THE PGA Tour extends its Player Equity Program to reward performance during the FedEx Cup.
The top 50 players in the 2026 FedEx Cup standings, through the 2026 BMW Championship, will now receive recurring equity grants within PGA Tour Enterprises, the for-profit entity. PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp sent a memo to Tour members on Thursday detailing the program’s expansion, which began in 2024.
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Player equity was intended as a carrot for the new generation of twenty-somethings such as Ludvig Aberg, Nick Dunlap and Aldrich Potgieter to chase — and a potentially lucrative reason not to take guaranteed money to go to LIV.
A PGA Tour flag at the Simmons Bank Open for the Snedeker Foundation at The Grove in College Grove, Tennessee.
In total, nearly 200 PGA Tour members are current shareholders, with more than $1 billion in equity awarded to date. All members will be eligible to earn equity through this enhancement, whether or not they already hold an equity interest.
PGA Tour subsidies are acquired over a period of 8 years
Initial grants are acquired over a period of eight years. There are also several checkpoints: 50 percent of the award value will vest after four years, with an additional 25 percent vesting after six years and the final 25 percent vesting after eight years. (It also starts being taxable income starting in the fourth year.)
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The enhanced program follows feedback Rolapp and Tour executives received from members during a mandatory player meeting at last season’s Rocket Classic in July, held a week after he took the newly created position, and was approved at the November 2025 board meeting.
Equity grants for the top 50 players in the 2026 FedEx Cup will be awarded in April 2027, according to the memo.
“By expanding the Player Equity Program, we reaffirm our commitment to recognizing competitive performance and ensuring that more of our members have the opportunity to share in the long-term success of the PGA Tour,” Rolapp wrote in the memo.
This article was originally published on Golfweek: PGA Tour Expands Player Equity Program to Reach FedEx Cup Top 50
