The Business Behind PGA Tournaments

Who Really Makes the Money?

November 21, 2025

The TV broadcast of a PGA event makes it look simple: a sponsor’s logo on the leaderboard, a packed grandstand around the 18th green, a winner’s check the size of a door.

Behind that tidy presentation sits one of the more complex business machines in modern sports. Money flows from TV networks, streaming platforms, and Fortune 500 sponsors into a web of non-profits, a new private-equity–backed for-profit company, host charities, and—finally—the players and their teams.

This article unpacks that machine. When you ask, “Who really makes the money from PGA tournaments?”, the honest answer is: it depends on where you sit in the value chain.

1. First, what does “PGA” even mean?

Before following the money, it’s worth clearing up a huge source of confusion: “PGA” doesn’t refer to just one organization.

There are two key bodies with “PGA” in the name:

  • PGA Tour – the nonprofit that runs most week-to-week men’s professional tournaments in the U.S. and North America (The Sentry, Genesis Invitational, Travelers, THE PLAYERS, the FedExCup Playoffs, etc.).

  • PGA of America – the body that represents club professionals (the pros who run your local golf shop and give lessons) and organizes specific events like the PGA Championship, the Senior PGA Championship, and the U.S. side of the Ryder Cup.

Most of what fans call “PGA tournaments” on a weekly basis are PGA Tour events, not PGA of America events. The majors are split among entirely different organizers:

  • Masters – Augusta National Golf Club

  • PGA Championship – PGA of America

  • U.S. Open – USGA

  • The Open – The R&A

The PGA Tour sits in the middle of this ecosystem as:

  • A 501(c)(6) non-profit “business league” (PGA Tour, Inc.), which had around $1.8–1.9 billion in annual revenue in 2022–2023.

  • Since 2024, also the controlling shareholder of PGA Tour Enterprises, a new for-profit company backed by private equity.

Understanding who makes money from PGA tournaments starts with how those two arms—non-profit and for-profit—connect.

2. The top line: how a PGA Tour event actually earns money

At a high level, a PGA Tour tournament is a media product wrapped around a four-day sporting event. Money comes from several big buckets.

2.1. Central “Tour” revenues

Looking at 2023 figures for PGA Tour, Inc., revenue is concentrated in five areas:

  • Media rights: about $731–763 million, largely from long-term broadcast and streaming deals

  • Sponsorship: about $422 million from corporate partners and official marketing deals

  • Royalties & licensing: about $302 million (video games, branded content, merchandising, etc.)

  • Tournament management fees: about $200+ million from events that pay the Tour to run operations

  • Investment income: around $130 million in 2023

In total, the Tour’s revenue has hovered around $1.8–1.9 billion in recent years.

2.2. Media rights: the engine

The most powerful lever is media rights. In 2020 the PGA Tour signed a new nine-year domestic rights portfolio (2022–2030) with CBS, NBC, and ESPN (ESPN+). Terms weren’t officially disclosed, but multiple reports put the combined value at more than $7 billion over the life of the deal.

Under this structure:

  • CBS and NBC carry weekend broadcast windows.

  • ESPN/ESPN+ carry early-round and streaming coverage.

  • The Tour has brought more production in-house, controlling the on-site technical infrastructure and feeding customized video to all partners and its own platforms.

Those rights fees form the backbone of the Tour’s central budget, which in turn helps fund purses, FedExCup bonuses, and operational support for tournaments.

2.3. Tournament-level revenues

Each individual tournament also has its own mini-P&L, with a familiar mix of sports-event revenue:

  • Title sponsorship and presenting sponsors

  • Pro-am entries (corporate foursomes paying hefty fees to play with Tour pros)

  • Hospitality (corporate tents, chalets, suites, and club experiences)

  • Ticketing and parking

  • On-site sales (concessions, merchandise)

Wrapped into “tournament income” is the title sponsorship, which is almost always the single biggest revenue line and the key source of prize money.

In other words, TV and media rights are sold centrally by the Tour, while each event still has a local business model based on sponsors and spectators.

3. Who really funds the purse?

When you see “Purse: $20 million” on a leaderboard graphic, you’re seeing the end product of several financial decisions.

3.1. Sponsors pay more than just the purse

For most regular PGA Tour events, the title sponsor shoulders the lion’s share of the purse. Industry reports and tournament officials say a typical sponsor fee is roughly 150% of the purse or more.

So, for a hypothetical event with a $20 million purse:

  • The sponsor might be spending around $30 million in total.

  • That outlay covers:

    • Most or all of the prize money

    • A payment to the host organization (usually a local charity)

    • Fees paid back to the Tour

    • Activation costs: hospitality, on-site branding, client golf, and marketing campaigns

As purses have climbed, the Tour has also pushed more of the funding burden toward events. Starting in 2025, each tournament will pay an additional “purse fee” plus a share of tournament revenue back to the Tour—1% in 2025, rising to 2% by 2027.

3.2. Elevated and signature events

In the arms race with LIV Golf, the Tour introduced “Signature Events” with elevated purses—often $20 million or more.

Examples:

  • Many 2024 Signature Events (e.g., The Sentry, Arnold Palmer Invitational, AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am) carried $20 million purses, with the winner earning $3.6–4 million, depending on the event structure.

  • THE PLAYERS Championship, the Tour’s flagship event, raised its purse to $25 million, with a $4.5 million winner’s share in recent years.

At the very top, the Tour Championship—the finale of the FedExCup—has evolved into a massive payoff. By 2025 it featured a $40 million tournament purse, with $10 million to the winner, plus separate season-long FedExCup money allocated across the field.

3.3. Majors: a separate money universe

The majors, though co-sanctioned by the Tour, have their own commercial structures.

Recent examples:

  • 2024 PGA Championship (run by the PGA of America):

    • Purse: $18.5 million

    • Winner’s share: about $3.33 million for Xander Schauffele (18% of the purse).

  • 2025 PGA Championship:

    • Purse increased to $19 million

    • Winner’s share: $3.42 million for Scottie Scheffler.

  • 2024 U.S. Open (USGA):

    • Purse: $21.5 million, the richest in men’s major golf

    • Winner Bryson DeChambeau: $4.3 million.

  • 2025 Masters (Augusta National):

    • Purse increased to $21 million, with $4.2 million to the champion.

Those purses are funded by separate broadcast deals, corporate hospitality, and ticketing under each major’s organizer, not by the PGA Tour’s central budget—though players and fans often perceive them as part of one continuum.

4. Players: the visible big winners

At the player level, PGA tournaments look simple: finish high, cash big. But the way prize money is structured reveals a lot about who the system is built to reward.

4.1. Standard payout structure

In most PGA Tour events:

  • The winner receives about 18% of the purse, with the rest distributed on a sliding scale down the leaderboard.

  • Only those who make the cut (or qualify in limited-field events) earn prize money, though majors increasingly pay some amount even to those who miss the cut.

For a $20 million Signature Event:

  • Winner: roughly $3.6–4 million

  • Top-10 finishers: usually between $500,000 and $1.5 million

  • Last place among those who make the cut: often still over $40,000–$50,000

At THE PLAYERS with its $25 million purse, the winner has taken home $4.5 million since 2022.

At the FedExCup finale and majors, the numbers get even more surreal:

  • Tour Championship / FedExCup: $40 million purse at East Lake in 2025, with $10 million to the winner and seven-figure checks down the leaderboard.

  • 2025 PGA Championship: Scottie Scheffler earned $3.42 million from the $19 million purse.

4.2. Beyond the purse: sponsorship and equity

Prize money is only one piece of a top player’s economic life:

  • Endorsements (clubs, balls, apparel, watches, financial firms, luxury brands) often exceed on-course earnings for the biggest stars.

  • Appearance fees are technically not part of PGA Tour regular events (they’re restricted by Tour rules), but players can earn them in other tours, unofficial exhibitions, or team formats.

  • Performance bonuses: the FedExCup, Player Impact Program (PIP), and other schemes pay additional millions for season-long performance and “impact.”

The newest wrinkle is equity.

In early 2024, the Tour launched PGA Tour Enterprises, a new for-profit company housing most of the Tour’s commercial assets. It’s backed by Strategic Sports Group (SSG)—a consortium of billionaire team owners—which has committed up to $3 billion, with an initial $1.5 billion investment.

Under that deal:

  • Around 200 players receive equity grants worth a combined $930 million, allocated based on career achievement and recent performance.

  • Another $500 million is set aside for future players to “earn into” equity based on results.

In other words, top players now make money in three ways:

  1. Prize money

  2. Sponsorships and off-course deals

  3. Equity upside if PGA Tour Enterprises grows in value

That last category is exactly where SSG expects to make its return—by helping the Tour expand media, digital engagement, and global events.

5. The Tour itself: nonprofit shell, for-profit engine

So where does the Tour as an institution fit in? Until recently, the answer was surprisingly simple: it was basically a giant revenue-sharing cooperative for players.

5.1. PGA Tour, Inc. as a 501(c)(6)

As a tax-exempt 501(c)(6) business league, PGA Tour, Inc. is designed to promote the common business interests of its members—touring professionals.

Recent filings and analyses show:

  • Revenue: about $1.83–1.9 billion in 2022–2023

  • Expenses: roughly similar, including:

    • Tournament and player-related payouts

    • Operating costs and staff salaries

    • Event production and travel

    • Charitable grants (roughly $170+ million in 2021, about 12% of revenue)

Over its history, the Tour claims to have generated more than $3.6 billion for charity, with $1.6 billion of that coming since 2014, largely distributed through local host organizations tied to each tournament.

This charitable mission—and the structure of the Tour as a membership-driven league—has helped justify its non-profit status, though legal scholars have begun to question whether a billion-dollar sports business still fits the spirit of that category.

5.2. PGA Tour Enterprises: the new profit center

The SSG investment changed the game. PGA Tour Enterprises:

  • Houses “most of the Tour’s moneymaking assets”—media rights, sponsorships, tournament IP, data, etc.

  • Is majority-controlled by the PGA Tour but partially owned by SSG investors and players (via equity grants).

  • Is explicitly for-profit and expected to grow via:

    • Expanding global tournaments and partners

    • New media formats (streaming, betting, data products, docuseries)

    • Technology-driven fan engagement and gambling-adjacent offerings

At the same time, the Tour is still in ongoing negotiations with the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF)—the financial backer of LIV Golf—over a potential minority investment that could give the PIF a small equity stake (reportedly around 6%) in PGA Tour Enterprises.

The result is a hybrid structure:

  • PGA Tour, Inc. – continues as the non-profit governing body and charitable organizer.

  • PGA Tour Enterprises – functions as the commercial engine, sharing profits among:

    • External investors (SSG, possibly PIF)

    • Players (via equity)

    • The Tour’s broader membership and operations

A sign of how big this business has become: in late 2024/early 2025, the Tour announced plans to hire a dedicated CEO for the commercial enterprise, with Commissioner Jay Monahan retaining his role on the sporting side.

6. Tournament hosts, charities, and local communities

Not everyone profiting from a PGA tournament sits in Ponte Vedra Beach or on a player’s private jet. Many events are structured around local host organizations, often non-profits that run the event and distribute proceeds to charity.

6.1. Host organizations and charity

The general pattern:

  • The title sponsor pays a large fee (often 150%+ of the purse).

  • The Tour takes a portion for media, operational support, and its central budget.

  • The host organization uses:

    • Ticket, hospitality, and concession revenue

    • A share of sponsor dollars

    • Cost controls and volunteer labor
      to generate a surplus.

  • That surplus is then distributed to local charities—hospitals, youth programs, community initiatives, etc.

Across all events, this has added up to the billions in charitable impact the Tour cites.

6.2. The catch: rising costs and event pressure

The charitable story is compelling, but it’s getting harder to maintain. Tournament officials have warned that spiraling costs and rising purses are squeezing hosts and sponsors.

Key stress points:

  • Sponsor fatigue: Asking a company to spend $25–30 million annually to keep a tournament can be a tough sell, especially in weaker markets or during economic downturns.

  • Infrastructure demands: Building and tearing down a “temporary city” of grandstands, hospitality suites, and media compounds every year is increasingly expensive.

  • Competition: Signature Events and majors command more attention, making it harder for smaller regular-season tournaments with $4–8 million purses to justify the same sponsor outlay.

From the community’s perspective, though, there’s still upside:

  • Hotels, restaurants, and local vendors see a tourism spike.

  • Cities get global visibility through TV coverage.

  • Local charities receive funding they might never be able to raise on their own.

So while a “PGA tournament” looks like a golf event, it’s also a regional economic project—and local hosts are betting that the economic and philanthropic benefits justify the growing cost.

7. Broadcasters and streaming platforms: paying big, sweating the margins

On paper, the TV networks and streaming platforms are paying billions for rights. Are they really making money?

7.1. Why networks pay

CBS, NBC, and ESPN agreed to the current deal—estimated at $700+ million per year combined—because golf delivers:

  • Affluent, older audiences who are attractive to advertisers

  • Four days of live content per week across long time windows

  • Relatively predictable scheduling compared to sports that can have flexed start times

They monetize via:

  • Advertising and sponsorship inventory around broadcasts

  • Carriage fees from cable and satellite providers (for channels like Golf Channel, ESPN, etc.)

  • Cross-promotion and audience retention for other network properties

7.2. The profitability problem

But there’s a catch: linear TV is under pressure. In 2024, reports highlighted that:

  • Networks are “hemorrhaging money” on certain sports rights, including golf, due to high fees and declining viewership.

  • Ratings drops at some key events (e.g., a 30% drop at the Arnold Palmer Invitational) raise questions about whether future rights packages can keep growing at the same pace.

In that sense, broadcasters and streamers might be short-term losers on a strict P&L basis, using golf more as:

  • A retention tool in the broader subscription bundle

  • A way to keep live sports in their portfolio as other properties get even more expensive

The Tour, however, still captures guaranteed rights revenue, insulating its purses and operations from the networks’ internal profitability struggle—at least for the life of the current deal.

8. Sponsors: the quiet giants behind the numbers

If TV rights are the engine, title sponsors are the gasoline that makes individual events go.

8.1. How much do they spend?

Even a decade ago, estimates suggested:

  • Title sponsors for standard PGA Tour events were paying $8–13 million a year.

  • With purses and production costs up sharply since then, many events now require significantly higher sponsor commitments, especially Signature Events and playoff tournaments.

Remember that typical “150% of purse” rule of thumb—if the purse is $20 million, the title sponsor might be on the hook for around $30 million including activation.

On top of that, many companies also:

  • Sponsor individual players, caddies, or practice facilities.

  • Buy hospitality packages to entertain clients and executives.

  • Participate in pro-ams, which can cost tens of thousands per playing spot.

8.2. What do sponsors get back?

Sponsors are willing to underwrite all this for a few reasons:

  • Brand visibility: logo placements on everything from tee markers to TV graphics.

  • B2B deal flow: tournaments function as giant, relaxed networking events.

  • Customer engagement: contests, on-site experiences, and digital activations.

  • Internal culture: using tournament weeks for employee recognition or leadership summits.

The Tour claims to have $5 billion in sponsor commitments and 49 corporate partners locked in through 2030, suggesting many brands see enough value to sign long-term deals.

Still, the economic calculus for sponsors is fragile. If viewership declines, controversies erupt, or a recession hits marketing budgets, the risk of sponsors walking away becomes one of the Tour’s biggest financial threats.

9. Caddies, coaches, agents, and vendors: the invisible middle class

Beneath the players and institutions is a layer of people and businesses who make the tournaments work but seldom appear on TV graphics.

9.1. Caddies

Caddies share directly in player earnings. Typical arrangements on the PGA Tour look like:

  • Weekly base fee: about $1,500–3,000 per event, paid by the player.

  • Percentage of winnings: often structured as:

    • 5% for making the cut

    • 7% for a top-10 finish

    • 10% for a win

Caddies generally cover their own travel and expenses, so working for a journeyman pro can be financially tight, while working for a superstar can be extremely lucrative.

In recent years, caddies have also started to tap sponsorship money of their own:

  • Logo deals on hats, bibs, or towels (including six-figure clothing deals for certain groups of caddies).

  • Increased visibility through Netflix’s Full Swing and social media, making them mini-brands.

9.2. Coaches, trainers, and agents

While exact numbers vary, the pattern across elite golf mirrors other sports:

  • Swing and short-game coaches: typically on retainers plus bonuses tied to performance.

  • Fitness trainers, sports psychologists, data analysts: part of a player’s off-course support team, funded out of their earnings and endorsements.

  • Agents and managers: often taking 10–15% of off-course income (endorsements, appearance fees, media projects) rather than prize money.

These professionals don’t usually share directly in tournament revenue; rather, they monetize the player’s ability to convert visibility into off-course dollars.

9.3. Event vendors and temporary workforces

Every PGA tournament is a business opportunity for:

  • Catering and concessions companies

  • Security, logistics, and transportation providers

  • Temporary staffing firms (marshals, hospitality staff, ticketing, etc.)

These groups earn revenue via contracts with the host organization or Tour. They don’t share the upside of rising purses directly, but bigger events with more hospitality usually mean larger contracts and more work hours.

10. Where the money isn’t going: fault lines and pressure points

For all the eye-popping numbers, the PGA ecosystem isn’t friction-free. A few structural tensions stand out.

10.1. Sustainability of ever-rising purses

Purses have skyrocketed:

  • Regular events: often $4–10 million.

  • Signature Events: $20 million.

  • THE PLAYERS: $25 million.

  • Majors: $18.5–21.5+ million.

Tournament officials and industry insiders have warned that the cost of keeping up is becoming unsustainable for some markets, especially with the Tour now asking events to pay an additional percentage of their revenue back to headquarters.

If sponsors balk or local hosts can’t make the math work, you could see:

  • Event relocations to bigger markets

  • Tournament downgrades (from full-field to smaller purses)

  • Or even loss of some legacy stops on the schedule

10.2. Scrutiny of nonprofit status

As the Tour’s revenue approaches $2 billion and private-equity deals and potential sovereign-wealth investments enter the picture, critics question whether the non-profit label still fits.

One law-review analysis pointed out that in 2021 the Tour generated about $173 million in charitable giving, roughly 12% of its total revenue—admirable in absolute terms, but arguably modest relative to the scale of its business operations.

If regulators or lawmakers decide that a league paying eight-figure executive salaries and managing billions in commercial rights looks more like a for-profit corporation than a “business league,” the tax implications could reshape how money is distributed.

10.3. Players vs. investors vs. governance

The creation of PGA Tour Enterprises and the ongoing dance with LIV and the PIF create a new tension triangle:

  • Players want:

    • Higher purses and bonuses

    • Guaranteed minimums and equity upside

    • Competitive schedules that don’t burn them out

  • Investors (SSG, potentially PIF) want:

    • Growth in enterprise value

    • Clear governance

    • Predictable returns

  • The Tour as an institution wants:

    • Stable sponsor relationships

    • Regulatory peace (antitrust and tax)

    • A product that satisfies both traditional fans and new digital audiences

How revenue is divided among those three groups—especially once any PIF investment is finalized—will determine who really wins financially over the next decade.

11. So… who actually makes the money?

If you follow a single dollar generated by a PGA tournament, it snakes through many hands. But you can roughly rank the beneficiaries.

11.1. The biggest direct beneficiaries

  1. Top players

    • Between prize money, endorsements, and now equity, the elite capture an outsized share of the value that TV and sponsors pay for.

    • A single hot season can be worth tens of millions in on-course earnings plus long-term sponsor and equity upside.

  2. The PGA Tour & PGA Tour Enterprises

    • The Tour aggregates media rights and global sponsorships, takes fees from tournaments, and now owns a for-profit company into which private equity has poured billions.

    • It then redistributes much of that value to players (purses, bonuses, equity) while also funding a substantial internal operation and charitable grants.

  3. Sponsors with genuine business alignment

    • Companies that efficiently convert golf exposure and hospitality into sales or B2B deals can justify eight- or nine-figure commitments.

    • Those who treat tournaments as vanity projects or lack a clear ROI story are more likely to feel burned.

  4. Media partners—if they manage the transition

    • In the short term, networks may overpay relative to falling linear viewership.

    • In the long term, those that successfully integrate golf into streaming bundles, betting, interactive features, and cross-platform storytelling can still come out ahead.

11.2. Secondary winners

  • Local host organizations & charities – They harness the event as a fundraising platform and community showcase, sometimes generating multi-million-dollar annual donations for local causes.

  • Caddies, coaches, and support teams – They share in the success of top players, forming a well-paid middle tier of the ecosystem, especially at the elite end.

  • Local economies – Cities hosting tournaments get tourism spikes and long-tail branding, though the distribution of those benefits can be uneven.

11.3. Who takes the most risk?

Interestingly, the entities taking the highest financial risk aren’t always the ones guaranteed to profit most:

  • Title sponsors commit large sums up front, hoping brand metrics and client relationships justify the spend.

  • Host organizations bear operational risk: cost overruns, bad weather, or weak ticket sales can erode margins.

  • Broadcasters pay fixed rights fees even if ratings slide.

By contrast, players and the Tour’s central office are relatively insulated once those commitments are in place. They are, in many ways, the most protected participants in the model.

12. The future of money in PGA tournaments

Looking ahead, the business behind PGA tournaments is likely to be shaped by a few forces:

  • Private equity and sovereign wealth – SSG is already in; PIF may follow with a minority stake. That means more focus on enterprise value, global expansion, and monetization of data and media rights.

  • Format innovation – Indoor leagues like TMRW Golf League, made-for-TV matches, and team formats may create new revenue verticals outside traditional 72-hole stroke play.

  • Digital and betting – Live betting, interactive streams, and personalized feeds could unlock new sponsor categories and revenue streams.

  • Regulatory scrutiny – Non-profit status and antitrust questions will hover in the background, especially as money from state-backed funds enters the ecosystem.

Yet for all the disruption, one core truth is unlikely to change:

PGA tournaments exist because companies and broadcasters believe that four days of golf can reliably produce attention among a valuable audience—and that attention can be sold.

The people and institutions best positioned to translate that attention into recurring, diversified income—top players, the Tour’s commercial arm, savvy sponsors—will keep making the most money. Everyone else is betting that what’s left over is still enough to be worth the walk.