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When the PGA Tour shockingly announced it would be merging with LIV Golf, many, including the players themselves, wondered how the PGA Tour would make it right financially for the golfers who didn’t defect.
After all, golfers like Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson, Jon Rahm, Patrick Reed, Cameron Smith, and Bubba Watson were signed to hefty contracts by LIV Golf and were now no longer going to be banned from the PGA Tour.
Meanwhile, the golfers who stood by the PGA Tour like Tiger Woods, Rory McIroy, Justin Thomas, Jordan Speith, Scottie Scheffler, and Xander Schauffele, got paid nothing for their loyalty.
That all changes on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, all 193 eligible PGA Tour players will find out how much of a bonus they will receive for not defecting to LIV Golf. The bonus will be taken from the PGA Tour’s recent $3 billion round of fundraising.
According to golf correspondent James Corrigan via sports business reporter Joe Pompliano, several of the top PGA Tour stars will be receiving an amount in the tens of millions of dollars.
Tiger Woods will reportedly be paid a bonus of $100 million, Rory McIlroy will receive $50 million, while Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas will get $30 million each.
Pompliano also reports that “these equity payments will vest over eight years, with 50% coming by year four, another 25% in year six, and the remaining 25% in year eight.”
However, as he also points out, when compared to the over $60 million deal Tyrrell Hatton has with LIV, these payouts are still much less than the top PGA golfers could have received had they defected.
“These payments will help the PGA Tour retain talent by locking up big-name players with multi-year equity vesting agreements (like a startup would),” Pompliano writes.
“There will be little to no liquidity in the secondary market, so players can’t take the payment, sell shares, and then jump to LIV later on for a larger check.
“And it could even expedite the PGA-LIV merger.”
That merger is still far from a done deal though.
In February, bankers and lawyers informed Congress that the Saudis threatened them with 20 years in prison if they cooperate with the ongoing PGA Tour-LIV Golf merger probe being conducted by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs’ permanent subcommittee on investigations.