Facebook started burning up some time ago when someone complained about doubles prize money. Curious, I went to the home page on the tournament website and the rules of prize payout were posted. Here is my thought on that.
1. I cannot get this out of my head. When I was a top open player I always entered a tournament for the competition and not necessarily the prize money. When I did enter for prize money in one era of my life, I knew the rules beforehand. If I was not paid the full amount, I got it(meaning I understood beforehand). Luckily I played in an era where the draws were usually full. Pro-rated draws were the norm, not the exception.
2. Now if I was in charge of said tournament or tournaments I would rather lose money and payout than save a few dollars and lose the good will of the players. In fact, this has happened to me where I barely broke even or lost money in events such as shootouts and racquetball camps. I paid above and beyond what I posted. Why? Duh-so people come back the next year!!
3. Think of a tournament as a party and you are the hostess or host. You want people to come back to your party. That is more important than the bottom line some years. Eventually you will make money but if you skimp on prizes you will always lose. Your tournament image will be forever altered. (See Duh-so people will come back comment above)
4. (On the other hand) Whatever happened to playing for competition? I get a kick out of the local legend thing. Go out and play with the pros if money is your thing instead of looking for easy money. The ironic thing is I know some of the local legends and in fact coached some of them. They are all good enough to compete at the highest level. By the way if you ask a top professional player if they knew someone coming up with a ton of talent who never made it to the top, they will tell you, yes!
One more note on this-today many do play for the competition and I know because I had over $200 in prize checks unclaimed after one of the pro stops I ran!