PGA Tour sets up £6million ‘hardship fund’ for players – despite each star earning at least £220,000 this season

THE PGA Tour has set up a £6million "hardship fund" for players – even though everyone eligible for the cash has earned more than £220,000 this season.

The US circuit has emailed members telling them they can apply for up to £80,000 as an advance against their potential share of the £48million FedEx Cup bonus pool.

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That applies to the leading 150 players on the current FedEx list - and the player occupying the final spot, Austin Cook, has banked just over £224,000 since the 2019-20 campaign began.

That is despite the fact he has managed just two top twenty finishes - and missed the cut in EIGHT of his 13 starts.

Cook, 29, may be a relative unknown. But the man from Little Rock, Arkansas, pocketed more than £900,000 when he won the 2017 RSM Classic.

And he has piled up career earnings of more than £3.3million since turning pro six years ago

That PGA Tour offer is not likely to grab the attention of the game’s superstars such as Rory McIlroy, who scooped the top FedEx prize of £12million last year by winning the Tour Championship.

But it could throw a financial lifeline to rookies and journeymen pros, who have racked up large debts while chasing their golfing dreams.

The amount they can apply for will be determined by their current positions on the FedEx standings. They can ask for up to fifty per cent of what they are projected to earn if the placings remained unaltered.

But the £80,000 ceiling prevents current leader Sungjae Im from demanding half of the £12million he is on course to pocket once the FedEx play-offs are completed.

That might be just as well. If players slip back on the qualifying list and fail to earn enough to cover the advance, the balance will be taken from their future prize money.

The top 31 players on the list all banked more than £160,000 last year. So the golfers filling those places now are eligible for the full £80,000.

But even the player down in 150th place last August finished up £56,000 better off – which means Cook can ask for a £28,000 advance.

He took home almost four times that amount when he recorded his best finish of the campaign, a share of 14th at Greenbrier last September. That was worth just under £105,000.

The European Tour will not copy the American plan – only the top five finishers on the race to Dubai profit from the £4million bonus fund.

The PGA Tour are also planning to set up a fund offering caddies interest free loans while they are kicking their heels at home.

And Tour commissioner Jay Monahan told members they are still “hopeful” of returning to action on May 21, when the Charles Schwab Challenge is due to tee off at Fort Worth in Texas.

But that looks wildly optimistic. The USA now has more reported coronavirus cases than any other country, and the US Open in New York looks increasingly certain to be pushed back from its June 18-21 date.