Precisely why they need to drop the number.....

[Dodger]

From the top 115 to top 80 to keep your card in Europe.

In the article below it highlights why I believe this number needs looked at.There are too many guys plodding along and earning a fantastic living for doing sweet F.A.

Having the number down to 80 would free spots up for wanabees from the lower reaches to play and try and earn a place on the tour but will it ever happen?? I doubt it.


Shed no tears for the millionaires who lose their cards

FROM THE GOLFWEEK WEBSITE

By Alistair Tait
How would you like to earn $710,000 to fail at your job? Or even $274,000?
I would.

There will be many sad stories over the next couple of weeks of US PGA Tour and European Tour players failing to retain cards on their respective tours. We need to keep these stories in perspective.

This week’s Children’s Miracle Network Classic on the PGA Tour is the last chance saloon for players trying to get inside the top 125 on the money list to retain playing rights for next season. European players go through the same test in Hong Kong next week, where anyone inside the top 115 keeps a card for the 2011 European Tour.

No doubt it will be heartbreaking for many of these players, but let’s not pass the hat around for them. They don’t need it.

The price of failure can be very rewarding.

Briny Baird is currently 126th on the US PGA Tour money list. Yet he’s earned $710,337 this season. I’m going to have a hard time weeping for him if he fails to get inside the top 125.

I’m probably not going to shed too many tears for players further down the list either. James Driscoll is ranked 154th but has still earned over $500,000 – $500,625 to be precise. It doesn’t end there. Harrison Frazar has made $201,280 for being 187th best player on the US PGA Tour this year.

I know many people outside the world of golf who’d love to make that sort of money for not doing their job to the best of their ability.

The price of failure isn’t so lucrative in Europe, but it’s not bad. It’s probably going to take about €200,000 to stay inside the top 115. Sam Hutsby is currently occupying that spot with €197,809 in earnings. That’s around $274,000 just to finish last. Not bad for a guy who’s only 22.

I bumped into European Senior Tour player Roger Chapman at Orlando Airport last Friday. Chapman had just made it through stage one of Champions Tour Qualifying. He in turn had bumped into former Euro Tour player Daniel Chopra.

Chapman was surprised to see Chopra driving a yellow Lamborghini. Chapman asked me if Chopra had been very successful on the US PGA Tour.

My reply: He only needs to be moderately successful to have a nice lifestyle.

For the record, Chopra has two wins in five US PGA Tour seasons – the Ginn sur Mer Classic at Tesoro and the 2008 Mercedes-Benz Championship. He never won on the European Tour, although he has nine international victories, mostly in Asia.

A good player, if not a great one.

In five years he has earned $7.7 million. He’s one of hundreds of millionaires on the US PGA Tour, many who have been far less successful than him.

So cue the sad stories of players missing their cards by a few hundred dollars or a few hundred euros, but save the tears.

 

[surefire]

Bit harsh to say these guys have failed at their jobs.

They're still ranked in the top 115 in the world.
In any other field being ranked this highly in the world, would be considered a success.

Also comparing Chopra who has 9 international wins, to a player who is fighting for a card, is a bit apples to oranges in my book.

The other fact not mentioned, is how much these guys have paid, in terms of entry fees, travel, hotels, caddy fees etc...

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Particularly harsh on Hutsby. He shone at Q school and has obviously found his first full season hard to be down that low but I doubt very much he's concerned at all about the cash at the moment anyway. Its all about the card.

Of course what the smartarse report fails to meantion is that the figure is before tax, management fees, travel, entry fees and caddy wages. I'm pretty sure time all of those and probably a few other deductions on top, are taken into account the figure will be considerably lower.

I do hate an unbalanced feature that never bothers to tell the whole story. Yes on paper they are rich and way more comfortable than I ever will be but they are good at what they do and get the rewards accordingly.

 

[Wildrover]

I agree with Homer's comments, also at least in Golf the pay is performance related, ie miss the cut and you make nothing. Unlike football where you can earn well in excess of £100K a week to sit on your ar$e on the sub's bench.

 

[Tommo21]

Ah, but, is it the amount of money or the amount of players. The idea of 80 would mean a bigger turn over of players, giving more player a chance each year…not a bad thing. There’ s got to be guys at the top and at the bottom, but if the guy sitting 125th was only getting say 40k we would be saying he’s fighting to keep his head above water and would this subject even arise if the money was less further down the table. Maybe if the spread of money didn’t go down as far then the hunger to get to the top would be much more.

 

[surefire]

There’ s got to be guys at the top and at the bottom, but if the guy sitting 125th was only getting say 40k we would be saying he’s fighting to keep his head above water and would this subject even arise if the money was less further down the table. Maybe if the spread of money didn’t go down as far then the hunger to get to the top would be much more.

He probably is.
Lets look at Hutsby, with his €197,000.

He's played 27 events this year, so say on average his travel and hotel bills are €1,000 an event, he's now on €170,000.

He's also got to pay to enter these events. Lets say he pays €1,000 to enter each event. €143,000.

His caddy will be on anything from €500 a week upwards, plus between 5-10% of his money, depending on if he makes the top 10 or higher. Lets go conservative though, and take the lower end of this, that's €13,500 for the salary and €9,850 in bonus money. Now he's left with €119,650.

No idea how much his management company takes, but I imagine about €20k would be a fair estimate. So now we're already down to €100,000.

Then the tax man wants to get his share, lets assume lots of his expenses can get written off, so he pays about €40,000. So after all that he is left with €60,000 or about £50,000 if you convert to pounds.

Now remember in that £50k, he doesn't get paid holiday or the normal work benefits people get.

So now you've got a guy who is taking home £50k, spending half his time travelling and not at home, doesn't get all the 'perks' that normal employment brings, yet he is ranked in the top 125 in Europe in his field.

I would bet if you look at the top 125 politicians, company executives, lawyers, doctors or accountants etc. in Europe, they all do a lot better than this guy.

 

[bobmac]

A typical week on tour could be...
Monday, travel to next tournament 8-10 hours
Tuesday practice day 8 hours
Wednesday- 2 hours practice, pro am 6 hours, warm down/media 1 hour......9 hours
Thursday 1st round as above
Friday, Saturday and Sundy as above

Monday, travel to next tournament.......

No overtime, work every weekend, no paid holiday, no pension plan.

53 hour week and £1000 a week works out at just under £19 per hour.
And that is IF they make the cut.

Remind me how much footballers get paid in salary every week even if they don't even play

 

[stevek1969]

A typical week on tour could be...
Monday, travel to next tournament 8-10 hours
Tuesday practice day 8 hours
Wednesday- 2 hours practice, pro am 6 hours, warm down/media 1 hour......9 hours
Thursday 1st round as above
Friday, Saturday and Sundy as above

Monday, travel to next tournament.......

No overtime, work every weekend, no paid holiday, no pension plan.

53 hour week and £1000 a week works out at just under £19 per hour.
And that is IF they make the cut.

Remind me how much footballers get paid in salary every week even if they don't even play

What a lot of cack, it must be a right bar steward for these guys,nothing against the example useed but a 22 year old clearing on the figures above 50k, travelling the world playing the top courses in 90% good weather, they dont pay for there gear they get picked up ,dropped of all over the plaace for heehaw,treated like bloody kings,thats a hard week they have eh,my arse.

Bob here's a hard week get up at 4.30 am leave at 5 drive an hour to work work 12 hours drive home 14 hours aday for 5 days ,do the math oh and its shift so i get 2 weekends of in 8 , who's got the hard life now ,not some wee fanny.

Rant over , and ps Dodgers right 80 max to many having a cushty life sitting in the 80 to 100 never winning but picking up decent money.

 

[surefire]

The grass is always greener on the other side...

If its such a gravy train, go and do it!

 

[bobmac]

I dont think I said it was a hard week, just not as "cushty" as some think.
As surefire said, if it's such an easy life, you go and do it.

 

[madandra]

Bob and Surefire you have missed earnings from sponsorship. I knew a guy whos sponsor paid his hotel bills.

Hutsby is paid to carry TM clubs bag and ball, wear Adidas shoes and don't forget we are indirectly sponsoring him due to his tie in with Golf Monthly.

They do put in the hours. They earn enough to put into a private pension. They get someone to carry their bag who tells them how far the have to hit the ball, and tells them which club to hit to get that distance.


Piece of P155.

 

[Junior]

Surely there is a set amount of places available in each tournament so I guess it depends what the objective of the European Tour is. If they want to attract more sponsor's via opening up more "sponsor invite" places, then going to 80 is a good idea.

Either way, i would'nt mind being a quid behind most of em !!

 

[Ethan]

It is ridiculous to compare the top 125 golfers to the top 125 doctors or lawyers. There are not many "top" (whatever that means) doctors or lawyers aged 18 or 20 making big bucks.

Also, as a medical student and junior doctor, you work a damn sight harder than any aspiring pro golfer, with a lot more on the line than a chip out from the trees if you make a mistake.

Jack Nicklaus bemoaned the all exempt Tour when rules changed so that the top 125 on the money list earned automatic rights for the following year. He thought it encouraged complacency in middle ranking players.

 

[JustOne]

This looks like peanut money to me
http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/players/playerid=34636/results/index.html
not sure what all the fuss is about.

Some of the events he played in pay pretty well for making it into the top 50, that's probably not his fault.

(I noticed Danny Willett got 22K for finishing 67th in the recent HSBC.... 67th!!!)

Hutsby is borderline, might lose his place and never make it back again... bye bye career! I can't (and won't) begrudge them making a few 100K on the way.

I don't care what the cut off number is as long as a fair few get chucked off and a fair few newbies get instated.

 

[surefire]

It is ridiculous to compare the top 125 golfers to the top 125 doctors or lawyers. There are not many "top" (whatever that means) doctors or lawyers aged 18 or 20 making big bucks.

Also, as a medical student and junior doctor, you work a damn sight harder than any aspiring pro golfer, with a lot more on the line than a chip out from the trees if you make a mistake.

What does age have to do with it?
I was just comparing the best 125 people in their field, across multiple disciplines. Chances are golf is not the most lucrative, except possibly at the very, very highest end, and even then not always. The fact you can reach your peak sooner in golf is here nor there.

On the mistake side, very true.
If the Dr makes a mistake, as long as he isn't negligent, he'll probably still be getting paid and feeding his family next year. The golfer may not.

 

[jammydodger]

Dont forget these guys usually get wopping great sponsorship deals too and most stuff comes free

 

[Ethan]

It is ridiculous to compare the top 125 golfers to the top 125 doctors or lawyers. There are not many "top" (whatever that means) doctors or lawyers aged 18 or 20 making big bucks.

Also, as a medical student and junior doctor, you work a damn sight harder than any aspiring pro golfer, with a lot more on the line than a chip out from the trees if you make a mistake.

What does age have to do with it?
I was just comparing the best 125 people in their field, across multiple disciplines. Chances are golf is not the most lucrative, except possibly at the very, very highest end, and even then not always. The fact you can reach your peak sooner in golf is here nor there.

On the mistake side, very true.
If the Dr makes a mistake, as long as he isn't negligent, he'll probably still be getting paid and feeding his family next year. The golfer may not.

Age has everything to do with it because otherwise it is a spurious comparison. Why not choose the top 125 Big Issue sellers or top 125 blacksmiths?

The best doctors reach their peak after years of training, hard work and long hours and are probably not at that peak until mid to late 40s. The fact you can reach your peak sooner is indeed here and there, because you can maintain that earning power for much longer. I don't know too many doctors able to retire from active practice in their early 40s.

 

[surefire]

Of course in my above post, I am being slightly facetious. I realise doctors save lives, not sure about lawyers though!
Yes, you don't get many top doctors at the age of 22 or even in their twenties. However I know of a few friends who are doctors and had been on £100k plus at the age of 27, without being anywhere near the top of their field. Certainly better off than Mr Hutsby at the moment.

I'm not trying to say the life of a pro is the toughest thing ever, its just not a cushty as people imagine.

 

[Ethan]

Of course in my above post, I am being slightly facetious. I realise doctors save lives, not sure about lawyers though!
Yes, you don't get many top doctors at the age of 22 or even in their twenties. However I know of a few friends who are doctors and had been on £100k plus at the age of 27, without being anywhere near the top of their field. Certainly better off than Mr Hutsby at the moment.

I'm not trying to say the life of a pro is the toughest thing ever, its just not a cushty as people imagine.

To earn £100k as a doctor, you would need to be a Consultant who is well up the pay scale and/or doing some private practice, a full partner in a good general practice or have some other sideline going. No doctor becomes a Consultant before early 30s, it is technically possible but very unlikely to be a GP partner at that age, but perhaps an entrepreneurial junior doctor with insomnia could have another sideline going.

I bet San Hutsby will be doing better when he is 27.

 

[Dodger]

Aye it's a tough life,I know of one guy who constantly knobs it around the 115 mark yet drives 3 top BMW's, owns property left right and centre and gets sponsorship for flying the flag of a golf course to the tune of £42k a year............on top of this is his club,clothes deals etc.

He isn't in his 30's yet,aye it's a hard life.........might be in the next few years though cos it's back to Q School for him soon but it would have been harder for him quicker had been top 80!

Bring it back to top 80 and get rid of these knobbers making a great living of £125k plus NETT for doing not alot.