#2 PGA/DP Tour/LIV/PIF 2024 UPDATE  

#2 PGA/DP Tour/LIV/PIF 2024 UPDATE                                        

If you are as confused as I about the 2024 golf season and the progress of a PGA/PIF agreement, I will be publishing periodic updates as part of future blogs and be in Volume 3 part 3A. 

#1 The 2024 season has been set from Jan 4 to Sept 1, 2024.  Eight signature events will have purses of $20M, The Players will be $25M, and the 4 majors will be around $20M.  Waste Management Phoenix Open, which was a signature event last year with a purse of $20M, is likely to be 9M this year although no official purse has been announced.  Purses probably depend on how much $ PIF will cough up.  

#2 Purses for tournaments will be raised or remain the same, but the total will increase. Signature purses will remain at $20M each, Players Championship will be the same as 2023 $25M.  Purse Total for 2023 was $460M from $422 in 2022, up 9%.

#3 There will be 8 Signature tournaments, same as last year.  Some with cuts and some will be no cut, with a field of 70 or 80.  

#4 The first event will be “The Sentry” where the name Tournament of Champions has been dropped.  It is the first Signature event with a purse of $20M, with no cut as it has always been.  In the past it was supposed to be only champions from the previous year.  Last year others were included and Rory skipped it, which reportedly cost him $5M.  This year the field will be the top 70 players plus the top 10 players from the Fall season for a total of 80.  

#5 The second signature event will be The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro/Am.  It replaces the Waste Management tournament as a signature event, and is the only change.  Amateurs will only play Thursday & Friday, and it will be held at Pebble Beach & Spyglass Hill Courses. 

#6  The Memorial held at Muirfield Village and hosted by Jack Nicklaus will precede the PGA Championship and be reduced from over 100 players to 70 to 80.  It will be the 7th signature event with a $20M purse.  There will be a cut, and a set criteria as to who is invited.  The Top 50 from last year are in, and the remaining 30 will be determined according to certain rankings.

#7 September 13, 2023 Sen Richard Blumenthal D Ct who is chairman of a Senate investigation subcommittee issued a subpoena for documents on Saudi Arabia’s new golf partnership with the PGA Tour.  Blumenthal stated that the Saudi Public Investment fund (PIF) has increased investments in the United States from $2 billion in 2018 to $35 billion in 2023.