With the PGA Tour facing perhaps its greatest threat ever from the LIV Golf Invitational Series, it announced a 2022-23 schedule on Monday that includes a record $428.6 million in prize money in official events and another $145 million in bonuses, including $75 million for the FedEx Cup.
The 2022-23 schedule, which was released by the PGA Tour on Monday, will include 44 official regular-season tournaments, including the four majors, and three FedEx Cup playoff events.
Last week, LIV Golf, which is being financed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, announced it will expand its series to 14 tournaments in 2023, with 48 players on four-man teams competing for $405 million in prize money.
LIV Golf has lured away major champions such as Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed with guaranteed contracts reportedly worth between $100 million and $200 million, in addition to lucrative purses for its events.
The upcoming PGA Tour season will be the last using a wraparound format. The tour is moving back to a calendar-year schedule starting in 2024.
Among other significant changes: Only the top 70 players will qualify for the first FedEx Cup playoff event at the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis, Tennessee; 50 in the BMW Championship at Olympia Fields, Illinois; and 30 in the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.
“We’ve heard from our fans and the overwhelming sentiment was that they wanted more consequences for both the FedEx Cup regular season and the playoffs, and to further strengthen events that traditionally feature top players competing head-to-head,” PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said in a statement. “We feel strongly we’ve accomplished all of these objectives and more, creating a cadence of compelling drama for every tournament throughout the season.”
Following the FedEx Cup playoffs in August 2023, a yet-to-be-determined number of official tour events will be played in the fall. While all players with status will be eligible to play in those tournaments, those outside the top 70 will compete for FedEx Cup points and status for the 2024 season. The top 70 players who qualify for the first FedEx Cup playoff event will be fully exempt for the next season.
After the completion of the fall events, the top 50 players in the FedEx Cup points standings, as well as top performers from the fall, will compete in an international series that will include limited fields and no cuts. Dates and locations of the fall events and international series will be announced later this year, according to the PGA Tour.
Next season’s PGA Tour schedule includes six invitationals — the Sentry Tournament of Champions, Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational, Memorial Tournament, Players Championship and WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play — that had their purses increased by a total of $43.8 million. The first two FedEx Cup playoff events will have their prize money jump from $15 million to $20 million.