two tours of his are now part of a “strategic alliance” which he strengthened in 2022 in view of the growing threat of LIV golf. As part of the agreement, the top 10 players on the 2023 DP World Tour received 2024 tour cards. Beneficiaries included European Ryder Cup star Robert McIntyre and world No. 46 Adrian Mellonk.
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