‘Kick in the face’ – Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods’ multi-million dollar bonus infuriates fellow PGA Tour pro
Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods once again took home the biggest prizes as the PGA Tour Player Impact Program results were revealed.
The PIP is a relatively new PGA Tour initiative designed to rewards its top players for attracting positive interest to the game of golf.
It uses objective metrics such as the number of Google searches and social media likes to dish out a $100million (£79.8m) prize pot among 20 players on a sliding scale.
Some think of the competition as nothing more than a 'popularity contest' invented to funnel money into the pockets of the PGA Tour's most famous players.
Woods finished top of the PIP in 2021 and 2022 but he was beaten by McIlroy to the $15m (£12m) prize this year.
Nevertheless, Woods takes home $12m (£9.6m) to take his total winnings from the competition to $35m (£27.9m).
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That is despite playing in just five PGA Tour events outside the majors since 2020 due to ongoing injury problems.
The threat of LIV Golf and nine-figure signing fees meant the PGA Tour - a non-profit, member-run organisation - needed to find a way to give its top players a bigger slice of the pie.
Hence the PIP, but this continues to go down badly with some of the PGA Tour's more 'rank-and-file' professionals.
Ex-Tour winner Nate Lashley posted on X, formerly known as Twitter: “How many golf fans actually know what the PIP on the PGA Tour is?
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“Would love to hear from golf/PGA fans if they think this $100m was spent well? There’s 150-200 members of the PGA Tour and they just spent $100m on 20 players. Seems a little ridiculous.
"Time for new leadership on the PGA Tour. This is an absolute kick in the face to the rest of the PGA Tour players.”