"Nobody could have predicted this kind of sponsor retention.”

Michael Smith reports on the PGA Tour's rosey sponsor picture and gets a chatty Tom Wade to say a bit more than he probably should have.

“Corporate America seems to be piling up a lot of cash and not spending it,” Wade said. “But I’ve been doing this 17 years and, really, we’re in about the same situation, sponsorshipwise, that we’re normally in. It’s frankly not that much different from when things were good economically.

“From that standpoint, it’s been a very good year. Nobody could have predicted this kind of sponsor retention.”

Speaking of that, seems the focus now is on convincing FedEx to prop up the farce that is the cup bearing its name.

The tour likely will enter into renewal talks with FedEx, umbrella sponsor of the seasonlong points championship, in 2011. That deal goes through 2012 and includes options to go longer. Locking down FedEx to a long-term deal that would include a heavy advertising commitment would be a bonus for the tour entering TV negotiations with CBS and NBC later in 2011.

“Any time we’ve got commitments like FedEx, it’s helpful,” Wade said. “But I think it would be an overstatement to say we must get it done” before the TV talks begin.