Former Ryder Cup player, Ken Brown, retired from a career predominantly on the European Tour several years before Tiger Woods turned pro, and so he never experienced the Woods-fuelled influx of corporate dollars into golf – let alone LIV Golf.
But Brown has remained in the game as a broadcaster and writer – and a very entertaining one at that. Fox had a brief, tough run televising US Opens, but his “Brownie Point” segments were the highlights.
Anyway, despite four Euro Tour wins and one PGA Tour win in the decade from 1978 to 1987, Brown earned a little over $US1 million for his career—or less than what Tony Finau made last week for winning the 3M Open. But as he showed with a recent tweet, it wasn’t just the prize money that was different back then.
The sponsorship dollars were a fraction of what they are now. Actually, when he first broke in, his golf ball deal didn’t even get him any dollars. Just golf balls. And not that many of them!
Sounds slightly different than what today’s Titleist players get. Half a dozen per month during the season and a quarter of a dozen per month in the off-season?! That’s ONE sleeve of golf balls! Per month! Wild. And nice little “LIV” reference there, Ken.
Brown added a little more detail with his next tweet:
