Nearly 25 million people in the United States played golf on a golf course in 2020.
For all its stereotypes that golf is an exclusive, elitist, or inaccessible sport, that's a lot of people playing golf.
Sure, in the early years of the game in the United States, the game was littered with private and exclusive clubs, impossible for some to be members or play the game based on race, gender, or socioeconomic status. But golf has evolved and changed since its beginning and become more welcoming. The statistics show that.
Professional sports, are by their nature, exclusive. Not everyone can be a professional athlete. And professional athletes are highly compensated for their skill, work ethic, entertainment, and ability.
But are high-level golfers properly compensated for their work? PGA Tour purses keep rising. Golfers play for $20 million at the Tour's flagship event, The Players Championship. The prize fund for the US Open in 2022 is $17.5 million, with the winner receiving $3.15 million. The winner of the season-long FedExCup competition earns $17 million.
Seems like a lot of money to me, but is that the "market rate" for elite level professional golf? One new invitational series in golf says, "no."
The LIV Invitational is a series of eight tournaments (in 2022, with plans to add additional events in future years) and is home to the highest payouts in professional golf. The winner of each of the events receives $4 million. In addition to appearance fees or signing bonuses and the potential team prizes, with no cut events, the players on this circuit are highly compensated.
This series is elitist, exclusive, and inaccessible to many professional golfers. Golfers must be invited to play in the series. Some PGA Tour players (whether they are being truthful or not is a different question) have said they have not been asked to play. And others have declined the offer to play in this new series funded by the Saudi Arabian government. While golfers may be under-compensated for their talents compared to other professional sports leagues, this series goes against the meritocracy that is professional golf and that is the golf many amateurs experience.
In mid June 2022, the LIV Invitational held their first event in London the week before the US Open. The two events could not be more different in their DNA and their mission than these two.
The LIV event is an inaccessible, big money cash grab, exhibition, featuring players who might be, to paraphrase one of the members of that series, "obnoxiously greedy." There is no qualifying, no working their way up to earning the large sums of money - though it can be argued that some members earned their way through their careers - and no cut. Everyone who signed up to play got paid - in both what essentially amounts to an appearance fee and in prize money.
The US Open is the complete opposite in its identity. It is one of the most democratic championship in all of sports. Anyone (who has a low enough handicap index) can attempt to qualify for the tournament. Are you good enough to play in the national championship? Register, get your starting time, put the tee in the ground, play away, and sign the card. Play well enough, and there may be a tee time awaiting at the US Open.
The stories and the emotion of the qualifiers is what makes the US Open a great event. In 2022, 57-year old Fred Quinn made it through Local and Final Qualifying to earn a berth in the tournament in his home state. He is the oldest qualifier since 1982 (when the USGA started keeping track of those things).
In 2018, Adam Scott, owner of 31 professional victories and a former world number one, had to go through qualifying to earn his spot in the field to keep his major tournament appearance streak alive (his 68th!).
In the 2015 sectional qualifier in New York, 50-year-old Lee Janzen (winner of two US Opens) and then 15-year-old Cole Hammer both advanced and were the oldest and youngest qualifiers for the championship proper that year.
These three stories are just a handful in a bucket of emotional qualifiers, incredible stories, and unlikely advancements.
The US Open is the heart and soul of the game. Anyone can tee it up and play for the national championship.
Many golfers experience this at their own clubs and courses throughout the year. Whether it is through entering qualifying for their state amateur tournament, advancing through their club match play bracket, or winning a $2 Nassau with their buddies enjoying a couple of beers throughout the round, the grind, the battle, the emotion is something golfers of all abilities experience as they play.
Focus on outrageous sums of money that normal, everyday people can't comprehend anyway, is not and will never be the primary focus for the vast majority of golfers and golf fans.
That's (one of the places) where LIV falls short. Sure, it may be great for the professionals who are raking in the millions on that series. But common golfers and golf fans don't seem invested in the fact that Charl Schwartzel won $4 million in a small field, 54-hole, no-cut event.
That's not the golf that people who play the game can relate to.
The golf that the nearly 25 million Americans play is a meritocracy. Play well and move on in the club championship bracket. Play well and qualify for a state amateur or state open. Play well and break 100. Play well and hit the best drive. Play well and make the 30 foot putt. Play well and make the first par. Play well and make a memory.
Golf is at its best when it is emotional, when it is an odyssey. That's the golf that is played nearly every day. That's the golf that golfers can relate to. And that's the golf that keeps people hooked on the game.
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