Senior Tour Golfers Get Shafted

I recently received a call from Mark Walker, who told me he was owed $18,000 for a win this fall on the Senior Players Tour – a start-up mini-tour for players 50 and older. Turns out he wasn’t alone: almost everyone in the field from the event, the third tournament on the fledgling tour, was owed a check. Over the years, various mini-tours have failed to pay players, and I’ve heard so many cautionary tales that I wasn’t surprised by Walker’s call. But this story was unlike any I had heard. 

More than $400,000 in revenue (allegedly)

More than $115,000 in missing checks

40 players looking for answers. This is the story of the Senior Players Tour.

Our tale includes a Canadian billionaire who spent $250,000 sponsoring the tour and another $1 million on a Canadian professional golfer named Stu Patterson. Randal Sparks, the self-appointed CEO of the new tour and another pro golfer, is another central character. Sparks touted that his family trust, worth about $70 million, would fund the Tour’s third event. But most of the $125,000 purse was not paid, Sparks shut down the tour and hundreds of thousands of dollars vanished. 

40 players were owed checks ranging from $18,000 to $1,000 and were left high and dry. One player told me, “It’s Christmas time, I could use the money for sure, it’s going to be a little tight this year.”  

The odds of making a living as a professional golfer are long, and for pros over the age of 50 without status on the Champions Tour, they are nearly impossible. The Champions Tour has limited-field events and only five cards are available at Q school. Earlier this year, the number of spots available at Monday qualifiers was reduced from four to three. Most players over 50 who weren’t PGA Tour regulars are working jobs to make ends meet, and a missing check might mean fewer Monday qualifiers, or extra work shifts to cover the missing money. 

Stu Patterson is from Calgary, Alberta, and he met the Canadian billionaire, who we’ll call Tim, while Patterson was coaching youth baseball 15 years ago. The sons of Patterson and Tim had played together since they were young. Later, Tim helped Patterson chase some ventures that failed or stalled, including a teaching academy and a golf app. He also helped fund Stu’s professional golf career. According to multiple people, Tim sent Patterson upwards of $10,000 a month. Despite the generous bankroll, Patterson didn’t get many opportunities. Internet searches revealed few entries into events, and when I asked Patterson, he wasn’t able to name many events he has played over the years. He told me the money was used to help him come to the U.S. to practice and that health issues had limited his playing time. 

 Patterson estimates he received more than $1 million from Tim, adding that somewhere between $200,000 and $600,000 went toward his professional golf career. The rest, according to Patterson, was for a failed car dealership, the development of the app and the teaching academy. 

Patterson's playing record includes a few Waste Management pre-qualifying rounds in which he didn’t break 80, a few failed attempts at pre-qualifiers on the Champions Tour, where his best score was a 73, and a withdrawal from the Arizona Senior Open, where he cited injuries. 

Because there wasn’t a mini-tour for players over the age of 50 to compete on, Patterson, Randall Sparks and Pat Patterson (no relation) saw an opportunity. The trio had previously spoken casually about starting a Tour, and during a meeting at a Las Cruces New Mexico hotel  before U.S. Senior Open qualifying, they formalized the pursuit. Stu Patterson said he would approach his friend and backer, Tim, for financial support. Sparks would lead the business side, and Pat would oversee course setup and logistics.

In the following weeks, the group set up a board of player advisers and hammered out details. The plan was to hold six events in 2023 and run a full schedule of events in 2024. The Senior Players Tour was born. 

According to multiple people I spoke with, Sparks became the self-appointed CEO. He told the group he would set up the Tour as a 501c3 and handle all of the paperwork, along with the banking. The reason Sparks cited for being the business shark was his background of owning a successful roofing business that he said was valued at $6 million.

The players building the tour were soon under the impression that Tim told Stu Patterson he would not only help fund this season, but also would commit the funding needed for the 2024 season. Stu Patterson disputes the notion that he ever said Tim would fund the tour through 2024, telling me the plan was to fund the first few events and review the results before making a bigger commitment.

The site of the first event was Sewailo Golf Club in Tucson, Ariz. Sparks was a member and lived nearby. The event was set for the first week in July and the tour guaranteed a purse of $125,000, all of which would be covered by Tim. The entry fee was $500, and 100 players entered. On top of that, Cardio Miracle, a health and heart supplement company, paid $15,000 to be the title sponsor. A club member contributed $5,000 to the purse.

Because so many mini-tours have failed to deliver on promises, some players I spoke with decided to skip the first event, taking a wait-and-see approach; a $500 entry fee with a $125,000 purse seemed too good to be true. Nevertheless, a good field was assembled.

The field included former PGA Tour winners Guy Boros and Keith Clearwater. Longtime pro Omar Uresti also teed it up. The three-day event went off without any significant issues, and Boros would go on to win. The tour hired a production company to shoot promotional videos. 

The players were paid a few weeks after the event. According to the list of costs associated with the event provided by Pat Patterson, the event turned a profit of almost $31,000. But according to multiple players, Stu Patterson had voiced concerns about the direction of the tour prior to the event. He was scheduled to play, but he withdrew a few days before the tournament, citing illness.

After the first event Stu Patterson told multiple players and Sparks via email that Tim would not be able to fund the second event because he was being audited by the IRS. Patterson disputes this, saying he told the group Tim wanted a full audit of the finances of the inaugural event. 

Stu Patterson then spoke to Tim about concerns he had about the tour and mentioned the conversation to other players. In my multiple conversations with Stu Patterson he told me Sparks was incensed, and the two exchanged numerous contentious texts, phone calls and emails. The dispute between Stu Patterson and Sparks was centered mostly around how quickly the new tour was planning events. Stu Patterson felt like the tour was moving too quickly while Sparks pushed for more events. 

In one exchange, Patterson emailed Sparks about the direction of the tour and voiced concerns he was being pushed out. In an email reply, Sparks said, “My ass is on the line,” and explained his name was the only one on the business and that if things weren’t run correctly, “I could go to prison.” 

According to Patterson, Sparks was angry Patterson wouldn’t let him meet directly with the billionaire funding the tour's purses. “I’m sick of this shit, and after the next event, we can just call it quits,” Sparks said in an email. “I don’t need the drama and headache.” Sparks concluded by saying he would have a contract drawn up to divide ownership of the tour. In the email he said the contract would stipulate he had a 34 percent controlling interest and the two Pattersons would have 33 percent each. According to both Pat and Stu Patterson, no such contract was ever sent. The contentious relationship continued for weeks and became so heated that Sparks sent Stu Patterson an email with the subject line “Your Done!” The email is below.

Attached to the email was a cease-and-desist letter. The letter stated “Any more slander by Stu Patterson will be followed by a lawsuit for damages.  It did not appear to come from a lawyer and contained numerous spelling and grammatical errors. It said that Stu Patterson had been removed from the tour board and threatened a lawsuit if his “slander continued.” 

Patterson responded by saying he was done with the tour and that the venture had “ruined his life.” He added, “I’m not playing golf anymore, thanks to you and Pat.” He signed it: “Stu Patterson, Former professional golfer.”

With Stu Patterson out of the picture, Sparks and Pat Patterson contacted Tim’s executive assistant, who we’ll call Sarah, to set up a meeting. Tim was not part of the meeting. Both Pat Patterson and Sarah confirmed the details of the meeting and what was discussed. 

Sparks led the meeting and discussed the business filing as a 501c3 (I haven’t been able to verify the organization was legally established as a 501c3) and explained the plan for the rest of the season and into 2024. He explained that 33 percent of the profits would go directly to charity, including one for children who are victims of sexual assault. In email correspondence with Sparks, I asked what charitable donations had been made. He didn’t answer specifically.

A few days after the meeting, Sarah called to say she had spoken with Tim’s legal team and they would be wiring the $125,000 for the second event. There were no promises for funding beyond that. Pat Patterson repeatedly told Sparks they should shut down the tour after the second event until funding was secured. According to Patterson, Sparks refused.

The second event was held at Chautauqua Golf Club in New York during the last week in August. The field size was reduced to 84 players, and the entry fee was raised to $600. Cardio Miracle anted up another $15,000 to be the title sponsor, and the purse remained at $125,000. Jay Juricec, a former teacher from Michigan's upper peninsula, won the three-day event. I talked with Juricec, who said that although he had heard concerns, he was paid promptly after each of the first two events. 

All players were paid within two weeks of the second event. According to a cost report Pat Patterson kept, the profit from the second event was estimated at $50,000. The course cost was about $15,000, and between entry fees and the title sponsorship, $65,400 was collected in revenue. Sparks, however, disputed that total, writing in an email to me, “You don’t know who did and didn’t pay entry fees.”

Tim, the Canadian billionaire, was out now, and the group needed funding for the next event. According to Pat Patterson and numerous other players I spoke with, Sparks volunteered to cover any purse shortages from a family trust that he told people was worth $70 million. Text messages I obtained confirm that Sparks agreed to cover any shortfall that wasn't covered by profits from the previous events and entry fees collected from the third event. 

According to multiple players, Sparks said he was in charge of the family trust and often bragged about his supposed wealth. The amount Sparks claimed the trust was worth varied depending on who he talked to. He showed players pictures of a private plane his family allegedly owned, spoke of his lucrative roofing business and said he owned multiple rental properties. In one visit to a bar in Ohio with multiple players, he offered to pay for a server’s college tuition. 

The home address for Sparks, listed on entries of events he entered, is a modest home in the Tucson area valued at $333,000. The home is listed under his mother's name and in my search, I could not find any properties that listed Randal Sparks as the owner. 

The phone number listed on the website for the roofing company goes directly to voicemail. In multiple reviews, customers spoke of numerous issues, including money Sparks allegedly still owed them, employees not showing up for months, failed promises, and an inability to contact Sparks. A search of the company also revealed numerous citations from the city, including not having the proper licenses. A background check revealed that Randal Sparks has been arrested numerous times for offenses including writing bad checks. 

Sparks pushed forward with the third event in the last week of September at The Neuse Golf Club in Clayton, N.C. The field was reduced to 78 players to mirror the size of a Champions Tour event. The entry fee remained unchanged at $600. Another $125,000 purse was guaranteed. On multiple occasions, in text messages I obtained, Pat Patterson confirmed with Sparks that he would cover any shortfall. 

 Sparks went to the area early and played money games with a group of pros. “As soon as I met him,” one told me, “I knew he was full of shit.” 

Pat Patterson showed up to the event a few days before the opening round and was surprised to see almost none of the preparation for the tournament had been completed. The tour banners and signs weren’t there (they never showed up), and pin positions and tee locations hadn’t been determined. He mapped out the course while playing his practice rounds.

 The multiple players I spoke with said the third event didn’t run as smoothly as the first two, but most issues were minor, although to everyone’s surprise, It took almost 45 minutes to determine the winner. Both Pat Patterson and Sparks played in the event and there was no one there to do scoring when the first groups came in. According to a player I spoke with, he jumped in to help post scores, just to speed up the process. 

Mark Walker, a longtime pro with 19 Champions Tour events to his credit, won the three-day event. The winner's check was supposed to be $18,000, and it was much needed for Walker, who was soon headed to the first stage of Champions Tour Q school. Uresti and Gibby Gilbert tied for second, and each was supposed to receive $9,500. Brad Adamonis, Dick Mast, Skip Kendall and Neal Lancaster finished in the top 10. 

According to Pat Patterson and others, Sparks stayed in the area after the event concluded. Sparks told numerous players he had purchased a home in the area. In text messages I obtained, he sent pictures of the home to multiple players, claiming he bought the home in an all-cash deal. A search of the homeownership doesn’t list Randal Sparks as the owner. 

On Oct. 6, Sparks played in the pre-qualifier for the SAS Championship on the Champions Tour in Clayton. His 70 wasn’t good enough to get through to the Monday qualifier, but he stayed in the area to caddy for Harry Rudolph in the Monday qualifier. 

At that qualifier, Gilbert told me he confronted Sparks in the parking lot to ask where his $9,500 was. Gilbert said he left the meeting feeling better about the status of the checks and the 501c3. “He was a smooth talker,” Gilbert says. “And I felt at that moment he was a stand-up guy.” 

According to Gilbert and numerous players I spoke with, Sparks said his accountant had the checks and they would be sent out soon and that the delay was due to getting 1099 tax forms sent with the checks. Numerous pros had never heard of a mini-tour sending out 1099s with the checks; they are typically sent out early the following year. 

On Oct. 14, Sparks posted a statement on the Senior Players Tour website saying the “accountant got the checks on October 13th” and then listed the amount owed to each player. (The website is no longer working, but a screenshot I acquired confirms the post.) 

The Senior Texas State Open, unaffiliated to Sparks’s tour, was played Oct. 18-20 and numerous players owed money were in the field. Sparks was also entered in the field. In the days leading up to the event, in text messages I obtained, Sparks expressed irritation to Pat Patterson about players asking about their money. Patterson pleaded with him to bring the checks to Texas.

“Now I am supposed to chase them to pay them?” Sparks texted to Patterson. “Fuck that. Fuck them, I put up my own money and get bad-mouthed.” 

In Texas, multiple players I spoke with said they confronted Sparks about their money and he repeated his accountant would be mailing the checks immediately. After two players confirmed they received payment for the third event, there was a glimmer of hope. That was short-lived. 

After opening with an 80, Sparks went out with another player for drinks. He failed to show up for his second round. It was the last time anyone owed money has seen him. 

In the weeks following the Senior Texas Open, Sparks continued to say his accountant had the checks. In a text message to Pat Patterson, Sparks offered the accountant’s phone number. Patterson called the number almost 30 times, he said, and every time the call went directly to voicemail. A search of a number reveals that it is a cell phone registered to a person in the Tuscan area but doesn't seem to be associated with an accountant.

In early November, Pat Patterson said Sparks told him the company was out of money and would be filing for bankruptcy. Only three players were paid for the third event. Almost $115,000 in tournament winnings is missing. The last time any of the players I spoke with have heard from Sparks was Nov. 15. 

Players have called and also shown up to Sewailo Golf Club, but people in the club have not seen Sparks in weeks. One player sat outside Sparks’ house and saw a TV on but decided against knocking. 

I tried to reach Sparks through numerous numbers provided to me by players. I also sent an email to multiple email addresses. Sparks replied by email, and I’ve included the entire conversation below. He did not directly answer my questions, but he did say the $183,000 in entry fees and sponsorship I inquired about was “not even close” and that the company was bankrupt. In his fourth email, Sparks asked me not to contact him again. 

The group of players owed money attempted numerous times to file criminal charges. One player even walked into an FBI office to tell his story. After numerous calls between multiple agencies it was determined that charges needed to be filed in North Carolina, the site of the third event. In the following days a player will file a police report. 

With less money for the holidays and their careers, players are angry and frustrated. Walker, who won the event and is out $18,000, missed advancing through the first stage of Champions Tour Q school for the first time in six attempts. He vented about the distraction of dealing with this situation while trying to concentrate on Q school. 

Professional golfers over the age of 50 have few events to play in if they don’t make the Champions Tour. That’s why golfers on the Senior Players Tour were excited about the prospect of having a new place to play. Now they’re figures in yet another cautionary mini-tour tale. 

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