Reader “Double Par” offers his thoughts on Tiger effect on PGA Tour

Reader “Double Par” offers these thoughts on how Eldrick’s schedule impacts the PGA Tour:

The real question is how did these events survive before Tiger joined the Tour?  The answer is they did to differing degrees.  These tournaments shouldn’t point to Tiger as the reason for their demise or difficulties. They should either look at themselves or at Tim Finchem.  A lot of tournaments do quite well without Tiger rarely attending (FBR being one) because they plan a great event that benefits the fans and more importantly the sponsors. Tiger playing in their tournament would be gravy on an already successful event.

Finchem used Woods to drive purses and rights fees to record heights.  This has pushed tournaments to seek higher sponsorship fees to cover the higher purse and TV networks to ask for higher rates from advertisers. 

Unfortunately these aren’t the good old days when a company could spend millions on a sponsorship without anyone caring.  These companies now more than ever are being held accountable by their stockholders for their spending who in turn are turning up the heat on the Tour and the tournaments.  If they are not seeing their expected return on their investment then they will spend their money elsewhere to achieve their desired results.  And there are plenty of alternatives.

Finchem responded with the Fed Ex Cup whose success won’t be seen for a few years at least and reorganizing his schedule and anchored it with his strongest tournaments.   Some tournaments stepped up with better purses in order to get a better slot in the schedule while others did nothing and either folded or were demoted to a less than favorable time slot. 

Finchem’s directive as commissioner is to make the players richer and he has definitely done his job, but he has sold out long term gains for short term ones and screwed a lot of tournament operators in as a result.  Its apparent Finchem doesn’t care what will happen when Tiger retires in 5-10 years.  He’s leaving that to the next commissioner.  Tournament operators need to look at what the more successful tournaments do to attract a top field and make an attractive tournament for fans on site and at home rather than look to someone else (Tiger, Finchem) to solve their problems.  Finchem has played his card and Tiger would only be a short term solution to what are long term problems.

Double Par makes some good points, but look, Eldrick could care less about anyone or anything except a) money and b) breaking Nicklaus’ major record.  I have to disagree to the extent that at least when Nicklaus was on the scene, there was always someone else to challenge him – Watson, Palmer, Miller, Weiskopf.  Moreover, Nicklaus never had a deep financial impact on tournaments depending on whether or not he played and he also never limited his schedule to who paid him.  The inescapable fact is Eldrick cares about himself and be damned the good of the game or the Tour.

Eldrick gets away with things no one else in the history of the game has gotten away with – raking a U.S. Open green while the reigning Masters champion, moving an enormous boulder, throwing clubs, the list is endless.  Take this example – at the match play vs. O’Hern after missing a putt, he threw his putter (THREW HIS PUTTER!  Did you EVER see Nicklaus do that?)  Good thing Nick Faldo portrayed it as “like a child, he chucks away his lollipop.”