I looked up the past Shell Houston Open winners and noticed the dramatic increase in winning money over the last 15 years.

The money boom in the the 7 years after Tiger turned pro in 1997 is pretty incredible. Its also flattened out considerably since 2007, which is basically when his Major run ended (with the 2008 US Open being his only major win after 2007).

Completely forgot Kim won it recently. Wonder what he is up to these days

Got David Duval's autograph back sometime after he won the SHO.

[This message has been edited by AgHunter2011 (edited 4/3/2014 1:55p).]

First event I went to was in 2011 when Phil won it.

Got a pic with him on the 18th green. Fun times.

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Completely forgot Kim won it recently. Wonder what he is up to these days

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I thought he was going to be the next big thing but kept getting injured

Have been every year since 2009. Probably my favorite weekend in Houston every year.

Was on the green of 18 in 2009 when Casey won it and was on the green of the Par 3 16th when Mickelson stuck it to about 4 feet & birdied to essentilally win it (took the lead by 3 with 2 to go).

Those were the only two years I went on Sunday.

[This message has been edited by DRE06 (edited 4/3/2014 2:05p).]

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I thought he was going to be the next big thing but kept getting injured

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And kept partying in Vegas instead of practicing/playing. Don't guess you can blame him too much for that though.

My first year was 1986, the year the tournament was probably saved from extinction.

There was no title sponsor and the event was on life support. Somehow they got Jack to come, this was 1 or 2 weeks after his historic Masters win. Tom Watson was coerced to come as well. A great crowd turned out and the next year the tourney had a title sponsor again.

Curtis strange won it in a fairly close finish with Watson and Calvin Peete and first place paid around $100k or so. I stopped going in the late 90s due to family and kids, etc.

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I stopped going in the late 90s due to family and kids,

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Why would this stop you? Seems like even more of a reason to go out there. Either with the kids or without them...both would be a legitimate reason.

I'll never understand people that quit doing things they enjoy just b/c they have kids.

/general board

Because I live in College Station and there's not enough meaningful time to make the trip after your kids are done with their stuff. When your kids get old enough, you start going to their soccer games, dance, volleyball, track meets, cheer, horseback riding, you name it. I go to everything my kids do....everything....and it conflicts with the Houston Open and other things I'd also like to go to.

We did take our oldest to the HO when she was about 4, before she started those activities I mention. That's not easy either...trying to keep a tired, complaining 4 year old quiet next to the tee. Mark Wiebe did sign and give her a ball, though, without any of us asking, and that brightened her day.

In a few years I'll be "free" again, but not sure I'll be going to the SHO now that it's at Redstone...I went to a track meet in Atascocita a few weeks ago and it's a major pain fighting traffic to get down there. When it was at the Woodlands I was like you, it was one of my favorite weeks of the year. I'd go for 4 days...all day golf and then hit the Bunker on 18 and close it down....rinse and repeat.

I'm one of those parents who don't like to take any time away from family time. At first I did it because I didn't want to feel guilty 20 years from now, now I do it because I enjoy it more than anything else. And I didn't even want kids before we had them...go figure.










[This message has been edited by AgDotCom (edited 4/3/2014 4:09p).]

Gotcha. Didn't realize you lived in CS.

Figured as long as they were old enough to walk and not complain all day (does that ever happen?), it would be a fun event to take the kids to. Be outside, enjoy some golf course food, and watch a little golf....especially if you were trying to teach your kids the game.

I was 1 of 3 kids and definitely understand how busy weekends are between litle league sports and what not.

[This message has been edited by DRE06 (edited 4/3/2014 4:52p).]

Anthony Kim's problems are not injury related. Kid won't put the drugs down.

What's up with the handful of $990k payout years - when you get to that type of money, that extra $10k to make it a cool $1mil is not very much at all.

[This message has been edited by Coppell97 (edited 4/4/2014 12:27a).]

^
It looks like they try to keep 1st place at 18% of total purse. So to add an extra $10k to 1st is really an extra $55k+ to the purse. Not that much in the scheme of things, I guess. But it looks like they keep the total purse in multiples of $100k and once they establish that, then they calculate the payouts by place from the total, rather than vice versa.

I don't think Tiger usually plays the Shell open because it's the week before the Masters; he tends to take this tournament off for preparation.

looking through the past winners, his name isn't listed.

http://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/shell-houston-open/past-winners.html

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In a few years I'll be "free" again, but not sure I'll be going to the SHO now that it's at Redstone...I went to a track meet in Atascocita a few weeks ago and it's a major pain fighting traffic to get down there.

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I've never experienced any traffic issues when going to the SHO. Redstone is right off the Beltway so it's not like you'll heading into Atascocita on the other side of the Beltway.

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I don't think Tiger usually plays the Shell open because it's the week before the Masters; he tends to take this tournament off for preparation.

looking through the past winners, his name isn't listed.

http://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/shell-houston-open/past-winners.html

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He's just using the SHO as an example to show the upward trend of prize winnings in general of all tournaments since Tiger joined the Tour.

dp

[This message has been edited by RealTalk (edited 4/6/2014 10:38p).]

The simple statistic showing the growth trend in tour purses is pretty incredible. Very telling indeed.

There have multiple discussions on this forum in years past regarding the same topic, but it still bewilders me to this day to see other pros that dislike or bash Tiger. Love him or hate time -- shut your pie hole because he's making all of you much much more wealthy. Even the talking heads and pundits that are retired from touring ought to be careful, because his fame has translated to money for them as well. Arnold Palmer as essentially acknowledged that the golf channel may have never gotten of the ground without Tiger's transcending career -- his infidelities notwithstanding.