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Golf is going through some major changes owing to the ongoing civil war in the community. Amid the legal fight between the PGA Tour and the controversial LIV Golf Series, the DP World Tour has now come out to announce a new set of changes to its existing structure.
Drawing inspiration from the American and Saudi-backed series, the European tour has now increased its prize purse. Following the success of LIV Golf’s splurge on players, the DP World Tour on Thursday announced that the 2023 season will have a record prize of around $150 million.
DP World Tour announces record prize purse
DP World Tour officials on Thursday (November 3) announced their 2023 schedule. The new season of the European circuit will see purse increases for the first four Rolex Series events. The tour also announced a guaranteed minimum for regular players who make at least 15 starts.
The tour will have a record prize purse of over $144 million in 2023. This is a $50 million increase from the 2021 season. As per tour officials, the increased prize purse will be implemented for events outside of the four major championships and the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.
The series, which features a minimum of 39 tournaments in 26 countries, also announced a bonus pool. The proposed record purse also comes with a $6 million bonus for the top eight players in the tour rankings. This will be determined at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
The increased prize purse means that the prize of events like the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, Dubai Desert Classic, Genesis Scottish Open and BMW PGA Championship will all move up by a million. The event will have a $9 million prize pool while the season-ending Tour Championship will have a purse of $10 million.
DP World Tour introduces Earnings Assurance Program
Another proposed change to the DP World Tour is the new Earnings Assurance Program. Similar to the PGA Tour’s Player Impact Program, the circuit will guarantee minimum earnings of $150,000 to players competing in 15 or more events for the season.
The program will also fund rookies, Challenge Tour graduates and Qualifying School graduates for a sum of $20,000 as part of an early-season travel fund.
Speaking about the proposed changes, DP World Tour chief executive Keith Pelley stated that this underlines the strength of the circuit’s partnership with the PGA Tour. The official dubbed the move as part of a 'long-term growth plan'. Pelley also lauded the Earnings Assurance Program, despite chances of it drawing criticism for being inspired by its competitors.
Fans had previously criticized the PGA Tour, claiming that the Player Impact Program negatively affected the competitiveness of the sport as it assures pay to players.
Interestingly, tour officials also announced the introduction of four new events in Asia for the 2023 schedule. The newly introduced Singapore Classic and Thailand Classic will take place on consecutive weeks in February. The series will also travel to Japan for the first time for the ISPS Handa Championship in April and also make a stop in Korea in the same month.
The tour's new season will officially begin on November 24 with the Australian PGA Championship in Brisbane. The event will be followed by the Joburg Open in South Africa.
