NORTON, Mass. -- The dominoes are officially starting to fall.
It was announced Friday that Nationwide will take over as a presenting sponsor of the Memorial Tournament next year, while removing itself from ownership of the PGA Tour's developmental circuit when its contract expires following the 2012 season.
What does this mean for the state of business in professional golf? Well, these specific moves shouldn't be perceived as purely negative. The Memorial -- a Jack Nicklaus-hosted crown jewel of the PGA Tour's regular season that annually features an elite field -- finds a replacement for Morgan Stanley and the soon-to-be erstwhile Nationwide Tour has the luxury of getting two years to supplant its sponsor of the past eight seasons.
The bigger story here is that this is only the beginning. With many tournament sponsors coming from the automobile, financial and banking industries, expect further turbulence in this arena. Obviously the economic climate often no longer allows for non-necessities such as this, meaning sponsorship of events will become major news, no longer rendered fodder for golf and business insiders alone.
At least six tournaments will change title sponsors for the 2011 season and beyond. With many more sponsorship contracts under review at year's end, there are plenty still in doubt.
That doesn't mean fans -- not to mention players and officials -- won't be able to tell every tourney without a scorecard next year.
For example: Deutsche Bank, which is serving as title sponsor of this week's event at TPC Boston for the eighth straight year, exercised its two-year option Thursday, ensuring it will remain as title sponsor through the 2012 edition of the tournament.
Others have reached similar agreements, meaning there will be at least a modicum of continuity on the PGA Tour for next season and beyond.
Big changes are coming, though. There was once a time when all pro tournaments were referred to simply by their location. Though it won't revert to that option in an official capacity, expect some familiar title sponsors to opt out sooner rather than later.
It will just be a continuation of this domino effect.
Jason Sobel is a golf writer for ESPN.com. He can be reached at Jason.Sobel@espn.com.
