Two-time winner James Hahn doesn’t claim to be disappointed with the changes coming to the PGA Tour next season, but that doesn’t mean he is pleased with them either. As one of four player directors on the Tour’s nine-voting member Policy Board, he cast the lone dissenting vote. In a Golfweek exclusive, Hahn tells for the first time why he felt compelled to do so.
“Certain changes were made to combat the LIV Tour, not necessarily make our Tour any better,” he said in a phone interview on Saturday. “To prevent more players from leaving our Tour, we are ending up paying the top players in the world guaranteed money that has increased exponentially. Three years ago, we started implementing this new PIP program, which has grown to $100 million. It seems like the people who have the most influence of how much money is distributed to the top players in the world have a much stronger voice now than they’ve ever had. I understand the reasoning that the money is used to keep top players and without them, we have no Tour. My question to them is when is it enough? We’ve gone from $50 million to $100 million. When $100 million isn’t enough, will they ask for $200 million? How will that impact our business?”
Hahn noted that many of the same players who bashed LIV defectors as employees who no longer had the luxury to pick their schedule and privilege to play when they want to have essentially given up those very rights.
“It’s interesting how things have switched,” he said of how top 20 players will have to make 20 mandatory starts (three non-elevated starts will be optional) to receive their PIP money. “Purses increasing to $20 million isn’t enough – they needed guaranteed money to give up their freedom. It feels very hypocritical and it could cannibalize the rest of the season and make the other tournaments feel like second-class events. By asking the best players to play more and essentially the same schedule they are going to end up taking the same week off. Are they going to play the Honda Classic with its $8-million purse or the $20 million purses that surround it? I fear we could end up like the ATP (tennis circuit) where only a handful of events draw real interest. These are some of the things we had to think through before we voted.”
Hahn expressed concern that the gap between the haves and have-nots has widened even deeper, and noted several of the meetings have become heated.
“We all want the same thing,…
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