Donny's Furious Again... Wie Gets Exemption to Deere

[MusicMan]

You gusy are smoking something bad. Creamer and Gulbis are fairly average. Put them in beach Volleyball and wouldn't notice them.

true... but have you seen Gulbis's new calender.... **drools** a six pack and a great golf game what more could ou ask for

[fundonny]

She can spank me with her wedge any day!!! LOL

["Richard"]

No, she's not. If you think that, well, you are wrong.

If she played as good as she can, she could make the cut. I can't say that about anyone else... they aren't long enough. None of these women can't play these mens courses from the pro tees

[MusicMan]

She can spank me with her wedge any day!!! LOL

dat-a-boy Donny

[sensfan63]

The bottom line here is that it's a game, it's entertainment, and it has absolutely no effect on how we live our day-to-day lives. Anyone who tells you different is just blowing smoke up your kilt. If you don't like it, pick up the flippy thing and change the channel. It's as simple as that.

It is possible that it affects people that some of us may know, not directly but in the grand scheme of how professional golf operates. So I AM telling you different, and I'm not just blowing smoke up your kilt.

[sensfan63]

If she played as good as she can, she could make the cut. I can't say that about anyone else... they aren't long enough. None of these women can't play these mens courses from the pro tees

Annika hits it as far as Fred Funk (and about 20 other PGA Tour players) and much farther than Corey Pavin, so concluding that it comes down to length alone is a little bit of an erroneous assumption. It always comes down to short game.

[MusicMan]

Annika hits it as far as Fred Funk (and about 20 other PGA Tour players) and much farther than Corey Pavin, so concluding that it comes down to length alone is a little bit of an erroneous assumption. It always comes down to short game.

It also comes down to mental.. if i was a chick i would be so intimidated by playing on the PGA... most of those guys are over 6 feet tall, with the exception of fred, weir and a bunch of others...im not dissing their games at all, they could school me any day of the week even if i was playing the laidies tees they just dont have the stacher to play on the PGA, thats why no chick has ever made a cut on the PGA tour

[jonf]

Here we go again....

How many times will it have to be said that the PGA is for Professional Golfers not Professional Male Golfers...

So the ladies have their own tour. Big deal!!! The reason is that 99.99% of them can't compete at the same level as men but for the odd one that does (i.e. Michelle Wie), let her play. Let her bring $$$ to those PGA events. For crying out loud, this is the John Deere Classic not the US Open...

She can't compete yet - she's had the opportunity, and hasn't done it. For cripes sake, she can't win on the womens tour yet. Once she gets to the point where she's consistently winning and fninishing high on the lpga, by all means, let her play. Until then, give the spot to someone who has earned it.

["Richard"]

dat-a-boy Donny

jail bait!

[Indio]

Oh no, I find myself agreeing with fundonny AGAIN Something tells me I am going to burn in hell for that!

Although I disagree that Wie should be playing on the PGA tour (hell I don't feel that she even earned her way onto the LPGA for that matter) I do agree that the sponsors need all the help they can get to pay for the event. The alternative is to just not have a good payday for the John Deer and then where would the 150 PGA players be for that week, out spending money instead of earning it. I guess if we look at it that way, Wie might just be putting more money in the PGA player's pockets. Now, if she just happens to make the cut and/or finish in the top 10, she will do alot for the ladies and will finnaly get some respect (it would definitely be deserved).

[Andru]

Annika hits it as far as Fred Funk (and about 20 other PGA Tour players) and much farther than Corey Pavin, so concluding that it comes down to length alone is a little bit of an erroneous assumption. It always comes down to short game.

No she doesn't. She beat him on one drive at the skins game. Don't believe the hype.

[sensfan63]

No she doesn't. She beat him on one drive at the skins game. Don't believe the hype.

They both hit it about 280. It's not on the drives that distance hurts her, it's in the irons...women hit their irons a lot shorter than men. Example...big break V when some girls were LAYING UP from 175 over water.

BTW the skins game incident was the gay-est thing I've ever seen. Makes me hate Fred Funk even more.

[MusicMan]

jail bait!

Paula and Natalie are over 18.. s'all legal ma friend

["Richard"]

oh, I was talking about M. W.

[Andru]

They both hit it about 280. It's not on the drives that distance hurts her, it's in the irons...women hit their irons a lot shorter than men. Example...big break V when some girls were LAYING UP from 175 over water.

BTW the skins game incident was the gay-est thing I've ever seen. Makes me hate Fred Funk even more.

Annika's 2005 Avg. Driving Distance Stats

T4 Annika Sorenstam 263.0

You can't use this years because she's only played 7 rounds. Both on hard fast surfaces.

[Colby]

One thing that I think people are forgetting is that yes, it would be nice to give exemptions to PGA Tour players who are on the bubble and trying to make the top 125 to keep their card. Unless a sponsor can justify spending 6-10 million dollars sponsoring a tournament, the tournament will GO AWAY, and thus no PGA player will get a chance to make any money. Events that Tiger plays at is a no brainer, lots of TV viewers, media coverage, ticket sales, etc. Majors are also a sure thing with tons of media coverage. Who watched the 84 Lumber Classic last year? What happened to the ACC in Vancouver? How many other fringe tournaments have gone by the wayside in the last few years because of the increased sponsorship money required to cover the tournament?

These fringe tournaments need an edge to get the media coverage. Does Michelle Wie meet that for the Deere? I'm not in the position to say yes or no, but this is post #46 on the subject in here today...

[Andru]

One thing that I think people are forgetting is that yes, it would be nice to give exemptions to PGA Tour players who are on the bubble and trying to make the top 125 to keep their card. Unless a sponsor can justify spending 6-10 million dollars sponsoring a tournament, the tournament will GO AWAY, and thus no PGA player will get a chance to make any money. Events that Tiger plays at is a no brainer, lots of TV viewers, media coverage, ticket sales, etc. Majors are also a sure thing with tons of media coverage. Who watched the 84 Lumber Classic last year? What happened to the ACC in Vancouver? How many other fringe tournaments have gone by the wayside in the last few years because of the increased sponsorship money required to cover the tournament?

These fringe tournaments need an edge to get the media coverage. Does Michelle Wie meet that for the Deere? I'm not in the position to say yes or no, but this is post #46 on the subject in here today...

Very Very thoughtful insight.

[Colby]

Very Very thoughtful insight.

Here's some interesting articles about the demise of PGA events...

http://www.lasvegasgolf.com/departme...watch-1089.htm
http://www.golftoday.co.uk/news/year...s02/buick.html
http://www.golftoday.co.uk/news/year...ews03/gho.html
http://www.upstateblog.net/weblog/ar...in_golf_an.php
http://www.thenownewspaper.com/issue...113102sp1.html

[Shivas Irons]

These fringe tournaments need an edge to get the media coverage. Does Michelle Wie meet that for the Deere? I'm not in the position to say yes or no, but this is post #46 on the subject in here today...

I think most would agree with this statement.
The issue that the tour struggles with is, what is an acceptable level of sensationalism, and at what point does this compromise the integrity of the tour.

[Andru]

I think most would agree with this statement.
The issue that the tour struggles with is, what is an acceptable level of sensationalism, and at what point does this compromise the integrity of the tour.

There's nothing more harmful to the integrity of the PGA tour than losing an event.

[spackler]

I think most would agree with this statement.
The issue that the tour struggles with is, what is an acceptable level of sensationalism, and at what point does this compromise the integrity of the tour.

Perhaps if the person getting the exemption was finishing 20 strokes behind everyone else, not if they're competitive with the field.

[spidey]

Well, I CAN blame them, and it is NOT about the money. It's about the sport, and putting out the best field possible, and the best competition possible, or at least it should be.

BS

Riddle me this, Batman....

If the 4 majors paid $100,000 to the winner, and all the other PGA tour events paid what they're paying now, would the best players be showing up to win a major?

[Andru]

BS

Riddle me this, Batman....

If the 4 majors paid $100,000 to the winner, and all the other PGA tour events paid what they're paying now, would the best players be showing up to win a major?

Not sure about the other 3 but for the masters? There's no doubt. They could give no prize money. Winning the Masters is 5 million in endorsements guaranteed.

[Shivas Irons]

There's nothing more harmful to the integrity of the PGA tour than losing an event.

I agree, but then what is the acceptable level of sensationalism? Would you watch if the Hooters girls played topless? I would, but it's probably not the best thing for the tour in the long run.
Maybe the answer IS the Michelle Wie's of the world and celebrity pro-ams. On the other hand I think there will always be a churn of these smaller tournaments and when one dies new ones will spring up in their place when it's economically viable.
Maybe a PGA event every week is just too much.

[Golfpeasant]

I love her. For 16, incredible talent, fun to watch, competitive, and a good choice for an exemption (brings in more viewers, more entertainment).

[Colby]

Tiger has been a double-edged sword for the PGA Tour. Love him or hate him, he is almost single-handedly responsible for the significant increase in purses for events. Other tour players are benefiting hugely from this. For example, here are the numbers for the Money Leaders from www.pgatour.com:

1985

• #1 - Curtis Strange - $542,321
• #125 - Jay Delsing - $48, 480

1995

• #1 - Greg Norman - $1,654,959 (an increase of approximately 200% over the 1985 total)
• #125 - John Wilson - $149,280 (again an increase of about 200%)

1996 - #1 was at 1.7M
1997 - #1 was at 2.0M (first year Tiger wins Money Title)
1998 - #1 was at 2.5 (David Duval and a 25% increase in a single year)
1999 - #1 was 6.6M (Tiger Woods and an increase of almost 175% in a single year)
2005

• #1 - Tiger Woods - $10,628,024
• #125 - Nick Price - $626,736

So in 2005, #125 on the money list made almost $100K more than the money leader did 20 years ago! And the #1 spot is more than $10M more than the money leader 20 yeard ago! That is 20,000% more! I would love to have a pay raise of 20,000% over the last 20 years! And the majority of that has come to be since Tiger joined the tour.

I can't find the article, but a magazine a few years ago had a great article on the guy from the PGA Tour who was responsible for procurring corporate sponsorships for the tournaments and how the base sponsorship was increasing with every year, making it harder and harder to get sponsorships for the fringe tournaments, and how some events were becoming B-class events without some of the big names attending.

It's interesting that almost every tournament has a first place prize close to $1M, if not more. If the pace continues, we may not have a full summer of PGA events shortly as the sponsors slowly fade away. Buick already has.

[Shivas Irons]

Aren't PGA Tour players required to play in each event every two years or something to prevent smaller tournaments from becoming B-class?

[Started2k3]

1985
#1 - Curtis Strange - $542,321
#125 - Jay Delsing - $48, 480

2005
#1 - Tiger Woods - $10,628,024
#125 - Nick Price - $626,736

I am an economist and adjusting for inflation (2005 dollars):

1985
#1 - Curtis Strange - $974,030
#125 - Jay Delsing - $87,072

2005
#1 - Tiger Woods - $10,628,024 (average of 13% per year)
#125 - Nick Price - $626,736 (average of 10% per year)

Still a heck of a pay raise for both positions.

[Colby]

Excellent. Thanks for that.

[Colby]

Aren't PGA Tour players required to play in each event every two years or something to prevent smaller tournaments from becoming B-class?

Not that I've seen. They have to play a minimum of 15 events, or something like that. When was the last time Tiger played the Canadian Open...