With Sentry TOC completed, here’s a look at the remaining ‘elevated’ events on the PGA Tour’s 2023 schedule
This new calendar year, the PGA Tour has announced several drastic changes to make the Tour more appealing for both professionals and fans. One of them is the "elevated tournaments".
The Sentry Tournament of Champions was the first of thirteen elevated tournaments scheduled for this year. The purse of the event was $15 million compared to last year's $8.2 million. It was the need of the hour given how much money-rich LIV Golf has been, thanks to Saudi backing.
Jon Rahm became the winner of the first elevated tournament of the season, which was the first event of the year. He took $2,700,000 home.
List of elevated Tournaments on PGA Tour schedule
There are a total of 17 elevated tournaments, but four of them will rotate around the PGA Tour's schedule. The other 13 will happen every year. Although the four majors are included in the elevated tournaments, their purse and qualifying criteria aren't in the control of the PGA.
Here is the list of thirteen elevated tournaments.
Schedule Tournament Name Purse
Jan. 5-8: Sentry Tournament of Champions $15,00,000
Feb. 9-12: Waste Management Phoenix Open $20,00,000
Feb. 16-19: The Genesis Invitational $20,00,000
March 2-5: Arnold Palmer Invitational $20,00,000
March 9-12: The Players Championship $25,00,000
March 23-26: WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play $20,00,000
April 6-9: Masters Tournament $15,00,000
April 13-16: RBC Heritage $20,00,000
May 4-7: Wells Fargo Championship $20,00,000
May 19-22: PGA Championship $15,00,000
June 1-4: The Memorial Tournament $20,00,000
June 15-18: U.S. Open $17,50,000
June 22-25: Travelers Championship $20,00,000
July 20-23: The Open Championship $14,00,000
Aug. 10-13: FedEx St. Jude Championship $20,00,000
Aug. 17-20: BMW Championship $20,00,000
Aug. 24-27: Tour Championship $75,00,000(includes bonus)
The top 20 players will have to play in all 13 of these events with the option to opt-out from only one of them. Rory McIlroy skipped the PGA Tour's year opener at Plantation Course, Maui. He will play the rest of the 12.
The Sentry Tournament of Champions was the first of the 13 to have a purse of $15 million. There are 8 events with $20 million purses starting with the WM Phoenix Open (Feb 9-12). The Players is the richest of these 10 events on the PGA Tour, having a purse of $25 million.
The Tour Championship will have the biggest purse, including a bonus. Its purse is $75 million and will take place at East Lake in Atlanta.
FedEx St. Jude and BMW are the other two events with total prize money of $20 million each.
Other big events on the PGA Tour
AT&T Byron Nelson $9,500,000
AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am $9,000,000
RBC Canadian Open $9,000,000
Genesis Scottish Open $9,000,000
Valero Texas Open $8,900,000
Rocket Mortgage Classic $8,800,000
Farmers Insurance Open $8,700,000
Charles Schwab Challenge $8,700,000
Zurich Classic of New Orleans $8,600,000
The Honda Classic $8,400,000
Valspar Championship $8,100,000
The American Express $8,000,000
Sony Open in Hawaii $7,900,000
3M Championship $7,800,000
Mexico Open at Vidanta $7,700,000
Wyndham Championship $7,600,000
John Deere Classic $7,400,000
There are four other opposite-field events with lesser prize money than elevated ones but with a good enough amount.
Puerto Rico Open $3,800,000
Corales Puntacana Championship $3,800,000
Barbasol Championship $3,800,000
Barracuda Championship $3,800,000