Friday, March 30, 2001
Canadian Open orgranizers deny rumor of
Tiger appearance fee
By MICHAEL GRANGE
Toronto Globe and Mail
If Tiger Woods wants to make any money at the Bell Canadian Open
this year, it will have to be the old-fashioned way.
Tournament director Bill Paul shot down a rumor that surfaced
in the March 30 issue of Golf World Magazine that Woods was seeking
a $2-million appearance fee to return to the event in September.
“There's no truth to it,'” Paul said. “In any conversation
I've ever had with him it's never come up. Nor would it. It's
ridiculous.'”
Bev Norwood, Woods spokesman with IMG in Cleveland, echoed Paul's
take in an e-mail message Thursday:
“It's an absurd statement without even a shred of truth.
Tiger receives so much attention that he is also the subject of
many rumors, some crazier than others, and this one fits into
that latter category — along with others this year such as
that he was about to start his own magazine, that he was married,
and that he was on a secret fishing trip in Argentina.”
Paying appearance fees is illegal on the PGA Tour, although they
are allowed on the European PGA Tour.
Woods was rumored to have received $2-million to play in the European
PGA's Dubai Desert Classic, and recent reports said that Woods
may receive that much to play in the New Zealand PGA championship
next year.
The world's top-ranked golfer won his first Canadian Open title
at Glen Abbey last year with a dramatic 6-iron out of a bunker
to hold off a hard-charging Grant Waite.
Woods then promised the crowd and later the media that he would
defend his title in 2001 when the Open returns to Royal Montreal
Golf Club in Ile Bizard, Quebec. Woods has missed only two cuts
in his career, one of them at the Open when it was last held at
Royal Montreal in 1997.
Paul joked that if Woods was demanding an appearance fee, he must
have done some quick negotiating in the few minutes that passed
between Woods rolling in his winning putt and him telling the
massive gallery that he would defend his title during the trophy
presentation.
The item appeared in the respected golf magazine's Local Rules
section. Later on in the item it said the rumor was false, citing
the PGA Tour's rules against appearance fees.
There are ways to reward players for coming to events, however.
There's a long-standing tradition at the Canadian Open to pay
a handful of players in the field for an exclusive outing called
Chairman's Day that takes place on the Tuesday before the tournament
starts.
Last year's outing at the National Golf Club of Canada in Woodbridge,
Ont., included the likes of Jesper Parnevik, Sergio Garcia and
Mike Weir. But Paul said the amount the players earned for the
day was well below the $100,000 and more that marquee players
can command for corporate outings.
“The amount they get paid doesn't have an impact on the field
at all,” Paul said. “The game has changed. There is
so much money available in purses and sponsorships and other outings
that the amount they get paid (for Chairman's Day) is insignificant.”
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.shns.com.)
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