Josh Antmann: The smaller tours are the lifeblood of golf
Matteo Manassero of Italy celebrates victory on the eighteenth green after the fourth play-off hole during the final round of the BMW PGA Championship on the West Course at Wentworth on May 26, 2013 in Virginia Water, England. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images).
The past 12 months has been a topsy turvy one in the world of golf. Fractions between tours and players lining their pockets with a lot of money. The sport always seemed top heavy and that seems even more so these days. Whilst we celebrate the abilities of McIlroy, Rahm and Scheffler (and rightly so), the smaller tours seem to be forgotten a little.
I had the privilege of working with the production team of the Challenge Tour at the British Challenge and it’s a fabulous insight into the life of a player on the Challenge Tour. The first time I did it was at Portmarnock Links in 2019 and I was expecting the same facilities as the DP World Tour...I was quite far off. On the DP World Tour they have incredible practice areas, shuttle buses, scorers with each group and caddies for the players too. It’s quite different on the Challenge Tour.
“Ricardo went quietly about his week, headphones in on the range and carried his bag all week.”
I always feel the players on the smaller tours are the lifeblood of golf. They grind away, for not much money, hoping for that one big win that could catapult them onto the main tours and the chance to dream. I have the upmost respect for these players as a life of ‘Eat, Sleep, Golf, Repeat’ must drag them down at times. Obviously, there are worse jobs in the world, and it would be amazing to play golf for a living but it’s damn hard work for the players on the smaller tours.
Essentially there just isn’t the money that you get on the DP World Tour or PGA Tour. First prize at a standard DP World Tour event is around £300,000, and on the PGA Tour it’s roughly £1million. On the Challenge Tour the winner gets about £36,000. But as you go down the leaderboard the money obviously goes down and to break even on a week, to include overheads, you almost need a top 10. That’s a lot of pressure on someone who is trying to support not only themselves but a family too.
Matteo Manassero of Italy during Day Two of the British Challenge presented by Modest! Golf Management at St. Mellion Estate on August 04, 2023 in Plymouth, England. (Photo by Luke Walker/Getty Images).
Overheads for a player will include hotel, meals, a caddie (if they need one), travel and other things too. What surprised me the most on the Challenge Tour was the number of players who carry, or pull, their own bag. I’d only ever known players to have caddies, but due to the small amount of prize money on offer they decide to do everything themselves. St Mellion, the course on which the British Challenge was played, is an incredibly hilly course and the guys who carried for four days I had huge respect for. I’m shattered carrying after about 14 holes so I can only imagine how they felt!
Despite working in the production side of golf for over 10 years, I was surprised at the life of a golfer on the Challenge Tour. It seems quite a lonely life. There will be groups of players, usually with the same nationality, who hang around together but there are many who practice and eat alone. It must be taxing mentally for those players and to get themselves motivated each week.
“I always feel the players on the smaller tours are the lifeblood of golf. They grind away, for not much money, hoping for that one big win that could catapult them onto the main tours and the chance to dream.”
I remember in Italy back in 2021 when Ricardo Gouveia won on the Challenge Tour. He had been a DP World Tour player for several years but lost his card and went back to the Challenge Tour. That alone is a tough place to be knowing you’d been in the upper echelons of the game, and you need to fight your way back against a number of super talented young players with the hunger and drive trying to make it big. Ricardo went quietly about his week, headphones in on the range and carried his bag all week. It was sad to see in some ways, but it might me realise these guys are the heart and soul of golf. Trying to chase a dream and doing whatever they can to get there.
Ricardo Gouveia of Portugal shouts "fore" during Day Four of the Swiss Challenge at Golf Saint Apollinaire on October 03, 2021 in Michelbach-Le-Haut, France. (Photo by Joosep Martinson/Getty Images).
Matteo Mannasero is a similar case. He won the BMW PGA, at Wentworth, back in 2013 and he was bound for great things in the game. But he tried to change his swing and everything went very wrong. He disappeared from the main tour and has been fighting back since. This season he’s won twice on the Challenge Tour and will be a DP World Tour player, once again, next year. In Cornwall he was pulling his bag on a trolley every day and to almost start his career again is an extremely humbling feeling.
With all the money being pummeled into the main tours, I’m just afraid that it’s not going to trickle down to the smaller ones. Now it seems that the rich are getting richer. What’s ironic is that some of the biggest superstars in the game have come through the minor tours and now the main tours are reaping the benefits. If we want to grow the game, we need to support the entire game of golf. The sport wouldn’t be in its current position without the players who are the foundation of the game.