By Fred Altvater
Most of us remember the ‘Golden Rule’ from our Sunday School days and try to live by the motto,
“Always treat others as you want to be treated.”
As we grow older, however, and gain a deeper understanding of the complexities of the world, we come to realize there is another completely different version of the Golden Rule.
“He who has the Gold Makes the Rules!”
This rule pertains to how things really work, ‘Money Talks and the BS Walks!”
In 2019 the PGA Tour paid out over $358 million in total prize money throughout 47 events and just like Santa Claus, FedEx distributed an additional $70 million at the end of the FedEx Cup Playoffs to all the good little tour pros.
The $70 million was an increase of $25 million from 2018, plus they also took over the sponsorship of the WGC-St. Jude, which pumped another $20 million into the PGA Tour coffers. However, their largess did come with a couple of big strings attached.
When a corporation puts that kind of money into an investment, they expect a suitable return. Their board of directors and chairman do not simply dole out that kind of money out of the kindness of their golf-plated hearts.
In the northern portion of the United States golf begins with the Masters in early April and normally ends after Labor Day. Football, after all, is the king among all sports and once high school, college and the NFL get rolling, football dominates the sports pages, airwaves and television.
When a Fortune 500 company like FedEx hands out millions of dollars to professional golf, they want to be front and center in every media outlet available. They don’t want to be buried behind a report about Antonio Brown being an idiot in Oakland.
Thus, FedEx told the PGA Tour, we really want to sponsor the PGA Tour and we really like getting those great sky boxes, invites to Pro-Am parties and complimentary tickets, but the tour has to end its season before football takes over September first.
This put PGA Tour officials in a bit of a quandary. Could they compress the tour’s schedule, along with the FedEx Cup Playoffs into an eight-month window? Or, should they try to negotiate a smaller, but substantial deal with FedEx? 
I think we all know the answer to that question.
The result is the compressed schedule with The Players moving to March, the PGA Championship moving to May and the FedEx Cup Playoffs over and done by August 25.
Let’s not worry about player’s health and ability to recuperate between majors. Let’s just imitate Billy Joe and Bobby Sue, “take the money and run!”
FedEx has the Gold and they make the Rules for the PGA Tour.
I have yet to find a serious golf fan that is happy with the compressed schedule and even Jack Nicklaus has expressed concerns about it affecting the quality of play and hurting players longevity.
Jay Monahan simply says,
“MO MONEY, MO MONEY! SHOW ME THE MONEY!”
