What should we expect from Tiger this week?

Each week we ask our panel of writers, PGA members and golf industry experts to weigh in with their views on the hot topics of the day.

The PGA Tour has revealed the results of the 2023 Player Impact Program with its bonus pool of $100 million. Rory McIlroy had taken top spot and will get $15 million. Journeyman pro Nate Lashley, who is not one of the top 20, has criticized the PIP, calling it ridiculous that $100 million was spent on just 20 players and suggesting there are better ways to use that money and that new leadership is required on the PGA Tour. What are your thoughts on the PIP and Lashley’s comments?

Jim Deeks, Fairways Magazine (@jimdeeks): I totally agree.  I’ve always thought the PIP was a complete joke.  Like, we’re supposed to be surprised that Rory or Tiger are the most popular players… and we’re supposed to be excited and thrilled for them when they’re handed $15 million for absolutely no effort on their part??  I mean what other business does something like this?  Maybe the Leafs should give Auston Matthews an extra $10 million for having the most jerseys sold with his name on them.  Ridiculous.  And as for new leadership on the PGA Tour, well, I wouldn’t object to that idea.

Craig Loughry, Golf Ontario (@craigloughry): Hard to disagree with Nate, but those impressions are worth something, but do they mean something to the Tour? It’s a weird setup in that the Tour OWNS all video inside the ropes of all the Players, etc. The TOUR out of the goodness of their hearts “gives” Players the right to use content on their socials, and lets them add anything they want off course, etc. As they are the players social media accounts, they will actually get paid from those social media providers as well (IE Tiger gets about $15k per post on Instagram), it’s a bit of a double dip. I’d completely revamp the PIP and put more funds to purses for players (all circuits). Instead, the Tour has made it clear it will be asking host events/sponsors to anti up starting 2025. That’s an interesting strategy considering the macro environment both in men’s professional golf and global economic terms. This likely leads to contraction, with less events being played but players playing for somewhat larger purses.

Michael Schurman, Master Professional / Hall of Fame Member, PGA of Canada: Nate is partially right. Yes, the money could be used better and yes, the leadership has let down the players, the sponsors and the patrons. On the other hand, there is an old saying and as ugly as it sounds, it’s true, “Don’t complain, practice!” Over the years, the TOUR has gone from the Top 70 with Monday Qualifying to the Top 125 with automatic qualifying and 8-round Tour Schools with Sectional Qualifying. Does anyone really know what we have now? There are benefits to being in the top 30, top 60, top 70, top 125, top 150 and top 175. Some earn you invitations to certain events, retaining your playing privileges, courtesy cars, charter air travel, exemptions, special invitations and of course bonus money. Regardless of the top 125, there has always been a distinctly different lifestyle for those in the top 10 and the top 30. Jay Monahan and his cronies recognize they cannot compete with LIV but if they can maintain a circle of 10 or 12 of the best players and keep them from bolting that is their only chance for survival without a LIV partnership. So, they are dipping into reserves throwing good money where it isn’t needed after bad. It’s much like a gambling addiction. At least the #1 spot actually plays. For the players outside the top 70, there are crumbs. Some of them are a little bigger than normal-sized crumbs but relative to the feast on the King’s table, they aren’t nearly as filling.

Hal Quinn, Freelance Writer, Vancouver: From Day One, this PIP thing stunk of Tour desperation, and like most frantic last-minute ‘solutions’ it created problems rather than solved them. It is repulsive and ill-conceived to anyone beyond the tsunami of cash, and repugnant and offensive to the weekend golfers and golf fans who have supported the Tour for decades by attending events, and watching on that old-fashioned medium, TV. That money should have gone to charity, but it’s amoral spreading did beg the question, once again: where the heck is all of this cash coming from? Players, and as importantly the fans who support this staggering enterprise, deserve to know.

Peter Mumford, Fairways Magazine (@FairwaysGolf): Lashley is the only one we heard from, but I suspect he echoes the sentiments of many other rank and file players. Why do they need to reward McIlroy, Woods, et al when they already made many tens of millions this year. It’s not like they’re going anywhere else. That PIP money could be used to raise purses in many events and then paid to players that earn it on the course. Along with his designated, elevated, big money no-cut events for the Top 50, Monahan has created a two-tiered structure that is polarizing the majority of his members. New leadership at the top is definitely required.

Tiger Woods is back in action this week at the Hero World Challenge, his first competitive rounds since the Masters last April. What are your expectations for Tiger this week and his schedule in 2024?

Deeks: Gosh, I don’t know… how many times have we counted Tiger out, only to see him come back and do something extraordinary?  I’m personally more interested in watching Charlie Woods and seeing if he carries his old Dad around the course this week.  I suppose if Tiger does really well this week, we might expect to see him in all the majors in 2024, at the very least.

Loughry: I think Tiger will have a descent showing this week, he’ll have some rust, but he wouldn’t have agreed to play if he wasn’t in fair shape game wise. His reputation matters to him, his sponsors and certainly the fans. I can guarantee it and anything he plays in gets unusually high ratings; I’ll be watching. He’s on record as saying he’ll play 5-6 events; I wonder if they’ll all be PGA Tour event starts? Uh, no, likely all four Majors, the Hero and/or likely the Genesis that he’s directly involved with.

Quinn: The given is that the broadcast from Albany — where the FTX gang hung out — will spend entirely too much time on Woods. He’s trying to get in playing shape for Augusta National — a much tougher walk than Albany, well most courses are — and that’s what it’s all about and that’s about it.  Majors and maybe a couple of warm ups on the sked, if the body holds up.

Mumford: Tiger has said once a month is about all he will play in 2024 so I expect he can now handle walking 72 holes in the Bahamas. What we haven’t seen is the shape of his game, but my feeling is that apart from a little rust, he’ll be ready to play, maybe not in winning form but not likely dead last either.

What has been the most compelling story from the Tours in 2023? 

Deeks: A couple of things stand out for me.  On the men’s tour(s), the major victories of Wyndham Clark and Brain Harman were pretty impressive — both largely unknown, but with compelling back stories, and both making a statement about the depth of fine golf being played by so many who don’t make headlines every week.  On the LPGA Tour, the continuing domination of “foreign” players — primarily Asian — and the steady decline of American players.  Nelly Korda notwithstanding, it’s pretty hard to think of a consistently competitive, white, Anglo-American lady player these days.  I’m not saying that’s a bad thing at all, but it’s certainly surprising, and I’m sure hands are wringing throughout the American college golf system.

Loughry: Compelling story, it has to be the fighting, negotiation and backchannel dealings between LIV and the PGA Tour and the beat-up stepchild DP World Tour. It’s completely dominated the golf world all year, and by the looks of it, will continue to be THE story for 2024 (unless Tiger can surprise us and come back full time and win a few Majors).

Schurman: How quickly and how divided the TOUR players became regarding LIV. Money tore apart friendships overnight. How vulnerable even the PGA TOUR is to a predator. I hear talk that Jon Rohm has ‘jumped’. No wonder he has been so non-committal all summer. But the biggest story of 2023 will be told in 2024 when Jay Monahan reveals the new deal and how much it benefits him personally.

Quinn: As the Tour’s executive along with Greg Norman and the oil sheiks did everything possible to turn fans off the pro level of the game, on the men’s side there was a glimmer of hope. Winners included guys with first names Viktor, Ludvig, Erik, Sadith, Sepp, Emiliano, Woo, Jon (no introduction needed), and even a Seamus. No Bubbas (that’s a win right there). That told the story behind the LIV headlines. Maybe there is hope for the Tour rising from the ashes of the collision with LIV. Let’s hope Ludvig Aberg has a platform to test himself against the game’s history.

Mumford: Money is the story. PIP money, PIF money, crazy prize money, even crazier incentives, big upfront cash, life-altering bonuses and no-cut events where still more money is guaranteed. It’s a major turn-off for fans and one of the reasons they are turning off the PGA Tour.