WRAL Sports Fan

If you pay them they will come

By Adam Gold
Jan 26, 2012

Tiger Woods made his 2012 debut at the HSBC Championship in Abu Dhabi, a coastal city along the Persian Gulf in the United Arab Emirates. Meanwhile, 8,376 miles to the West, in the San Diego suburb of La Jolla, California, the rest of the PGA Tour awaits the start of their annual stop at Torrey Pines. You’d think, considering it’s been since the late summer of 2009 since Woods won a PGA Tour event, that he might want to get that feeling back at a tournament he’s won six times since 1997. On top of that, he captured his last major championship, the 2008 United States Open, on the same course. You remember, right, the place he knew so well that in spite of a torn ACL and fractured leg, he was able to gut out a 90-hole, 1-stroke win over Rocco Mediate?

It’s one of the greatest victories in the history of golf. Arguably, one of the greatest wins regardless of the sport.

So, why isn’t Woods playing in San Diego? Why did he choose to open the year, one that he hopes at least will be his first full season since 2007, 12 time zones away from an In and Out Burger? The answer is simple; money.

Woods is reportedly receiving an appearance fee of roughly $2.5 million just to get to the starting gate. No matter what Woods does this weekend in Abu Dhabi, whether he wins, finishes 20th or misses the cut and goes diving for pearls in the gulf, Woods already has that appearance cash in the bank. The PGA Tour doesn’t offer appearance fees to their players, in fact it’s illegal and has been so for a long time. But, with Woods skipping out on a tournament that has traditionally been the start of his season, and one less than two hours from his birthplace in Orange County, it’s worth wondering why the PGA Tour insists on hurting itself with such an antiquated and unnecessary statute.

Twenty-five or thirty years ago, when ALL of the best golfers played the PGA Tour, I could understand the rule. With very few exceptions, the money, the weather, the competition, the amenities, the galleries and the prestige all were found in greater abundance in the United States. The best players from Australia, South Africa and Europe all came here, and most cited several of those aforementioned reasons, but mostly because in order to be considered one of the best in the world you had to prove it against the best in the world.

That is absolutely not the case any more.  Everything about the international professional tours has improved greatly and , according to the latest Official World Golf Rankings, 7 of the top 10 players in the world – including the top 4 – are non-Americans. The numbers don’t get any rosier if you extend the sample size, either. 13 of the top 20 and 16 of the world’s 25 best golfers are foreign-born, so at a time when the U.S. PGA Tour should be considering incentives to bring some of them over here on a more regular basis, they stick to an outdated rule that puts one of it’s top early-season events at a serious competitive disadvantage.

In reality, the lion share of those players still play often enough in the States as the purses are nearly twice as large and most of the biggest events take place on U.S. soil. Three of the four major championships, three of the four World Golf Championships and The Players Championship are in the U.S., so that’s more than enough of a carrot to keep the biggest international stars interested in coming across an ocean to play. But, that doesn’t mean that every PGA Tour event shouldn’t have the option of offering even more of an incentive to a Tiger Woods or a Rory McIlroy or a Lee Westwood to support tournaments in Phoenix, or Dallas or New Orleans.

What could possibly be the damage done? The arguments you hear most often; “players earn their money based on how well they play”, “if you pay them to show up, they might not be as keen on winning”, “it would be unfair to most of the rest of the Tour”, “it would put an unnecessary financial strain on tournament sponsors”, are shaky at best and arrogant at worst.

Fact: Most players on the PGA Tour earn at least as much money, and most of the time significantly more, before they ever draw the club back in their first event of the season. Before Woods lost 9 & 8 to the fire hydrant on the edge of the front lawn of his former home in Orlando, Florida he was pulling in north of $100 million in endorsement contracts – annually. Prior to the start of this season, Woods’ career PGA Tour earnings was a shade under $95 million. So, there goes the theory that players only earn a living based on how they play. Yes, that’s the extreme, but you don’t put “NETJETS” on the front of your shirt because you’re a huge fan of private planes. Those are paid endorsements.

Fact: Last I checked, the players are still motivated by winning. Yes, there will be some players who appear content to finish in the top 20, but these guys are motivated by winning. And honestly, it’s insulting to even suggest otherwise.

Fact: I can’t think of more than ten players I’d even consider giving a dime to show up at an event, were I in charge. Woods, Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler and (maybe) John Daly would at least be under consideration. Heck, I might even throw in a couple of older guys, like Fred Couples or Greg Norman, before I’d consider the overwhelming number of regular tour players. You think I’m staying awake until 3:00 in the morning to watch Boo Weekley play in Abu Dhabi? Let’s face it, there aren’t that many players who really move the meter, and it’s because of those that do that the rank and file get to compete for $6 million-plus every week. Those guys will get over the hurt, believe me.

Plus, who’s saying that appearance fees would be mandatory? Just give the tournament directors the option of sweetening the pot for a player they think might help attract another 15,000 fans through the gates, or sell another half dozen corporate tents, or convince a major sponsor or two to extend a contract. It might get some of those guys to play a little more or, even better, play an event they’ve never played before.  How is that anything but GREAT for the PGA Tour?

And please, if the folks at Farmers Insurance could compete on a level playing field with the Prince of Abu Dhabi, maybe Woods would be aiming for his 8th career win on the South Course at Torrey Pines, and I could be getting some much-needed sleep. Instead, I’m watching the 25th ranked player in the world leave a whole bunch of birdie putts short while facing the prospects of a bleary-eyed Thursday on 3 ½ hours sleep.

All thanks to the PGA tour and their stupid, stubborn attitude.