Running 2024 golf thread

Bob Papa and Lanny Wadkins are unwatchable.

 

I don't know why this question popped into my brain this morning, but it did, and though it's not entirely an apples-to-apples comparison . . . so far in 2024, 52 players on the PGA Tour have earned more than $2 million. In tennis, it's six.

 

IIRC, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open have equal prize money. What I heard several times at the Mizuho was that simply put, men bring in more money than the women. The total purse in Jersey City this year was increased to $3 million, contrast that with Rory taking home $3.5 million for his win the week before.

Also, the Mizuho was seriously short of volunteers, including dozens from Mizuho itself who must have checked the weather report and dropped out at the last minute. Groups were going out without standard bearers, there weren't marshal captains for every hole, and I was switched from caddy services to walking scorer for the second and final rounds because they were short. (I'll add volunteers paid $75 for two shirts and a hat, but that's another story.) My friend, a local teaching pro and former LPGA Tour player, told me there is a list of 45,000 volunteers for the Ryder Cup at Bethpage in 2025. (And they pay $600 each for shirts..)

 

I posted here before that I 'applied' to volunteer at the US Open held in LA last year. It was at least $250 to pay for shirts/windbreakers. Fuck you.

 

Especially considering most of that merch is donated by the manufacturer to get their logo out there.

 

Is part of that because in tennis the same few players tend to show up in the semis and finals over and over again?

 

I always used to say the Norman shirts were the best $80 shirt you could regularly buy for $20. Nobody ever paid rack rate for that stuff.

 

30 yrs ago I bought a shark t shirt (shark logo) and it was thick and plush and I loved it. Then we saw what a dick he was ….

 

I had one of his white straw hats for a while.

 

When you posted that, I was surprised. As much golf as I covered, I just assumed the volunteers got their clothes for free. I knew a lot of them, but I just never asked. I figured they volunteered for a week of work and their "pay" was a shirt or two and a hat. Very weird that it costs you to volunteer. PGA racket.