Premier Golf League "Direct Hit from COVID-19"... "Before Even Launching?"

PGA Tour Suspended Until May "Various Variables Arise", World Ranking Top 3 McIlroy, Rahm, and Koepka Also "Support PGA Tour"

World No. 1 Rory McIlroy, No. 2 Jon Rahm, and No. 3 Brooks Koepka (from left).

[Asia Economy Kim Hyun-jun, Golf Specialist Reporter] The new professional golf tour, the Premier Golf League (PGL), has also been directly hit by 'COVID-19'.

The World Golf Group (WGG) in New York announced its launch in January 2022. It is interesting that this is even before its establishment. Experts recently analyzed that "although there are still two years left, the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) will be an obstacle." The PGA Tour postponed the second major, the PGA Championship in May, following the Masters on the 18th (Korean time), narrowing PGL's options even further.

The PGA Tour abruptly suspended the fifth major, The Players Championship, after the first round on the 13th, and canceled the Valspar Championship on the 19th, the World Golf Championships (WGC) Series Dell Technologies Match Play on the 25th, and the Valero Texas Open on April 2. On that day, the suspension period was extended to mid-May by adding the RBC Heritage on April 16, the Zurich Classic on the 23rd, the Wells Fargo Championship on the 30th, and the AT&T Byron Nelson on May 7.

With significant changes to the PGA Tour schedule this year and next, various variables are arising for players, broadcasters, and sponsoring companies. 'COVID-19' is especially causing uncertainty in the global economy. Naturally, corporate investments are bound to shrink. A golf marketing expert said, "When uncertainty increases, people usually spend money where they are familiar," and predicted, "It will not be easy to attract companies to invest in the PGL."

The PGL plans 18 tournaments with a total prize money of $240 million (3.002 trillion KRW), about half of the current PGA Tour's total prize money of $400 million. Since the number of tournaments is relatively small, it is worth noting that the prize money per tournament is higher. Unlike the PGA Tour, where about 144 players participate, only exactly 48 players will compete without a cut-off, and the winner's prize money reaches $5 million (6.27 billion KRW). This clearly shows the intention to recruit only 48 world stars.

However, player recruitment was halted early. The 'Top 3' players?world number one Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland), number two Jon Rahm (Spain), and number three Brooks Koepka (USA)?have stated they will "focus on the PGA Tour." The 'returned golf emperor' Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson (both USA) have said they will "consider it," but the trend seems to be leaning otherwise. Woods has already declined a European Tour invitation held in Saudi Arabia, known as the financial backer of the PGL.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.