The rumblings from the last week’s decision to discontinue the popular International PGA Tour event at Castle Pines are still reverberating through the golf world, and Golf Digest’s John Hawkins isn’t pulling any punches:

The death of the International last week, however, was a big deal for a bunch of reasons. If no longer a marquee non-major, this was a solid mid-level tour stop in a major metropolitan market–not some CVS Charity Classic or B.C. Open. It is by far the most notable tournament loss in Tim Finchem’s 13 years as commissioner. Ten months ago Denver was on the short list of potential hosts for a FedEx Cup playoff tilt. Now the Mile High City is six feet under. “Players aren’t going to react well to this,” says eight-year veteran Joe Ogilvie, a member of the tour’s policy board. “You can’t do a better job of running an event than Jack Vickers and the people at Castle Pines.”[ . . .]
The International’s demise is a dangerous sign as to the widening chasm between Tiger events and the non-Tigers. Never have the haves and have-nots been so easily defined or so mindlessly categorized by the presence of a single player–it’s the frightening downside of Woods’ competitive dictatorship. When he doubles the size of a viewing audience in a strong golf economy, the rich get richer. When he does it in lean times, the poor get really poor.

Along the same lines, ESPN.com’s Bob Harig discusses the increasing risk of putting on a non-Tiger tour event:

Sponsoring a regular PGA Tour event costs in the neighborhood of $7 million per year. That money covers a portion of the purse, a television advertising commitment, a fee to the PGA Tour and to the tournament. Spread that out over the six-year length of the network contracts, and you’re talking about $42 million or more.
It is a hefty price, especially given the modest television ratings. Those small numbers — usually in the 2 million-to-3 million range for a weekend network telecast — were always justified because they were reaching the “right” kind of people Ö i.e. those with disposable income. With golf, less meant more.
But as the price has kept going up, those company executives began looking at the numbers more closely. And some of them have started to say that enough is enough — especially if Woods doesn’t play.

And guess what side of that chasm the Shell Houston Open is on?