It's safe to say that there has been no more consistent journalistic critic of the PGA tournament in Milwaukee than me.

For more than 30 years, I have written about the tournament's increasingly lackluster field. I've suggested that the tournament leave its country club home and then advocated a switch to a Champions Tour or LPGA event. I've written about the machinations of board members and the shabby treatment the tournament gets from the PGA Tour.

Many of the people involved with the tournament can't stand the sight of me showing up at the event, and they brace for the latest broadside. We don't have a love-hate relationship. We have a hate-hate relationship.

The ironic thing is that just as the rest of the public seems to be coming around to my way of thinking, I am changing my way of thinking.

I went out to the tournament for its final day. The scant crowd almost took my breath away. I mean -- nobody was there.

Some people think the PGA Tour wants to take the spot away from Milwaukee, and give it to some other place, like Minneapolis, but I disagree. I think the tour is happy to have an event going on for the players who don't go to the British Open. Sure, it plays second fiddle, but for those guys who come here, it is first fiddle.

The strength of the PGA Tour does not come just from Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. It comes from the guys who come to Milwaukee, scraping each week, trying to break through. And the PGA Tour loves having an event for those guys, an event that goes about its business quietly, never complaining, no matter what slight it is forced to endure.

I went to the final round of the tournament with family members, including my two-year-old grandson, Charlie, who already loves golf. It was fun to watch him run around, race his daddy, and watch the golfers hit the ball.

And the tournament was a great, great place to be on a Sunday even though I wanted to know if Greg Norman could hold on to win the British. I recorded it instead.

The grounds at the tournament were beautiful.

Scott Evans, the head pro at Brown Deer was the hardest working guy at the course. He was a gracious host to pro and amateur golfer alike. He has taken Brown Deer from a county park course and turned it into a golf destination with an atmosphere of the very best courses in the country. Along with the executive director of the tournament, Dan Croak, they form a team that makes this one of the favorite stops on tour for players.

The food is great, and not all that expensive. The vantage points for seeing golfers were wonderful and available. Parking is easy. It sounds like the perfect setup for a summer day trip.

Except nobody was there.

U.S. Bank is the big sponsor of the tournament and will probably continue in that role, as a civic duty, next year when the contract expires. I can't believe the bank gets much concrete bang for their buck.

What this tournament needs, more than anything, is other, smaller sponsors. And, despite what I've said in the past, this is a case where civic duty comes into play.

There are not many of these tournaments. And if this one leaves Milwaukee, there isn't going to be another one. Now is the time for smaller companies to step up, contact the tournament and pledge a portion of their marketing or charitable dollars to a sponsorship.

This year, the tournament gave more than a half million dollars to local charities. That in itself is a worthy cause.

The other worthy cause is my grandson, Charlie, and all the other 2-year- olds who are going to want to watch a golf tournament. Let's preserve this one, for all of them.