Press Release Body = Chris Baldwin, Senior Writer, Golf Publisher Syndications
HARRISON, N.Y. - Players like to say, \"Show me the money!\" The PGA Tour is countering with, \"Let us hold your money.\"
It\'s hard to find a PGA Tour player competing here at the first FedEx Cup event, the Barclays, this week who hasn\'t cracked a joke about the $10 million winner\'s check that will go into a deferred retirement account rather than the champion\'s pocket when the playoffs are over next month. It\'s easily becoming one of the most ridiculed parts of a playoff system that is taking more hits than the Titanic.
PGA Tour officials are trying to counter the criticism over the winner\'s check by pointing out the tax benefits of the arrangement to golfers.
The argument goes like this: If a player received the $10 million right away, he would owe the government $3.5 million for that $10 million immediately. Under the retirement plan prize, the $10 million grows tax free until it is taken out. Players have been shown what they\'ve been told are conservative financial models that the $10 million should more than double if it\'s left untouched in investments for at least 10 years.
All the financial models and talks from Certified Public Accountants who helped come up with the plan have not come close to squelching the dislike for it however.
\"I can see if they\'re trying to protect a guy like John Daly\" (who isn\'t even in the FedEx field) \"from himself,\" said a Tour veteran. \"But we\'re big boys. We should be able to take responsibility for our own money.
\"It\'s not the Tour\'s job to be our babysitter or tax accountant.\"
In the end, Tour players did not have much of a say in the system. The final call between handing out a $10 million immediate prize like every Tour purse or a $10 million retirement fund was made by the nine-person Tour Policy Board. Only four players are on that board however, meaning they can be outvoted.
Geoff Ogilvy - one of the players on the board - says that was not the case. Players on the board voted for the retirement fund as well, he said. But that doesn\'t mean the players here at Westchester Country Club are happy with the decision.
For some, like Phil Mickelson, it\'s not only about not getting to control your own money. It also has to do with the drama factor.
Mickelson thinks the Tour missed a great chance to build excitement in the Cup. Why not have $10 million spill out of a FedEx truck or something theatrical like that on the 18th green of the Tour Championship?
For more details visit - : http://www.worldgolf.com/news/pga/fedex-cup-playoffs-barclays-westchester-country-club-notebook-5860.htm
August 24, 2007 Any opinions expressed above are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the management.
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