WELL, ELL
what do you know? Professional golf
has firmly established its off-season.
That it coincides with the official
start of the PGA Tour season is a bit
of a nuisance, but, hey, reality doesn’t
come with a convenience clause. And
the reality is you just can’t invite top
players to an idyllic tropical island
for a $5.6 million no-cut tournament—with $1.12 million and a luxury
automobile for the winner—and expect a full complement of RSVPs in
the affirmative. That’s just silly talk.
It might be a small world after all,
but it’s still a big planet, and golf’s
global growth means top players are
scattered not across zip codes but
time zones. And when you saturate
the calendar with tournaments and
treasure, players face a covetous
conundrum: finding time to not play
golf, even if it means passing up
guaranteed pay.
Left to their own independent-
contractor devices, they build their
own itineraries, regardless of what
the schedule says.
