PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Despite criticism from some of the PGA Tour’s top players, commissioner Jay Monahan said that he is “really proud” of the Player Impact Program and that the initiative is working as intended.
The top 10 needle-movers were announced last week, with Tiger Woods overtaking Phil Mickelson to claim the $8 million first-place prize. The rest of the $40 million fund was distributed among Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Bryson DeChambeau, Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm and Bubba Watson, respectively. The bonus pool swells to $50 million this year.
“If you look out into the future, we want our athletes to be more ubiquitous in mainstream media, in the mainstream consciousness, and the way to do that is to get behind their Tour and continue to promote and build it,” Monahan said Tuesday at his annual news conference ahead of The Players Championship.