PGA Tour Fall Series

The PGA Tour is in the midst of its Fall Series right now, but is there even any interest among casual golf fans? Those of you, like me, would watch the Christmas Island Open if it was on the Golf Channel are still watching, but I bet most are not. The casual golf fan just isn't interested in the battle to finish in the top 125 on the money list and keep a Tour card for next year.

First, there is a lack of star power. Tiger isn't playing in any of these of post Tour Championship/FedEx Cup events and I don't believe he will in future years either. This week's event in Scottsdale had Phil Mickelson in the field, but he missed the cut. According to www.philmickelson.com, this will be his last PGA Tour event of the season. Obviously all the players out there are great, but without the big names that doesn't matter for viewership.

Next, there are too many other sporting events going on. You have the NFL, college football, baseball pennant races and playoffs, and the start of the NHL and NBA seasons.

One final issue is the TV coverage. With Saturdays and Sundays full of football, the events have been relegated to the Golf Channel. Someone flipping through the channels isn't as likely to flip to the Golf Channel to watch an event. Many might check ABC, NBC, CBS or ESPN, but they aren't going to check out the Golf Channel.

What does this mean for the future of these events? I wouldn't be surprised if these events are gone in the not so distant future. The problems above could easily lead to a lack of sponsorship and in today's world an event can't survive without a sponsor. Look at the last 2 events - this week they are playing the Fry's Electronic Open and last week was the Frys.com Open. If the best the Tour/events could was get the same sponsor 2 weeks in a row, it is pretty obvious to me that there was not much competition to sponsor these events. It would be sad to see an event that has been around since 1922 (like the Texas Open) fade away, but I think it is more than plausible without a change to FedEx Cup or a reshuffle of events.