Nationwide Tour Players Cup Purse Slashed Due to Economy

This story is a few days old, but wanted to bring it to your attention.  The Nationwide Tour is holding an event next weekend in West Virginia called the Players Cup.  The purse of the event was supposed to be $1 million - the biggest of the season on the Tour.  Instead, it is $600,000.  Blame the economy.

"We all recognize the economy has had a negative effect on golf sponsorships, and nowhere has it had more impact than the Nationwide Tour Players Cup with its coal industry-related sponsor base," said Nationwide Tour President Bill Calfee.

Fair enough - it's certainly better than a tournament cancelation.  But, we have always wondered what was impacted the most in these kinds of situations.  Seemingly, it would be the local charities that benefit from these events.  Not so fast, though.

"Despite the reduced purse, the [Players Cup] will produce a record charitable contribution this year as a result of the 'Tickets FORE Charity' program, with at least $125,000 going to West Virginia organizations," Calfee said.

Now, can you imagine such a scenario happening on the PGA Tour?  If you told Henrik Stenson that he would not be playing for nearly $10 million at the Players Championship and just a paltry $6 million instead, I would expect you to duck for fear of what he would do next.

Then again, on the Nationwide Tour, the money is not nearly as important as the opportunity to make almost ten times as much on the PGA Tour.