“Money. It’s gonna ruin sport.” So observed O.B. Keeler, a close friend and chronicler of Bobby Jones and an influential golf writer in the first half of the 20th century.
Keeler may have been prescient when it comes to the men’s professional game circa 2024.
With Keeler’s observation in mind, I did a lot of listening over the holidays, trying to ascertain where serious golfers stood on the state of the professional game. Much of this effort entailed listening to friends from around the world whose opinions I value. Some of it was eavesdropping over lunch at my golf course in suburban Chicago. And, yes, some of it was trying to follow informed and thoughtful people who express their opinions in social media.
What I came away with was best expressed by a friend of mine, a knowledgeable and longtime observer of all things golf, who opined that these are “the most turbulent times in golf” that he has seen. At 82, he has seen a lot.
It’s hard not to disagree.
I heard time and again that recreational golfers are done with the pro game. “I’m not going to watch it any more other than the majors” is paraphrasing the gist of what I heard frequently.
A certain crassness has slipped into the professional game since the arrival of LIV Golf in 2022. Whereas we used to talk about tour wins, spectacular shots, awesome drives and legacy, now everything is about the almighty dollar. The sense of financial entitlement that many of today’s male professional players display boggles the mind.
The irritation doesn’t exist only in America. An email from a plugged-in British friend read: “What is interesting to me is that Club Golfers are saying they’re done with it. They don’t watch LIV (why would they) and increasingly they’re disenchanted with the game we love.”
The Jon Rahm situation seems to have been the trigger event for the irritation and disgust I encountered. An immensely talented young player, he had previously pledged his loyalty to the PGA Tour. As a result, golf fans genuinely grew to like him, especially after he won the Masters in April. His growing legion of fans took him at his word, and then he changed his mind. “Profound disappointment” was the sentiment I heard a lot as he departed for LIV, spewing the usual LIV pablum about “growing the game.”
More power to you, Jon. Most people would do the same thing that you did, but just be honest with us. Don't tell us that it's about "growing the game." Tell us the obvious: It's all about the money.
The money conversation extends beyond just the players and extends to PGA Tour headquarters. Days after Rahm bolted, Wells Fargo announced that it would discontinue its sponsorship of a “signature event” stop in Charlotte. The bank offered a modest increase in the $20 million sponsorship fee to continue its two-decade run with the PGA Tour. The tour dug in, demanding $25 million. Wells Fargo not only walked, but it also made a point to leak the story to the media to control the narrative and make known its irritation about how poorly its team was treated by a tour executive.
The Wells Fargo saga shook an already irritated sponsor community to its core. Sponsors and tournament operators are unhappy with many of the PGA Tour’s demands, including a new financial model that has the events contributing more funding of purses. Tournament sponsors have long viewed tour executives as heavy-handed, arrogant and unwilling to compromise. And compromise was what the Wells Fargo situation so badly called for; the San Francisco-based bank, the fourth-largest in the U.S., genuinely wanted to continue to be aligned with the tour in some way, but it was denied.
Somewhere, there must be a line of Fortune 500 companies waiting to be invited to spend $25 million annually to partner with the PGA Tour.
Tour demands could result in fewer charitable dollars being available, and it may well hasten other sponsors to the exit door. More than one is said to be close.
“The gentlemen’s game is no longer the gentlemen’s game.”
Speculation is rampant in the cesspool that is social media about Jay Monahan’s future. Monahan absolutely needs to continue as commissioner of the PGA Tour. Those who argue for his departure forget how he boldly led the global professional game through the pandemic in 2020-21. His peers among the global leadership of the game, for men and women, credit him for stepping up in a way that looked out for everyone’s interests, not just those of the PGA Tour. A little historical context is called for at the moment.
Furthermore, it is important to note that from the beginning of this saga, when LIV was camped out in South Florida romancing agents and recruiting players in 2021-22, Monahan was being counseled by the PGA Tour Policy Board. This board is populated by extremely sophisticated and successful global businessmen and -women, and Monahan took his lead from them. He was not acting unilaterally, and at all times he believed in his heart of hearts that he was acting in the best interests of the tour writ large.
The Wells Fargo situation, and all the Sturm und Drang associated with the LIV/PGA Tour drama, have combined to give the pro game in America a black eye. As an industry colleague pointed out last month, the pro game has drifted a long way away from dialogue about charity and community.
One golfer commented, “The gentlemen’s game is no longer the gentlemen’s game.”
Food for thought as the new year begins.
E-MAIL JIM
TOP PHOTO: OCTAVIO PASSOS, GETTY IMAGES