Tiger Says There Are Too Many Tournaments

In an interview at Doral, Tiger Woods has said that the PGA Tour should have fewer events.

“It would be more exciting for the fans, and I’m sure the sponsors and TV and everybody if we did play more often together,” Woods said. “The only way you could do that is if we shortened the season.”

I have a few thoughts on this (in no particular order):

A shorter season would the top players at the expense of the rest of the field. The top guys can then make more (the ad and sponsorship money will be compressed into fewer events) by working a cupcake schedule.

While it’s true that there are a dozen or so events that don’t have a lot of starpower (Milwaukee, B.C., Honda, John Deere, etc.), they don’t seem to mind. The communities support those events, and the players that show seem to appreciate them. As long as the local organizers are making money, what’s the harm.

Similarly, while the Tour is touting its billion dollars in charitable donations, the real losers in fewer events will be the local charities.

The free market should determine how many events there are. If there are truly too many events, some of them will become defunct for lack of profits.

Television doesn’t seem to think there’s too much golf. Look at how many made-for-television silly season events there are.

Vijay would no longer be able to pad his statistics by playing in tournaments where the other members of the top ten are taking a vacation.

If they cut it back to 30 events, then Tiger (on his 15 event schedule) would be able to say he played in half the Tour’s events. That would help him in his battle againt Vijay.

It’s kind of ego-maniacal for Tiger to call for fewer matches just because he doesn’t want to play more. The Tour does not exist to satisfy Mr. Woods. What he’s saying is that if he and (presumably) Phil or Ernie are not available, then the event is not worth playing. It’s just another example of how Tiger is increasingly bad for the tour.

I can’t see players ranked 20+ supporting this.

I wonder if television viewers will loose interest when the same five or six guys win every tournament.?

It would be good to see more events where the top guys are going head to head.

More on Tiger’s thoughts here.

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