TROON, Scotland — Martin Slumbers, the outgoing CEO of the R&A, didn’t hold back his opinions on the state of the game on his way out the door, including voicing them on the growth of purses on Wednesday.
“I’ve expressed concern in recent years about financial sustainability in the men’s professional game,” he began during his press conference ahead of the 152nd British Open. “If we take a wider perspective on the game for a second, golf is in many ways riding on the crest of a wave.”
He noted that more than 100 million people experience the game in one form or another around the world and cited that the latest participation figures indicate 62.3 million played golf – not including the U.S. and other countries that the USGA govern, a rise of 1.1 million over the previous year.
“These are very encouraging figures, but we have to maintain this momentum. To do that, we must have a sustainable business model in the long term. If you look at golf as a pyramid, however strong the pyramid is at the top, it can only be sustained in the long term if the pyramid is equally strong at the base,” he explained. “We see that as our responsibility, and that is why we invest all of the proceeds from The Open back into the sport.”
That is why Slumbers said the rapid rise in tournament purses, which soared ever since the Saudi PIF started writing lucrative checks to renegade pros and the PGA Tour responded by jacking up its purses to prevent any more players from jumping ship, has to stop.
Nevertheless, Slumbers signed off on a purse increase of $500,000 to $17 million, with the Champion Golfer of the Year expected to earn $3.1 million. In 2016, the last time the Open was held at Troon, Henrik Stenson banked $1.5 million from a purse of $8.6 million. Asked to explain why that has increased so much, Slumbers said, “Inflation.”
Not even the price of eggs and gasoline have skyrocketed at the rate of golf tournaments. Of course, there’s an argument to be made that the players were underpaid and the governing bodies were keeping too large of a share of the record TV money they negotiated but earned off the back of the players. Competition, they say, is always a good thing.
“There’s clearly a market out there. We watch it week in and week out, throughout regular play as well as through the big events. So, yeah, we’re aware of what the numbers are, but we’re also aware of our own business model and the way we think about it, and as I keep saying, the importance to keep investing,” Slumbers said. “I look at this in a much bigger picture. It’s very easy to get binary and a little bit down a dark alley in this topic. If you think about a pie and that is the financial economic value of golf, and a part of that goes on development, a part of it goes on employing people, and a part of that goes into development of the game. What we’re really talking about in the whole of this is getting the balance between particularly the prize money and the investment into the game in a way that we can ensure that the pie grows, and if the pie grows, everybody does better. If you reallocate incorrectly within an existing pie, there’s a real danger that the pie will shrink.
“So that’s the way I think about it. That’s the way we try to model it, and I think it’s very important for the game to make sure that we think that way if we really want this game thriving 50 years from now.”
When Slumbers was informed that the Open ranks as the 28th highest-paying championship in golf, he responded by saying, “A, I didn’t know 28, and B, I don’t care. That’s not what this is about. Our responsibility is for what we do and for what we run is to get that balance right and get the choices to ensure the game is thriving 50 years from now. That’s the role of the R&A.”
Brian Harman, the defending Open champion, was asked if he would play if he got paid less or nothing at all.
“I would personally,” he said. “I’m not sure everyone would, but I would.”
Asked why he sensed others take their ball and go home if the purse was trimmed, he said, “Some people care more about money than I do, I suppose. I play golf for me. Like I play golf to see how good I can get at golf. I play golf because I enjoy torturing myself with things that are really hard to do. That’s just me. Most times when I get done with a tournament, I couldn’t tell you within commas of how much that I made that week.”
Slumbers stuck to his belief that the growth in prize money will flatten as it has in other sports. He’s resolute that the R&A not lose sight of the overall pyramid and the importance of both the bottom and the top for the game’s future growth.
“Because without one or the other, it won’t,” he said, recalling that between 2006 and 2018, golf had been in decline.
“I can remember my very first meeting with the media in my office when Peter (Dawson) was still in charge, and (a reporter) over there asked me quite rightly, ‘What are you going to do about golf participation?’ And I said, ‘There’s no silver bullet, and I don’t know the answer.’
“I don’t think we’re asking that question now. The question now is how much further can it go.”
