PGA Tour set to outline increased tournament fees to help fund rising purses

A financial reckoning that PGA Tour events have been bracing for will arrive Monday when the circuit officially outlines crucial adjustments to each tournament’s finances.

According to multiple sources, the Tour plans to send a memo to tournament directors that is essentially an addendum to current contracts and will create fees to help fund increasing purses.

First reported last fall, Monday’s memo will outline each event’s increased commitment, with signature events required to pay a $1 million fee each year. Full-field events, like this week’s Valero Texas Open, will have a $500,000 fee and opposite-field event fees will be $250,000 annually.

The memo is also expected to show a requirement of 2 percent of each tournament’s hospitality sales to offset increased purses as the Tour attempts to ward off challenges from LIV Golf.

Purses for this year’s signature events are $20 million, dramatic increases that prompted the Tour to tinker with funding formulas.

One concern among tournament directors is how this new funding stream might impact each event’s charitable donations, but commissioner Jay Monahan told reporters at last month’s Players Championship that the adjustments will be mitigated.

“Our tournament organizations that are rooted in the communities where we play, they're going to do two things: They're going to push themselves to generate more revenue so that they can continue to deliver for the charity and their community, and we're going to continue to invest back in those same organizations to help them do that,” Monahan said. “But I want to be very clear that charity will always be a fundamental element to the PGA Tour. Nothing is changing on that front.”