The new 2007 US PGA Tour schedule

Why change?

1. To improve (in the corporate world, that means to get more money)
2. To fix something that is broken (in the corporate world, that means to stop losing money)
3. Change of scenery (in the corporate world, that means to fire, to be fired, or to change jobs voluntarily)

Why did the US PGA Tour change their schedule in 2007? It is probably for a combination of reasons, but namely it boils down to a combination of option 1 and 2 shown above. The US PGA Tour wants more money and players were complaining about the length of the season being too long (the schedule was broken).

This new schedule, which is called the FedEx Cup, mimics the NASCAR Nextel Cup where the top 10 drivers compete for extra money in the last 10 races of the season. The FedEx Cup is suppose to shorten the schedule which its members can play during a season. There will be 29 events in the FedEx Cup season, with an additional 4 tournaments (Championship Series) to be played by the top 30 money leaders from the first 29 tournaments, will end by mid-September. The current end of the season is the beginning of November. So this does shorten the season by a month and a half in this regards.

However, what is not being said is that the US PGA Tour will still have an additional 6 or 7 tournaments (Fall Series) past mid-September for players that are not in the top 30. So how does this really shorten the season? Or is the US PGA Tour only caring about the top 30 players of the 250 player members?

First, I think this change in the schedule and the creation of the FedEx Cup was done for the sponsors and the US PGA Tour administraiton, not the players. This is ironic because it was the players that were the ones that wanted the season shortened. If the change in the season's schedule was done for the players, the season would have been shortened in a straight-forward manner -- by axing 10-15 tournaments and $30-40 million in purses with it. The US PGA Tour administration did not want to let lose those 10-15 tuornaments because they would lose $30-40 million in tournament purses a year, which ultimately lowers what players can potentially earn and what the US PGA Tour administration earns.

Secondly, trying to mimic another sport (NASCAR) is not the way the game of golf is. Golf is golf. Golf is not race car driving. Golf is original and sets its own rules. It does not follow rules crafted by other sports.

This change done by the US PGA Tour administration was done for the prime purpose of getting more money, or making sure they don't get less money as compared to what they currently receive. For the administration, just like with many other companies, sadly it is about growth. Growth or don't exist.

With this change the US PGA Tour is breaking away from the roots of the game of golf as it perstains to professional golf tournaments. The US PGA Tour continues to make the sport of golf more and more commericially oriented. I do not like it; do not like it one bit.

The US PGA Tour administration wants to please everyone. They have too many parties to please. The US PGA Tour should have just decreased the schedule in a straight forward manner, not in a "gimmicky" manner.

The tour is a non-profit organization setup for one purpose only. That purpose is to benefit ALL of the players which are members of the tour. The organization is not in business to benefit the administration or the sponsors. Benefiting the administration and the sponsors should be a side effect of doing a good job for providing for the members of the organization (the players). However, these priorities have been switched at this time. The tour made the decision of what the new schedule will be without consulting many of its player members. Many of the player members learned about the schedule changes at the same time the public did.

This begs the question, who is the customer of the US PGA Tour? Finchem mentioned that the new schedule was put in place for the sponsors and the tournaments. He did not mention the changes were put in place for the fans. What about the fans?

If no fans, then no sponsors. If no sponsors, then no tournaments. If not tournaments, then no players. If no players, then no US PGA Tour.

Why does the US PGA Tour exist? Is it for the administration, the sponsors, the fans, and / or the players?

[ see blog entry on 2005-09-28 - 'Salaries in non-profit organizations' to see what levels of salaries US PGA Tour administrators get ]

Personally, I do not like the FedEx Cup, namely because it was NOT a decision made by or for the player membership base of the US PGA Tour. It was done for the sponsors and the administrators and 10-20 players.