Franchises are very much a part of the business side of sports. Because those very franchises are run by human beings, some are well-oiled machines and some have all the makings of a natural disaster. The San Francisco 49ers and the Golden State Warriors seem to be examples of high-quality business operations while the Washington Commanders (formerly the Redskins) seem to be an unmitigated disaster for a number of reasons. Some franchises such the San Francisco Giants seem to have lots of money to spend on talent whether they win or not while others such as the Oakland A’s constantly appear to struggle.
In the world of professional golf on the PGA Tour, there aren’t any teams or franchises. However, the tournaments that appear year in and year out on the calendar do take on the role of a sports franchise. Obviously because of history, money and status, golf’s four major championships are the gold standard of tournaments, kind of like the New York Yankees, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Dallas Cowboys and the Boston Celtics. They make money, their fan base is super supportive, and golfers of note want to compete in them. Next in line would be the three Fed Ex Cup playoff events, closely followed by big-money designated events such as the L.A. Open, the Memorial Tournament, the Wells Fargo and the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Yet with the advent of the big-money designated events, the PGA Tour has, in many ways, become a circuit of two-tiered events. The top-notch golfers on tour are expected to go to the added designated events such as Harbour Town and Hartford. A highly successful professional will probably look to play in 20-25 tourneys yearly and yet the PGA Tour hosts close to 50 such events annually. This means that some events will find their way to the backburner and will seldom if ever be able to have a field that includes the likes of Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas or Scottie Scheffler. Some of those tournaments,which will end up becoming second-tier events, have had a long history and tradition with the PGA Tour, but will suddenly find themselves on the outside looking in. Once the tour needed them but it’s no longer the case. It also impacts the ability of these tourneys to raise money for local charities.
The inaugural Dallas Open was first contested in 1944. Hometown hero Byron Nelson won that ’44 Dallas Open and 24 years later tournament organizers changed the name of the event to the Byron Nelson Golf Classic. With the move of the PGA Championship to May, the Nelson was in the unenviable position of being contested between the Masters and the PGA. Many top golfers took time off during this time on the schedule. This year it happens to be the week before the PGA. Aside from Byron Nelson winning that inaugural Dallas Open, the perpetual trophy for the Nelson is a who’s who of Hall of Famers, including Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson, Raymond Floyd and Jack Nicklaus. During the past 30 years the Byron Nelson has been won by Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelson. Yet over the course of the last decade, its field has been diluted and champions have included Brett Wetterich, Steven Bowditch, Aaron Wise, Sung Kang and K.H. Lee. Sad to say it has become a secondary event.
The original Colonial National Invitational was played to great fanfare right after the conclusion of World War II. The Colonial has always been played at the highly regarded Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth. Its first champion was hometown hero Ben Hogan, who ended up winning the Colonial five times. Other early titlists included Arnold Palmer, Billy Casper, Julius Boros, Lee Trevino and Jack Nicklaus. Nowadays the tournament is called the Charles Schwab Challenge and it just so happens to be stuck on the calendar between the PGA and the Memorial. The Colonial has had some great support from golfers who reside in Texas and Louisiana, so thus far it hasn’t suffered the same fate as the Nelson. Jordan Spieth won there in 2016 and Sam Burns beat Scottie Scheffler in a sudden-death playoff last year. Yet over the years the field has been weaker than usual. This year could be a tough one for the prime-time pairings at what once had been a “can’t miss” tournament at a highly regarded venue.
Speaking of being stuck in a less than enviable spot on the PGA Tour, the Honda Classic in Florida in early March fits that bill. It is held the week following the seven tournaments on the West Coast Swing. The two weeks prior to the Honda are the Phoenix Open and the L.A. Open, both designated events. The week after the Honda is the Arnold Palmer, another designated event. The Honda started out as the Jackie Gleason Classic at a time when celebrities such as Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Glen Campbell and Sammy Davis Jr. lent their name to PGA Tour events. Its inaugural tourney in 1972 was noteworthy with Tom Weiskopf defeating Jack Nicklaus by one stroke.
During the first decade of operation the Gleason’s champions included Lee Trevino, Nicklaus twice, Johnny Miller twice, Larry Nelson, Tom Kite and Hale Irwin. The winners of what would then become the Honda Classic in 1983 included Curtis Strange, Nick Price, Mark O’Meara and Freddie Couples. At the turn of the century, Honda titlists included Justin Leonard, Padraig Harrington, Ernie Els, Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas. Yet over the course of the last five years the Honda champs have been Keith Mitchell, Sungjae Im, Matt Jones, Sepp Straka and Chris Kirk. The Honda is played on the always intriguing PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, a great test of golf, yet it too has become a secondary event.
Those of us in Northern California know the story of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, originally known as the Bing Crosby. Although it is played on some of the world’s more famous courses, it too has seen its strength of field diluted. Some pros don’t like the weather, others don’t like playing with amateurs, and like the other aforementioned tourneys, its place on the calendar hurts. It sits between the Farmers Insurance at Torrey Pines and the Phoenix Open, and that happens to impact the strength of the field. First played in 1937 when the tour really needed all the tournaments it could get, many top professionals avoid the Pebble Beach. There is now a move afoot to upgrade Pebble Beach by limiting the amateur rounds of golf.
Of course the PGA Tour is deep with talent and doesn’t necessarily need Rory, Scottie and Jordan to play week in and week out. Justin Rose was a noteworthy champion at Pebble Beach and some of the tournaments with less than stellar fields have resulted in victories by such up and coming stars of the game as Max Homa. Nonetheless last Sunday’s sudden-death playoff between U.S. Open champ Matt Fitzpatrick and defending Harbour Town winner Jordan Spieth was great theater. Just be aware that it won’t be like that every week on the 2023 PGA Tour.
