The status of the Travelers Championship increased appreciably when it was announced as one of the PGA Tour’s four additional “elevated” tournaments for 2023.
Connecticut’s biggest sporting event and the Waste Management Phoenix Open, RBC Heritage and Wells Fargo Classic will join nine previous events in which the presence of golf’s biggest stars will be guaranteed as they compete for lucrative purses of $20 million. The four events will rotate on an annual basis to assure sponsors will be guaranteed stronger fields once the PGA Tour returns to a calendar-year-based schedule in 2024.
In August, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan announced the first nine “elevated” tournaments for the 2022-2023 season: Sentry Tournament of Champions, The Players Championship; three FedEx Cup playoff stops (FedEx St. Jude Championship, BMW Championship, Tour Championship); three invitationals (Genesis, Arnold Palmer, Memorial) and the World Golf Championship Dell Technologies Match Play. Ten of the 13 elevated tournaments will feature purses of $20 million, while events that have varying purses are the Tournament of Champions ($15 million), Players Championship ($25 million) and Tour Championship ($75 million toward the FedEx Cup overall).
Monahan also announced the 2023 schedule would include a new Earnings Assurance Program, a Travel Stipend Program and the Player Impact Program’s prize fund being increased to $100 million. Players who finished in the top 20 in the 2022 Player Impact Program are required to participate in all elevated tournaments for which they are eligible, as well as at least three additional events. The commitment to compete in a pre-determined schedule, and play at least 20 times per year, is the result of unprecedented collaboration among the PGA Tour’s top players.
“Our top players are firmly behind the Tour,” Monahan said at the Tour Championship, where Rory McIlroy won his third FedExCup title. “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. This is an extraordinary and unprecedented commitment, a testament to who these guys are and what they believe in.”
Bringing the top players in the game together more often is also a huge win for fans and partners.
“When I tune into a Tampa Bay Buccaneers game, I expect to see Tom Brady throw a football,” McIlroy said at the Tour Championship. “When I tune into a Formula 1 race, I expect to see Lewis Hamilton in a car.”
The four events announced Wednesday represent some of the PGA Tour’s longest-standing events and are played at some of its most recognizable venues. The WM Phoenix Open dates back to 1932, while the Travelers Championship (1952) and RBC Heritage (1969) each debuted more than a half-century ago. TPC Scottsdale hosts the Tour’s highest-attended event and is home to the famed “stadium” par-3 16th hole. Harbour Town Golf Links, which has hosted the RBC Heritage every year, was a collaboration between World Golf Hall of Famers Pete Dye and Jack Nicklaus and the first course designed by each man to be used on the PGA Tour. The Travelers’ host venue, TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, has hosted the Tour since 1983 and is the home to one of the most exciting finishing stretches on the PGA Tour. The Wells Fargo Championship debuted 20 years ago, and its host venue, Quail Hollow Club, first hosted a PGA Tour event in the 1960s and has also served as the site for the PGA Championship and this year’s Presidents Cup.
The four events will continue to award 500 FedExCup points to the winner, as opposed to 550 to the winner of the Sentry Tournament of Champions, The Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational and Memorial Tournament, as previously announced.
The robust slate of events with elevated purses and commitments from top players is the result of an ongoing process of collaboration between the PGA Tour and its top players that included a players-only meeting at the BMW Championship in Wilmington, Del., organized by Tour loyalists McIlroy and Tiger Woods. While the unprecedented commitment from the game’s stars to compete in these events is groundbreaking, players throughout the PGA Tour’s membership stand to benefit from these elevated purses. The events with elevated purses will retain their traditional eligibility criteria in 2023, allowing for 120-plus players to compete for these increased purses most weeks. Players will continue to have the chance to make history each week they compete, as well, just as Tom Kim did in winning the Wyndham Championship, where he became the second-youngest winner on Tour since World War II. Only Jordan Spieth, who won the 2013 John Deere Classic at age 19, was younger.
The changes for 2023 are in concert with other enhancements announced by Monahan at the Tour Championship, including an expansion of the Player Impact Program and a league minimum of $500,000 in earnings for anyone with a Tour card, as well as other sweeping changes. The four newly-announced elevated events are for 2023 only, as four different tournaments could reach that designation in 2024. As always, the PGA Tour will continue to evaluate and evolve to ensure the heritage and success of every tournament on its schedule.
Between the 13 elevated PGA Tour stops and the four major championships, top stars will compete against each other at least 17 times per season, a substantial increase on how often they currently face off in the same tournaments. Under the plan Monahan announced, players are also required to enter three non-elevated PGA Tour events each season, ensuring those tournaments can still attract stars who need to meet their obligation. That 20-event minimum commitment has caused concern among some stars.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if that changes,” said fifth-ranked Jon Rahm of Spain, who expressed reservations about his ability to continue supporting events in his native Europe. “But you’re elevating great events. They’re all amazing golf courses, all amazing events, a lot of history, all of them. So they’re worthy of it. Hilton Head and Travelers after majors? I’m not keen on playing after a major, but I’ve seen people do it and I’ve seen people do well, so there’s no reason why you can’t.”
Two of the new elevated events are immediately following major championships. The RBC Heritage is April 13-16 after the Masters, though it’s less than a three-hour drive from Augusta, Ga., to Hilton Head, S.C. The Travelers Championship is the week following the U.S. Open, which will be at Los Angeles Country Club in California in 2023. But Travelers officials offer free flights to the tournament for players and their families and caddies, including after this year’s event June 22-25 that will have a record $8.6 million purse.
“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 at the Tour Championship. “This is an extraordinary and unprecedented commitment, a testament to who these guys are and what they believe in. To now have our top players rally around this organization 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.”
No decision has been made on what events will have elevated status on the PGA Tour schedule in 2024 or whether field sizes might be adjusted for those tournaments after next year.
