Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Writing from Carmel, Ind.
Sometime late on Sunday afternoon, the winner of the BMW Championship – the 109th Western Open computed the old-fashioned way – will collect a check worth $1.44 million dollars.
It took 69 playings, from the days of Willie Smith’s hickory shafts to the era of Nicklaus, Palmer and Casper – big Billy took four Westerns in a nine-year span – before this venerable championship had awarded that much money to the entire field. Now, score lowest, and you’ve do so in one fell swoop, and essentially never have to work again, not that these guys at the top of golf’s iceberg actually work.
Take Tiger Woods, for instance. He’s off his all-universe form, and has been since his knee surgery following the 2008 U.S. Open, the subsequent personal travail, and the in-progress swing changes of Sean Foley. But his third-place finish in the Deutsche Bank Championship on Monday brought him $544,000, and pushed his career winnings over $100 million. That’s a one with eight zeroes to the left of the decimal point.
It’s also about a tenth of what he’s earned when endorsements, European Tour appearance fees, and wise investing have brought him. While much of that money went into ex-wife Elin’s pocket, and Uncle Sam has claimed his share, the tag day for Woods has been canceled.
Even he knows he’s the beneficiary of excellent timing to go with excellent play.
“It just means I’ve come along at the right time,” Woods said Wednesday at Crooked Stick Golf Club, after an impending thunderstorm stopped pro-am play at the course in the northern suburbs of Indianapolis. “Yes, I’ve won a lot, but Sam Snead won more tournaments than I did.”
And, Woods might have added, earned less than $700,000 during his career.
Put it this way. Phil Mickelson, who has outplayed Woods the last few years, is on the cusp of hitting $67 million in career earnings. That’s astounding, and that he is miles behind Woods is equally astounding.
The money will only go up as television’s largess continues to pour into PGA Tour headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach., Fla., where commissioner Tim Finchem and his minions somehow figure out a way to entice sponsors to shell out more and more, year after year. If Rory McIlroy holds to form for the next 20 years, he could haul in $150 million on the U.S. tour alone.
BMW, for instance, is the title sponsor of the week’s fandango. They pay into the purse, they donate a large sum to the Evans Scholars Foundation, which the week helps support, they buy a large chunk of commercial time on NBC and Golf Channel that goes beyond this week’s play, and they supply courtesy cars to the field for the week.
That comes to around $9 million. No other sport, not even auto racing or tennis, the other two major vagabond competitions that travel the world, asks as much of its sponsors. Somehow, the PGA Tour has convinced CEOs and marketing directors that hanging out at a golf course where the stars may or may not appear – as independent contractors, they are beholden to no one – is the best way to market their products.
It must move cars off the showroom floor, for BMW renewed its original contract, and just last week, Deutsche Bank did the same.
All the math leads to this. The four-tournament series known as the FedEx Cup has a combined purse of $32 million on offer, plus another $35 million in money for the Cup itself.
That’s $67 million for a month of play. The tag day for everyone in the playoffs has been canceled.
At this stratospheric level, only winning matters, for the money is already in the bank. That makes those who are aggressive on a course they’ve barely seen and never played in competition the favorites for the week. The names already at the top of the money and points lists should continue to percolate to the top. That’s especially true given the dousing the Pete Dye-designed course took Wednesday, one more downpour on top of big rains Sunday and Monday.
(There had been a drought in the Indianapolis area – the mayor only on Wednesday morning lifted a ban on watering lawns that had been in effect since June – but it was destined to end. If you need rain, just schedule a Western Golf Association championship.)
“The big key this week is hitting the ball in the fairway and hitting it a good distance out there,” McIlroy said after coming off a course already soggy from the previous deluges.
“It does help to be on the long side with it being this soft,” Woods agreed. “But you’ve got to hit it in the fairway. You can attack a lot of these flags.”
Justin Rose, who lofted the J.K. Wadley Trophy above his head at Cog Hill last year, is the defending champion on a course he saw only from the clubhouse window a couple of months ago.
“The real competitor is the golf course,” Rose said. “We have to learn this Crooked Stick golf course. It’s about keeping the ball in play. The rough is pretty thick.”
– Tim Cronin