Tiger takes front seat in PGA Tour’s fight against LIV Golf
Last week Tiger Woods hopped on a plane and flew to Delaware, the venue for the BMW Championship, not to play but to meet the top-15 PGA Tour players to discuss what the tour can do to prevent the Saudi-backed LIV Tour from luring away more PGA tour players.
According to The Firepit Collective, everything was on the table, including changing the current structure of the PGA Tour. Among the ideas proposed was to have a slate of 18 tournaments for the top-60 ranked players with $20 million purses. These events would not have a cut and all 60 players would get paid making them very similar to LIV Golf .
Another idea that emerged from the group was for the PGA Tour to renounce its non-profit status. The change would force the Tour to pay taxes – its current status is reported to save the tour between $20 million and $50 million a year in taxes – but would give it much more freedom on how it operates, including allowing investors and equity firms to invest money in the Tour.
The Tour has already announced numerous changes to its purse sizes and season schedule as a response to the rise of LIV, which we have detailed in our next story. However, the LIV Tour is still expected to announce seven new signees on Aug. 29. Only one of them Cameron Tringale, has already confirmed it on his social media:
Other players who are likely to switch to LIV include British Open champion Cameron Smith, Marc Leishman, India’s Anirban Lahiri, and Harold Varner III.
— Cameron Tringale (@CamTringale) August 28, 2022
Other players who are likely to switch to LIV include British Open champion Cameron Smith, Marc Leishman, India’s Anirban Lahiri, and Harold Varner III.
Taking inventory as of this moment:
Going to LIV and playing in Boston (based on everything we’ve heard):
Smith
Leishman
Lahiri
Tringale
VarnerStill TBD (via @RyanLavnerGC):
Niemann*Not playing Boston (via @dylan_dethier):
Hideki
Cam Young(*-long term status unknown)
— No Laying Up (@NoLayingUp) August 27, 2022