Pro Golf Finally Feels The Economy’s Pinch
It seems like the global economic issues have finally caught up to the top tiers of the golfin’ world. I know my Rock Heads have been dealin’ with their own financial problems for more than a year, and the LPGA is still looking for some sponsors to save their 2010 season, but now even the top Tour pros (yes, even Tiger Woods) are getting caught up in it. Here are just a couple examples that popped up this week:
- Dubai World Championship Cuts Prize Money – While this Caveman feels like $7.5 million still ain’t too shabby, that’s a full 25% less than the original $10M purse that was to have been given to the winner of this tourney, which marks the end of the European Tour’s season. Lee Westwood, who banked over $3M this year, put it in perspective: “We should not complain about the cut in the prize fund here because we are still competing for an awful lot of money, and we are aware that some of golf sponsors are struggling at the moment.”
- Nickent Golf Goes Under – GolfDigest reported that Nickent Golf has gone out of business. Always a favorite manufacturer of mine, I was especially sorry to hear they couldn’t keep crankin’ out the clubs. I’ll do my best to grab what I can of their final few runs and get ’em to my Rock Heads at a good price.
- Tiger Picks Up His 6th-Lowest Professional Paycheck – Tiger Woods made some headlines earlier this year by becoming the first athlete to earn $1 billion, his payday at the Australian Masters last week wasn’t much to write home about. Tiger’s oversized check was made out for “only” about $250,000, which is the sixth-lowest amount he’s won at a single tourney. Better luck next time, Tiger!
- Rory McIlroy Reversing The Trend – It’s not all doom and gloom on the golf course, though. If rising star Rory McIlroy can collect the winner’s share of that $7.5M in Dubai this week, the 20-year-old will become the youngest player to top the money list since Seve Ballesteros back in 1976.
Speaking of which…
-Scratch
