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It’s not quite golf’s equivalent of the European Super League – but it’s not a million miles removed from it either.

It is understood that the PGA Tour has launched a lucrative new bonus structure for its players that will reward the game’s top players for driving fan and sponsor engagement. 

A report by Golfweek says that the scheme, called the Player Impact Program, will see $40million distributed amongst ten players each year in recognition of the “value they add to the overall product” and not just their on-course results. 

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A tour spokesperson told Golfweek that the scheme launched on January 1 this year in order to “recognise and reward players who positively move the needle.”

The player who leads the standings at the end of the year will receive a whopping $8million bonus. 

According to Golfweek, the full list of metrics by which players will be judged include their position on the season-ending FedEx Cup points list as well as their popularity in Google Search and their Nielsen Brand Exposure rating, which places a value on the exposure a player delivers to sponsors though the minutes they are featured on broadcasts.

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Also taken into account will be players’ Q Rating, which measures the familiarity and appeal of a player’s brand; their MVP Index rating, which calibrates the value of the engagement a player drives across social and digital channels; and their Meltwater Mentions, or the frequency with which a player generates coverage across a range of media platforms.

These metrics will then be turned into a so-called ‘Impact Score’ using a tour algorithm. Players will be ranked by their ‘Impact Score’ in order to determine the bonus amount due. 

It has been reported that this scheme has been devised in a bid to kill off the Premier Golf League, a rival tour bankrolled by Saudi Arabia which has tried to entice some of the game’s biggest names away from the PGA Tour.


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Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor

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