It's Not All Glamor

I was doing some studying for the Semgroup Championship in Tulsa this week on the LPGA Tour and came across this story in the Tulsa World. Bill Haisten reports that despite a significant increase in LPGA Tour purses, the costs associated with the Tour life have limited only 18% of players to making more than $100,000 in a given season.

This story is a long time in coming. Most people, including those of us who cover this stuff, can sometimes simply not appreciate how much it costs mentally, physically, and financially to be a professional golfer. Basically, take the top 30 players on the LPGA Tour money list and those are the ones that are making more money than some kid who comes out of law school to work as an associate, or some MBA student who just took a job with an investment bank. The funny thing is, though, that given the choice between the two - working tons of hours for the man or the sacrifices needed to play pro golf - I would bet almost all of us would gladly choose the golf.

Still, Haisten's work creates an appreciation for just how hard it is to do more than get by in pro golf. It puts into perspective the goals of Commish Bivens to get a greater pension for players who manage to survive the tour grind for years. They deserve an opportunity to retire with some decent level of security given how much they sacrifice to be able to do this for a living.