Only a few hours are left until the commencement of the sixth signature event of the PGA Tour at Quail Hollow. The field of 69 players consists of four members who received the sponsorship exemption, which includes Matt Kuchar, Gary Woodland, and the two PGA Tour policy board members, Webb Simpson and Adam Scott.

The former of the two has failed to land himself inside the top 25 in all seven events he has played so far. Simpson’s performance has put his eligibility to receive repeated exemptions at the signature events in question. The former U.S. Open champion’s recent invite was also met with a lot of criticism. Despite that, ahead of the Wells Fargo Championship, Webb Simpson shared his views on the sponsorship exemption, which once again caused a huge uproar in the golf world.

As shared by a Twitter handle, NUCLR GOLF, responding to the critics, Simpson said that his selection has no relation to his position. He added that it was the same case with Adam Scott. “I know that I’ve gotten, this is my fourth sponsor exemption, and Adam Scott’s received his fair share. There was controversy and guys were trying to link us being on the board, but it has nothing to do with me being on the board…”

Delving more into the matter, Webb Simpson expressed that it was the discretion of the tournament directors to give out exemptions and added, “These tournament directors are working around the clock for a year trying to make their tournament the best. We want to give them the opportunity to say hey, you have a few spots, four spots in these Signature Events to be able to invite who you want to invite.”

Simpson further added that he knew that criticism would come along the way, but he is rather comfortable knowing that he has been given the opportunity and will make the best of it.

Although the 2012 US Open winner does not care about the perception of the sponsor exemptions given out for the Signature events as he stated, “I know these sponsor exemptions are probably the most coveted sponsor exemptions in the history of the Tour, but we’re not going to make everyone happy,” the fans have their ideologies. And for one, they are not on the positive side.

The Golf Community calls Webb Simpson ‘liar’

Webb Simpson received exemptions at three signature events: the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and the RBC Heritage, where he found himself towards the end of the leaderboard with T39, T30, and T42 ranks, respectively. Coming to Scott, he bagged a T20 at the second signature event but missed the cut at the Bay Hill event. With the members of the policy board, grabbing one exemption after another. One of the followers directed their frustration, towards both players on the policy board and stated, “Liar. Plus Adam Scott runs circles around Webb.” 

Apart from being one of the player directors. The seven-time PGA Tour winner has a deeper connection to the Quail Hollow event. He has been a member of Quail Hollow since 2011 and became a Charlotte resident in 2014. To add to that, Webb Simpson has known the tournament sponsors since his rookie years and shares a very good relationship with them. Taking everything into consideration, one of the fans pointed out that this is not what’s called a fair share. Indicating that it was the prize that came along with them being on the inside of the circuit, they wrote, “Fair share” might not be the best choice of words…”

When the two Policy board members got an exemption at the Bay Hill event, Dylan Wu, a fellow PGA Tour pro, voiced his disapproval and hinted towards the benefit of being a policy board member and said, “Seems like if you’re a player director, you’ll get an invite into an elevated event.” This time around, fans also expressed the same concerns and indicated that the exemption for the sixth signature event made no sense and posed a question to the golf community. They wrote, “Both on the board and both getting all the exemptions you do the math”, and “If you gotta call out that these exemptions weren’t bc you’re on the board…… it’s bc you’re on the board”.

As NUCLR GOLF shared Webb Simpson’s statement on their X handle, at the end of the post, it even asked his followers if they believed what he said. Taking to this question, one of them directly answered, “Nope. I don’t.” This is a standing testament to how disagreeable the golf community has been regarding the exemptions being given out this season.

What are your thoughts regarding the exemptions? Let us know in the comments section below!