'It's Actually Criminal' - Seniors Fuming With PGA Tour Champions Pension Cut

PGA Tour Champions players have reacted furiously to news that the $8m pension fund for the senior tour is being scrapped.

Previously, the PGA Tour handed out a $10m pension pot to the senior circuit before it was cut to $8m last year, but now it's being axed completely.

PGA Tour Champions president Miller Brady relayed the news at a players meeting, saying the seniors tour would try and stand on its own two feet financially moving forward.

There's $69m in prize money on offer this season on the PGA Tour Champions, but the removal of the long-standing pension program has not gone down well at all with the over-50s on the tour.

"It went from $10 million to $8 million and now it's zero," Billy Andrade told Golfweek.

"You've got all these millions flowing everywhere for Championship Series, this series, that series, for all these leagues this guy [Brian Rolapp] is creating, and then they're taking this money that has been designated to these Champions players.

"These are the players who helped make the Tour what it is today and helped create the jobs that executives and current players enjoy. It's actually criminal."

Those sentiments were echoed by David Toms, who added that the PGA Tour was: "playing for $20 million almost every week and they can't afford $10 million for our pension?

"It's a bad look, in my opinion, and I think most of the guys out there feel that way."

And Scott McCarron added: "It's absolutely terrible what they did to us Champions Tour players.

"To just take it away and not have a way to get it back, I think is terrible. I'm really upset with the leadership of the PGA Tour, [Commissioner] Jay Monahan and Brian Rolapp in particular."

Can seniors circuit survive financially?

The pension scheme dates back to 1985 when $250,000 was allocated to the senior tour, as most of the players had other benefits to keep them going from playing on the PGA Tour.

More money has come in though in recent times with 29 events on the 2026 schedule and prize purses around $1.8-$2.2m for the majority of those outside of the Majors.

The new Portugal Invitational this year and next year's inaugural Sony Championship Open in Hawaii both have $3m prize purses and Brady feels that growth can continue to help the senior circuit stand on its own.

"We've gotten to the point where we are making money for the organization, and if we can do better, we can reinvest in ourselves," Brady said. "It may take a while, but the financial performance of this tour is as good as it has ever been.

"While you never want to take anything away from the players, they also understand. They get it. I told the guys, it's my job to raise prize money over time, and we've slowly started to do that. For a long time, we were just happy to renew sponsors."

And with the likes of Stewart Cink, Zach Johnson and Padraig Harrington winning tournaments this year there's plenty of big names on the PGA Tour Champions to attract fans and sponsors.

Of course, if Tiger Woods could manage to get back on the course the seniors could be a spot for his competitive return, while Phil Mickelson may need somewhere to play once he's back in action.

Those two over-50s could catapult the tour into a different stratosphere.