Rex Hoggard looks at the PGA Tour’s Player Impact Program as the exciting, unpredictable season-long race for Meltwater Mentions nears its secretive conclusion. He quotes several players who either do not understand it or care for the program’s secrecy.
“No idea,” Herman laughed when asked to explain how the PIP list is created. “I wish we had a list. I wish we knew, so if a guy is on the list and he’s close and had an idea of what they needed to do to crack the top 10. That’s the hardest part for the rest of us. They are throwing a lot of money out there without a real good understanding of how you can crack the top 10. We feel like it’s a popularity contest.”
According to various sources, the Tour will not show the entire list to players but will tell each player where they are on the list, which only seems to fuel the confusion over how the list is compiled.
And these fellows cut right to the chase:
“It’s a way for Tiger Woods to be rewarded even more for what he’s done for the game of golf,” Chesson Hadley said.
But while every player agrees with Hadley that Woods will be atop the PIP list, it remains unclear how his single-vehicle crash in February and the ensuing media coverage of the accident should be factored into his index score.
Monahan explained at East Lake that the point of the program is to get “players to engage in our game, help grow our Tour, and help grow their own respective brands.” But where exposure ends and controversy begins, is anyone’s guess.
“What they should have done is taken all $40 [million] of it and sent it to Tiger and say, thank you,” Scott Stallings said. “We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him. When he posted that picture of himself on crutches it outperformed the last four tournament winners [on social media]. If he even tried it’s over.”
