HSBC Champions to stay unofficial money, at least for now, says Finchem

PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem is not ready to count the HSBC Champions as official money on the PGA Tour, even though it’s a World Golf Championship, because it comes so late in the year -- a week before the season-ending Children’s Miracle Network Classic at Disney World. But there is precedent. When the WGCs began in 1999, the American Express Championship in Spain was held the week after the Tour Championship and counted toward the money list. The idea was to give the PGA Tour two blockbuster weeks at the end to decide the money title. A number of Americans decided not to go to Valderrama, and the money list was never affected because Tiger Woods won by millions. Even so, there were players in Spain who could have affected the rest of the money list. “I think the money list is less important than it used to be,” Finchem said. “As I said, we don’t view it as a big deal. We just made the call on this one, and for this period of time, we’re not going to do it. I don’t know what to tell you except we’ll continue to look at it.”