Tom Kite says the PGA Tour’s treatment of the Booz Allen Classic is a “travesty.” He was being polite.
The Booz Allen is being kicked to the offseason and probably into extinction after this weekend. No matter the TPC at Avenel course plays well while lined with more than 100,000 over four days. Washington’s major golf tournament has lost the political game and summer date. Now it’s just a funeral procession to Sunday.
“I think it’s a travesty,” said Kite, the 1987 Kemper Open winner at the same Potomac course. “How you cannot have a tournament in our nation’s capital, especially a tournament that has been this good over the years? It doesn’t make sense to me.”
Me, either. Or to tens of thousands of Washington golfers wondering what they did to deserve such shabby treatment by the PGA Tour. Maybe it’s golf’s way of protesting federal tax rates given many PGA members reside in Florida to avoid paying state taxes. Perhaps the PGA has something against global consulting companies like Booz Allen.
No matter, Washington has been shafted by the golf gods.
But why? Attendance couldn’t be better. The region is filled with golf’s targeted demographic of rich guys playing the sport.
There has been griping over the course for many years. But the course has been revamped and former 1986 Kemper champion Steve Stricker on Wednesday said there’s nothing wrong with it. Kite said it was the best he could remember.
No, the Booz Allen lost out on the insider posturing of the 2007 FedEx Cup where the PGA hopes to create a “season” of golf. There were several tournaments competing for the Booz Allen’s date despite being a crummy one after the U.S. Open that leaves none of the top 20 players coming for this year’s rounds.
The Booz Allen is supposedly bumped to October 2007, which may as well be Christmas weekend. Few would skip a Redskins game for the tournament.
Even worse, PGA commissioner Tim Finchem said the tournament won’t return until 2009 if permits for nearly $20 million in renovations to Avenel are approved by year’s end. Currently, the tournament has no sponsor or firm date for 2007. Let’s be honest — this tournament is gone.
“I feel bad for several of these tournaments that are going to be put after the FedEx Cup,” Stricker said. “It feels like they’re a notch below sometimes.”
More like six feet below.
If you think sweating on 90-degree days and dodging thunderstorms is tough, try a bit of frost on a crisp windy fall day. Sure makes me want to reserve that weekend for watching golf along open fairways.
The PGA Tour’s decision to have a compacted season instead of bleeding out over the fall when overrun by the NFL is a smart one. And if it wasn’t Washington that was sacrificed, some other city would be equally miffed.
But here’s the difference — that other city isn’t the nation’s capital. The PGA Tour should show some respect to Washington, especially when they’ll come to town looking for favors from lawmakers like every other big business. Hopefully, they’ll come when Congress is out of session.
Fred Funk said he’s the sentimental favorite to win the final local tournament. The Takoma Park native says this was the one he always wanted to play in before making the Tour. Now it’s the one he wants to win. It would seem only fitting a local hole out the winner.
At least Funk is happy to be here.
Rick Snider has covered local sports for 28 years. Contact him at [email protected].
