Former commissioner Tim Finchem donates $13 million as PGA Tour reshapes its charity strategy

ATLANTA (AP) — Ten years after he retired as commissioner, Tim Finchem and his wife are donating $13 million to help launch a new charity strategy at a time when so much emphasis in golf is on profit in the new commercial enterprise of the PGA Tour.

The tour on Monday revealed plans for PGA Tour Charities ahead of the season-ending Tour Championship, which has a $40 million purse that awards $10 million to the winner.

Along with building its charity strategy around national campaigns with a more local impact, the PGA Tour is prepared to make up any difference, if needed, to maintain charity levels from tournaments that move down to the Challenger Series in the 2028 schedule.

“This next chapter is about generating even more focus, coordination, resources and visibility,” said Laura Neal, executive vice president of PGA Tour Strategic Philanthropy. “Launching an evolved PGA Tour Charities — with a legacy-defining, transformative gift from the Finchems — is an exciting next step in golf's enduring commitment to giving back.”

The PGA Tour long has been the charitable leader in sports with a mechanism that has enabled its tournaments to generate more than $4.4 billion, all starting with a $10,000 donation at the 1938 Palm Beach Invitational. Each tournament operates independently and that doesn't change.

PGA Tour Charities will launch and fund national priority campaigns around such themes as health, youth, access and service. The idea is to connect with tournaments on a broader scale when their missions align, which the tour hopes can attract new resources and raise visibility.

Lucas Glover, the Player Advisory Council chairman who joins the PGA Tour board next year, is leading a committee of players to help shape the initiatives.

“How I grew up on the tour ... what we hung our hat on as an organization was giving back,” Glover said. "With COVID and then LIV coming in, it became more about money in our pocket instead of money in the pocket of people who need it more than we do. It never went away. It just got put on the back burner, and it's time we put it back on the forefront of our minds.

“When we talk about the PGA Tour, it shouldn't be how much we're making, how much we're playing for,” he said. "It should be about what we're doing in the communities where we play.”

PGA Tour Enterprises was launched as a for-profit commercial venture in January 2024 with an investment of up to $3 billion from Strategic Sports Group, which led to players receiving equity for the first time . The nonprofit PGA Tour still operates tournament and regulations. PGA Tour Enterprises is geared toward global business, commercial sponsorship and media rights.

The charitable engine doesn't stop for groups like the Thunderbirds (WM Phoenix Open), Copperheads (Valspar Championship) or the Salesmanship Club of Dallas (The CJ Cup Byron Nelson). Tournaments typically donate all net proceeds — operation costs offset by national and local sponsorship — to local charities.

It has been key for attracting thousands of volunteers — the backbone of golf tournaments — who feel like they are contributing to their communities because of the charitable function.

What the tour wants to emphasize with PGA Tour Charities is a dedicated platform for direct community investment that gives players, corporate partners, tournaments and fans a clear way to get involved. The Finchems' donation was seen as a catalyst.

“The PGA Tour family, its players, fans and communities have meant so much to us for so long, and we feel a connection to the golf world that endures to this day,” Holly Finchem said. “This donation to PGA Tour Charities, as it is reimagined for future generations of impact, is more than a capstone on Tim’s unwavering commitment to charity. It is a celebration of our belief in this great game and the PGA Tour. We can’t wait to see all the good this gift will inspire.”

Finchem, the tour's third commissioner, oversaw massive growth during his tenure from 1994 until retiring in 2016, much of that seizing on the arrival of Tiger Woods. Along with a sharp increase in TV contracts and prize money, he helped to create The First Tee in 1997.

Finchem was commissioner when charitable donations of PGA Tour events topped $1 billion in 2005 and $2 billion in 2014.

Meanwhile, the PGA Tour disclosed Monday the remaining $2.5 million charity donation from Brooks Koepka — he was required to donate $5 million as part of his return from LIV Golf — is being equally allocated to charities designated by nearly 100 players.

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