Shark: PGA Tour Considering Money “Pot” To Compensate Elite Eight Players

Golf.com’s Michael Bamberger has been talking to Greg Norman about a variety of subjects and in part 4, Norman says he’s hearing how the PGA Tour is trying to sweeten the pot to retain players who might be swayed by the Premier Golf League.

The original dreamer behind a world golf tour says he’s not been in touch with the league founders since February, but hears the PGA Tour is eyeing select European Tour events to expand the current World Golf Championships.

And, this what-could-go-wrong idea:

“What I’m hearing is that the PGA Tour, against all their bylaws and governances, is talking about putting aside a $40 million pot for eight players, with $8 million for the top player,” Norman said in a recent interview. “The PGA Tour is re-tweaking their model with the PGL out there. If you’re player nine, 10, 11 or 12, I think you’d be pretty pissed off.”

Norman said he didn’t know how the PGA Tour would rank the eight players. This pot would be beyond the FedEx Cup playoff money.

As with the PGL’s concept, this idea does face the troublesome issue of who is a top player, who is a draw and how is that determined. The modern game sees more turnover than ever—thanks to those Pilates classes and plant-based diets!—and trying to pin down who qualifies as elite talent, seems like no easy task.

While the Premier Golf League founders and funders have been quiet during the pandemic, it should be noted that Saudi Arabia, of the primary financial backers, has recently put another $40 billion into their sovereign wealth fund that is one of the PGL’s confirmed sources of funding. Vivian Nereim reports for Bloomberg.