Jack Nicklaus CONCERNED with PGA Tour direction: "Jay has work to do"
Legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus has expressed concern and curiosity over the proposed changes outlined by PGA Tour chief executive Jay Monahan.
Legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus says PGA Tour chief executive Jay Monahan "has a little work to do" to figure out how to make the proposed changes work as he expressed some concern.
The proposed changes Nicklaus is curious about include revamped PGA Tour schedule which will see the introduction of elevated events at 10 stops with prize purses of $20m.
One of those tournaments is the Memorial, which Nicklaus hosts at Muirfield Village Golf Club.
Related: Nicklaus insists his LIV Golf meeting was "a courtesy"
Jack's place is a popular stop for PGA Tour players because it - clearly - is a premier event because of his attachment, plus it is scheduled between the PGA Championship and U.S. Open.
Nicklaus told the media at Timuquana Country Club last week that his "biggest concern" is that it will create "two tours".
Of Monahan, The Golden Bear said: "He has a little work to do to figure out how to make it work."
He added: "I'm not sure what to make of it yet.
"I think the tour was going to get there, but the LIV thing pushed them. That's pretty obvious. What it's done is made the PGA Tour almost two tiers. All of a sudden the other tournaments become feeders."
Nicklaus is also involved in the Honda Classic at PGA National owing to the fact that the Nicklaus Children's Health Care Foundation is its primary charity.
In recent years the tournament fields have been considerably weaker as it is played one week after the Genesis Invitational at Riviera and it is a week before the Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Players at TPC Sawgrass.
Next march, The Players will have a prize purse of $25m.
The Honda Classic is now an elevated event, with a prize purse of $8.4m next year.
"Since we're beneficiaries, I've had some reasonable talk with Jay [Monahan] about it," said Nicklaus.
"I've got a few ideas we're exploring. We're trying to figure out a way to move the date and make it more significant.
"But you know what? You go there, you'll find out the people will still be there. There will be great crowds, they'll raise a lot of money and it will do well in spite of not having some of the players. It's still pretty good."
Related: Nicklaus says he doesn't see "eye-to-eye" with Greg Norman
His comments came in the same week LIV Golf heads to Jeddah for the penultimate event of their inaugural season while the PGA Tour heads to Japan for the ZOZO Championship.
Dustin Johnson, who resigned his PGA Tour membership in June, has now earned more than $30m in on-course earnings through six events with LIV Golf.
He joked that he regretted his decision.
As for Nicklaus, his career-earnings totalled $5.7m.
He joked: "It's amazing. The golfers of today are blessed by what they do and the money they can raise and play for. It's unbelievable. But you look at the other sports, and they're doing the same thing."
