On Thursday, Tiger Woods will be rewarded by the PGA Tour with a loyalty bonus for declining LIV Golf.
Tiger Woods, the greatest player in golf, will receive an incredible £80.4 million as a loyalty bonus from the PGA Tour for eschewing the enormous fortune of competitor LIV Golf. The PGA Tour commissioner, Jay Monahan, will send the 48-year-old 15-time major winner an email on Thursday confirming the huge prize as part of a £2.4 billion investment into a new non-profit organisation called PGA Tour Enterprises.
With a predicted £40 million payout, Woods leads a select group of golfers who stand to gain the most monetarily. Rory McIlroy is in tow. After that, Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas are scheduled to receive a staggered reward of £25 million apiece.
Nineteen three-quarters of this investment will go to the golfers. This information was reported by The Telegraph. But among the top winners are 36 celebrities, including Woods and McIlroy, who will get an incredible £603 million in distribution. However, the World No. 1 golfer, Scottie Scheffler, who has similarly avoided the pull of LIV despite being the greatest player on the planet right now, seems to be conspicuously missing.
The primary factor used to divide the money will be career points, which are a measure of a player’s accomplishments on the PGA Tour. This explains why Woods and McIlroy have received such large incentives; Woods has won 82 Tour titles to McIlroy’s 24.
It is anticipated that the PGA Tour’s equity value will increase further, guaranteeing players’ future financial gain. However, considering that LIV Golf paid Jon Rahm an incredible £361.9 million to switch allegiance, it might be difficult to match their short-term attractiveness.
Fenway Sports, the owners of Liverpool FC, is one of the new US investors in the PGA Tour and is helping to make these improvements possible.
The PGA, LIV Golf [PIF], and the DP World Tour are currently in talks, and McIlroy seems to be softening his harsh stance against players who have accepted the rich offers from LIV Golf, which is supported by Saudi Arabia.
After leaving the PGA Tour’s policy board in November of last year, there were speculations circulating that McIlroy was enticed by an incredible £672 million offer from LIV Golf. However, the 34-year-old denied these rumours and returned to the policy board this past week.
In an interview with BBC Sport, McIlroy said of his momentary retreat, “It has. Something had to give. I have a lot going on in my life right now, and there are only so many hours in a day and days in a week.
“In addition to attempting to be a decent husband and father, I’m also attempting to become a world-class golfer, and my expanding investing portfolio is eating up more of my time. I’m quite busy right now.”
This season, Woods has only registered for two PGA events. He participated in the Masters and the Genesis Invitational, pulling out of the former at Riviera Country Club because of flu-like symptoms and back problems.
Woods finished in 60th position at Augusta with rounds of 73, 72, 82, and 77, for a total of 304 shots [+16].