Tranlate this title The PGA Tour cuts pensions for its champions in spanish

Miller Brady, President of the PGA Tour Champions, delivered some unwelcome news during the first meeting of the year with his players.

Since 1985, the legends of the PGA have benefited—among other perks—from a pension plan funded directly by the PGA, with an annual contribution amount determined each year.

As it turns out, the bad news shared by the President is that this contribution has been reduced to zero.

Pga Tour, statements

There had been warning signs; the Tour had already lowered the amount last year, dropping it from $10 million to $8 million, but no one expected a further cut—let alone one this drastic.

Addressing the news, Brady explained that the long-term goal for the Champions is to become financially self-sufficient, rather than relying on support from the PGA Tour.

“We have reached a point where we are generating cash flow for our organization, and if we can improve that further, we can reinvest in ourselves.”

“It might take some time, but the financial performance has never been better.”

“…I told the guys that my job is to grow the prize purses over time, and we have already begun doing that (for context, the total prize purse this year is $69 million—Editor’s Note).”

“For a long time, we were satisfied just by managing to renew our sponsorships.”

However, the President’s optimistic, institutional outlook has met with a different reaction from the players. Billy Andrade (a 4-time PGA Tour winner) was among the most vocal in his complaints:

“We went from 10 million to 8, and now to zero.”

“There’s money flowing everywhere—for the Championship Series, for this series and that series, for all these championships that this guy [Brian Rolapp, PGA Tour CEO] keeps creating—and yet they take the funds that were earmarked for the Champions players.”

“These are the players who helped build the Tour and the very jobs that today’s executives and players now benefit from.”

“It’s truly criminal.”

David Toms (a 13-time winner, including the 2001 PGA Championship) echoed these sentiments:

“They’re playing for $20 million purses almost every single week, yet they can’t afford $10 million for our pensions?”

“It’s a bad look, in my opinion—and I believe many of the other guys feel the same way.”