If you don’t think money talks when it comes to the good old “not-for-profit” PGA Tour, well, it doesn’t talk, it screams from the roof tops.
And that, ladies and gentleman was how this week’s WGC event was stolen from Akron, Ohio and venerable Firestone Country Club.
The WGC-Bridgestone turns into the WGC St. Jude this week. Yes, St. Jude Children’s Hospital is a marvelous institution and deserving of everyone’s praise and support. But the how and why this WGC event landed in Memphis just screams of money.
Of course Federal Express is headquartered in Memphis and you gotta figure the folks at Federal Express were eager to remind The Sherriff Of Nottingham (aka PGA Tour commish Jay Monahan) that rather than putting air-conditioning in its delivery trucks, FedEx is throwing some $70 million at the PGA Tour for the FedEx Cup playoff pay-outs. Oh yes, did we mention they threw an extra $5,000,000 in there for the overall winner?
A piddling $10 million to the individual winner simply wasn’t enough so FedEx just upped that to $15 million. Explain that to your drivers while they’re soaked in summer sweat.
So now we have a WGC event the week after the season’s final major.
Champion Golfer Of The Year Shane Lowry was qualified but won’t show up. He’s still celebrating back in Ireland and he should keep that party going.
Rory McIlroy is in Memphis. Rory heard there’s no cut this week.
Dustin Johnson’s in town. Perhaps D.J. can improve on the tie for 51st at Royal Portrush.
Okay, now here’s where it gets a bit confusing.
Typically you have to be in the Top 60 in the world rankings to get into these exclusive, big money events. So that begs the question — how did first-year player Matt Wolff, currently ranked 137th in the world, get into this field?
Well that’s easy enough. Someone at Federal Express wanted him in the field and when you’re greasing the PGA Tour to the tune of $70 million, well, yes, the rules get bent.
So yes, 137th Matt Wolff is on hand.
Finally, instead of venerable Firestone Country Club, an iconic track, we get TPC Southwind, yet another non-descript TPC course.
And that stinks too.
