Can golf’s four men’s major championships justify being “major” when they trail so many other tournaments offering bigger prize funds?
That’s not merely a speculative question posed amid the big-money influence of LIV Golf and its super-sized Saudi purses on the men’s professional game. Rory McIlroy, the golfer-cum-statesman who has helped the PGA Tour navigate the LIV Golf challenges in the past year, addressed the issue before last week’s Memorial Tournament.
“It wouldn’t stop me from playing a major, but at the same time the major championships basically rent the talent for a week from the PGA Tour, and you could argue from LIV and DP World Tour and wherever else,” McIlroy, a 34-year-old Northern Irishman and winner of four of golf’s biggest titles, told Golf Digest’s Dave Shedloski at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio. “So, the major championships aren’t going to be the product that they are without the top players in the world.
“You have a new entity (LIV) coming into the game offering $25 million prize funds, and other entities feel the pressure to keep up,” he said. “You think about the four most important tournaments in our game, the prize funds aren’t in the top 20 of prize funds. … That doesn’t quite add up.”
One week before the U.S. Open, the USGA has yet to announce the prize fund for its premier national championship. However, among the other major championships, the Masters ($18 million purse, with $3.24 million to winner Jon Rahm) and PGA Championship ($17.5 million, with $3.15 million to winner Brooks Koepka) paid less than all 14 LIV Golf events, which offer $25 million prize funds, of which $4 million goes to the winner. (Next month’s Open Championship, administered by the R&A, has not announced its purse but traditionally offers the least amount of money of the four majors.) Even the PGA Tour’s 12 “designated” events, with their prize funds goosed this year in response to LIV Golf’s challenge, outpace the majors, at $20 million ($25 million for the Players) apiece.
So, what is the future for golf’s majors if they fail to ante up against golf’s deepest pockets?
“Look, as a player these big prize funds are great,” McIlroy said. “But it’s a good question whether that’s sustainable in the long-term. Golf has never been healthier. The industry’s doing really well. There’s more money coming into the game than ever before. More people want to put money into the game. For the short- and medium-term, I don’t think it’s a problem. But long-term, I don’t really have a good answer for you. But right now, I think it’s at least sustainable for the next decade.” READ MORE
Sweden’s Ludvig Åberg will make his professional debut at this week’s RBC Canadian Open with a coveted welcoming gift: membership on the PGA Tour.
Åberg recently completed his senior season at Texas Tech as No. 1 on the PGA Tour University Ranking, earning a spot on tour. He is the first player to earn fully exempt tour status under the revised PGA Tour U format. He will be exempt through 2024. The Nos. 2-5 finishers – Florida’s Fred Biondi, who won the recent NCAA medal with his team-champion Gators, Illinois’ Adrien Dumont de Chassart, Georgia Tech’s Ross Steelman and Texas A&M’s Sam Bennett, respectively – earned full exemptions on the Korn Ferry Tour.
Åberg, who has been No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking since late March, tied for 29th in stroke play in the recent NCAA tournament. He won eight times at Texas Tech, including the past two Big 12 Conference titles.
In being named winner of the Haskins Award as men’s college golf’s top player, Åberg became the seventh player to sweep the Haskins, Nicklaus and Hogan awards. READ MORE
Two-time defending champion Rory McIlroy will seek to make it a three-peat this week in the RBC Canadian Open at Oakdale Golf and Country Club in Toronto. McIlroy, who won Canada’s national championship in 2019 and 2022 (the 2020 and 2021 editions were canceled because of the pandemic) will headline a field that includes 20 Canadians, notably three winners from this season: Corey Conners (Valero Texas Open), Mackenzie Hughes (Sanderson Farms) and Adam Svensson (RSM Classic). READ MORE
The Houston Open will return to the PGA Tour’s schedule next year after a one-year absence, with a new sponsor and, most significantly for the future of the tournament, a spring date. The Texas Children’s Houston Open will be played March 28-31 at Memorial Park, likely one week before the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio, which is expected to precede the Masters. READ MORE
In its return to a calendar-year format, the PGA Tour will attempt not to leave non-designated events stuck between designated tournaments – such as what happened with this year’s Honda Classic – according to a proposed schedule put in front of membership and outlined by Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard. READ MORE
The Masters’ annual ticket lottery will be open through June 20 for would-be patrons to apply to attend the 2024 tournament. A maximum of four tickets for one of the three practice rounds (Monday-Wednesday, April 8-10) for $100 each or two tickets for one of the tournament rounds (Thursday-Sunday, April 11-14) is available. To apply, click HERE.
Larry Nelson, an unlikely 10-time winner on the PGA Tour after having served with the Army infantry in Vietnam and not owning a set of clubs until age 22, was the annual honoree at last week’s Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio. Nelson, 75, a three-time major champion and member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, was called “an American hero” by Memorial host Jack Nicklaus. READ MORE
Scotland’s Trump Turnberry has been “blacklisted” from hosting another Open Championship as long as former U.S. President Donald Trump owns the resort, London’s Telegraph newspaper reported. The R&A, which administers the Open, is concerned that protests would make the seaside venue – regarded as one of the top courses in the British Isles – a high-risk site and detract from the tournament. Eric Trump, who oversees the golf properties in his father’s business empire, told London’s Daily Mail that the Trump Organization “is deeply committed to Scotland.” Turnberry’s Ailsa Course, the scene of the famous 1977 “Duel in the Sun” when Tom Watson edged Jack Nicklaus for the Claret Jug, has hosted four Open Championships but none since 2009, when Stewart Cink defeated a 59-year-old Watson in a playoff. READ MORE
Compiled by Steve Harmon