The crisis has not reached golf, at least not the major tournaments of the American Tour. A clear example is the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, which started yesterday at the Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio and will distribute 9.25 million dollars in prizes, of which the first three will win more than three million. The lucky winner will pocket 1,570,000 million, the second will fatten his fortune with 925,000 and the third will win 536,000.
One of the good things about this tournament, official on the two major circuits of the world, the American and the European, is that all its participants pocket a good pinch, since there is no cut and its 75 players play all four rounds.
This tournament replaced the old World Series of Golf in 1999, and since then Tiger Woods easily holds the record for most victories in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational with eight (1999-2001, 2005-07, 2009, 2013). This tournament has been very profitable for Woods, as it has brought him a total of 11,100,000 dollars in all its editions.
Woods is still the only player to win this tournament more than once, and the truth is that he has demonstrated his complete dominance, as he has won half of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitationals played to date. But the Californian will not be the winner this year, as he did not qualify to play this edition. Nor is last year’s winner, Rory McIlroy, here this week, as he continues to recover from torn ligaments in his ankle.
The total prize money has increased this year by 2.8% compared to last year’s edition, from 9 million to 9,250,000. The winnings of the top finishers are fixed, while those of the others may vary slightly in the event of withdrawals during the competition, as was the case last year with Tiger Woods, Jason Day, Graham Delaet and Ben Crane.
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