An Angry PGA Tour Member Lets Loose on PIP Earnings
The golf news continues to run in November with the PIP announcements released earlier this week for the 2023 season.
Rory McIlroy captures top spot, resulting in a take-home of $15 million (~£12 million), with Tiger Woods settling for second and a $12 million pay-out. Tiger has taken $35 million (~£28 million) since the introduction of the scheme in 2021, despite only playing a handful of events during that time.
The PIP paid out $100 million to 20 players, rating them on a number of factors, including (per Golf Digest):
- Internet searches. Along with Google Search, Meltwater and Nielsen measurements, the 2023 list added general population and fan awareness criteria.
- General awareness score among the US population
- Social media reach
- Engagement metrics such as the number of unique news articles that include a player’s name, duration that a player’s sponsor logos appeared on screen during Saturday and Sunday PGA Tour telecasts.
We discovered the PIP news via PGA pro Nate Lashley on his personal Instagram page. He questioned whether the PIP was well-known, and then whether it was needed at all.
Lashley wrote:
“How many golf fans actually know what the PIP on the PGA Tour is? Would love to hear from golf/PGA fans if they think this $100 million was spent well.Time for new leadership on the PGA Tour. This is an absolute kick in the face to the rest of the PGA Tour players.
Regardless of whether you know who Nate Lashley is, his words open a whole line of questioning regarding the usefulness of the PIP scheme. It is essentially a popularity contest, which is considered acceptable in most other sports.
A defensive lineman wouldn’t complain about the signing bonus of his new QB. Lionel Messi signing for Inter Miami resulted in record-breaking shirts sales overnight, which is one of the reasons he makes record breaking money. In an individual game with nowhere to hide, the top guys are there because they play the best golf, attract the most sponsors, and add interest to the sport as a whole.
Tiger signing up for an event draws more eyes to the sport, regardless of the frequency with which he plays. In fact, the rarity makes the chance to see him play even more valuable. It is a business, and the high value assets are compensated.
The upcoming 2024 season is forecast to splinter the game further, with elevated events designed for smaller fields of 70 to 80 players. The guys on the margins find themselves further away from the action. One solution is to ‘play better’ which I’m sure goes down like a lead balloon. With increased disparity between top players earnings and the lower ranked guys, there is further incentive to jump ship and go to LIV.
I have three conclusions that warrant further discussion regarding on the PIP.
The Divide
An interesting take on this is one I have wrestled with since LIV’s inception. The reasoning behind LIV was because Greg Norman intended to create a ‘World Golf League’ back in the 1990s, with only the top guys playing, eight signature events and increased purses for all.
Thirty years on, the modern PGA Tour is starting to emulate that original idea, with exactly eight elevated events, smaller fields and increased purses. The unintended consequences of creating LIV with the World Golf League in mind have resulted in the PGA Tour looking more like a Greg Norman-Rupert Murdoch brainchild than LIV ever could.
It is, however, a reminder of what one can achieve by getting near the top, as Brian Harman did this year when winning the Open, which put him in 20 place in the PIP and the recipient of an extra $2 million. But the PGA Tour is supposed to be the site of the most competitive golf in the world, and we sometimes like to see an underdog win, it reminds us of the standard required to play with the best, and that anyone can win. Rather than something like the FedEx Cup playoffs with the world’s top 30 guys. There is enjoyment in the chase of the little guy, following the rise of Max Homa from Korn Ferry to Ryder Cup stardom.
Tournament Pots
Furthermore, the PGA Tour is asking sponsors to front up more money for tournament purses, when $100 million could be spent bolstering those pots. It could also be spent assisting those grinding on the Korn Ferry Tour, or those starting out on the PGA Tour for the first time.
Skill versus Influence
Hypothetically, you could earn more money being social media savvy than by fine tuning your golf swing. Justin Thomas earned $5 million (~£4 million) from the 2023 PIP scheme, while earning $3.566 million on the course in a winless season with four top 10s. Obviously the guy would rather be winning golf tournaments for their pay checks, but the ‘incentive to grind’ that we declared was such a giant issue with LIV, is dissipating from the PGA Tour too. The PGA is beginning to look more and more like a boys club, and if you were ranked between 150 and 200 in the world, you are not looked after in anywhere near the same capacity. Which is why Nate Lashley’s comments have circulated widely.
Do we need the PIP? Should the money be spent elsewhere? What changes would you make to the structure?
