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Today At A Glance:

The PGA Tour is off to a hot start in 2023, and the introduction of a challenger in LIV Golf is one of the main reasons. So today’s newsletter provides an update on LIV Golf and breaks down the most impactful changes on the PGA Tour, including designated events, travel stipends, minimum pay, viewership, and increased tournament earnings.

This newsletter is also available via podcast on Apple or Spotify. Enjoy!

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Friends,

The Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA Tour) is nearly 100 years old, but there has never been a better time in history to be a professional golfer than today.

The PGA Tour has 47 official tournaments this year and will hand out over $550 million in prize money. Last weekend, the final round of the Masters Tournament averaged more than 12 million viewers, making it the most-watched golf tournament in the past five years. And Jon Rahm and Scottie Scheffler are about to break the single-season earnings record of $14 million (with five months left in the season).

Top 10 PGA Tour Money List for 2023 (as of 4/17/23)

1. Jon Rahm: $13,623,540

2. Scottie Scheffler: $12,508,495

3. Max Homa: $7,776,012

4. Sam Burns: $5,760,641

5. Kurt Kitayama: $5,693,388

6. Jordan Spieth: $5,549,622

7. Patrick Cantlay: $5,544,400

8. Rory McIlroy: $5,333,286

9. Matthew Fitzpatrick: $5,166,268

10. Tyrrell Hatton: $4,875,594

And with Tiger Woods not even being a factor, it’s even more impressive.

But while many people seem to applaud the PGA Tour for growing the game, it’s increasingly apparent that none of this would have happened without LIV Golf.

We all know the LIV Golf story by now. The new Saudi-backed professional golf league turned the sports world upside down last year, spending over $800 million to convince big-name players like Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Cameron Smith, Brooks Koepka, and Bryson DeChambeau to leave the PGA Tour.

Highest Paid Golfers (Forbes 2022)

1. Phil Mickelson: $138 million

2. Dustin Johnson: $97 million

3. Bryson Dechambeau: $86 million

4. Brooks Koepka: $69 million

5. Tiger Woods: $68 million

The LIV model is interesting — 54 holes, no cut, guaranteed fields, huge prize money, music blasting, team structure, and more. But the PGA Tour responded by banning all of these players from competing, and LIV has struggled with viewership numbers over the last two years, despite recently signing a network deal with CW.

This year, LIV’s two tournaments have only averaged between 400,000 and 500,000 viewers on CW. That’s a significant increase from the 67,000 viewers they averaged on YouTube last year. However, it’s still below marquee PGA events, like the RBC Heritage this past weekend, which averaged 4.2 million viewers for the final round.

LIV 2023 Weekend Average Viewership

• Mayakoba: 537,000

• Tucson: 409,000

• Orlando: TBD

Add in the fact that LIV Golf is already reportedly cutting expenses across the board — they no longer cover travel expenses for players, and they cut healthcare and retirement benefits for the broadcast crew — and there are many people in and around the golf business that think LIV Golf won’t even make it another year.

That’s just speculation at this point. But still, the fact of the matter is that LIV has objectively been a good thing for PGA Tour players, despite the year-long negativity.

Commissioner Jay Monahan and the PGA Tour introduced several significant changes this year to counter LIV Golf’s new format and seemingly bottomless pit of cash.

Most importantly, the PGA Tour added 17 designated events (including the four major championships). These events are guaranteed to have most of the world’s top players in attendance — because players who finish in the top 20 of the PGA’s Player Impact Program must participate (or they lose part of their PIP bonus from the previous year).

PGA Tour 2023 Designated Events List

• Sentry Tournament of Champions (January 5-8) — Won by Jon Rahm 

• WM Phoenix Open (February 9-12) — Won by Scottie Scheffler 

• Genesis Invitational (February 16-19) — Won by Jon Rahm

• Arnold Palmer Invitational (March 2-5) — Won by Kurt Kitayama

• The Players Championship (March 9-12) — Won by Scottie Scheffler 

• WGC Dell Technologies Match Play (March 23-26) — Won by Sam Burns

• Masters Tournament (April 6-9) — Won by Jon Rahm

• RBC Heritage (April 13-16) — Won by Matt Fitzpatrick

• Wells Fargo Championship (May 4-7)

• PGA Championship (May 18-21) 

• The Memorial Tournament (June 1-4) 

• U.S. Open (June 15-18)

• Travelers Championship (June 22-25) 

• Open Championship (July 20-23)

• FedEx St. Jude Championship (August 10-13)

• BMW Championship (August 17-20) 

• Tour Championship (August 24-27)

The PGA Tour got the players to agree to this for one simple reason: Money.

For example, the purses for this year’s PGA Tour-run designated events (compared to last year’s events) increased by 78% on average, with RBC Heritage increasing by 150%.

There are other changes, too. The PGA Tour has reduced the playing field for FedEx Cup Tournaments. They now offer $5,000 travel stipends for players outside of the top 125 that miss the cut, and they also now guarantee $500,000 to each player who makes it to the PGA Tour through the Korn Ferry Tour, impacting a total of 200+ players.

And these changes aren’t just good for the players; fans also seem to enjoy them.

For example, final-round viewership for PGA Tour Designated Events is up an average of 14% compared to 2022. Furthermore, the PGA Tour’s social media viewership across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube is up 31% YoY and their new Netflix show Full Swing has already been renewed for a second season.

So whether LIV Golf stays around or not, introducing a real challenger for the first time in history has transformed the PGA Tour overnight.

Competition breeds innovation. And while there is a high level of nuance to the golf landscape right now, no one has benefitted more than PGA Tour players themselves.

I hope everyone has a great day. We’ll talk on Friday.

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Extra Credit: Day In The Life Of The NY Mets Clubhouse Staff

I’m a sucker for behind-the-scenes sports content, and this “Day in the Life” video by the Mets delivered. They walk you through what their clubhouse staff does during spring training — measuring uniforms, rubbing baseballs, organizing gear, etc. — and it makes you appreciate the people who make an organization run that much more.

Huddle Up is a 3x weekly newsletter that breaks down the business and money behind sports. If you are not already a subscriber, sign up and join 100,000+ others who receive it directly in their inbox each week.