Money, Money, Money! Rory McIlroy bags top Player Impact Program prize

Rory McIlroy has won the 2023 Player Impact Program and $15 million for his troubles.

The Northern Irishman pipped his TGL Golf partner Tiger Woods to the top of the chart that rewards players across a number of criteria.

Woods earned $12 million despite playing in two tournaments with the second being the Masters which he withdrew from.

Jon Rahm, Jordan Spieth and Scottie Scheffler complete the top five spots on the leaderboard that was posted to Instagram by tour player Nate Lashley.

Players are rewarded in categories such as MARC General Population Awareness and MARC Golf Fan Awareness data and, as player relations director Jason Gore wrote in the results memo, for generating “the most positive interest in the PGA Tour.”

“The scoring model for the Program is intended to be as objective as possible with the goal of quantifying the compact each player has on the PGA Tour,” Gore wrote.

The full list of the top 20 players benefitting from the $100 million bonus pool is below:

1. Rory McIlroy – $15 million
2. Tiger Woods – $12 million
3. Jon Rahm – $9 million
4. Jordan Spieth – $7.5 million
5. Scottie Scheffler – $6 million
6. Rickie Fowler – $5.5 million
7. Viktor Hovland – $5 million
8. Justin Thomas – $5 million
9. Tommy Fleetwood – $5 million
10. Max Homa – $5 million
11. Xander Schauffele – $3 million
12. Jason Day – $3 million
13. Tony Finau – $3 million
14. Collin Morikawa – $3 million
15. Matt Fitzpatrick – $3 million
16. Wyndham Clark – $2 million
17. Cameron Young – $2 million
18. Justin Rose – $2 million
19. Patrick Cantlay – $2 million
20. Brian Harman – $2 million

What is the PGA Tour Player Impact Program?

This is the question Lashley begged in his Instagram post which showed details of this year’s Player Impact Program results.

“How many golf fans actually know what the PIP on the PGA Tour is? Would love to hear from golf/PGA fans if they think this $100 million was spent well?” he wrote.

“There’s 150-200 members of the PGA Tour and they just spent $100 million on 20 players. Seems a little ridiculous. Time for new leadership on the PGA Tour. This is an absolute kick in the face to the rest of the PGA Tour players.”

The PIP was introduced for the first time in 2021 to reward players who move the needle and bring the most eyes to the PGA Tour.

Woods won the top prize of $15 million in 2022 having only played in three tournaments, but across each criterion, the 15-time major champion brought the most exposure to the circuit.

No Laying Up’s Tron Carter posted a table on X which explains how each player ranked in each department of this year’s PIP.

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The first PIP bonus pool in 2021 was $40 million given to the top 10 players and this increased to $100 million to 20 players.

In 2024, the bonus pool will come down to $50 million and the player ranked first on the leaderboard will earn $10 million.

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Is this Rory McIlroy PIP victory healthy for golf, or does the program need a reshuffle? Tell us on X!