We may be in the midst of a pandemic and economic crisis, but that apparently hasn’t stopped the silly stupid cash payouts on the PGA Tour.
Just two days removed from finishing tied for 37th-place, and losing his world No. 1 ranking, Justin Thomas was rewarded with a $2 million bonus through a marketing gimmick called the Wyndham Rewards.
Set up as a way to entice the PGA Tour’s top stars to appear at the season-ending stop in Greensboro, instead has turned into an expensive bust for Wyndham.
In its debut last season, for instance, Brooks Koepka was “rewarded” with his $2 million prize before the Wyndham Championship was even contested. Same thing this season, as Thomas holds a insurmountable 556 point lead over Collin Morikawa, who had nearly $2 million direct deposited into his account on Sunday night via the PGA of America. Ho-hum.
The money is apparently so meaningless to these multi-millionaires that six of the top-10 ranked opted out completely. Even No. 11 Xander Schauffele, who’s just 37 points behind Jon Rahm for 10th place and a $500,000 bonus, took a pass. (And vice versa.)
FWIW: A T20 at the Wyndham Championship is worth about $80,000 and 45 FedExCup points. In seven starts since the reboot, Schauffele owns three top 10s (3, 6, 10), and three top 20s (13, 14, 20) – against some of the strongest fields in golf. He would have been one of the top favorites this week, and almost a lock for a top-20 finish.
Yet he turned down a very gettable half-mil-plus payday.
Maybe because he earned over $1.2 million in six weeks. Without a single win.
How ridiculous has the money become in golf?
Responding to a question about the possibility of walking away with $11 million for winning the FedExCup, Rory McIlroy once said, “That amount of money doesn’t sort of mean much to me anymore. I mean — it will go in the bank and if I want to buy something nice, I will. But it’s not really anything.”
Must be nice to live so under par!
