You gotta hand it to the PGA Tour, it goes where the money lives.
The Fall Series ends this week at the idyllic setting of Sea Island, Ga., right next door to St. Simons Island, another pocket of extreme wealth.
As much as the USGA tries to bring golf to the masses, the PGA Tour reminds us that it is still primarily a game for the elite, especially if you want to play and live in a real nice place.
This week’s setting at Sea Island brings a new look to the field as they’ll use both courses at Sea Island — the Sea Side course, which has been the only course in past years and the Plantation course, which allow a really huge 156-man field.
This used to be the McGladrey but now it is the RSM. No surprise to see new sponsors, it’s really tough for companies to justify forking out $7 to put their names on a PGA Tour event, especially one like this where your big name star is Zach Johnson.
Johnson is playing because this is where he lives. He is a millionaire many times over and can afford this golf and seaside lifestyle. Nice change for a guy from Iowa.
He’s not the only tour player who has relocated to the area. Davis Love III lives at St. Simons, Matt Kuchar, Chris Kirk, Brandt Snedeker and Brian Harman hang their hats here.
What does it take to settle down in this neck of the woods? If you’re going single family home, you better be prepared to spend $1.5 to $2 million if you want an entry-level deal. If you’re a single, you can go on the cheap and snag a tiny one-bedroom condo in the $400,000 range.
If you want oceanfront, that’s another story. You’re going to spend big bucks.
Even if you win this week’s event and pocket the $1 million first place money, you’re still only looking at a down payment. One million is actually about $660,000 after tax in this bracket.
So sit back and relax and see how the top one-percent lives.
What you won’t see is the top one-percent of the world’s star players.
This is an event for the other guys, perhaps dreaming that one day they can afford to live at Sea Island.
