COVERAGE: Signature Event Sponsor Exemptions a Balancing Act

It was a rainy Tuesday morning in Dublin, Ohio and executive director Dan Sullivan was sitting in his HNS Sports office as a media day outing had been cancelled, but preparations for the 50th laying of the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday were very much continuing.

Sullivan took time out of his schedule to talk on the phone and one of the questions asked was about the importance of sponsor exemptions and getting it right.

Given that the Memorial Tournament is one of eight signature events on the PGA Tour schedule, it is a smaller field, making it more challenging to tee it up at Muirfield Village Golf Club.

There still is an opportunity at this week’s Charles Schwab Challenge to earn a spot in what currently is a 72-player field, meaning Sullivan and his team will not know the full field until Sunday night or Monday morning.

One thing Sullivan did have to determine was by way of a committee, those sponsor exemptions, of which four spots are allotted.

“The exemption process is about as competitive as it’s ever been, knowing that we only have four,” Sullivan exclusively told PGN May 6. “We have an exemption committee that will pay attention to all of the incredible play that’s going on by the individuals and make the selections. “So, it’s a little bit different than what we’ve had over the years, but no less important to make sure that we have a really strong field.”

Earlier this year at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, this very decision drew quite a bit of attention in the golfing community, as Sam Saunders, the grandson of the tournament’s namesake revealed that Rickie Fowler, Jordan Spieth and Gary Woodland would not receive sponsor exemptions.

Saunders, who was part of the sponsor exemption committee and prior played professionally stated the decision came from “protecting and growing the game of golf as a whole,” while trying to do what was “balanced and fair.”

Ultimately, it was determined Rafael Campos, Mackenzie Hughes, Min Woo Lee and Justin Rose received the four allotted spots.

Campos, the winner of this season’s Butterfield Bermuda Championship had earlier revealed in a press conference that he got an exemption, allowing Saunders to speak on the decision, citing his grandfather’s consideration as a steward of the game and allowing Campos to have an opportunity that otherwise he might not have had.

What helped Campos’s case was a three-page handwritten letter after which he told reporters that his right hand was in pain.

“It has been a lifelong goal of mine to be able to inspire the younger generations of golfers in our island,” Campos wrote as reported by Golfweek’s Adam Schupak. “Have won recently really motivated me to keep working harder for them as I finally was able to give the Puerto Rican and Latin community real evidence that through hard work and perseverance, anything is achievable. Even when I thought I couldn’t take it anymore and the endless phone calls to my wife crying, the simple fact that there were hundreds and maybe thousands of kids in our region looking up to me and cheering me on was good enough to help me keep fighting and crawling through this endless struggle to achieve a win.”

“I know I might not be a household name, a name many people know, but that is not something that will stop me from doing my best to promote the game of golf to the younger generations. I truly love how Mr. Palmer inspired us since we were little (either through his unbelievable talent in golf or through his loving character on and off it as well) and plan to emulate and use that character as motivation for me to show the younger generation that anything is achievable and possible if you really desire it and work hard.”

Though Campos missed the cut, it sent a clear message that writing a letter and pleading your case still had a spot in the game, especially in the tournament from an individual who loved to do the same to golfers whenever possible. Further, Lee also missed the cut, while Rose was T8 and Hughes a T22.

While the Memorial Tournament sponsor exemptions were not finalized at the time of the interview, Sullivan explained its importance especially when considering a historical milestone having the 50th edition of his tournament contested in now less than a week’s time.

Ultimately the four spots went to Fowler, Spieth, Matt Kuchar and Brandt Snedeker. Kuchar won the 2013 edition of the Memorial Tournament and both he and Snedeker have sponsorships with Workday.

The Memorial Tournament is one of three signature events to feature a 36-hole cut to the top 50 and ties plus any golfer within 10 shots of the lead.

“It’s important that we get it right,” analyzed Sullivan. “Everyone has their own reasons of who they pick and why they pick them. We’re no different in that respect. What we want to do is make sure we select players that have contributed to the game, contributed to the Memorial Tournament and are playing at a level that we think would compete well. It’s a balancing act; there are a lot of players for very few spots.”