The Players Championship golf tournament has long been one of the biggest events on the calendar in the Jacksonville area, and PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan says it continues to grow.
“We’ll see record growth this year, with double-digit revenue growth,” Monahan said at a Tuesday morning news conference on the tournament grounds at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach.
Monahan became tour commissioner in January, succeeding Tim Finchem, after working in several positions at the Ponte Vedra Beach-headquartered organization over the previous decade. That includes two years as executive director of the Players.
“I was involved in running this tournament back in 2009 and 2010. The numbers doubled essentially in that time frame, which is very impressive,” he said.
Monahan said the tournament generated $8.5 million for charities last year. “We think on the early returns that will continue to grow,” he said.
Since he became commissioner, Monahan has talked openly about revising the PGA Tour’s schedule of tournaments, which could include a move of The Players.
The tournament was moved to May in 2007 after more than three decades in March, and Monahan said it is staying in May for now.
“Right now we don’t have any plans on moving it back to March,” he said.
While the tournament is a showcase event for the PGA Tour, drawing most of the world’s top golfers, The Players is not one of professional golf’s four major championships.
Monahan said it’s not up to him to decide whether the tournament should be considered a major championship.
“Really that question is a question for our players and for the media,” he said. “But we think that we’re going to compete like heck to continue to do everything we can to raise the profile of this great championship.”
Other professional sports organizations, such as the NFL and Major League Baseball, have their own television networks, but Monahan said the PGA Tour is not currently working on owning its own network.
“We have great partners in the Golf Channel, NBC and CBS. We’re totally focused on doing everything we can to continue to develop and grow and expect to be in partnership with them for a long time to come,” he said.
Monahan believes the game of golf remains popular. The PGA Tour on Tuesday announced a 10-year extension of its major sponsorship agreement with FedEx Corp. through 2027, although Monahan would not say the dollar value of that agreement.
“There’s a lot of discussion on the health (of golf), and some of it is negative, but I think there are some really positive trend and story lines underneath it, and we’re going to make sure we’re doing everything on our part to grow the game,” he said.
The Players Championship opened to the public Tuesday for practice rounds. The four-day tournament is Thursday through Sunday.