‘New-look’ PGA Tour gets underway at Fortinet Champs

The ‘new-look’ PGA kicks off this week with the Fortinet Championship opening the 2022-23 season, at the Silverado Resort and Spa North in Napa, California.

Commissioner Jay Monahan announced in August that the top players will commit to taking part in at least 20 events, including 12 that will be given "elevated" status immediately with four events later to reach that level. An average purse of $20 million will be available at each.

"Our top players are firmly behind the Tour, helping us deliver an unmatched product to our fans, who will be all but guaranteed to see the best players competing against each other in 20 events or more throughout the season," Monahan said at a news conference ahead of the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.

"This is an extraordinary and unprecedented commitment, a testament to who these guys are and what they believe in."

The new PGA Tour structure will begin in the coming months with the start of the 2022-23 season. Previously, the top players, who will be designated by the revised Player Impact Program (PIP), were required to play in only 15 tournaments.

The top players now will be committed to playing, provided they qualify, to the four major tournaments, the three FedEx Cup playoff tournaments, The Players, the Genesis Invitational, the Memorial Tournament, Arnold Palmer Invitational, WGC-Dell Match Play and Sentry Tournament of Champions. In addition, they will play in four more elevated events, still to be announced, as well as three tournaments of their choosing.

Monahan also announced a bonus pool to the 20 top players in the PIP will double to $100 million as well as an earning assurance program for fully-exempt players at the rookie level on up. They will earn at least $500 000, with the PGA Tour making up the difference between that figure and what the players earned on the course.

Rookies will be paid up front to help them financially.

"This is a remarkable time for the Tour," Monahan said. "We have and always will be the ultimate platform for a player who wants to compete for the trophies and the titles that matter most. To now have our top players rally around this organisation and commit to a portfolio of tournaments like never before, I think our fans, our partners, our players are going to love it. I promise you, there's more to come.

SAFFERS ON TOUR

Six South Africans have earned their full card for the 2022-23 season. Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Dylan Fritelli, Erik van Rooyen and Garrick Higgo will know just how tough it is out on the PGA Tour while Dean Burmester and MJ Daffue will be learning the hard way this season having earned their tour cards for the first time.

Dylan, Garrick, and MJ will open their season at the Fortinet Championship while the others will get their campaigns going later on this year.