KEY POINTS:
The NZPGA's summer pro-am season has begun, with three tournaments in the Wellington-Wairarapa region. The realities of professional golf must have hit home to some of the bright young things.
For Josh Geary as an amateur last year, it was the US, South Africa and Australia. As a professional last week it was Eketahuna, Masterton and Martinborough. But he will be delighted with his Martinborough victory, his first as a professional.
For a sport that seems to have enormous difficulty raising sponsorship, the prize money for this pro-am circuit is remarkable.
In three months till the end of April are 16 events offering a total of more than $300,000. Sure, five of those events, including the richest, the $50,000 Senior PGA, are for players aged 50 and over. But this month alone, New Zealand professionals can play for $60,000 all-up at tournaments in the Wairarapa, Paraparaumu Beach and in Hamilton. If they're good enough, they could also get into the Championship at Clearwater in two weeks' time and play for $1m plus an exemption onto the USPGA Tour.
That prize money and the playing opportunities seem impressive. But I have severe reservations about whether such a pro-am circuit is the best way to develop successful tournament professionals.
Pro-am money is raised by sponsorship and entry fees from club amateurs looking for a day out and a game with a good player. It's essentially a social day. Yet somehow the professional has to concentrate on his game while in the company of a 16- handicapper who's probably shooting 90. The professional is not getting head-to-head competition with his peers or honing the ability to play under pressure.
Here's what I'd like to have seen this past week: Play the pro-ams as scheduled and award daily prizes to the amateurs. Accumulate the professionals' scores, and the $40,000 total prize money, and go to a fifth round where the tournament would be decided. There'd be about 45 in the field, playing without the distraction of the hackers, and experiencing the final round pressure that professionals face every week.
Over the next couple of months are a swag of small-fry events paying $10,000 or $15,000. So why not combine say, Omaha, Pupuke, Waitemata and Mangawhai into one event for the professionals and play a final round, professionals only, where the allocation of the $57,500 would be decided? The same could happen in Poverty Bay and Hastings.
Successful tournament golfers need to learn to play in four-or five-round events.
The only four-round event on the PGA's schedule is the Tauranga Open, part of Greg Turner's GTNZ concept. Finding sponsors for many of those tournaments has been difficult. But the current popularity of the pro-am format gives the NZPGA a real chance to provide a better competitive environment for aspiring players. The game in this country really needs it.
