PGA Tour May Lose Sponsors & Tournaments, May Not, Who Knows

by Ryan Ballengee on Sep 24, 2009 12:20 PM EDT

As part of Tim Finchem's State o' the Tour address yesterday, he was asked about the possibility of losing sponsorships and tournaments for 2010 given the economic halting this year (that may be thawing now). His response was, well, murky.

I think it's possible we could lose a couple of events. It's probable that we're going to lose some sponsors. They're two different things, really. You lose a title sponsor to an event and you can't replace -- you can't keep that particular tournament going -- well, Buick Open going to the Greenbrier is a good example. In losing the Buick Open sponsorship, we also lost a tournament, and we replaced it with a new tournament. There may be some more of that ahead, I don't know, but it most likely will be some more sponsorship loss.

Despite that, he answered a follow-up question on that by saying that it is "unlikely" that the total number of events in 2010 will be lower than in 2009. Prying further, he was asked if some Fall Series events would transition to the big boy FedExCup schedule.

[Y]ou have a tournament that starts out as an event opposite World Golf Championship or something, and then it blossoms into something that is deserving of its own date just because it's demonstrated strength, et cetera, et cetera.

But, that didn't work out for the Turning Stone Championship - the tournament with the richest purse and best field in the Fall Series, and the event most clamoring to get into an open FedExCup date.

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Sponsor loss…possibly, but I doubt there will be tournaments lost – unless they want to trim down the schedule even more. Don’t forget, the door was opened for adult beverage companies to step into those sponsor positions.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Sep 24, 2009 12:25 PM EDT reply actions

Yeah, I don’t see any tournaments going away here. The Tour is too good at what they do to allow that.

Email me any comments or questions at ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com.

by Ryan Ballengee on Sep 24, 2009 2:24 PM EDT reply actions

I think that it is also a likelihood that purses will be scaled back. It would only make sense for companies on the fence to reduce their financial input if they do decide to continue sponsoring a given tournament.

Now then, what will some of the pros do when they are not only tired, but down to their last few million dollars? Oh, for the love of humanity!

by Charles Boyer on Sep 24, 2009 3:10 PM EDT reply actions

That’s been my hope – it just seems like good business to take some pressure off your sponsors when your business is ultimately expendable to the sponsors….but it doesn’t seem like Finchem thinks that way. The pros will show up to play regardless if the purse is $4 million or $2 million. There are only a small handful of these guys who could retire with no worries.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Sep 24, 2009 3:33 PM EDT up reply actions