

The PGA Tour has been the favorite for golf fans because of its exceptional events, top players, and the fans’ engagement. Apart from the professionals, there has been active participation in the contests where fans bid or pick their favorite players for each event. In return for the right picks, the tour rewards them with a $1000 PGA Tour gift card. But now, with the playoffs in full swing, the stakes have skyrocketed: the reward has jumped to a staggering $1 million. Yet, despite the eye-popping prize, the contest is drawing criticism over its execution.
As the top 70 players prepare to clash in the high-stakes FedExCup Playoffs, the PGA Tour has also sparked a showdown among fans. The newly launched ‘Perfect 30’ contest—presented by LocaliQ—offers a chance to win $1 million by correctly predicting the final 30-player field for the TOUR Championship. However, during a recent episode of The Fried Egg Podcast, hosts Andy Johnson, PJ Clark, and Brendan Porath were skeptical. They criticized the contest for its narrow structure, arguing that the limited path to victory makes the massive prize more of a long shot than a realistic reward.
So, initially, when PJ started to share about the contest and the rules, the entire panel took their time to understand how difficult the contest is to win. Laughing and continuing the discussion, Clark then said, “I mean, it’s impossible. The number has so many places and has so many digits that I don’t even know what the number is. It’s incalculable.” Well, if we look at the numbers, there are 55 quintillion possible combinations that can be made. The number is not small, and the chances for any fan to win are extremely negligible.
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Further, Porath joined with anger, saying, “Nobody is better at creating the most impossible to win contests for the most, you know, uh, puny little prizes than the Tour. It’s unbelievable that they keep doing this.” He mentioned the 313 contests and the gift cards individually. The 313 contest was a charitable initiative at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. But interestingly, the players had to score “3-1-3” on consecutive holes for the successful feat.
However, this is also the second time this contest has been held, and it was a success last year.
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Even though winning seems all luck with the Perfect 30 contest, to address the concern pointed out by Andy Johnson, the tour has something else to offer.
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The PGA Tour’s Perfect 30 addresses the concern for participation with more to offer
“How many entries do you think they’re getting?” asked Johnson, and Porath, within seconds, replied “25” jokingly. But that has been considered by the Tour as they offer a reward apart from the correct 30 picks. As per the rules shared by the PGA Tour, there are further categories to earn points, which include correct pick, correct position, correct FedEx Cup winner prediction, and more.
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What’s your perspective on:
Is the Perfect 30 contest a clever marketing ploy or an impossible dream for golf fans?
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For every correct pick of the Tour Championship field, 3 points will be awarded. In fact, if the position is also predicted correctly, there are an additional 15 points to grab. According to this calculation, for every correct player and position, a fan can earn 18 points and earn up to 540 points in total. But that is not all, as there are more points to grab for right guessing. Fans can earn 1 additional point for each player to start in the top 30, 4 points for players starting in 31-50 positions, and 8 points for players that start in 51-70 positions. However, the points will be awarded only when the players qualify for the top-30, i.e., the TOUR Championship.
Even for the final positions, the right prediction for the winner will get an additional 20 points, while for each top-five and top-10 player prediction, 10 and 5 points will be awarded. The leaderboard for each event will get exciting for the fans. But despite such efforts of the PGA Tour, it is still under scrutiny by the insiders. What are your thoughts on the new Perfect 30 contest? Have you participated in it? Let us know in the comments below.
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Is the Perfect 30 contest a clever marketing ploy or an impossible dream for golf fans?