PGA Tour Announces Four New Elevated Events for 2023

In response to LIV Golf, the PGA Tour had announced a plan where its top players would be required play a number of events with increased purses.

The 2023 schedule for the top players on the PGA Tour is becoming more clear with an announcement of four more elevated events.

The Tour announced Wednesday that the WM Phoenix Open, RBC Heritage, Wells Fargo Championship and Travelers Championship will receive elevated status in 2023, meaning $20 million purses and fields with the Tour's best players, many of whom may have not played those events often if ever.

The 2023 WM Phoenix Open will have the PGA Tour's best players in town the same weekend as the Super Bowl :: Joe Camporeale/USA TODAY Sports

In August, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan announced a series of changes in response to LIV Golf, which launched in June by signing away a number of top PGA Tour players with the lure of guaranteed money.

Among those changes were a 20-event minimum for top players, including a dozen events considered elevated with increased purses.

The previously announced eight elevated events are the Sentry Tournament of Champions ($15 million purse), Genesis Invitational ($20 million), Arnold Palmer Invitational ($20 million), WGC-Dell Match Play ($20 million) and the Memorial Tournament ($20 million), as well as three FedExCup playoff events: the FedEx St. Jude Championship ($20 million), BMW Championship ($20 million), Tour Championship/FedEx Cup ($75 million bonus pool).

The four major championships and the Players Championship ($25 million purse) are also part of the minimum requirement. Players are then to add three more "regular" FedExCup events from the PGA Tour schedule to get to 20.

For the 2022-23 season, the Tour said a “top player’’ will be defined as someone who finished in the top 20 under the current Player Impact Program (PIP) and players who finished in the top 20 under a revised set of PIP criteria.

The additional four elevated events are expected to rotate from year to year, bringing the Tour's best players to nearly every market the Tour plays.

The WM Phoenix Open is in early February, played in front of massive crowds at TPC Scottsdale. The final round will conclude before the Super Bowl, to be held in nearby Glendale, Arizona.

The RBC Heritage is held the week after the Masters at Hilton Head, South Carolina, and will especially benefit from elevated status as many Masters players usually skipped it.

The Wells Fargo Championship is three weeks after that at Quail Hollow Club, which many top players are familiar with from this year's Presidents Cup and the 2017 PGA Championship.

The Travelers Championship is the week after the U.S. Open, which in 2023 is at Los Angeles Country Club, and would be another event unlikely to attract all of the game's best were it not afforded elevated status.