Top golfer could win £16m in two days under new PGA Tour shake-up
Anybody who thinks the money on offer here at the FedEx Cup is already absurd should stick around. Because plans are afoot to ensure that very soon a player could collect a staggering £16 million in a single weekend at the PGA Tour’s season finale.
The winner of the Tour Championship at East Lake this evening would scoop £8.5 million should he also top the FedEx standings. It is already by far the biggest prize in golf. But in its quest to increase the lustre of the play-offs, the US circuit is ready to introduce an 18-hole play-off the day after the Tour Championship concludes in which the top six players would play for a $10 million (£7.5 million) bonus. Except this will be winner takes all.
Jay Monahan, the Tour commissioner, believes it would excite the TV audiences and could be the perfect introduction for 2019, when the game’s schedule will undergo its most radical revamp in modern times. With the USPGA Championship moving to May, it allows the PGA Tour to stage its curtain-closer before the NFL season begins in September and thus achieve much larger viewing figures.
On Tuesday here, Monahan spoke of “owning August” and admitted “Shoot-out Sunday ” had been discussed. “We’ve considered virtually every single circumstance that’s available to us, and that is one possibility,” he said.
Paul Casey is on the Players Advisory Council – which also includes Jordan Spieth and consults with Monahan and the executive board on issues affecting the Tour – and indicated that it was more than just a mere “possibility”.
“I can imagine a day when we go for a separate shoot-out for an added bonus, but I don’t know how much I can say as I’m on the PAC,” Casey said.
“But even taking away my position on the committee, I think we could figure something out where we see a rapid-fire shoot-out, between the top few guys.
“I like the play-offs as they currently stand, but I still think they can be refined. So maybe let the top 30 play out for four days, as we do now at the Tour Championship, and have a winner here and one for the FedEx Cup bonus – although that usually tends to be the same guy.
“But then we could come back again for a quick shoot-out, which would look great on TV. I think it would be really exciting. That way, you don’t get in the way of other sports. You avoid clashing with other TV ratings, and to own a day that is associated only with golf would be so cool.”
The FedEx has been a quandary for the PGA Tour ever since its introduction in 2006. On one hand, it wanted the campaign to finish with fireworks, but, on the other, it wanted to preserve the integrity of the event in rewarding season-long effort.
Of course, the new format, and more to the point, the finances, would attract plenty of criticism and inevitably be coined the “FedExcess Cup”, particularly as it is believed that the play-offs would be reduced from four to three events and a golfer could earn a remarkable £1.23 million per round if he won the lot. But there is no doubt the Tour could afford it.
A 10-year extension with FedEx was signed in May, when Monahan announced that he expected the payout to “increase significantly”.
Seeing as the $35 million bonus pool will be shared out here tonight we are already talking ludicrous figures.
For now, Casey and Justin Rose will be on a mission to secure the biggest payday in the history of English golf. Casey went out in the third round in a share of the lead with the Americans Justin Thomas and Webb Simpson, while Rose was in a group one behind. Both could do the “golden double” if they won and other results went their way. These would be riches beyond their wildest dreams when they set out as pros. But those dreams are about to get wilder still.
