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Steve Wilmot endured a lot of sleepless nights in the past couple of years as he searched for a solution to a lingering problem.
The Players Amateur, a prominent summer tournament on Hilton Head Island, S.C., that Wilmot oversaw in his role as president of the Heritage Classic Foundation, long had been a financial liability. That stark reality ran counter to what had developed into an important event on the amateur calendar since former Walker Cuppers Duke Delcher and Tom McKnight dreamed up the event in 2000. Eventual PGA Tour winners such as Rickie Fowler, Bill Haas, Camilo Villegas and Brian Harman won it, and the overall field strength for the four-day competition rivaled other notable amateur contests. The winner received an exemption into the RBC Heritage, the PGA Tour event run by the same organization, and the Players Amateur also was known for offering free meals, free accommodations and no entry fee.
Ultimately that model’s benefits couldn’t outweigh the burden of conducting the tournament. The Players Amateur released a statement last month explaining that the event no longer will be played.
“You judge success a couple of different ways,” Wilmot said. “There is the great list of winners with the fields we’ve had over the years and then there is a financial bottom line. We’ve struggled the last four or five years, if not a little longer. …
“The Heritage Classic Foundation had always looked at the event as not only giving back to amateur golf but most importantly, on the selfish side, we were building relationships for April (when the RBC Heritage is played). If we aren’t successful in April, we can’t do a lot of these other things.”
With the amateur and professional golf landscape evolving, the relationships Wilmot hoped would strengthen the RBC Heritage have not materialized. There typically are about 50 Players Amateur alumni in the field, but Wilmot points out that only a few of those are from the past decade.
It’s at least in part a byproduct of a crowded PGA Tour schedule. A good example is Justin Thomas, a former Players Amateur contestant who is now a major champion. He played the RBC Heritage in 2015 and 2016, but hasn’t been there for the past three years as the tour schedule became more condensed. Players have difficult decisions to make, and the RBC Heritage’s date the week after the Masters often means it is easy to skip.
“We missed a generation,” Wilmot said. “These guys now have more opportunities to play elsewhere and amateurs have more opportunities to play professional events.”
Another attractive part of the Players Amateur, the coveted exemption for the winner, played a role in why the event has been discontinued. The RBC Heritage is already a limited-field event and one of their four unrestricted sponsor exemptions was used on an amateur few would recognize.
Perhaps more important than any other factor was having a restored focus on improving the PGA Tour event. Wilmot references how much time his staff spent creating an atmosphere at the Players Amateur where everything was provided at almost zero expense to the participants. They wanted to provide that experience or not have the tournament at all.
When weighing the options and the cost, it made more sense to pour the foundation’s resources into the PGA Tour event.
“We have a lot of challenges being in a small market like Hilton Head,” Wilmot said. “We can’t market the event east, northeast or southeast or we would be in the ocean. With those challenges, we needed to refocus. … It was a business decision and I had to learn how to take the emotion out of it. I’ve been an athlete and a competitor my entire life and you are always taught to never quit. So when you have to quit, you feel like a failure.”
While Wilmot struggled with the decision, others felt the loss as well. John Yerger, co-chairman of the Sunnehanna Amateur, said the Players Amateur had a strong reputation.
“They certainly established a really good reputation, and the attraction of a PGA Tour exemption had a lot to do with that,” Yerger said. “It’s a big loss. If you look at our event, our proximity to the Northeast (Amateur) makes it a lot more affordable for guys to come from the West Coast or other parts of the country.
“With other events that are isolated, they have become a lot more regional than they were 10-15 years ago. The financial crisis in 2008 and 2009 had a profound effect on travel and events have needed to adapt.”
Sean Fairholm