Behind the scenes: Big money takes focus off purses
Web posted
Sunday, April 10, 2005
Not that any of them noticed.
The days of players paying much attention to the purses on the PGA Tour are long gone. That ended in 1999, when the total prize money jumped from $96 million to $135 million. This year's total purse payout is more than $252 million. Ten years ago, it was $61 million.
Now, with individual tournament purses ranging from a minimum of $3 million to a high of $8 million at The Players Champion- ship, players don't pick and choose which tournaments they play in based on pay.
The financial windfall in the past seven years has greatly affected the tour's career money list. Of the top 30 players, only Jay Haas (26th on the list) and Greg Norman (27th) are older than 50.
Jack Nicklaus, who is 65 and considered the greatest pro of all time with 73 tour wins, is 106th on the list with $5.7 million. Tiger Woods, a professional for 10 years, is the career leader with $47.5 million.
When Nicklaus won five times in 1975, he pocketed $298,149; Woods earned $6.6 million when he won five times in 2003.
"Early in my career, I would check them," Brad Faxon said of the purses. "They're all big now."
"I haven't looked at the purse for a long time," said Kenny Perry, who is 11th on the career money list with eight wins and $17 million in 19 years. "For me, I'm far enough in my career. I think it would vary with each individual. It's not about money anymore; it's about the wins. ... Last year at the British Open, I told somebody I started going to the British Open not for money, (but) to get a little piece of history. I just want to compete and play well."
It never has been about money, at least on the golf course, for today's stars who grew up before the purses exploded. All of them make much more off the course in endorsements and outings, anyway.
"Tiger doesn't do it for the money," Faxon said. "It's not about that. All these people who said Greg Norman went for the pins because he made a lot of money when he sold Cobra (a golf club manufacturer), shame on you."
The big money on the tour has created a troubling grass-roots movement. Youngsters now know that if they are successful, they can make their life's earnings in a few years. It's not just the love of the game that brings them to the practice range hour after hour anymore.
"I hate to say it, but I don't think there's a guy out here who started to play golf because it was for money," Faxon said. "When I do these junior clinics, their parents are telling their kids to play golf because they can make a lot of money, and I'm saying, 'Huh?' "
For today's pros, the size of the purse is way down the list of reasons why they decide to play a tournament. For most of them, it's the course that is the deciding factor.
The Masters, of course, doesn't fall into that category. Augusta National Golf Club is the favorite course of many players. Plus, the Masters is an invitational tournament and the only full-field event on the PGA Tour that pays players who miss the cut ($5,000).
"I've never played anywhere because of the purse, other than the first couple of years when I was trying to see if I liked golf courses or not," Steve Flesch said.
He said fellow pro John Huston helped him realize that it doesn't matter how big the purse is if the course the tournament is played on doesn't suit your game.
"He's a great one on that," Flesch said. "He said he's never played worth a damn in The Players Championship. I tell him, 'You've got to go, man, it's a $7 million purse.' He says, 'You know what? They still don't pay me anything for missing the cut.'
"That's why I didn't play Doral (for the Ford Championship in early March)," Flesch said. "I've never particularly played well there. "
"I'll go play on a really good golf course for less prize money," said Nick Price, who is eighth on the career money list. "If one tournament is $5 million and another is $3.5 million and the lesser one has a better golf course, I'll go there every time. Fortunately, in my career, I've never really had to really look at the money that much."
In his early- to mid-1990s prime, Price would check out the purse before a tournament, but only because he wanted to be the tour's leading money winner at the time.
"I used to look at the money and the first prize and say, 'Well, if I win it will take me to the top of the money list,' " said Price, who was the No. 1 player in world for 43 weeks, from Aug. 14, 1994, to June 11, 1995.
So when do the golfers find out what they made in a tournament? In the scoring tent at most events, there is a breakdown on what each place pays, but unless a golfer is in the final group, he won't know exactly what place he will finish until play is completed.
"A lot of times it's not until the next day in the paper, or maybe that night online," Perry said. "You kind of have an idea. All the purses are now $4 to $5 million, so you pretty much know what first place and 30th place is going to pay. You know last place is always about $10,000."
Jonathan Kaye said he will find out how much he made "tomorrow morning, when the paper comes out and everybody else sees what I made."
Reach David Westin at (706) 724-0851 or david.westin@augustachronicle.com.
Rich and the Poor
The top purses on the 2005 PGA Tour:
- The Players Championship, $8 million
- WGC NEC Invitational, $7.5 million
- WGC American Express Championship, $7.5 million
- WGC-Accenture Match Play, $7.5 million
- British Open, $7.4 million
The lowest purses on the 2005 Tour:
- B.C. Open, $3 million
- Rene-Tahoe Open, $3 million
- Chrysler Classic at Tucson, $3 million
- Southern Farm Bureau Classic, $3 million
- Texas Open, $3.5 million
Source: PGA Tour
Total prize money for the 2005 Masters Tournament is $7 million:
| 1st | $1,260,000 |
| 2nd | $756,000 |
| 3rd | $476,000 |
| 4th | $336,000 |
| 5th | $280,000 |
| 6th | $252,000 |
| 7th | $234,500 |
| 8th | $217,000 |
| 9th | $203,000 |
| 10th | $189,000 |
| 11th | $175,000 |
| 12th | $161,000 |
| 13th | $147,000 |
| 14th | $133,000 |
| 15th | $126,000 |
| 16th | $119,000 |
| 17th | $112,000 |
| 18th | $105,000 |
| 19th | $98,000 |
| 20th | $91,000 |
| 21st | $84,000 |
| 22nd | $78,400 |
| 23rd | $72,800 |
| 24th | $67,200 |
| 25th | $61,600 |
| 26th | $56,000 |
| 27th | $53,900 |
| 28th | $51,800 |
| 29th | $49,700 |
| 30th | $47,600 |
| 31st | $45,500 |
| 32nd | $43,400 |
| 33rd | $41,300 |
| 34th | $39,550 |
| 35th | $37,800 |
| 36th | $36,050 |
| 37th | $34,300 |
| 38th | $32,900 |
| 39th | $31,500 |
| 40th | $30,100 |
| 41st | $28,700 |
| 42nd | $27,300 |
| 43rd | $25,900 |
| 44th | $24,500 |
The remainder of the professionals will receive cash prizes ranging downward from $23,100, depending on the scores.
Source: Augusta National Golf Club
