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Welcome to The Morning Punch Out, a quick guide for your day in golf.
It's been a strange past 72 hours as the sports world as we know it has screeched to a halt. In the small little bubble of the golf world, the cancelation of the Players Championship after the first round (as well as at least the next four events on the schedule) and the postponement of The Masters led to some interesting insight from some of the game's biggest players on Friday morning.
As players arrived at TPC Sawgrass to retrieve their belongings, many spoke with the media about what the cancelations and postponements meant to them.
PGA TOUR to pay 50% of 15 million to players in Players Championship.
— Ron Mintz (@MintzGolf) March 13, 2020
7.5 million payout to 144 players
$52,083 per player
The Players Championship's unprecedented $15 million purse will be split in half and dispersed equally among the 144 competitors from last week's canceled event, per Tour regulations, according to PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan.
During his Friday morning press conference in which he announced further reasoning for the cancellation of the event, Monahan spoke about compensation for the players themselves.
"As it relates to this week, our regulations stipulate that if you complete one round of a championship, we pay 50% of the purse," he said. "We almost completed one round of this championship, and we will pay 50% of the purse to our players equally distributed amongst our players."
That meant that the 144 players who teed it up, split $7.5 million among them, which comes out to just over $52,000 apiece.
My friend @jacknicklaus wanted to share an important message: we need to be smart, be safe, be careful where we go. DON’T TAKE A CHANCE.
— Rick Scott (@SenRickScott) March 15, 2020
Our seniors are the most vulnerable population, but young people can get infected and spread the virus. #CoronaVirusUpdates pic.twitter.com/gcrV6rNtRQ
At a time when leadership is needed most, one of golf's de facto leaders is Jack Nicklaus. As part of a public service announcement video released by Florida Senator Rick Scott, Nicklaus warned his fellow Americans about the importance and repercussions their actions can have on those around them.
“The last week or so has been an incredibly confusing time,” Nicklaus, 80, said. “Many of you kids, you’re going to a lot of places that may bring that home to a senior citizen. I don’t think that’s what you want to do."
"Let’s all make sure we wash our hands, let’s make sure we’re very smart about where we go and when we go, let’s try to stay away from public places, let’s just be smart. Americans have always been smart and Americans have always gotten through these things and we’ll get through this one.”
One thing's for sure, some players give us more material to work with than others.
— Sam Harrop (@sam_golf) March 11, 2020
But is has to be said – golf would be a much duller place without characters like Bryson.
(I really should stop choosing songs where I have to provide my own backing vocals 😂)
RTs appreciated! pic.twitter.com/G30HeQEYVv
Finally on this Monday morning, golf's musical satirist Sam Harrop — he of Tony Finau and Anthony Kim fame — took on Bryson DeChambeau's scientific approach to the game.
Enjoy, and stay safe.
