{{ubiquityData.prevArticle.description}}
{{ubiquityData.nextArticle.description}}
The creation of the PGA Tour’s Player Impact Program – a $40 million bonus pool to be awarded to the 10 players judged to be the most influential – is about more than helping the rich get richer.
It’s also there to blunt the ongoing efforts by the leaders of the Premier Golf League who are still working to lure many of the top players to what they promise will be a more lucrative and player-friendly league – should it ever happen.
The Premier Golf League, which loomed as a serious threat pre-pandemic, has not gone away. In fact, the manager of a prominent player who has been pursued by the PGL said rather than abandoning the idea, the group has “sweetened the pot.”
Leaders of the group, led by Saudi golf officials, rented a house in South Florida earlier this year to be closer to some of the players they are targeting despite several top players, including Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka, declaring their allegiance to the PGA Tour.
The Player Impact Program went into effect Jan. 1 but it had been scheduled to begin in 2020 until the pandemic disrupted the tour schedule, a tour official confirmed to GGP.
This allows the PGA Tour to reward and leverage its stars – Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Bryson DeChambeau, McIlroy, etc. – with the goal of them raising their profiles.
A collection of metrics including Google searches, Q-ratings, Nielsen Brand Exposure ratings and Meltwater mentions will be used to determine which players have the most substantial impact on the PGA Tour. Those 10 will be awarded a piece of the $40 million annual pot based on their ranking, with the most impactful player getting $8 million.
Like the FedEx Cup, it’s intended to incentivize players to be more active beyond the golf course. By marketing themselves more aggressively, the tour believes both the organization and the players will benefit.
Will it change what the public sees?
Perhaps slightly, but based on the early response of several top players, it won’t drive them to play more events or substantially change their social media plans.
“I'm somebody who somewhat stays away from social media, but now that knowing that social media is a big part of one of five things that counts towards the ranking, I might try to start doing some things to maybe just boost the following a little bit,” Jon Rahm said.
“You might start seeing more involvement. I'm pretty sure you'll definitely see more involvement on my part and I think it's a good thing because you don't necessarily have to be one of the top five players in the world to have a chance, right?”
“I'm somebody who somewhat stays away from social media, but now that knowing that social media is a big part of one of five things that counts towards the ranking, I might try to start doing some things to maybe just boost the following a little bit.”
Jon Rahm
To participate in the program, players must agree to one corporate day a year for the PGA Tour and add one event to their schedule that meets specific tour requirements.
As the PGA Tour has locked into new media rights deals – approximately $2 billion from Discovery for rights outside the United States and approximately $700 million from multiple sources for U.S. rights – passing along a portion of the profits to the players also helped hold off the Premier Golf League initiative.
Players had raised the issue of compensation with tour officials and when the PGL initiative gathered momentum, commissioner Jay Monahan and others used the new program as a way to strengthen the PGA Tour’s status.
The strategic alliance struck with the European Tour was another roadblock in the potential path for the PGL, which has promised top players massive payouts – reportedly $30 million or more for some players – to join the team golf concept.
While some players, such as Henrik Stenson and Justin Rose, have remained open to the PGL idea, others have been reluctant to support it despite the promise of more money. It would be critical for the new organization to attract the bulk of the game’s top players to succeed and, as someone close to the situation said, the players will go where the best players are.
When McIlroy signed a lucrative deal with NBC/GolfPass and was ranked second on the impact list (before it became official), it solidified his financial situation to the point the PGL option was less attractive.
For some players, like Rickie Fowler, the impact algorithm will likely work to his benefit. Though he has struggled with his game recently, Fowler remains one of the most popular and recognizable players on the PGA Tour.
For others, their focus will remain where it has been – on the golf course.
“Wins and good golf take care of everything and the rest is secondary,” Xander Schauffele said.
Ron Green Jr.