Companies Have Shied Away From Golf Spending - NYTimes.com

Companies Have Shied Away From Golf Spending - NYTimes.com: "He’s our own TARP money,” Pete Bevacqua, the U.S.G.A.’s chief business officer, said in an interview at the United States Open.Golf was held up as an emblem of excess by members of Congress as they scrutinized the spending of banks, especially those that received money as part of the government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program. Executives of institutions that received government bailout funds did not want to be seen spending taxpayer money on golf.

“What has happened has put golf sponsorship on the wrong side of public perception,” said Casey Alexander, who covers the golf industry for the New York-based Guilford Securities. “It’s on the radioactive list.”"