40 million dollar bonus pool for 10 PGA golfers.

https://golfweek.usatoday.com/2021/04/20/pga-tour-bonus-pool-top-players-tiger-woods-bryson-dechambeau/?utm_campaign=trueAnthem%20Manual&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR18eZK-jIKmvBcxOoUPC9pY3ksBqbEISFEL080UCdxm518Z3IHITDhxwR0

Anna Kournikova didn’t live in vain.

Btw, is it 1st of April today?

I guess it is just the PGAT paying some of the players endorsement fees if they promote the PGAT. Bit weird but as long as it is open to all players I don't immediately see any harm.

It seems crazy, but also does make sense. I think golfers are under paid in general. Obviously it's based on performance, and only that. Which is the issue. But if someone brings in more fans, especially to a certain event, they shoukd be rewarded. No idea why players don't get paid to play.

As long as it doesn't go to official prize money, which in some ways isn't a big deal these days anyway with the fedex and OWGR points ruling who plays where. It is essentially the PGAT paying appearance fees. Will the PGAT attach some strings to the money handed out to the players via this scheme? Could be a way to boost the lesser fields, you give a big name a hefty bonus but insist he plays the john deer.

I think it depends on how the algorithm works re social media etc. There are many ways of moving the needle, including obnoxious behavior on and off the course or deliberately setting out to be "different" a la Bryson. I'm not sure I want to see that encouraged -- I'd rather players got paid for good golf. Presumably players who move the needle already get lucrative sponsorship deals. I'm sure First Tee and other junior programs could use more money if there's spare $$ floating around.

beninho wrote:It seems crazy, but also does make sense. I think golfers are under paid in general. Obviously it's based on performance, and only that. Which is the issue. But if someone brings in more fans, especially to a certain event, they shoukd be rewarded. No idea why players don't get paid to play.

Bit late to this one, but this is how I see it too Beninho. No Laying Up made the point that this essentially covers off one more thing the potential start up PGL had over the PGAT for the top players, in that the PGL could have easily just gone to say DJ/Rory/JT and said, hey we'll pay you $30m to play these 20 events no matter where you finish in them, cos you'll bring in viewers/sponsors/guests etc...

Now this might not cover that for everyone, but it is a start at least.

Also, it does seem like it will include some sort of social media output/content, which is a good thing for me. Maybe something PGAT have picked up from their new Euro Tour partnership? I've only really been following golf properly week in week out since the restart, but it is amazing to me how much better the Euro Tour's social media content and output is compared to the PGAT, hopefully this is a step forward for the PGAT on that. You'd imagine some sponsors will see this as a decent chance to produce some handily advertised videos in the name of getting their golfers a better chance at a slice of this $40m too

The PGAT don't have a great record on this but my only thing would be that some transparaceny would be nice. If all $40 million goes to Tiger and Rory for example it would be a shame and I would like to know if that was the case.

McLaren wrote:The PGAT don't have a great record on this but my only thing would be that some transparaceny would be nice. If all $40 million goes to Tiger and Rory for example it would be a shame and I would like to know if that was the case.

Don't think so Mac - I thought I read somewhere that the top amount was $10 million. I could well be wrong. But I agree, if Tiger gets fit and turns up at a tournament, the media hoopla would be immense. And he wouldn't have to generate any of it - just put out an announcement "I am fit and will return at XXXXX" Bingo - $10 million more in the bank.