A PGA Tour veteran has sent a jolt through the golf world with a candid take on LIV Golf’s ripple effect. While many criticize LIV Golf and the professionals who play in it, Tom Hoge doesn’t. The reason – the Saudi-backed league has helped him financially in a unique way.
“Well, I would say personally speaking, I’m probably the player that’s benefited absolutely the most from LIV coming along. I played well in 2022 right before LIV got going, which brought an offer from LIV, so I went down that road for a little bit. But, sticking with the PGA Tour and the changes they made, I’ve played in every signature event since they were established. And I would say nobody’s benefited more financially than I have cuz I’ve played well in some of those events and been in all of them,” Tom Hoge revealed in conversation with Trey Wingo.
“So, it’s been fantastic for me. So, I shouldn’t be the guy here, complaining about any of that coming along. But it is tough for the game of golf that there’s a lot of great players that are on LIV that we’re not competing with against every week like we were.”
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The 36-year-old PGA Tour professional from Statesville, North Carolina, stated that LIV’s inception has brought him financial benefits. However, he is not the only one. Many professionals on the PGA Tour have benefited indirectly from LIV’s inception. As former CEO Greg Norman highlighted, the Saudi-backed league disrupted the market, which was essential to restoring balance.
Before LIV’s arrival, the prize pools for PGA Tour events weren’t that large. And there weren’t many additional benefits that athletes enjoy today. For instance, the PGA Tour started its for-profit entity and offered equity stakes to golfers. The standard prize pool on the PGA Tour was around $8-$9 million. Then came LIV Golf, offering $20-$25 million per event. This put pressure on the PGA Tour to pay golfers more.
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Thus, the PGA Tour started elevating events in 2023, which officially became the Signature Events in 2024. These events feature higher prize money of around $20 million or more.
Since Tom Hoge performed well in 2022, he has been eligible to play Signature Events until now. In 2025, too, he was eligible for and played all Signature Events. He posted strong results in many of them, including T8 at The Sentry ($550,000), T3 at THE PLAYERS Championship ($1,325,000), T5 at Valero Texas Open ($304,000), T14 at the Masters ($336,000), and T7 at the Memorial ($603,200). These finishes underscore his claim of major financial gains from post-LIV Tour upgrades.
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In 2024, he also finished strongly at many events. Hoge received $642,500 at the 2024 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, $646,000 at the 2024 The Genesis Invitational, $389,666 at the 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational, and $1,160,000 at the Travelers Championship. This shows that a large part of his official money came from the Signature events in both 2024 and 2025.
While he enjoys the financial benefits, he also misses playing with some of the best golfers. Playing against strong competitors makes an athlete strong. Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, Joaquin Niemann, and Patrick Reed are some of the many gold golfers playing LIV Golf. Their exclusion from PGA Tour events influences the field’s strength, which also impacts the OWGR points.
Although Tom Hoge is happy with almost every change the PGA Tour has gone through after LIV’s inception, he dislikes one thing that may come from 2027.
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Tom Hoge disapproves of the PGA Tour schedule changes
Tiger Woods’s Future Competition Committee (FCC) planned for a redesigned schedule from 2027. The new schedule will likely feature fewer events and may start in February instead of January. Woods and the FCC aim to mitigate viewership competition from the NFL in January. CEO Brian Rolapp supports this view and the redesigned schedule. However, Tom Hoge doesn’t.
Hoge told Golf Channel the pre-LIV model worked well. It allowed players to pick events freely with equal stature throughout the season. He praised past flexibility where stars like Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson elevated chosen events without a rigid top-heavy structure. If the redesigned schedule reduces the number of events, it will take away this flexibility. Therefore, Hoge opposed a reduced schedule. Instead, he valued the ability to take a month off or play four straight weeks.
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Tom Hoge’s comments highlight how LIV Golf’s arrival reshaped his financial outlook while also changing the competitive feel of the PGA Tour. As golf moves toward another possible shift, his perspective reflects both gratitude for new opportunities and concern for what may be lost.