SI GOLF+ convened a fivesome of veteran PGA Tour players — Ben Crane, Steve Flesch, J.J. Henry, Davis Love III and Ted Purdy — plus SI senior writer Gary Van Sickle to answer those and other questions
State of The Tour
Van Sickle: The PGA Tour has turned up some new sponsors in a tough economy. Should we be optimistic or pessimistic about the Tour's future?
Flesch: It's more than just the PGA Tour. In the grand scheme of things commissioner Tim Finchem has done well to maintain 95 sponsors—45 on the PGA Tour and 25 or so each on the Champions and Nationwide tours. That's pretty darn good.
Crane: Considering the economy, I couldn't be happier.
Love: If you looked at the PGA Tour without looking at the economy, you'd say we're struggling a bit. Based on the economy, you'd say we're kicking butt. When you consider all the car companies and financial institutions that had bankruptcies and were tournament sponsors, to fill in all those blanks and not go backward is a miracle.
Henry: It says a lot about our product and the character of our players that we're fully sponsored in a down period and have kept purses up. I'm very optimistic. Especially seeing the stock market back around 12,000.
Purdy: Before the FedEx Cup it took about $600,000 [in earnings] to keep your Tour card. The first year of the FedEx Cup it took $875,000. Even though I finished 127th and missed my card by a few thousand dollars, I thought Finchem was brilliant. Then we had this down economy, and the 125th spot went back to $600,000. So I'm still optimistic, but we are losing playing opportunities for the Tour's lower third of the players—and that's my category now.
Van Sickle: The PGA Tour has turned up some new sponsors in a tough economy. Should we be optimistic or pessimistic about the Tour's future?
Flesch: It's more than just the PGA Tour. In the grand scheme of things commissioner Tim Finchem has done well to maintain 95 sponsors—45 on the PGA Tour and 25 or so each on the Champions and Nationwide tours. That's pretty darn good.
Crane: Considering the economy, I couldn't be happier.
Love: If you looked at the PGA Tour without looking at the economy, you'd say we're struggling a bit. Based on the economy, you'd say we're kicking butt. When you consider all the car companies and financial institutions that had bankruptcies and were tournament sponsors, to fill in all those blanks and not go backward is a miracle.
Henry: It says a lot about our product and the character of our players that we're fully sponsored in a down period and have kept purses up. I'm very optimistic. Especially seeing the stock market back around 12,000.
Purdy: Before the FedEx Cup it took about $600,000 [in earnings] to keep your Tour card. The first year of the FedEx Cup it took $875,000. Even though I finished 127th and missed my card by a few thousand dollars, I thought Finchem was brilliant. Then we had this down economy, and the 125th spot went back to $600,000. So I'm still optimistic, but we are losing playing opportunities for the Tour's lower third of the players—and that's my category now.