The Australian Open golf tournament has signed a deal “to partner with the PGA Tour for the first time” with the 2027-2029 events, according to Dane Heverin of FOX SPORTS AUSTRALIA. The tourney will “continue to be co-sanctioned between the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour of Australasia,” and PGA Tour partnership will provide a “significant boost in prize money.” The 2025 Australian Open was played for total purse of AU$2M (US$1.4M); those figures have been a “problem in attracting top talent to travel down under.” Future purses for the tournament have yet to be confirmed, but the deal with the PGA Tour “is set to help bridge the gap.” Recent reports suggested that LIV Golf “had tried to partner with the Australian Open and other national opens around the globe.” However, the PGA Tour has also been “exploring a more condensed schedule, which would allow for its stars to play outside of the United States during the southern hemisphere summer.” This collaboration between Golf Australia and the PGA Tour “may be the first domino to fall in that new structure that could potentially free up the game’s biggest names” (FOX SPORTS AUSTRALIA, 6/9).
CONTINUING TO WORK TOGETHER: THE ATHLETIC’s Brody Miller cited a source as saying that the PGA Tour and DP World Tour “are meeting weekly to extend their ‘strategic alliance’” that began in 2020. The partnership grew in 2022 with the PGA Tour “owning 40 percent of the European tour’s media rights arm while guaranteeing prize purses.” It also includes “pathways for 10 DP World Tour players to earn PGA Tour cards.” The Australian Open deal is the “first major indication” of PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp teaming with DP World Tour CEO Guy Kinnings since taking over. It also could be a “sign of Rolapp’s aggressiveness” (THE ATHLETIC, 6/9).