PGA Tour players learn how much loyalty is worth in new equity program
Players who stayed loyal to the PGA Tour amid lucrative recruitment by Saudi-funded LIV Golf are starting to find out how much that loyalty could be worth. The PGA Tour on Wednesday began contacting the 193 players eligible for the USD 930 million from a "Player Equity Program" under the new PGA Tour Enterprises. The bulk of that money — USD 750 million — went to 36 players based on their career performance, the last five years and how they fared in a recent program that measured their star power.
How much they received was not immediately known. Emails were going out Wednesday afternoon and Thursday informing players of what they would get. One person who saw a list of how the equity shares were doled out said the names had been redacted. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because many details of the program were not made public.
The Telegraph reported Tiger Woods was to receive USD 100 million in equity and Rory McIlroy could get USD 50 million, without saying how it came up with those numbers.
Commissioner Jay Monahan outlined the first-of-its-kind equity ownership program in a Feb. 7 memo to players, a week after Strategic Sports Group became a minority investor in the new commercial PGA Tour Enterprises.
The private equity group, a consortium of professional sports owners led by the Fenway Sports Group, made an initial investment of USD 1.5 billion that could be worth USD 3 billion. The tour is still negotiating with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia — the financial
