Welcome to Issue #37
"The only thing this golf course needs is about a thousand matchsticks and a can of petrol”
Lee Trevino
What’s on my mind this week
Haeran Ryu the history maker, thanks to Wyndham Clark there isn't a hanger left in a wardrobe anywhere, Ludvig discovering airlines aren't impressed by world rankings, for once The Open could do with a drop of rain, Irish amateur David Howard reminding us why qualifying still matters, Sir Nick talking strategy while Bryson says nothing at all, 42 million annual visitors gives Topgolf more reach than most TV networks. Probably explains the media move.
In the news
Why it matters: The R&A confirmed on the 14th of July that the 154th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale will offer a $17.75 million purse, up less than 5% year on year, leaving the tournament $4.75 million behind the US Open and Masters and $2.75 million behind the PGA Championship as the lowest-paying men's major by a widening margin.
Our Take: The Wimbledon comparison we drew two weeks ago is now playing out in real time. Every other major raised its purse by at least $1 million this year, LIV is paying $32.3 million per event, and the R&A's response is a $750,000 increase. Mark Darbon has been publicly on record about his concern with the post-2022 prize money escalation, and the numbers now show the R&A is willing to accept relative decline in purse ranking to protect the model. The commercial logic runs on two assumptions. That the Claret Jug's brand equity is inflation-proof and can absorb widening purse gaps. And that grassroots reinvestment matters more than headline prize money to the governing body's long-term legitimacy. Both look defensible on current evidence, particularly given The Open's position as one of the four majors, which insulates it from the purse-inflation dynamics driving the PGA Tour and LIV. Darbon also put the R&A's own numbers on the table at Royal Birkdale, forecasting a £200 million regional economic footprint for this year's championship, evidence that the tradition-first model is producing commercial surplus rather than merely under-monetising. The remaining question is whether that surplus is sufficient to fund the grassroots reinvestment that underpins the R&A's defence of the model. Wimbledon generates £423 million in revenue against a £64.2 million prize fund. If The Open can demonstrate comparable economics, the tradition-first model has a long runway.