Forget prize money – Venues are vital in elevating golf tournaments

I have realised the one thing that matters most at golf tournaments has become an afterthought.

Maybe I’m late to this party but in a sport where money is used as the biggest weight to tie players down, the setting of where these dollars are dished out now seems the number two priority, instead of number one.

What a moment it was for Rasmus Hojgaard to win the 2024 Irish Open at Royal County Down. The impressive Dane might yet win a major, but it will take a victory at one of golf’s top four tournaments to trounce this black type on his record.

RCD in Northern Ireland, where Hojgaard pipped a crestfallen Rory McIlroy in front of his home crowd, is ranked first in NCG’s GB&I list of the top 100 golf courses, and we are not alone in singing the praises of this track that was once under the architectural eye of Old Tom Morris and Harry Colt.

The 23-year-old picked up the trophy on a championship links that lies next to the Irish Sea and underneath the Mourne Mountains. The beauty of this golf course was complimented by the passion of the feverish crowd thrilled with seeing the best players on the DP World Tour tough it around the best of Northern Ireland.

I’m aware money makes the world go around and as much as some players say they don’t play for it, they obviously wouldn’t play 25 times a year for free. But no one can tell me that, for example, Scottie Scheffler’s victory at the Travelers Championship on the PGA Tour was more compelling and more memorable.

You might not tell me that, but the PGA Tour might. Why else would a $20 million prize fund be slapped on this event? In the hope that Scheffler and more players don’t leave for LIV Golf, of course. And that’s where we’re at and what I’d love to change.

Hojgaard’s win at such a meaningful tournament at such a meaningful venue felt like an outlier, a rarity. We rarely see golf played in its purest form on its purest golf courses (This is why the majors are so special, I suppose). This isn’t just an ode to links courses but to many of the best and most intriguing tracks that remain hidden from our televisions.

At the 2025 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, McIlroy was asked about his desire for competitive events at the best venues, the day before he won that event.

“I think really good venues are a big part of the storyline,” he said. “When we go to major championships, especially a U.S. Open and an Open Championship, I always feel like the golf course is a big part of the storyline heading into Thursday.

“Sometimes on the PGA TOUR that isn’t the case because whether you play a run of the mill TPC or whatever it is, it just isn’t that interesting. So to come back to Pebble Beach time and again and play, and Spyglass, I think Spyglass is a really, really good golf course. To play these two golf courses, it’s definitely two of the best that we play all year.”

Let’s imagine an ideal world where you can hold events anywhere with no logistical issues. What if the PGA Tour said we’re going to the National Golf Links of America and Pine Valley, as well as Pebble Beach and Cypress Point? Let’s throw in Royal Melbourne and Kingston Heath too. What about Canada’s Cabot Cliffs?

This scenario is obviously hyperbolic and idyllic and mere food for thought, but there is a huge disparity between efforts to host events at iconic golf courses and pumping notes into the pot in the hope players’ eyeballs become dollar signs.

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Prize money in golf is escalating, but is the use of world-class venues diminishing?

Defending BMW PGA Champion Ryan Fox somewhat sympathised with my position when I asked him about this at Wentworth in 2024:

“Obviously the PGA Tour definitely jumped on the bandwagon there. LIV started it all. I feel like we’ve done a really good job on the DP World Tour of making it more about the event, the golf course, and where it’s at. Obviously Royal County Down last week, we’re in London this week at Wentworth, an iconic golf course.

“We’ve got the Spanish Open in Madrid, you’ve got The French Open in Paris. Even though some of the prize money is not the same as the Signature events, still, the events have managed to keep their identity being national opens or something like that at iconic cities and at really good golf courses. It’s definitely a worry going forward. I think the narrative in golf lately about being so money-driven is probably a little bit frustrating.

“I don’t think the players necessarily think about it as much as what it’s in the media or what the public sees. You know, we still want to play and compete. We want to play on good golf courses. We want to contend for tournaments. But yeah, golf is certainly going that way a little bit lately and hopefully all that talk around the money kind of dies down going forward.

“Look, it’s been – as a player, it’s been great in that sense. The rewards are definitely a little bit better. But you know, if you go through your run of the field this week, would you rather make a hundred grand or have the trophy and then make nothing at the end of the week? I’m pretty sure everyone would say I want my name on the trophy and I’ll take not getting paid. I think that’s generally what most of us still play for.”

Following on from Fox, the DP World Tour lead the way in focusing on top venues, or at least venues that resonate with people, despite being dwarfed by the financial power of its American big brother.

As romantic as it might sound, world-class, quality golf courses must be used more regularly and this should be what attracts a field. Not $4 million winners packets, not eight-figure prize funds. At the end of August, we were again presented with the Curtis Cup, a magnificent team match play event where not one penny was at stake.

If you’re like me and haven’t played Sunningdale yet, you were presumably sat starring in awe at this historic heathland. That renewal of the best female GB&I amateurs facing the best female US amateurs was enhanced by where it was played, not by how many notes they were playing for.

The Curtis Cup is essentially the physical embodiment of this rant. Play golf at better venues and for less money.

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Do we need to focus on the use of more championship golf courses over ever-increasing prize money in golf? Is there anything that can remedy the state of prize money in golf? Tell us on X!