USA TODAY International Edition
Splinter league idea reveals Tour cracks
Triangulation is an indispensable strategy in politics and commerce, deftly positioning oneself as an alternative both above and between the stale, established options. Just such an approach is evident in Premier Golf League, which aspires to be a new global tour for golf ’s superstars.
Every promise of what this hypothetical tour will deliver – elite fields, colossal prize money, fresh formats, elevated viewing options, even tax revenue – carries a none- too- subtle subtext that players and fans are ill- served in these areas by existing tours and their broadcast partners.
However, the fact that Premier Golf League hasn’t gained traction six years after the idea first emerged is precisely why the PGA Tour should consider the motivations behind it, because the next group to propose a splinter circuit might be better organized and find a more receptive audience in the top golfers.
The sentiment underpinning the proposed League is straightforward – superstars are subsidizing too many alsorans, and fans want to see more of the former and less of the latter.
The League concept can be distilled to this: tournaments with guaranteed money that pit stars against each other without the inconvenience of having to navigate challengers from the lower orders whose unexpected good form threatens to ruin the ratings with a win. Limited- field events with large purses already exist for elite players in the World Golf Championships, and the bounty on offer will only increase with the PGA Tour’s next broadcast rights renewal. Where the League and the Tour part ways philosophically is on how far down the wealth should trickle.
The 100th- ranked player on last season’s PGA Tour money list, Carlos Ortiz, earned almost $ 1.2 million on the course, roughly twice what tennis player Thomas Fabbiano made for finishing 100th in ATP Tour earnings. That’s a healthy reward for a season noteworthy only for three top- 10 finishes. Mediocrity pays well on the PGA Tour. The League has no place for a Carlos Ortiz.
Leaving aside all of the marketing piffle about delivering a more enjoyable product to fans, Premier Golf League is about delivering guaranteed money to top players, in addition to sizable purses. Guarantees have never existed on the PGA Tour, where players get paid only when they perform. But should performance be measured differently in the modern business of professional golf?
The PGA Tour is mandated to provide playing opportunities for all of its members, which explains the prevalence of 156- man fields, even if most fans can identify only a fraction of competitors.
Plus, so much of the texture of sport is found in the underdogs who emerge from the crowd, and for all of its flaws the PGA Tour at least enables such storylines.
If the rumbling about a breakaway effort persists, the Tour might just have to consider that the cost of appeasing its antsy thoroughbreds is thinning the herd of workhorses also cluttering the track each week.