Midweek Musings, Or Back in The Saddle

I write to you from Unplayable Lies Western HQ.... It's Hero Wednesday, so let's get to things without further ado.

Sergio Spoke So Highly of The Experience - I must admit that I failed to see this one coming:

The Waste Management Phoenix Open is among the most iconic events on the PGA Tour’s schedule. But when it comes to star power, the event won’t even be the top-billed

desert-based golf tournament that week. On Monday, Phil Mickelson became the latest star to announce his commitment to the controversial 2020 Saudi International. As a result, he’ll skip out on the Waste Management for the first time since his college days at Arizona State 30 years ago. 

Players have taken an onslaught of criticism for taking seven-figure appearance fees from a Saudi government with a dubious human rights record. While golfers have a long history of following the money wherever it leads, last year’s tournament came just months after the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist who had spoken out against Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Washington Post columns.

 It's that missing of Phoenix that so surprises, given that he's the Wasted's Favorite Son.  But perhaps we shouldn't focus on those thirty pieces of silver changing hands.  Maybe, just maybe, Phil is taking one for the team with a higher purpose in mind:

“I am really looking forward to playing in Saudi Arabia in January,” Mickelson told the

Saudi Gazette. “I watched Dustin win the title last year and thought the course looked like an interesting challenge. Having so many talented players on show also made it look like a much more established tournament than one in its inaugural year. I have enjoyed my previous visits to the Middle East and am looking forward to playing in a new country and doing my bit to grow the game in the Kingdom.”

Phil does know that this was a different Kingdom, right? 

Phil took some incoming from the Twitterati, which he had to have known would be the case, and had this misdirection in response:

“After turning down opportunities to go to the Middle East for many years, I’m excited to go play and see a place in the world I’ve never been. I understand those who are upset or disappointed. You’ll be ok. I’m excited to experience this for the first time.”

Just when I had been reliably informed that you had enjoyed your previous visits to the Middle East.... 

Editor: Reliably informed by whom?

Me: Phil.

Editor: See the issue?

Got it.   Of course, he did have to add this:

“I understand those who are upset or disappointed. You’ll be OK. I’m excited to experience this for the first time.”

I feel better already.

But there's this other guy that turned down the Wahhabi's filthy lucre:

Tiger Woods has said he rejected the opportunity to play in a European Tour event in Saudi Arabia for the second year in succession but defended Phil Mickelson’s decision to 

travel to the Middle East. 

Woods could have earned $3m from appearing in the Saudi International in late January, with 2020 the second playing of the tournament.

He did not say this troubling backdrop was behind his decision not to take part, however. “I just didn’t want to go over there,” the Masters champion said. “It’s a long way.”

I'm just struggling, in the context of the Prez Cup snub of Phil (as Vice Captain, not as a captain's pick), the true state of the bromance.  See what you think:

Asked whether it is fair Mickelson has been criticised, Woods replied: “I understand the politics behind it but also the game of golf can help heal a lot of that, too. It can help grow it [the game], and also a lot of top players are going to be playing there.

“It’s traditionally not a golf hotbed, the Middle East, but it has grown quite a bit. I remember going to Dubai for my first time and seeing maybe two or three buildings in the skyline. Now there is a New York city skyline. Again, golf has grown. There were only a few courses when I went to Dubai and now they’re everywhere. Same with Abu Dhabi and maybe eventually in Saudi Arabia.”

A ringing defense, yet he leaks the amount of the appearance fee that he spurned.... passive-aggressive much?

But Phil can take comfort in that fact that the welcome mat remains out for him in Scottsdale.  From Waste Management Tournament Director Tim Woods (ironic, no?):

"I'd be lying if I wasn't disappointed [in Mickelson's decision]," Woods said. "I mean, I am. I will tell you that Phil has been a very, very special part of our tournament for so

long -- for 30 years. And I know the fans are going to be disappointed in that. But he's been a great ambassador for us, obviously an [Arizona State] guy, and I certainly don't think this is his last go-around with us. I sure hope it's not.

"Just one player doesn't move the needle for us," Woods said. "Think about Tiger. For me, I'd be lying again if I didn't want Tiger in our field, but when he doesn't play, we still break attendance records. And so it tells you that we're doing something above and beyond what's actually happening between the tee and the green." 

If Mickelson does decide to return to the Phoenix Open, Tim Woods said he won't be rebuffed. 

"Yeah, we're disappointed," Woods said, "but Phil is always welcomed back."

It just seems a shame not to have Phil in Phoenix....They just seem made for each other.

A Hero For Our Age -  I assume that everyone is aware of the golf schedule, with Tiger's Hero World Challenge teeing off later today.  That's to allow a Saturday night departure for Oz....  Remember that bit above about Tiger avoiding the long travel to the Mideast?  Yeah, well here's what's facing the the U.S. Prez Cup team:

While the Hero World Challenge is nowhere near the Tour Championship, it is a busy week for Woods. And that is a long trip to Australia -- some 9,800 miles. Woods and the rest of the team will land Monday morning Australia time after leaving the Bahamas on Saturday evening. And then they go right to work on getting over a 16-hour time change.

Hope they enjoy their Sunday...  In ordinary years, this event is somewhere between a nice diversion and utterly irrelevant to ,life as we know it.  However, there is one aspect that remains quite outrageous:

The Hero is not an official PGA Tour event, but those world ranking points could prove valuable to Woods as it pertains to something such as the 2020 Olympics -- whose cutoff is June 22. Last year, Jon Rahm earned 48 ranking points for his victory in the Bahamas, which is more than Justin Rose earned for capturing the Farmers Insurance Open, for example.

That sound you hear is my teeth grinding....  There's no justification for awarding OWGR points to an 18-person event played in the middle of the off-season...

Perhaps the most interesting aspect to the event is the guy that isn't there:

The famously intimate field at Tiger Woods’ Hero World Challenge just lost a big-name star. World No. 4 Dustin Johnson announced on Twitter that he elected to withdraw from the Bahamas event to continue physical therapy on his recently repaired knee in an effort to ensure that he is in top form for the upcoming Presidents Cup. 

Johnson underwent arthroscopic knee surgery to repair cartilage damage to his left knee in early September. Though he maintains his recovery is complete, his Twitter announcement explained that he feels it’s in his best interest to withdraw from the Hero. “I have informed Captain Woods of my decision, which he fully supports and understands,” Johnson wrote.

Which seems to virtually guarantee that he arrives in Oz rusty, having not pegged it since God knows when.  If, that is, he shows in Melbourne.

Of course, this guy's name will be in the mix if DJ is a WD, though not sure this first world problem has me all that sympathetic:

If Jordan Spieth were looking to escape the Presidents Cup, he should have stayed far away from the Hero World Challenge. The place feels like a U.S. locker room. There are 15 Americans in this week’s field, and 11 will be headed to Australia together on a jet after Saturday’s round. They’re already on a group text. Spieth isn’t. 

It gets worse. On his way to the Bahamas, Spieth spent the weekend in Jupiter, Fla., where he crashed with his buddies Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas, both Presidents Cuppers. On Sunday they played some team matches with Gary Woodland and Patrick Cantlay, two more U.S. team members. A fun weekend, to be sure — but filled with reminders that they’re prepping for Melbourne, and he’s not.

 As the wise man noted, it is what it is.... or play better, whichever you prefer.

I Saw It On TV - During my hiatus, Geoff had a piece up at Golfweek ostensibly about the Tour's failure to lock down its new TV contracts by Thanksgiving, notwithstanding that they don't kick in until calendar 2022.  I don't understand why they'd be in such a hurry, unless they think the sports rights market is heading for a cliff.  More confusing, is I can't see through the various rumors what they're trying to achieve:

The only real indication of where the race stood came when CBS did not pick up options on Gary McCord and Peter Kostis, a sign of the network’s eagerness to freshen up its broadcasts in the face of tour apathy toward its week-to-week broadcast presentation. The signing of Davis Love, a longtime Policy Board member with inside knowledge of the Tour’s vision, changed that narrative briefly before a surprising new Champions League rights deal and signs of post-merger Viacom money made clear CBS will be back. 

Other reports have suggested AT&T is still proposing to turn its TruTV channel into a new PGA Tour Channel, while incumbents NBC/Golf Channel and former partner ESPN are big parts of the equation. (Full disclosure: I’m a contributor to Golf Channel.)

One fairly consistent rumor: ESPN+ will be the home of significant amounts of streaming coverage. 

A few insiders insist Amazon still may have a say in matters, while Fox Sports did not seriously bid. All are grumbling about what you’d expect: outrageous financial demands and contract terms without the streaming wars having even begun in earnest. And there is AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson’s inside access as a longtime PGA Tour Policy Board member that has everyone wondering what that could mean (though Stephenson has much bigger issues on his desk, including a pesky activist investor and billions in merger-related debt).

Those CBS moves were curious, for sure, as a window into their sense of where they stand with the Tour.  But is all this to suggest that the Tour's weekend package might not be on either CBS or NBC?  Given the aged demographics, that seems really hard to believe.... 

CBS, continues to add to their bench:

Michelle Wie and Trevor Immelman are joining CBS Sports, as the network continues to 

retool its coverage for 2020. 

CBS announced a flurry of moves on Tuesday morning, weeks after parting ways with mainstays Peter Kostis and Gary McCord, and adding Davis Love III, with Wie the biggest name in the announcement. Though her role is vague—a statement said Wie "will contribute to CBS Sports’ multimedia golf coverage this season, including the Masters"—Wie's transition to media has been expected, as mounting injuries have sidelined her playing career. During the Solheim Cup in September, Wie appeared on Golf Channel as a guest analyst in the network's Orlando studio. 

Immelman, the 2008 Masters champ, is considered a rising star in the broadcasting ranks, excelling in his limited appearances in the booth. Immelman, 39, will be contributing as an analyst during PGA Tour, Masters and PGA Championship presentations.

It's all quite the puzzle, not least because the PGA Tour is also negotiating the rights for the LPGA.  Not sure about that move from Mike Whan, so we'll just stay tuned.  Though, given the recent ratings, we might be the only ones.

Memories - It's sort of the end of a decade, and Golf week has posted a series of best of the decade items that haven't been of great interest to me.  This one, though, was right up my alley:

Rules of golf: 10 biggest controversies of the decade

 They've got three of Tiger's 2013 controversies, including the truly bizarre Masters incident.  Oddly, though, not this one that I felt was the most egregious.  Come to think of it, has anyone seen Casey Wittenberg since then?

My sense, after scrolling through all ten, is that those who write and enforce the rules should be highly embarrassed.  The other obvious import is how many of these incidents caused a rules rewrite.   As for the players?  Hey, when your list includes Phil, Lexi and DJ, how you gonna legislate against stupidity?

I'll leave you nice folks there, and catch up tomorrow.