If there was an auction for a spot in The Open Championship, there’d be no wood left on the auctioneer’s hammer by the time they shout ‘Sold’.
Perhaps the final price paid by the punter would match the $3.1 million winner’s prize dished out last year at Royal Troon. Maybe more.
An opportunity to play in the UK’s major is enjoyed only by the most freakishly talented golfers in the world, and occasionally for the modest professional who can squeeze through regional and final qualifying.
It is a privilege, I imagine. I haven’t played in it and never will. I am also worthless to any company or brand that could ever sponsor me to try. But I don’t care. I would break the bank to play in The Open and many other people will paddle in the same canoe.
The somewhat ranty tone of my column originates from Brian Harman’s press conference at The 152nd Open, shortly after handing back the Claret Jug he so brilliantly won at Royal Liverpool.
One reporter asked if he would compete in golf’s oldest major if it meant winning no money at all. Harman gave the correct response:
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“I would personally. I’m not sure everyone would, but I would,” he said.
“Because some people care more about money than I do, I suppose – I play golf for me. Like I play golf to see how good I can get at golf. I play golf because I enjoy torturing myself with things that are really hard to do. That’s just me. Most times when I get done with a tournament, I couldn’t tell you within commas of how much that I made that week.”
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How great would it have been if Harman named names? That was never going to happen, but even the notion of a player choosing not to play for golf’s best trophy due to an absence of prize money is completely alien to me, and I strongly assume you as well.
Given the backdrop of LIV Golf’s emergence over the past two years, the resolve of many players has been tested by mammoth sign-up offers. Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm all convinced the public that money wasn’t their priority when asked if they’d move to the Saudi-backed league until nine figures were floated under their noses.
The perception would be that players who remained on the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour prioritised playing in major championships and the Ryder Cup over taking a huge cheque to jeopardise that access to join a circuit with no world ranking status.
I took great enjoyment from listening to the Champion Golfer of the Year declare his love for the event and the sport in general.
It might be easy for someone like the diminutive star, with three PGA Tour wins to his name plus endless riches, to not concern himself with more digits. But I believe him and I am sure many of his colleagues would be there on the 1st tee, desperate to write themselves on to golf’s grandest winner’s board, if there was not one penny to play for.
The Open and the Ryder Cup are equal in his debate in my eyes. The pride I would feel for representing Team Europe could never equate to a monetary value. If you’ve emerged from under your rock yet, that debate reared its head at the 2023 dust-up between Europe and the USA, with Patrick Cantlay the centre of attention.
To make golf a living, obviously, you need a financial return. But even at the bones of my bottom with not even coppers in my wallet, I would play in The Open. I would fundraise, I would do something.
I hope Harman is wrong. Are there really players who need financial reward to play in The Open?
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