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Scott Gutschewski is the poster boy of the Cox Classic.
He's 33. He has bounced back and forth from the PGA Tour to Nationwide the past four years. He's a grinder chasing the dream.
On Friday, “Gooch'' had to birdie the last two holes to make his first cut in four weeks. His shirt looked as if it had a bucket of sweat dumped on it. As he signed autographs, he had a slight smile. He lived to play on the weekend.
“Finally,'' he said. “I'm just trying to get something going.''
Gooch is a former Husker golfer, a Ralston High graduate. He's Nebraska tough and Omaha resilient.
Just like the Cox Classic.
In 14 years, our annual pro golf extravaganza has forged a name as one of the best stops on the Nationwide Tour. Pros say the Cox Classic is more like the PGA Tour than some of the tourneys on the actual PGA Tour.
But recent years have been tough. Like most events in the sponsored-driven world of pro golf, the tournament got kicked in the teeth last year by the economy. It had to dip into its modest reserves to take care of its charity.
This year, for the first time since 1999, the Golf Channel is nowhere to be found at Champions Run.
No Golf Channel?
No problem.
Sure, the camera towers give the tourney a big-time feel. It's always cool to see Omaha and Champions Run on national TV. The Golf Channel brings golf course “cred'' to your tournament.
But unless some local sugar daddy wants to step forward and pay the $280,000 necessary to bring Jerry Foltz and Co. to the course, it's not hardly worth it.
The Golf Channel fee is an amazing thing. Typically, the TV network pays the event — CBS pays to show the Masters and the Final Four, NBC forks over big bucks to show Notre Dame going 6-6 while Fox Sports Net and ABC/ESPN are allegedly going to pay the Big 12 over-the-top fees and make sure that Texas A&M gets $20 million a year.
But when it comes to the Nationwide Tour, the tail wags the dog. And the price of having the golf network do your event goes up 15 percent every year. Reportedly, it covers production and travel costs.
Typically, it would be worth it to pay the freight of national publicity. But these aren't typical times.
The number $280,000 is a bit over most sponsors' heads. What do you get for it?
We miss the Golf Channel, but it should be noted that last year $240,000 got the Cox Classic on tape delay at night.
The Cox Classic might be better off without it.
For one thing, $280,000 can go toward a lot of other things to make the tournament better, such as keeping the prize money in the top five on tour.
Second, and perhaps more important, is attendance. What's the old saying? You can't stay home and watch it if it's not on.
Lookee here. Cox Classic Tournament Chairman Chad Mardesen said that attendance numbers are up this year and “way up'' on a hot and steamy Friday.
“It's been gangbusters out there,'' Mardesen said. “Our gut feeling was it would bring out more people. You don't have the option of sitting and watching at home. Golf Channel is a good and bad thing. We want it on TV. The tour wants it on TV. But bigger attendance is good, too.''
If those numbers continue, maybe the sponsorship dollars go back up. Who knows? Golf, like the economy, lives on weird, unpredictable cycles.
Five years ago, the Cox Classic was on fire. Jason Gore shot a 59 and won the tourney and a battlefield promotion to the PGA Tour. Everybody in golf watched it on the Golf Channel. Omaha, and the Cox Classic, was the talk of the golf world.
Five years later, Gore is back in Omaha with some battle scars and a lower profile, trying to work his way back up.
Just like the Cox Classic, which, with one year left on its contract with Champions Run, is trying to grind its way through the economy and keep its status in the community and on the tour.
“That's a great analogy,'' Mardesen said. “We've been through a lot, and we're getting better.''
When this teed off in 1996, who knew that it would still be going 14 years later?
“It's the city of Omaha, spectators and sponsors,'' Mardesen said. “The city of Omaha is resilient. We don't have the ups and downs that other cities have because this city, for lack of a better word, pushes through when times are tough. Other cities might fold at a little adversity. Omaha just seems to trudge through.''
Just like a broad-shouldered Nebraska kid named Gutschewski. Why does do it?
“What else am I going to do?'' Gooch said with that smile. “I'm 33, I don't have a degree.
“I really enjoy it. I feel like I can be successful on the PGA Tour. I think everybody out here feels like that. I don't know. If I knew, I probably wouldn't be out here.''
Sometimes it's better to keep your head down and dream.
Contact the writer:
444-1025, tom.shatel@owh.com
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