PGA Tour tables plans for global series to focus on elevated events, sources say

The PGA Tour is tabling its plans to stage a global series of three events that would have included its top players competing for purses worth as much as $25 million, sources confirmed to ESPN on Wednesday.

The PGA Tour announced Aug. 1 that the top 50 players in the FedEx Cup points standings, as well as top performers from an undetermined number of fall events, would compete in three international tournaments that would include limited fields and no cuts. At that time, the tour did not announce dates and locations for the global events.

A person familiar with the tour's plans told ESPN that the tour would instead focus its efforts on 13 tournaments with elevated purses for top players, which will include the three FedEx Cup playoff events, Sentry Tournament of Champions, Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational, The Players, Memorial Tournament, WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play and four additional events that will rotate through existing PGA Tour tournaments.

Commissioner Jay Monahan announced last Wednesday that the PGA Tour's top players had committed to compete in 20 events, including the 13 elevated events with average purses of $20 million, starting in 2023.

Players will also compete in the four major championships, if they're eligible, and three other tour events of their choice to complete the 20-event schedule.

Monahan had originally announced plans for the international series during a news conference at the Travelers Championship on June 22. The source said the global series might be staged at some point in the future, likely taking place as limited-field, no-cut, non-points events.

By adding the four new elevated events, according to the source, going forward with the international series would have