BREAKING: PGA Tour winner “hopes” LIV Golf buys the Champions Tour

The long-running negotiations between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) are keeping tensions high in the world of golf. Although little is being said about the role of the PGA Tour Champions in the matter, the Senior Tour is also watching with great interest and has no intention of missing out on a piece of the pie.

Chris DiMarco, a former PGA Tour player and current member of the Champions Tour, told the Subpar Podcast that he hopes the “LIV buys” the Senior Tour. His words suggest that he is not alone in this sentiment.

Here’s what Chris DiMarco had to say:

“We’re kind of hoping that LIV buys the Champions Tour. Let’s play for a little real money out here. I mean this is kind of a joke when we’re getting $2million. There were like seven guys last week from TPC [Sawgrass] that made more money than our purses.”

DiMarco went even further, saying he supports the decision of the players who left the PGA Tour for LIV Golf. Here’s how he put it:

“They wanted to play for a lot of money, and they deserve it. They have had some great careers, why not go and get some money? I saw Graeme McDowell at the Old Memorial Pro Member, and he goes, ‘Listen, I went up to Jay Monahan and said I love the tour but I am struggling to keep my card and these guys are offering me all this money and less golf. I’m sorry, I’m going.’ And I do not blame him one bit, and I said I would have too.”

Chris DiMarco also did not hold back on Jay Monahan’s management of the PGA Tour when addressing the controversy with LIV Golf:

“Not to bash Jay Monahan, but I think he handled it terribly. In the beginning have the cut and dry [stance] that he did, I think it was a little too much. I think he should have let some of this soak in and see what was going to happen, and he just got to a point where it got black and white, that’s it.”

“I think he could have done a little bit better of a job with that, the guys had stuck by. Like Rory McIlroy, these guys have turned down a lot of money and what do they have to show for it? These guys get to come back and play, I’d be pretty ticked off if I was them.”

Chris DiMarco, 55, began his professional career in 1990 and reached the PGA Tour in 1994. At that level, he won three tournaments (2000 SEI Pennsylvania Classic, 2001 Buick Challenge and 2002 Phoenix Open). He has three other professional wins on the European Tour, Canadian Tour and Nike Tour (now the Korn Ferry Tour).

He is also a two-time winner of the unofficial CVS Charity Classic (2002, 2005). In addition, he has six top-10 finishes in major championships, with three runner-up finishes (PGA Championship 2004, The Masters 2005 and The Open 2006).

Since 2018, he plays on the PGA Tour Champions, where he has no victories and four top 10s (114 tournaments played).

What are the purses on the PGA Tour Champions?

The PGA Tour Champions operates under the umbrella of the PGA Tour. For 2024, it has a schedule of 28 events with a total purse of $67 million.

Most of the Senior Tour events have purses between $2 million and $2.8 million. The highest purse of the season is $4 million for the US Senior Open Championship (one of the five majors). The Tour Championship (called the Charles Schwab Cup Championship) has a purse of $3 million.

This means that the winner’s share of tournaments is usually between $300,000 and $400,000.