Should the Pros have to play every tournament within a 3 yr. span?

Question

Some tournaments never see the BIG names . Does that mean there are to many or are they not paying enough?

Answer 1

I don't think so.  One of the cool things about professional golf is that the players are independent contractors, entering the events they like and think they have the best chance to win.  There is a minimum number (14 or 15 I think) that they have to play to remain exempt, but after that it should be left up to them.

Answer 2

i believe the lpga already has a rule that players must play all tourneys at least once during a 4 year span.

Answer 3

The purses are adequate for most are well above 5 million total prize money. One of the answerers " Leafsfan" seems to forget that the '96 debut of Tiger Woods came after he had won 3 consecutive Junior Amateur titles, 3 US amateur titles, was a child prodigy exposed on talk shows from the age of three. This wasn't a fly-by-night celebrity. I agree with the concept that the PGA tour should work out some plan whereby the more notable professionals are obliged to play in all sectors of the country during their career.This is a tall order for the golfer is still an independent contractor.

Answer 4

Nope.  Bad idea.

Answer 5

Everyone needs a break at some point.  The lesser known tournaments are the times when the big name pros take a break.  

Playing a tournament for these guys is a week long process, not just 4 days.....

Try working for 6 months straight with no days off.  Its hard...

Answer 6

Lets see....I am betting that if you work it is on a schedule that you prefer.....If your boss told you you had to work all weekends....would you do it? or would you find another job?......They are like an independent contractor. they go where they please and play where they want to.....Its really been that way since the beginning of the PGA.....granted in the early days they played every tournament because they could not live off of what the prize money was at the time.

Answer 7

there are times I had the similar thought about pros playing in some of the small tournaments that hardly get any big names golfers. after watching the golf channel and they discus the same issue. but golfers are individual contractors, they pick what tournament they want to play each year.  PGA have no set rules of which tournament they have to play at any given time. and I don't think PGA is going to make that a big issue with players.

Answer 8

That sounds like a terrific idea.  The players could still pick and choose their spots, but makes every venue an attractive one.  Skip Milwaukee if you want to one year, but you know you'll have to have it on there the next.  Take a break if you need one, but it will fit into a master schedule.

Hey, do you think the Red Sox and Yankees LIKE playing in Kansas City ?

Answer 9

This has been discussed and is not likely to happen anytime soon.  Unless the PGA Tour starts paying appearance fees (as is done in Europe, and is quite common on the tennis circuit) or offering some kind of incentive to the players, this isn't going to happen.  

What bothers me is when a guy takes a sponsor exemption to an event when he's trying to get his card without the Q-school route, and then shows his loyalty by never returning (i.e. one Eldrick Woods in 1996) to that event.  To me, if you take a sponsor exemption you have an obligation to return at some point every 3-4 years.  If tournaments like Milwaukee, Quad Cities, and the like were good enough for Woods in 1996, they should be worthy of a visit every four years or so.

And yes, when Michelle Wie gets her LPGA card, she owes these tournaments who've given her exemptions.  

What should be of concern to the PGA Tour is that the next negotiations for tv rights are going to be abysmal; the tournaments that get lousy fields aren't going to want to pay premium rights/ad fees.

Not forgetting anything; Woods was hyped beyond words, but remember- when he turned pro he had no status as a Professional.  He turned pro after the 1996 US Amateur (by which time his dad had been on the Nike payroll for a while...nice work if you can get it), and the fall series events fell over themselves offering up exemptions (fair play to him; he took the maximum seven, and won two events which kept him far away from Q-School).  What I'm saying is Woods took the exemptions fair and square, and it says here that at some point, he should remember these people.

The prize money offered up are in many cases dictated by the PGA Tour; and there are some pretty stiff minimums, which is tough when you're an event that doesn't get a Woods or Mickelson (the Atlanta event is gone, and likely the Tampa slot will go down as well); if they had the ability to structure their purse and buy-in to what the market actually would allow (up here, there's zero chance Woods ever comes over the border, so frankly, our National Championship shouldn't have to offer up a purse based on the ratings attraction showing up when we know he won't) you'd be fine.  Go that route, and watch purses for a lot of events plummet; and then these pros would pitch a fit.