PGA Tour Player-Director Webb Simpson has defended his latest invite to a Signature Event after he was provided with a spot at this week's Wells Fargo Championship via a fourth sponsor's exemption of the season.
The World No.227 has already taken part in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and the RBC Heritage this season - finishing between T30 and T42 in the $20 million limited-field events with increased FedEx Cup and OWGR points on the line.
He has also made the cut in all three of his regular PGA Tour appearances this term, but missed out on playing the weekend at The Players Championship in March.
Yet, some players not in the sub-70-man fields were unhappy that tournaments which offer such rich rewards should regularly include those comfortably outside the world's top-100.
Dylan Wu, in particular, was frustrated at Simpson's fourth invite due to the fact that the 2012 US Open champion is a current member of the PGA Tour's Policy Board. Wu called the decision to continually invite the likes of Simpson into the top events "suspect."
Commenting on Adam Scott's third-straight invitation into a Signature Event and Simpson's second prior to the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Wu said: “Great players and major champions. I can’t say much because I missed the cut hard this week but getting more than one sponsor exemption into elevated events doesn’t seem fair.
“Seems like if you’re a player director, you’ll get an invite into an elevated event,” he added. “Seems suspect…
“And trust me, they’re both great players that probably deserve it but this new model is all about meritocracy,” Wu explained. “Sponsor exemptions going to the same players every elevated event doesn’t seem to follow the “play better” saying. Seems like “be more famous” or “know the right people.”
In response, Simpson - who is a Quail Hollow resident and will enjoy the closest of home games this week - spoke at length about the subject in his pre-tournament press conference on Wednesday.
He said: "Well, I’m not a very active social media user, so y’all probably see a lot more criticisms than I do. Look, it’s a different day and age now than it was. I know these sponsor exemptions are probably the most coveted sponsor exemptions in the history of the Tour, but we’re not going to make everyone happy.
"As we’re looking at what criteria should these sponsor exemptions be, yadda yadda, we’re trying to balance making sponsors happy, giving them the opportunity to invite -- you know, these tournament directors, who do they want to bring to their tournament, to their community, who do they think will add value to their tournament.
"These tournament directors are working round the clock for a year trying to make their tournament the best. We want to give them the opportunity to say hey, you have a few spots, four spots in these Signature Events to be able to invite who you want to invite."
Going on to speak about the same subject with Garrett Johnson on his podcast 'Beyond The Clubhouse', Simpson said: "If anything, from tournament directors and sponsors this year, I've heard that they would like to be able to give more sponsor exemptions and give them a little more power to build the field how they want to build it."
Continuing his monologue during the press conference, Simpson vehemently defended the morality of such an invite.
He said: "I know that I’ve gotten, this is my fourth sponsor exemption, and Adam Scott’s received his fair share. There was controversy and guys were trying to link us being on the board, but it has nothing to do with me being on the board.
"I’ve known these tournament directors, and they’ll tell you themselves, since my rookie year in 2009. I have great affection for those tournaments and those sponsors and I think it’s way more than just currently who’s getting in.
EXCLUSIVE: Asked @webbsimpson1 how he responds to the criticism of the Sponsor invites he’s received into Signature events. CC: @eamonlynchFull short pod w/Webb:https://t.co/hhak5J6ZDwWatch: https://t.co/hxR6XPG1OP pic.twitter.com/eysnSHftSQMay 8, 2024
"[It's a case of] how long have they been out here, they’ve won major championships, they’ve been around the game for a long time. And these tournament directors, Gary Sobba is a friend of mine and he gets to pick - along with Wells Fargo - who do they think would be great for their tournament.
"So I certainly think the criticisms, I knew they were going to come depending on who got them, but I’m very comfortable knowing that we’ve given the sponsors the opportunity to pick, and the tournament directors.
"I want -- I want to move on from it and realize that the Wells Fargo Championship is an amazing tournament. I’m excited to be here, it’s my home and I get to do cool things this week.
"I got to go to the Trojans Levine Center last week, played bingo with some kids in the hospital through this exemption. I get to hang out with some kids today on the range for The First Tee of Charlotte.
"There’s things that I’m way more interested in and that get me excited than kind of worrying about what a certain person thinks about who should get sponsor exemptions."
