THE DIGEST

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The Exchange
Professional golfers deserve to earn $1 million for winning a tournament

Is there a question
yes implied in this
topic somewhere?
Oh, I get it. It’s rhetorical.
Obviously.
On the odd chance there
is someone out there taking
a contrary view, I’m going
to reveal a few long-hidden
truths about professional golf
to set things straight.
Firstly, the cost of sports
cars. Do you have any idea
how much, like, just the
tyres are? Most of you won’t
understand this, but after I
bought my first Lamborghini
Diablo, I played in a pro-am
with Michael Schumacher (by
the way, we had such a good
day, he asked me to be the
godfather to his next child).
He told me that the ones they
fit in Italy are just so much
better, and that Ian Poulter
has them on his car, which
by the way, is a model up
from mine.
So, how would it be if,
say, the next time I was on a
private jet with Poults, we got
talking tyres and he found out
that I’d gone cheap?
It doesn’t bear thinking
about. But that’s just the
start of it. Wait until you start
paying for a tour-issue wife.
Then you’d understand the
importance of big purses and
our massive superannuation
scheme. Frankly, I had no idea
how much money it took to
keep hair that blonde, and that
unmoving. I mean, of course
I’d seen those Ryder Cup team
photos but I didn’t for one
minute think they were real.
SHUTTERSTOCK
and see what number you
come up with.
Not so cynical now, are
you? Remember, on top of
this you have to add season
tickets to the Lakers, an
annual allocation of Romanee
Conti and Screaming Eagle,
maintenance on the chalet
in Colorado and the cost
of having Hootie and the
Blowfish play at your end of
season barbecue. Believe me,
it all adds up.
In fact, it’s not so much a
matter of ‘deserve’ but ‘need’.
Life’s hell out there.
– Grant Dodd
Grant Dodd is a former touring
pro and a columnist for
Australian Golf Digest. When
he won the 1999 Slovenian
Open on the European
Challenge Tour, Dodd pocketed
the princely sum of €11,370.
Brace yourself for
no what I’m about to
say. Professional
golfers don’t deserve to earn
$1 million for winning a big
golf tournament. Top pros
should receive much, much
more. The winner of a $6
million tournament on the US
PGA Tour deserves $3 million.
A major champion or winner
of a $10 million WGC event
deserves closer to $5 million.
Tiger Woods had one of the
greatest years in the history
of the sport in 2006. He had
eight victories (including two
majors) and ended the year on
a seven-tournament winning
streak. Yet he amassed less
than $US10 million on the US
PGA Tour. That was pocket
money compared to the
superstars of international
soccer, American football,
baseball and basketball.
Tennis has a better
model whereby the
winner gets 50 per cent of
the total purse. Meanwhile
professional golf has been
mired in the 1970s and ’80s
when golf catered for the
journeyman and purse
breakdowns saw just 18 per
cent awarded to the winner.
Imagine how much more
engrossing the golf would be
on TV if there were a bigger
gulf in prizemoney between
first and the also-rans.
So due to golf’s popularity
among corporate supporters,
we have a situation on the US
PGA Tour where a player can
earn $75,000 for finishing in a
tie for 19th. That’s more than
the average person’s annual
wage for not even finishing on
the leaderboard!
During a conversation
with Paul Gow in 2003, I
commiserated that he failed
to retain his tour card (never
mind the fact he only had two
top-25s in 21 starts). Rather
apologetically, Gow said:
“Don’t worry about me, I still
made more than $200,000 this
year.” To be exact, $264,927.
Subsequently, too many
mediocre pros continue with
flagging careers because of
the rich pickings on offer to
the also-rans. (Just think how
many great articles you’ve
been denied because my
colleague didn’t pull the pin
on his playing career when
the Fat Lady was clearing her
tonsils.) – Rohan Clarke
Rohan Clarke is the senior

And to bring some perspective writer for Australian Golf

to this, just take one of those What do you think, yes or no? To lodge your vote – and to Digest. He once won a fourball
explain why – e-mail us at golfdig@newsmagazines.com.au
do’s, multiply the cost 12 times match without a playing partner.