'Never enough': PGA Tour players learn value of loyalty
Players who stayed loyal to the PGA Tour amid lucrative recruitment by LIV Golf are starting to find out how much their allegiance could be worth.
The PGA Tour on Wednesday began contacting the 193 players eligible for a cut of the $US930 million ($A1.4 billion) from a 'player equity program' under the new PGA Tour Enterprises.
The bulk of that money - $US750 million - went to 36 players based on their career performance, how they have fared in the last five years and the results of a recent study that measured 'star power'.
Emails were going out on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday informing players of what they would get.
UK newspaper The Telegraph reported Tiger Woods was to receive $US100 million in equity and Rory McIlroy $US50 million.
Commissioner Jay Monahan outlined the first-of-its-kind equity ownership program in a February 7 memo to players, a week after Strategic Sports Group became a minority investor in the new commercial PGA Tour Enterprises.
The private equity group, a consortium of professional sports owners led by the Fenway Sports Group, made an initial investment of $US1.5 billion that could increase to $US3 billion.
The tour is still negotiating with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia - the financial muscle behind the rival LIV Golf league - as an investor.
Golf.com received a series of informational videos on the player equity program that was sent to players.
In one of them, Jason Gore - the tour's chief player officer - said, "It's really about making sure that our players know the PGA Tour is the best place to compete and showing them how much the Tour appreciates them being loyal."
Emails were also sent to 64 players who would share $US75 million in aggregate equity based on the past three years, and $US30 million to 57 players who are PGA Tour members.
A total of $US75 million in equity shares was set aside for 36 past players instrumental in building the tour.
The program has an additional $US600 million in equity grants that are recurring for future PGA Tour players.
Those would be awarded in amounts of $US100 million annually, starting in 2025.
Even with equity ownership geared towards making the PGA Tour better, the concern was players questioning who got how much - and whether they received their fair share.
LIV Golf has lured away seven major champions since it launched in 2022, all with guaranteed contracts and most of them believed to have topped $US100 million in earnings.
McIlroy, playing this week in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, was asked how much would make players feel validated for their decision to stay with the PGA Tour.
"The one thing we've learned in golf over the last two years is there's never enough," McIlroy said.