If you’re looking for the exact moment the PGA Tour stopped reacting to LIV Golf and started rewriting its future, look no further than a quiet Tuesday evening in Wilmington, Delaware.
August 16, 2022.
No press. No cameras. Just 23 of the world’s best golfers crammed into a hotel conference room with two things on their minds: survival—and reinvention.
And leading the charge? Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.
When Tiger Shows Up, You Listen
Tiger didn’t even qualify for the BMW Championship that week—his body still healing from the 2021 car crash. But he showed up anyway. That alone sent a message louder than any press conference.
Rory summed it up perfectly: “There’s an alpha in the room, and it’s not me.”
It was Tiger’s presence—more than his words—that snapped everyone into focus. For a fractured PGA Tour under siege from LIV Golf’s billions, this was the rallying cry it needed.
LIV’s Shadow: What Was at Stake
By the time of that meeting, LIV had already poached Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson… and more names were being whispered every week.
The PGA Tour? Bleeding talent. Bleeding relevance.
This meeting wasn’t about saving face. It was about saving the tour itself.
The Power Players in the Room
The roster reads like a Presidents Cup dream team:
- Tiger, Rory, Rahm, JT
- Scheffler, Morikawa, Spieth
- Hovland, Fitzpatrick, Cantlay, Finau… you get the idea
Even Adam Scott and Joaquin Niemann—both rumored to be LIV-curious—showed up. That mattered.
This wasn’t a players’ meeting. It was a war council.
The Big Idea: Tour-Within-a-Tour
The headline proposal? A new format: 18 no-cut events. $20 million purses. Fields limited to the top 60 players.
The idea was simple but seismic—create a premium circuit within the tour. Give fans what they crave: the biggest stars battling it out, week after week.
And guess what? It worked. Today, we call it the Signature Events system.
Side Quests: Innovation and Money Talks
Tiger and Rory didn’t stop with the tournaments. They also pitched:
- A tech-infused, team-based league (the early seeds of TGL)
- Guaranteed $500K minimums for all tour players
- Discussing changes to the PGA Tour’s nonprofit status to open new financial doors
This wasn’t just reactive—it was visionary. Golf’s future needed reinvention, not just resistance.
What the Players Promised
Unity.
Every top player in that room pledged to:
- Play at least 20 events annually
- Commit to the majors, The Players, and all elevated events
- Stick together, no matter what LIV threw their way
It was the clearest display of solidarity the modern PGA Tour had ever seen.
The Ripple Effect: Announcements Within a Week
By August 24, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan took the stage and made it official:
- 12 elevated events for 2023
- Each with a $20 million purse
- Participation commitments locked in
And by October, four more events were added, completing the blueprint the Delaware meeting had drawn.
Signature Events: The Delaware Legacy
Fast-forward to 2024 and beyond, and the Delaware blueprint has become reality. Today’s Signature Events feature:
- $20M purses
- 700 FedExCup points to the winner
- Limited fields (no-cut)
- All the biggest stars, all in one place
The Sentry. Genesis. Memorial. Pebble Beach. You know the names. But their DNA traces back to that Wilmington room.
More Than a Meeting—A Moment
That August night wasn’t just a turning point—it was a statement. The PGA Tour proved it wasn’t too proud to adapt. It just needed its icons to light the fire.
Tiger Woods, barely able to swing a club, still led the charge.
Rory McIlroy, playing the best golf of his life, became the voice.
And together, they gave golf a blueprint for a future that fans, players, and sponsors could all believe in.
So the next time you see a stacked Signature Event field on a Sunday afternoon, remember: it all started in a quiet hotel room with no cameras, no guarantees, and a whole lot of heart.
