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PGA Tour planning to raise 5 big-event purses

The PGA Tour is raising purses even higher in five of its biggest events, with two FedEx Cup playoff events now offering $15 million in a schedule that pushes prize money closer to the $500 million mark this year.

The increases, which include $12 million purses in the three invitational tournaments, were approved at a board meeting two weeks ago in Houston and outlined in a memo PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan sent to players Monday.

“We are positioned to grow faster in the next 10 years than we have at any point in our existence,” Monahan said in the memo, which was obtained by The Associated Press.

Monahan said the tour’s forecast is for 55% of revenue going back to the players in prize money, bonus programs and other benefits. The $838 million allocated to the players includes $32 million from the reserve fund.

Prize money from official events comes out to $360.1 million. That doesn’t include the $75 million from the FedEx Cup, and it doesn’t include the majors, which now are lagging behind regular PGA Tour events.

The majors typically don’t announce their purses until closer to the event. A year ago, the richest major was the U.S. Open at $12.5 million. The PGA Championship purse was $12 million and the Masters and British Open awarded $11.5 million.

The memo was a year-end message that was delivered earlier than usual, in part because of an announcement earlier this month that a Greg Norman-led group funded by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund plans to inject $200 million into the Asian Tour as a step toward creating a world tour promising guaranteed riches.

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