After blog posting this at Diamonds Coffeeshop I'm going back up Central (well, a detour off Central; there is an Open Streets festival going on and it's snarling up traffic) all the way to Blaine to catch the final round of the 3M Championship at TPC Twin Cities. And it'll be the last time I'll do that, because this is the last-ever 3M Championship.
Starting as the Burnet Senior Classic in 1993, becoming the Coldwell Banker Burnet Classic in '98, and moving from Bunker Hills in Coon Rapids to TPC Twin Cities in Blaine (where 3M became title sponsor) in 2001, it was the only regular golf tournament held locally from any national tour. Sure, it was the Senior Tour (or the PGA Champions Tour, or PGA Tour Champions, what they call themselves now), but it was still a kick to see all these golfers I remember watching on the TV in far-flung places in the U.S. and the world coming to freakin' Coon Rapids to play for all us Minnesotans. It got even better as the tournament aged, because golfers on the regular PGA Tour aged into the Seniors Tour, and that allowed me to finally see these guys in the flesh.
But the biggest masterstroke this tourney, now run by longtime golf maven Hollis Cavner, did came in 2002. After a couple of early unsteady years, the 3M had been humming along. One of its greatest revenue streams was charging admission. I remember thinking at the time that I would have wanted to see this tournament live, but I would not pay to watch people hit golf balls in the searing heat for the whole day.
Then 9/11 happened. I have no idea if the accompanying fear and panic was a factor for Cavner. A dip in the economy, albeit shallow and temporary, happened immediately after that; maybe that was a factor. Or maybe he thought he could get more crowds to come and had thought that even before 9/11. Whatever the case, for the 2002 tournament, admission fees were waved. Everybody can now come in for free. And that's what convinced me to come watch a golf tournament in-person for the first time ... and, unless I'm wrong, I've been coming to the Sunday final day for every tournament since.
I am convinced that a lot of people who were interested in watching golf (and who, like me, thought that golf tournaments always occurred Somewhere Far From Here) wanted to see the 3M Championship but didn't want to pay. Making this tournament free for all gave so many casual fans like me a taste of what being a spectator for this sport is all about. And that led a lot of people to say that, in fact, they would pay to spend a day in the searing heat watching other people hit golf balls. In tournaments such as the Ryder Cup, which happened at Hazeltine two years ago. And I paid to get in -- $200, in fact, and I don't regret it.
So, thank you, Hollis Cavner, for doing this. And yet I also disappointed in him -- partly for his actions but mostly for his words earlier this summer, when initial reports were confirmed and that the regular PGA Tour was going to come here for the first time in decades for a regular tour for at least the next seven years. What will be called the 3M Open will take place around the 4th of July; in fact, next year's inaugural begins on Independence Day. It will also take place at the TPC Twin Cities.
And the 3M Open will replace the 3M Championship. That's why I need to go up there as soon as I finish with this -- this is the last-ever tournament, and with storms in the forecast, I don't know how long I'll be there. I wanted to be out there for a long time once I learned this will be the death of the tourney, but a combination of getting up late at night to take a vicious shit (a result of eating a huge plate of nachos at the abortion of a United match and then eating a pizza at Surly) and sleeping in late pushed my schedule all the way back to, well, 12:59 p.m., when I am typing up this particular sentence.
I don't know the business at all. But theoretically, you could find another title sponsor for the Senior event and continued to play it at the same golf course in a month's time. There are some Senior golfers who don't want to see it go, particularly Rocco Mediate. That obviously doesn't sway Cavner. He has moved this slot to another tournament he will run, on this same date, to a course in South Dakota. But he has said that he wants to fry bigger fish. Which is all well and good, but that doesn't mean you have to kill off the baby that made all of this possible.
Or maybe it does, how the fuck should I know? All I know is that through 26 years, the 3M Championship has become a regular staple -- and a sure money-maker -- for all parties involved, but now, in the interest of "More," it'll be killed off.
Prices for admission for the 3M Open, by the way, are between $25 and $65 daily. I might actually pay it. That's a by-product of learning to love watching golf live, all thanks to this humble yet dignified tournament. But free's a hell of a lot better.
I'll miss you, 3M Championship. Better get over there now.
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