Reminders Galore That Wraparound Schedule Needs A Wrap
As I wrote for Golfweek's Presidents Cup coverage, Team USA's on-course performance was especially remarkable given the noticeable fatigue of the recent PGA Tour playoff participants. Less remarkable was the team and leadership no-show effort for the World Golf Hall Of Fame ceremony, and I'm chalking part of that mistake to this being the culminating week of a season filled with multiple obligations and the pressures of 21st Century PGA Tour golf. (Just look how rail-thin Jordan Spieth looks in the photo below after going all-in on the playoffs and Presidents Cup.)
Meanwhile the feeder tour that has been designated as the only way to the PGA Tour played its final and arguably most important event against the Presidents Cup. Even more amazingly, the Web.com Tour Finals finished the week prior to the start of the next season.
Asking Web.com players to compete for their livelihood over two months, then turn around and play for their new status before the PGA Tour's eligibility re-shuffle in November is not a rational way to develop new stars.
Congratulations to Jonathan Byrd (Nicklaus Parker's game story here) and the many players who completed the playoffs Monday in Florida, but there were 13 who already had status locked up WD'd from the Monday weather-delayed finish to get to Napa for this week's PGA Tour season opener.
While the PGA Tour brass and some players will continue to defend Tim Finchem's "wraparound" vision for the PGA and Web.com Tours as the proper proving grounds, the emphasis has lost sight of what makes most sense for all parties.
Besides developing talent, the Web.com Tour is also a tour that should help serious golf fans get familiar with emerging players. Playing against the PGA Tour Playoffs and Presidents Cup certainly won't help on that front. When the PGA Tour had a week off during the playoffs, so did the Web.com Tour. Oy. Vey.
The many compelling card-chasing stories we would have learned via the old Fall Finish race or Q-School are getting lost. (This year there was a traditional heartbreaker of a finish for Matt Harmon that was covered because he missed short putts coming in, snapped his putter and missed out on a chance at his card).
The wraparound was created to save the fall events at the expense of the PGA Tour's very attractive natural January beginning. I just can't see how, given some of the signs of fatigue, the wraparound's impact on players from both circuits is offering a logical ebb and flow for anyone. Nor is it working for anyone but the fall events that get to say they are offering FedExCup points.
Monday, October 2, 2017 at 09:26 PM
Reader Comments (11)
I could elaborate on how events have fallen through (a wedding was booked at the clubhouse and the club wouldn't move it), how events have been cancelled (a misunderstanding between a media official and the course owner, followed by the course owner refusing to pay the purse), and conversely how events have been put together on the tightest of budgets yet somehow have managed to flourish for multiple years.
We all know it's not perfect, but man, the constant negativity just isn't necessary. The fall events could just not exist, and that's not a business model - you don't turn money away, and you don't take money away from deserving charities. It's a pretty damn good system. Can we leave it at that?
We're talking about a tour (the Web) that has struggled for the last 10 years with playing opportunities. Or the number of tournaments on the schedule, whatever you want to call it. Back in 2007, my first year on the Web, I believe there were 27 events plus the Tour Championship. The schedule ended in mid to late October (whilst 1st stage of Q School was going on), and then the Tour Chamionship was usually in late October or early November. So you had a window from January to late October to get 27 events on the calendar.
Little by little, the Web Tour began bleeding events (coinciding with the economic slowdown). I believe at one point there was a low of 20 events on the schedule. Not ideal for what was supposed to be a "year round" tour, right? At the same time, the "Fall Finish" events were not doing so well, in part because of the inability to get any sort of star power in their fields. The purses were smaller, the FedEx points didn't apply, and the title sponsors were thinking "why are we doing this when the event is considered second-class?"
Enter the wrap-around season. The PGA Tour's season would "end" in late September, and the new season would begin a week later with some of the old Fall Finish events, with a couple of caveats - what's considered "full" purses, and full FedEx points. Certainly something to encourage at least a few of the top players to play. And for the most part, that idea has worked as intended.
Simultaneously, the need for Q School to move up in the schedule, or go away, became a reality. How would a player cope who got their PGA Tour card in December, only to look at the points list and see how far behind they were before they even teed it up? This was another situation that had to be rectified.
Now, obviously this progression has impacted the Web schedule by pushing the last event back to late September. Players for YEARS have implored the powers-that-be to get more events....now in a more condensed period of time. January and February have always been difficult to navigate for the Web Tour. The US is basically a non-starter (because of PGA Tour saturation in those months in the playable areas of the country), so they've been forced to go out of country with mixed results. Panama is great, apparently the Bahamas is working well (although the first event last year was apparently kind of a joke), and Bogota is great too. Chile and Brazil didn't work long term.
After that, there are a few gaps (again because of weather, in my opinion) and then starting in late April, the Web really doesn't stop playing until late September. It's packed. 23 reg season events + 4 playoff events.
My question to anyone who takes SERIOUS issue (not you, DavidC, you simply asked a question) with this is, what's the solution? Do you cut events because of the "inconvenience" of starting the PGA Tour season right away, even though the actual players who it affects kind of really love it? Because there are numerous events that have this one week that works perfectly for them. It's not the week of the town festival, not the week of the member-guest, or it falls just outside of the window where a lot of the city is at the beach, so volunteers are scarce until that "one week." I can't emphasize enough, there are so many moving parts, so many needs that have to be accommodated. It's not something i ever thought about until I sat down in a PAC meeting and listened.
In my opinion, the Web Tour Championship is situated in that week because it has to be. It's there because of the 26 events that come before it. If there was a way to do it different, without losing a regular season event, they'd do it. 100%.
Sorry for the rambling response. Hope that somewhat answers your question.
If we are stuck with the Fed Ex model, and they want to make sure it does not compete with football, then we are stuck with what to do with the final 4 months of the Calendar year. I am okay with the current approach. I like seeing guys like Ricky Barnes and others who, you normally do not see every Weekend from coverage. I like seeing the random locales such as Napa Valley and Mississippi. I like the fact that the sponsors are not all some god awful financial services firm, but often rando companies with regional interests in supporting an event (such as Sanderson Farms). And for guys like Boo Weekly, wanting an off-season to hunt and fish. Guess what dude...most of us at most get 2 weeks (even if we get more vacation), because that is all we can afford and/or legitimately take off from work.
Playing opportunities is the job of the tour, is it not?