Starting in 2025, tournament sponsors will have to fund the PGA Tour’s rising purses and Wells Fargo is exiting before then.
John Schwarb | Dec 8, 2023
A tough week for the PGA Tour continued on Thursday with the announcement of a longtime sponsor leaving after next season.
Wells Fargo, sponsor since 2011 of the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, N.C., will not renew after 2024. The departure was first reported by the Charlotte Business Journal and Sports Illustrated obtained a statement from the company.
"Wells Fargo is not renewing the Wells Fargo Championship as a Signature Event in 2025 and beyond," the statement read. "We are incredibly proud of the 20+ year history of the Championship. The tournament has generated significant local impact and delighted golf fans in Charlotte and across the country. Since 2003, the Wells Fargo Championship has generated more than $30 million in support of numerous charitable foundations."
The Wells Fargo Championship received elevated status on the PGA Tour in 2023, part of the Tour's efforts to better compensate players in the wake of LIV Golf's existence. It had a $20 million purse, up from $9 million in 2022, and Wyndham Clark claimed $3.6 million for winning.
The event retains its status for 2024 in what the Tour is now calling "signature" events, with a new no-cut format, a limited field of 70 to 80 players and the same $20 million purse but with 20% distributed to the winner instead of the Tour's usual 18%—in other words $4 million, the same as the winner's check in a LIV Golf event.
But those increased purse costs will be borne by the tournaments and their sponsors starting in 2025 as part of a new funding model first reported by Sports Business Journal.
In interviews with several tournament directors and officials, Sports Illustrated found that "tournaments are not happy at all," with one tournament director explaining that the Tour is "asking each tournament for a large fee and a revenue share."
Those fees will be based on the type of event and a signature event like Wells Fargo would likely be on the hook for a higher fee with its status and purse.
One tournament director said that sponsors were "saying they won’t do it, they’ve had enough."
On Wednesday, world No. 3 Jon Rahm announced he was leaving the PGA Tour to join LIV Golf. He last played the Wells Fargo Championship in 2021, missing the cut.