Report: 18-Event PGA Tour Series Among Player-Only Meeting Proposals

There was considerable interest in a player-only meeting held in Delaware before the BMW Championship, where Tiger Woods and several other top players on the PGA Tour discussed proposals for the next steps to take amid the threat from LIV Golf.

After the event, players who attended the meeting, including Justin Thomas and Rory McIlroy, stayed tight-lipped about specific proposals. However, now, details have emerged as to the nature of the gathering.

Video: What Is LIV Golf?

According to an article on the Fire Pit Collective by Alan Shipnuck, a source revealed that one of the most eye-catching proposals discussed among Woods and 15 other high-profile players was 18 no-cut tournaments between the top 60 players battling for $20m purses, to be played between January and August in a tour within the Tour.

The day after the meeting, McIlroy was asked what he thinks needs to change to improve the PGA Tour. He said: "We need to get the top guys together more often than we do. I'm talking about all in the same tournaments, all in the same weeks.” The proposal reportedly put forward at the meeting appears to be what he could have had in mind.

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has previously admitted that the PGA Tour can’t compete with the riches on offer at LIV Golf. Nevertheless, regular $20m purses would certainly run it close. While that may raise questions as to how the PGA Tour could raise the money, the meeting reportedly sought to address that by also proposing the Tour changing its business model by renouncing it’s non-profit status and opening the door to potentially billions of dollars of private equity investment.

LIV Golf appears to be going from strength the strength, with ambitious plans to turn the current eight-tournament Series into a 14-tournament League from 2023. Not only that, but Golf Monthly has learned that at least five new signings are set to be announced at the culmination of the Tour Championship next Sunday. Indeed, the Fire Pit Collective report goes even further, suggesting seven players are about to make the switch.

While it remains to be seen whether the proposals will come to fruition, with LIV Golf on the rise, it would hardly be surprising if radical changes come to the Tour as the Saudi-funded start-up continues to shake up the game.