How a golfer took one swing at the WGC Bridgestone Invitational and made $50,000
This makes what Steven Bowditch did at Doral seem pretty tame by comparison
By
Kyle Porter
•
1 min read
The WGC events are some of the best in golf. Match play, big money and world travel highlight these four-time-a-year tournaments that include some of the better fields we'll ever see. They do have a big flaw, though. If you want to call it that. If you make it into the field at all, you're getting paid. There is no cut so even if you shoot four straight 100s, you still make $40,000-$50,000 just for showing up.
Steven Bowditch nearly did that earlier this year when he shot four rounds in the 80s at the Cadillac Championship. And Daniel Berger put a new twist on it earlier this week when he hit a single shot at the Bridgestone invitational, withdrew because of an injury, and collected $50,500 for his efforts.
According to Jason Sobel, the shot meant he got to put the money in his account instead of giving it to charity.
Because he hit one shot in competition, Berger will receive unofficial last-place money as part of the 61-player, no-cut field. If he'd withdrawn without hitting a single shot, he wouldn't have earned any money, but the same amount would have been eligible for him to donate to charity.
I can't really blame Berger either. Who among us would not have done the exact same thing? It's not Berger's fault the WGC money is guaranteed. The entire thing does call into question whether this is the best way to go about paying players at WGC events.
I'm not sure the average fan cares, but the best thing about the PGA Tour is how democratic it is. Nobody is guaranteed anything so if you start paying guys just to show up (granted, this doesn't happen often) then it's just the NFL or NBA. And nobody wants that.
On the flip side, these guys have earned the right to be in the WGC fields with their play in other events. They're the top 60 or 70 golfers in the world so if you look at it as a bonus to their regular paychecks, it makes it a little more palatable. Either way, it's probably something the PGA Tour will have to address in the future.
