Tough times could improve PGA Tour
Tiger Woods won the 51th annual Buick Open over the weekend.
It might be the last Buick Open, too.
As everyone knows, the auto industry is ailing, and that means their big-money sponsorships are falling by the wayside. That includes sponsorships of professional sporting events, and no sport is feeling the pinch more than golf.
The PGA Tour is looking at the possibility of losing at least five tour stops next year because the sponsor dollars just aren’t there.
I suspect that’ll be a good thing.
Oh, it’s not good that the tour is struggling to find sponsors, but cutting back on the tournaments could be the best thing to happen to the PGA Tour since that Eldrick Woods character burst onto the scene. The PGA Tour has too many stops, and for evidence of that, look no further than this weekend’s Buick Open. Sure, Tiger was there. Sure, he won in typical dominating fashion. Sure, he drew big galleries and good TV ratings.
But look at who he beat. Greg Chalmers. John Senden. Roland Thatcher. Y.E. Yang. Ben Crane. Michael Letzig.
That could just as easily be a list of guys who live on your block or go to church with you as PGA Tour golfers. It’s a non-descript group of players, but the trouble is, it’s not that unusual to see unknowns at the top of the leaderboards of a lot of these tournaments. That’s because the top players only play a limited number of tournaments every year. That keeps them fresh without wearing them out.
But if the number of tournaments was reduced, it would increase the likelihood that every tournament would draw a good field with recognizable faces. It would make for more competitive tournaments. It would make for more exciting golf.
These economic times are putting the PGA Tour in a pinch, but squeezing out some of these tournaments should make the tour leaner and meaner. That means a stronger sport. That means a better product. A much better product.
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