"The World Golf Championships have really hurt the consistency of the rest of the tournaments out here.''

Doug Ferguson kicks off his annual look at field strength with a quote from Jeff Maggert about the impact the WGC events have had on the PGA Tour:

''When I started, the tournaments were very consistent week to week,'' Maggert said. ''Now there seems to be a real up-and-down on strength of fields. That's just the way the Tour has evolved. The World Golf Championships have really hurt the consistency of the rest of the tournaments out here.''

And regarding the strongest fields, non-WGC, non-major and non-The Players:

The strongest tournament not on that list was the Memorial, which attracted 15 of the top 20 players in this week's world ranking. The only other regular tournaments that had at least 10 of the top 20 were the Northern Trust Open at Riviera (12) and the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill (11).

The surprise was that nine players were at the Transitions Championship outside Tampa, Fla., which is in dire need of a title sponsor. The Copperhead course at Innisbrook is one of the best-kept secrets on Tour, and some believe it's the best tournament course in all of Florida. The other tournaments drawing at least nine players were the Phoenix Open and the Zurich Classic, which has a separate ambassador program that compensates some players in the field.

Comments

[Bobby D]

"ambassador program"?



lol

[Will o'the Glen]

"ambassador program" = appearance money

[Ivan Morris]

Overkill and killing the golden goose! When will we humans ever learn that enough isn't just enough; it's plenty!

[johnnnycz]

Maggert always calls it like he sees it. Props to 'Hustler for speaking his mind about how pro golf has changed in the past 20 years. Sadly, it's all about a selective few chasing $$$$ at the top these days.

The globetrotting top players can be classified as 'Glamorous High Performing Golfing Tourists' to some non-golfer folks. I miss the days when turning on almost any PGAT event meant seeing a decent # of current top 20 players no matter it being a big or small tournament.

[BenSeattle]

Such is the legacy of Tim Finchem: a handful of limited-field, no-cut money-grabs that relegate outstanding traditional events to also-ran status. Now a top player simply includes the four majors, the Players, a President or Ryder Cup, a few guaranteed-money late-season overseas events and the WGC's and his schedule is set. Good job, Tim... anything else is a mere afterthought. Pure genius.

[DTF]

Good post Ben.

Hey someone needs inform Doug that despite what the numbers say even Memorial and Bay Hill are just half-assed also-ran events too.... All the Euros were "tired" at Memorial this year so that win didn't count, and Bay Hill Is simply a schlock 2nd tier event so that win doesn't count either!