PGA Tour Will Begin Rewarding Top Players for Not Defecting to LIV — Tiger Woods to Receive $100 Million in Equity

According to a Wednesday report from Yahoo Sports, Woods and other top players received emails stating how much equity in the tour they’d be receiving. While Woods will be the top earner, Rory McIlroy will receive $50 million. The new equity system comes several months after the investing consortium Strategic Sports Group agreed to pour $3 billion into a new for-profit entity of the PGA Tour.

The amount of equity given to each player is determined by a metric called Career Points. The number of Career Points a player has is based on career achievements. Some criteria from the PGA Tour’s Player Impact Program will also be used, including tickets sold, sponsorships, and fan engagement.

Though Woods hasn’t performed like a top player in recent years, his name is still the biggest in the sport and his participation in any event drives sales. Couple that with the accolades earned throughout his career and it becomes clear why he’s earned the most equity.

The equity payments are not cash payments, meaning a player couldn’t just take the money and then leave for an even bigger payday with LIV Golf. Instead, the “equity units” are treated like shares in the PGA Tour. In the email sent to players, they were told how much units they were given and what the current market value of those units is.

So far, Strategic Sports Group has invested $1.5 billion into the PGA Tour. Approximately two-thirds of that money will go into the new equity program. The tour’s top 36 stars will split $750 million, with the remaining 157 players getting the rest.

As noted by Yahoo Sports, the equity is expected to grow. If the PGA Tour can finalize an agreement to partner with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund — which operates LIV — the shares will see a significant increase in value.