Seamus Power - PGA Tour Winner 2021/22

Motivator wrote: »

Seamus can be classed as a journeyman or whatever term some want to use to describe him but at the end of the day, he’s an elite player whatever way people want to look at it.

I totally agree - I don't think this can be overstated how good these guys are. Rick Shields on youTube/podcast had a very interesting bit there recently where he spent some time with James Robinson who's flitted on/off the European tour but is gone full time teaching pro now. Rick was saying this guy was on a totally different level to the other guys he's played with etc... but still not at solid (European) tour level, which really spelt it out to him how good the guys on both tours are.


Also played recently with Min Woo Lee from Australia & a couple of amateurs of +5, I found his perspective of these guys levels was refreshing.

Funnily enough I saw an article about the Korn Ferry Tour yesterday, there was a qualifier being played and a +2 handicap golfer shot the worst round of the year in those qualifiers which was an 88. There’s calls to lower the handicap mark for qualifiers for the Korn Ferry following it. These guys are on a different planet. I brought my wife with me to Mount Juliet on Sunday and she commented on how easy they make things look. Effortlessly driving a ball 290+ yards and she asked if it looks that easy why isn’t everyone doing it. All I could do was laugh.

We have young lads in our club that are +1 and +2 golfers and while they’re exceptionally good club golfers, they will never make the grade. Even to get a scholarship is nigh on impossible. When US colleges recruit players for scholarships, they use a scoring system to evaluate a player. To even get on a US colleges shortlist a player needs to hit 75% of the criteria and they work on the rest when they get the player over there. We had a young lad in our club a couple of years ago that was a +4 golfer and he didn’t make any shortlists for any college over there.

PokeHerKing wrote: »

Anyone know what Lowry was off when he won the Irish open?

+5 I think, I could be wrong though.

Would he have earned a few million at this stage? Winnings and sponsorships?

Mantis Toboggan wrote: »

Would he have earned a few million at this stage? Winnings and sponsorships?

$3.6 million between PGA and Korn Ferry tour.

Speak Now wrote: »

$3.6 million between PGA and Korn Ferry tour.

If what James Robinson said is true on Rick Shiels podcast That's about 1.2million in his pocket.

Read an article last year that estimated that the players expenditures are typically $5k per week for a tournament - before factoring in prize money.
On top of that, the fee for Monday qualifying is something like $400 a pop.

Prize money is then reduced by the Caddie's share (typically 5-10%) and State Income Tax of whatever state is hosting the tournament (anything from 4-20% depending on the State, with 9 States having zero State income tax).

Easily run up $150k+ of expenditure across the season that takes a big bite out of the prize money

DuckSlice wrote: »

James Robinson said, and i know this is in europe, that the golfer will see 33% of their winnings, the rest is tax/expenses etc etc.

I don't like when they talk in percentages, because there's a good chunk of the expenditure is relatively fixed. Flights, accomodation, caddy's basic pay, etc. don't change whether you miss the cut or whether you win the tournament. The only costs that increase based on prize money are the caddy's performance bonus and the taxes.

I get that the 33% is reflective of the "average" tour player in Europe, but for the likes of Seamus Power who is more focused on making entry lists and then making cuts just to make a living the fixed costs are really the critical thing.

Motivator wrote: »

There was a very good podcast I listened to two or three years ago that went through the numbers. The average PGA tour players expenses are around $250,000 per year. That’s the average, I can’t remember who did the report but I’ll try and find the podcast. It’s worth noting that the figure was based on a caddie being on a retainer rather than the prize money percentage agreement. Because players and caddies are very private about their arrangements it was impossible to work out the actual figures.

Player sponsorships will cover some of the costs but don’t forget that the majority of sponsorship deals will be performance related with little of the agreed number being guaranteed upfront. Obviously each player is different and will have different deals and different performance expectations from their sponsors so again it’s impossible to work out their income from their sponsor deals.

On the caddy fees, from what I've heard nearly all are on a base retainer plus a % of winnings. Miss a cut, or even make the cut and finish last of the weekend players, and there's a good chance that the caddy makes more than the player

OEP wrote: »

Maybe for the top players and their caddies but I don't think that's the case for the others

Surely the other way around I'd have thought? Can't see many caddies being willing to work without a guaranteed weekly minimum unless they're on the bag of the top 20 or so earners.


Anything I've read (and it's been PGA tour-slanted usually) has said the most common arrangement is a weekly retainer, plus a % of winnings with the % increasing for finishes about a certain place (usually top 10).


Either way - getting way off the topic of Seamus Power at this stage

Just unfortunate he couldn't make one the three good birdie looks he gave himself on the last three greens, could've been the week that cemented his card and a bonus trip to the Open.

He showed and has been showing incredible character I agree and is in arguably the form of his life, one more good week and he's secure for next year.

A win isn't out of the question with the way he's playing currently either.

That makes no sense. As as of the start of the Barbasol, there are 15 players who are higher up the FexEx table than Seamus. Five of them are in the top 100.

Click the 'starting' header under 'FedEx' on the leaderboard banner and you'll see the players ranked by their position on the FedEx table .....

https://www.pgatour.com/competition/2021/barbasol-championship/leaderboard.html

The bookies are seldom wrong, he's favourite for a reason, one of the most in form players on the planet at present

I don't mean to say he will achieve anything like Kuchar has done in the game. What I mean is that he could be able to achieve the same level of consistency, albeit a level below Kuchar. I could see Seamus being a consistent top 25 player in regular tour events. Not sure he has what it takes to win but he has the game to earn a huge amount of money even if he doesn't win. He seems to be playing with more freedom now and the self belief that he belongs.

Great to see another fantastic round from the "bottler". Who even came up with that stuff?

The man is in great form and long may it continue. The PGA tour is absolutely shark-infested waters and there's no room for bottlers on that tour. If you can get the starts or even a tour card you are 100%, not a bottler.