Is The Tour Obligated To Work Harder To Save Historic Events?
In reading Joel Beall's Golf World look at a potential version of the PGA Tour's forthcoming 2019 schedule revamp, it's hard to look past the huge name, foundational events in danger. The likes of Colonial, Bay Hill and Houston, each important and steady presences on the PGA Tour schedule, all face uncertainty going forward.
Beall writes:
Meanwhile, some industry insiders wonder about the status of the Arnold Palmer Invitational. With its namesake gone, the tournament struggled somewhat to draw big names in 2017, and Bay Hill's layout is one that some tour pros aren’t fond of. The tour isn’t expected to pull the plug on the API, but the tournament needs to show signs of life this year to ensure its future.
Also in the spring fog: the Houston Open. Shell dropped out as sponsor, and the event, which has settled into a spot the week prior to the Masters, does not have a title holder for 2018. Redstone G.C., which sustained damage during Hurricane Harvey last summer but should be OK come spring, is a course that some players like because it is set-up to resemble the conditions they'll see at Augusta National. That said, if it returns in 2019, it looks likely to lose its pre-Augusta setting, with the Valero Texas Open moving to the first week in April.
Market forces certainly dictate the status of some of these events, but knowing that World Golf Championship events have taken sponsor possibilities away and weakened fields for non-WGC events, it's hard to pin any blame on these longtime PGA Tour stalwarts for struggling.
I have no doubt the PGA Tour brass is working to save all events. However, the potential demise of events that build the Tour could undermine any sense of connection to the distance or even recent past. You just can't put a dollar figure on those connections, but the legacy of the Finchem era is that no one's place in line matters. Whether that's the legacy of the Monahan era remains to be seen.
Tuesday, December 19, 2017 at 02:44 AM
Reader Comments (12)
I hate that the match play is lumped in with these things, because it actually is a good event. But the stroke plays?
To think of the Velero Open to precede the Masters is akin to having a MacMuffin prior to a grand seven course dinner at the palace. How unpalatable would that scheduling play out.
I guess we will soon find out when it comes to TPC Boston and whether or not Monahan finds a way to keep an event where he was once the first tournament director and is not far from the town where he grew up. One could argue if it not for Seth Waugh and the former Deutsche Bank Championship, Jay may never have ascended to his new role as commissioner. And the tour owns the golf course I believe. Talk about a real opportunity for loyalty on several levels....
Similarly, in other news, Congress might reduce 401k deductions as part of the new tax plan. (Fact: Congress never was going to do so; instead it was a ploy to get upper middle class taxpayers worried and then make it look like they're getting something out of the deal).
I've heard from credible sources that the Genesis Open is moving to Rustic Canyon... Discuss!
It’s also to get a feel what’s out there.
It’s changing and the powers that be do not want to admit it.
The benefit of the WGC's is that the PGA Tour controls them, instead of Greg Norman, or whoever would try to
set up in the tour's territory.
It's about market defense.
I know this site despises Norman, but he got royally hosed by Finchem and the tour....all business, and understandable,
but they roasted him for the idea, while stealing it
Will they still be part of a WGC on a smaller scale if their WGC event ends up in Memphis in 2019? As bad as some think Firestone South is the TPC Southwind is just a dreadful/awful/horrific layout. That said Fed-Ex corporate HQ is right next door to TPC Southwind. Seems a WGC event will be played there. Yuck.