Turnover in sponsorship is nothing new on the PGA Tour. Five years ago, a dozen tournaments had different title sponsors. Neal Pilson, a TV consultant and former president of CBS Sports, once said the health of the tour is best defined by the waiting list of title sponsors.

It’s a short list at best right now.

The tour could not find a replacement sponsor for the tournament in Atlanta, which lost its spot on the spring schedule to the Valero Texas Open next year. Tampa Bay was on the verge of going away until Transitions Optical stepped in.

Through it all, golf was without its biggest star for all but about three months. Woods had surgery on his knee twice this year, the last one after winning the U.S. Open in June. Even Woods doesn’t know when he can return in 2009.

“Him not playing and the economy taking a downturn, it’s a punch in the gut,” said Greg McLaughlin, who runs the AT&T National and the unofficial Chevron World Challenge, both hosted by Woods.

For now, the real victim could be charity.

PGA Tour events crossed the $1 billion mark two years ago in charitable giving, its hallmark. How much a tournament raises for local charities depends largely on the secondary tiers of sponsorship — sky boxes, corporate packages, pro-ams.

“When you look at it, the appearance that all these events have title sponsors is accurate,” McLaughlin said. “Look underneath the covers and find out about secondary sponsors.”

The Shell Houston Open not only is starting its renewal contracts with such sponsors, but officials are still recovering from Hurricane Ike. It has solid title sponsorship, but tournament director Steve Timms said every tournament’s biggest concern is corporate hospitality. In tough economic times, discretionary money is the first to go.

“The psychology of this thing is that even if business is doing OK, you should go ahead and cut back,” Timms said. “We’ve just completed our budget process. We’ll keep it even with ’08 numbers. We’ll be pleased if we get that, and that may be aggressive.”

Prize money comes primarily from title sponsorship and TV contracts. The only sting players might feel — particularly those outside of the top 50 — are personal endorsements. Hambric said he was thrilled to get Justin Leonard’s deal with Nike renewed in August.

But he worries about the long term, like everyone else.

“If we went into something like a depression, sports marketing is not going to be the last thing to go,” Hambric said. “For a lot of companies, it might be the first thing to go — and the last thing to come back.”

Also on NBCSports.com College football: What was Yale coaching thinking?   NFL: Best fantasy football moves  |  Waiver moves Opinion: So far, Nowitzki is NBA’s MVP  |  Fan Ranker NCAA hoops: Calipari says right now, his team ‘stinks’ Twitter: Follow us @nbc_sports

MORE FROM GOLF

Golf Section Front

Rain shortens LPGA Tour Championship to 54 holes Westwood has 2-shot lead after 3rd round in Dubai Brooks, Fowler lead at Pebble Beach Peter Senior wins Champions Tour Q-school Sybase Classic off LPGA Tour schedule Latest golf videos Latest player news, rumors and more Tracking Tiger: News, features and more Tiger's triumphs: Recapping all Woods' wins Vote: When will Tiger win his 15th major? Golf Section Front   Add Golf headlines to your news reader: