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What is an elevated event on the PGA Tour?

By Cody Williams

Jun 13, 2022; Brookline, Massachusetts, USA; Rory McIlroy talks with Justin Thomas during a practice round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at The Country Club. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 13, 2022; Brookline, Massachusetts, USA; Rory McIlroy talks with Justin Thomas during a practice round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at The Country Club. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports /
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A PGA Tour elevated event is a new initiative for the 2022-23 season, but what exactly does that mean, what are the elevated events and who will play them?

One of the biggest threats to the PGA Tour for LIV Golf came down to the simple science of money. The prize money and contracts being thrown around by the Saudi-backed startup league was a big turning point for some of the big names leaving. So PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan and some of the top players in golf met to provide a solution immediately. Their solution: the institution of an elevated event schedule.

The 2023 calendar year will be the first year when we see a PGA Tour elevated event and we will get a feel for it. It’s going to mean better fields, bigger purses and prize money, and an overall concerted effort to improve the overall golf product for the world’s biggest tour.

However, this is very much a new thing, so let’s take a look at what a PGA Tour elevated event actually is, which tournaments are going to get this designation for 2023, who is playing and everything you could want to know.

PGA Tour elevated event, explained: What does this mean?

As mentioned, a council of players and Monahan met in order to cater to the PGA Tour’s top players in order to try and prevent them from leaving for LIV Golf, among other things. The solution was these elevated events.

Every year, 13 tournaments will be considered an elevated event: All four major championships, THE PLAYERS Championship, the three FedExCup Playoff events, the three player-hosted invitational events, the Sentry Tournament of Champions and the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. In addition, four tournaments for 2023 were chosen as elevated events.

At an elevated event, there will be more money on the line with every non-major purse sitting at least $20 million with each governing body determining the purse for those events. Meanwhile, the Top 20 players in last year’s PIP program will be required to play in all of these events with the exception of one that each player is able to miss.

The goal is to get the best players in the world together to play these tournaments to improve the product and also incentivize the players to be part of this as well.

PGA Tour elevated events for 2023: Tournaments and elevated purses

The understanding is that, in addition to the 13 annually designated elevated events on the PGA Tour schedule, there will be four events per year that will also be given that designation with the increased strength of field and elevated purses.

Here are the 17 events, in chronological order, for 2023 on the golf calendar.

  • Sentry Tournament of Champions (Jan. 5-8) – Purse: $15 million
  • WM Phoenix Open (Feb. 9-12) – Purse: $20 million 
  • Genesis Invitational (Feb. 16-19) – Purse: $20 million
  • Arnold Palmer Invitational (March 2-5) – Purse: $20 million
  • THE PLAYERS Championship (March 9-12) – Purse: $25 million
  • WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play (March 22-26) – Purse: $20 million
  • The Masters (April 6-9) – Purse: TBD
  • RBC Heritage (April 13-16) – Purse: $20 million
  • Wells Fargo Championship (May 4-7) – Purse: $20 million
  • PGA Championship (May 18-21) – Purse: TBD
  • the Memorial Tournament (June 1-4) – Purse: $20 million
  • U.S. Open (June 15-18) – Purse: TBD
  • Travelers Championship (June 22-25) – Purse: $20 million
  • The Open Championship (July 20-23) – Purse: TBD
  • FedEx St. Jude Championship (Aug. 10-13) – Purse: $20 million
  • BMW Championship (Aug. 17-20) – Purse: $20 million
  • TOUR Championship (Aug. 24-27) – Purse: TBD

Who are the designated 20 players for every PGA Tour elevated event?

One of the big keys for the success of a PGA Tour elevated event moving forward is the collaboration among the top players in the game of golf to play in these tournaments. The Top 20 players in the previous year’s Player Impact Program (PIP) are required to play in all 17 of these events with the choice to miss one in addition to playing three other PGA Tour events as well.

These are the players who qualified as Top 20 in the PIP for 2022. Tiger Woods, who won for the second year in a row, is the exception as he is not required and will not be penalized for not living up to the elevated event requirements.

  • Tiger Woods
  • Rory McIlroy
  • Jordan Spieth
  • Justin Thomas
  • Jon Rahm
  • Scottie Scheffler
  • Xander Schauffele
  • Matt Fitzpatrick
  • Will Zalatoris
  • Tony Finau
  • Collin Morikawa
  • Shane Lowry
  • Kevin Kisner
  • Max Homa
  • Billy Horschel
  • Rickie Fowler
  • Adam Scott
  • Jason Day
  • Patrick Cantlay
  • Viktor Hovland

Rory McIlroy already too his one missed event in this slate at the Sentry Tournament of Champions while Will Zalatoris will be skipping the WM Phoenix Open, giving you an idea of how some of the players are designing their schedule under the new guidelines.

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