{"id":1331,"date":"2015-12-16T20:43:52","date_gmt":"2015-12-16T20:43:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.golfballs.com\/?p=1331"},"modified":"2025-02-17T10:40:33","modified_gmt":"2025-02-17T16:40:33","slug":"pga-tour-tells-golfers-where-they-must-play-sort-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/blog\/pga-tour-tells-golfers-where-they-must-play-sort-of\/","title":{"rendered":"PGA Tour Tells Golfers Where They Must Play, Sort Of"},"content":{"rendered":" TPC Scottsdale, image: pgatour.com\n

\u201cWe are individual, independent businessmen – independent contractors as it were. We spend our own money on expenses to, at and from an event. We pay our money in entrance fees. This is the way we make our living.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs independents, we can\u2019t be forced to play in an event we don\u2019t want to play. It simply isn\u2019t fair to try to dictate to us where and how we make a living.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome players play certain courses better than others for one reason or another. Maybe other courses aren\u2019t suited to them. So you can\u2019t tell them you have to be able to play here. They have to be able to play where they think they\u2019ve got the best chance of making money.\u201d<\/p>\n

In light of the recent PGA edict that requires players to participate in at least one tournament every year that they haven\u2019t played in the previous four years, whose words are those? Jordan Spieth<\/a>? Bubba Watson<\/a>? Rory McIlroy<\/a>? Phil Mickelson<\/a>?<\/p>\n

No, actually that\u2019s Jack Nicklaus speaking – from 1973.<\/p>\n

An Age Old Dance<\/h2>\n

Since Arnold Palmer first walked his golf spikes<\/a> onto the course and charged up a leaderboard in the 1950s, the bigwigs in the PGA Tour offices have been forced to deal with tournament sponsors who all want the top players at their events, and professional golfers who are, in fact, independent contractors. Nicklaus was speaking in 1973 to a proposal put forth by tournament sponsors that a certain percentage of the leading money winners be required in every tournament field, and that every member of the Professional Golfers\u2019 Association be required to play every tour stop at least once every three years.<\/p>\n

Four decades later, the Tour continues to grapple with the issue. The new policy announced for the upcoming 2016 season by Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem, offers a small fix with a far less restrictive mandate – schedules must be tweaked just one week every year by every player. The LPGA already requires its players to appear at every event at least once every four years.<\/p>\n

Who is Really Affected by this New Rule?<\/h2>\n

Clearly the grinders on Tour who play the majority of the 37-week regular-season schedule will likely not even notice the new policy. And frankly, those aren\u2019t the players sponsors are hounding Finchem to show up at their events. It\u2019s the stars who pursue limited schedules and sell tickets that the PGA Tour wants to encourage to make appearances once in a while at minor tournaments.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the first time Finchem has run up against the headache of trying to get players not under contract to \u201csupport\u201d the Tour with their presence. For years Tiger Woods maintained a schedule barely above the minimum 15 events required to remain a PGA Tour member, and lobbied to get that number reduced even further. McIlroy has also made remarks about his distaste for playing multiple events in a row, and looks to limit the number to no more than three.<\/p>\n

Since this is a policy aimed at the stars of the show, how much \u201cstick\u201d can Finchem use in enforcing it? He has promised a \u201cmajor penalty\u201d of $20,000 and the threat of suspension for violations, although his definition of major might not sway the Jordan Spieths and Rory McIlroys of the world. And who wins if a young star like Spieth is suspended from the tour for any period of time? Not the fans, not the sponsors, and certainly not golf.<\/p>\n

Players Try to Do the Right Thing – Usually<\/h2>\n

For the most part, Tour stars take their responsibility to play seriously. Jack Nicklaus tried to bring his golf bag<\/a> to every PGA tournament every three years so that golf fans could see him in his prime. But there were some tournaments he just wouldn\u2019t enter because he considered the courses so easy that the event was little more than a putting contest.<\/p>\n

With the emphasis on major tournaments in modern golf, it\u2019s not realistic to require top players to enter regular tour stops that may affect their preparation for the biggies. And there\u2019s always the problem of forcing players to enter tournaments on courses where they aren\u2019t likely to perform well – costing them money. Players also need time off to rehabilitate from injuries and to recharge their competitive batteries as they see fit.<\/p>\n

For the most part, sponsors are frustrated by less-than-optimal fields but understand the touring pros\u2019 side of the equation. But in an increasingly international golfing landscape, unsightly conflicts occasionally arise. In 2009, Tiger Woods picked up $3 million in appearance fees to play in the Australian Masters, rather than compete on his own dime and promised nothing at a PGA tour stop. He isn\u2019t the only one to benefit from such overseas largesse.<\/p>\n

Golf\u2019s stars have traditionally taken their obligation to the game seriously. And Finchem knows he can\u2019t dictate schedules to them – lifetime PGA Tour members with 20 career victories (read, Woods and Mickelson) are exempt from this rule. But the commissioner sees the exciting current crop of fresh young stars who might not be focusing on that duty quite yet. This little ask – one week a year – will serve as a gentle reminder of the need to keep an eye out for the overall health of the Tour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe are individual, independent businessmen – independent contractors as it were. We spend our own money on expenses to, at and from an event. We pay our money in entrance fees. This is the...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,4,194],"tags":[19],"class_list":["post-1331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-golf","category-news","category-pga-tour-2","tag-pga-tour"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1331"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4482,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1331\/revisions\/4482"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}