In a sport rife with reality television show worthy drama the last few years, Chris DiMarco offered one of the most bizarre takes when he said LIV Golf should buy the Champions Tour because the purses those golfers compete for are too small. DiMarco spoke his mind on the Subpar Podcast, and he sure had a lot to say on the matter. For comparison’s sake, he pointed to the Players Championship, one of the PGA Tour’s signature events. “There were like seven guys last week from TPC…that made more money than our purses,” DiMarco said.
DiMarco’s stance is interesting to say the least. Honestly, it begs the question whether he was actually serious. For starters, he was incorrect if he was suggesting seven golfers from the Players Championship made more money than the purse from the Hoag Classic—played at Newport Beach Country Club and won by Padraig Harrington—the Champions Tour event that ran alongside the—sorry, Chris; cover your ears!—much more popular Players.
In reality, since three players tied for second, therefore splitting second, third, and fourth place money, Scottie Scheffler was the only player who took home an individual share greater than the two million dollars the players on the Champions Tour earned in total at the Hoag Classic. Purses vary, of course, but the Hoag Classic’s seems to be on the lower end for the Champions Tour.
Chris DiMarco Offers No Reason For LIV To Buy Champions
Beyond the issue of sincerity, Chris DiMarco’s take begs another question: If LIV was interested in the Champions Tour at all, wouldn’t it make an offer to one or more of the Champions Tour golfers? For example, Padraig Harrington, as a three time major champion and a seven time winner on the Champions Tour, would be a perfect fit for LIV, wouldn’t he? But weirdly, and presumably, since I guess we can’t know for sure, LIV has not come calling.
Nor for Chris DiMarco, who—I hope you’re sitting down right now—has made a paltry $22 million over the course of his career, as pointed out by Paige Spiranac. Of course, he’s scratched out a couple extra bucks in sponsorship deals. But the guy can’t be expected to live on this, can he? No wonder he’s looking for hefty investment money from LIV, even if the product for sale is in relatively low demand. Everyone else is getting paid; I guess he figures why shouldn’t they?
Sadly, I know the feeling, Mr. DiMarco. When I was a kid, I played youth baseball. I was a catcher, could reach second base on a couple of good bounces with my throw from home plate, hit relatively hard ground balls to various parts of the infield when I wasn’t striking out, and could steal second base if I had a three-quarters of the way head start from first. And yet, even though I was doing basically the same things as the big leaguers on TV, the majors never came calling, and the checks my dad cut as the head coach/general manager amounted to little more than a chore allowance.
(Disclaimer: This is not to besmirch the Champions Tour, which features many legends of the game still playing at a high level: Harrington, Ernie Els, Jim Furyk. Even…Chris DiMarco, who won three times on the PGA Tour and gave Tiger all he could handle at Augusta in 2005. But only to suggest there are obvious reasons why the PGA Tour plays for more money.)
Chris DiMarco Continues To Shine A Light On Real Problem
In all seriousness, thank heavens for Chris DiMarco’s appearance on this podcast, to remind us all once more how drastically underpaid and underappreciated professional golfers are. Never in the history of the sport have we seen an era in which players have so few opportunities, who are asked to do so much while receiving so little in return. I hope, as you’re wrapping up your stress-free 9-to-5 this week, ready to enjoy a prolonged two day break before you do it all again next week, you take a moment to consider the plight of the professional golfer, the perfect embodiment of today’s everyman. I salute you, Chris DiMarco, and may LIV Golf answer your perfectly reasonable prayers.
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