The Pga Tour Schedule for 2022-23 has been released, and the main focus is again financial.
Embed from Getty Images
In order to compete with the rival LIV Tour, the PGA has fronted up $429 million for the season’s tournament purses, a new record. The schedule can be summarized below, with some thoughts on how next year’s season might play out:
Key Points:
- The majors run from the week of April 3rd (Masters) through to 17th July (The Open at Royal Liverpool)
- The Players Championship has a new sum of $25 million, as well as a series of smaller increases across the season.
- A reduced number of players in the FedEx Cup playoffs
- 44 events, almost all 72-hole stroke play, as well as a three event layoff series at East Lake, Atlanta.
- 70 players qualify for first event at the FedEx St. Jude
- 50 players proceed to the BMW Championship
- Followed by 30 players competing at the Tour Championship at East Lake.
- Still a very complicated points system!
The full tournament schedule for 2022/23 can be found here.
Overall, the increased finances sems like a positive move, a direct response to LIV Golf and their endlessly deep pocketed business approach.
Embed from Getty Images
With the playoffs seeing reduced players competing for the biggest prizes, this is actually more along the lines of Greg Norman’s initial pitch with the World Golf League in the mid-1990s. Norman intended the best players in the world to be showcased in a smaller, more competitive league; where the attraction would be guaranteed money for the competitors, with the top players compensated for the publicity they generate for the game.
This came to fruition with the Player Impact Program in 2021, a $40 million pot introduced to pay players based on views, google searches, and social media influence.
Anyway, the release of the 2023 schedule saw James Hahn take to Twitter, leaving a scathing review of the schedule and the absurdity of having to travel over 15,000 miles to attend the first five events of the season, if one wished to do so.
Take a look at the new PGA Tour schedule and you’ll understand why players are upset. Vegas to Japan to South Carolina to Bermuda to Mexico? For the viewers, it’s a flick of a remote. For us, it’s 20 hour travel days and tens of thousands of dollars in expenses.
— James Hahn (@JamesHahnPGA) August 1, 2022
Hahn represents the lower end of the world rankings that we are exposed to, sitting at #225. He offered a solution to mirror the NFL teams and play their events in major cities.
The new FedEx system encourages more appearances to accumulate more points, especially for those outside the World Top 200 who will perhaps only record a handful of Top 10s in a season. Yet, to increase chances of making the playoffs, one must make more appearances and spend more time on the road.
One of the main gripes for the LIV defectors was time spent on the road, allegedly not seeing their families. It does seem easier to play a few LIV events, travel less and receive the same (or more) in compensation.
Embed from Getty Images
A series of sarcastic responses followed Hahn’s tweet, including from 2008 Masters champion Trevor Immelman, commentator Ewen Murray and an often sarcastic Eddie Pepperell, offering Hahn some deserved perspective on his current employment situation.
There is absolutely no obligation to play consecutive events in these locations, and there is a more efficient method of playing more and traveling less.
Embed from Getty Images
Yet, there is obviously a communications issues between players and the Tour officials that hasn’t been addressed for some time, before LIV burst onto the scene and shook things up.
If the main gripe from players is not being listened to, or spending too much time away from home, listing events in Vegas, Japan, South Carolina, Bermuda and then Mexico may not be the optimal strategy.
Millions of dollars can usually smooth these gripes over, but for the lower ranked professional, any increase in travel time adds a burden onto each appearance, and bigger tournament purses means less when the making the cut is a high bar.
