A Shame For The Nationwide Tour..

Phil Kosin reports on and laments the loss of one of the premier stops on the Nationwide Tour. He explains how it had become such a nice annual gathering.

Update on Wednesday, December 3, 2008 at 06:57 PM by Geoff

Ed Sherman offers this on his Chicago Business sports blog:

A Bank of America spokesman stressed the decision wasn't based on current economic conditions. Instead, he said it goes back to 2005, when the company decided to move away from title sponsorships in golf.

"This is consistent with what we're trying to do," the spokesman said.

He said the company will continue to sponsor the Bank of America Marathon in Chicago. That's great for runners, not so great for golf fans.

Well, Bank of America is off my list!

Comments

[Ronald Montesano]

The N-Tour gave away the Lake Erie Classic dates in 2008 to Wayne Gretzky. As a result, the favorite tour event for the traveling families disappeared after about 7 years of success. Peek'N Peak resort on the NY-PA border is a swell place for tour families to have more to do than follow golf. There had been plans in the works for expansion and great things there, but with funding so tight these days, who knows?

[eric stratton]

this prob doesn't bode well for Charlotte where many hope BofA picks up the title after the last "Wachovia Championship" is contested this year...

...does it?

[Erik J. Barzeski]

Ronald, last I heard Peak 'n Peek failed to pay the purse to the golfers in the 2007 event. They've been having massive financial problems for several years now and they were removed from the Nationwide Tour schedule because of so many broken promises.

The "lack of paying the guys" was kept pretty hush-hush, but I've heard it from enough sources that at this time I consider it truthful. Perhaps the golfers have since been paid, but I know for a fact that the whole operation has seen financial problems. They've bankrupted several of their contractors for failure to pay their bills, for example.

[Golden Bell]

B0fA probably noticed that almost nobody in Chicago noticed the tournament was taking place. Nationally, too. If a Golf Channel time-buy falls in the forest and nobody watches, does it make a sound?

[Four-putt]

>>I heard Peak 'n Peek failed to pay the purse to the golfers in the 2007 event. They've been having massive financial problems for several years now and they were removed from the Nationwide Tour schedule because of so many broken promises.<<

I thought all sponsors shares of purse monies for PGA Tour events had to be deposited in full into an escrow account by a certain date -- usually before the schedule is announced. Just so that what you heard happened doesn't happen.

4p