OK, wasn't intending to blog this morning, but then people open their mouths, and the rest is out of my control.
I started this blog in January of 2014, and its early years were a more innocent time. Without the evil Saudis threatening our feed lot, we had time to actually cover some golf. It was the tail end of Tim Finchem's reign of error, and he became affectionately known as Nurse Ratched in these pages. Oh, don't worry, we still had no shortage of amusement at the expense of Greg Norman, as a brief spin through my photo directory quickly reveals:
One has to admit that he wears it well....
He never was one for shirts....
That was just a quick spin through file names with no preparation, but what a guy!
One of the recurring themes in those years was my frustration with the PGA Tour over their refusal to disclose disciplinary actions against the players. There were some chinks in the armor such as the disclosure of John Daly's file in a silly defamation lawsuit and that iconic DJ jet-skiing accident.
My sense was that they wanted us to believe that each and every player was a Capital-G Gentleman, and they therefore would not allow for any contrary information to reach the public. My belief was that this was unnecessary, because I thought most were pretty good guys and that the few bad actors would stand out as exceptions.
Your humble blogger has no choice but to face the music. I was wrong, disastrously so, and Nurse Ratched correctly sensed that he ran a tour of entitled jerks whose actions needed to be shielded from the public. I made a prediction a while back that the net result of the LIV threat is that we would end up hating everybody in golf, even then underestimating the speed with which that would occur.
So, our first sound bite comes from Lee Westwood, a man who was genuinely liked, not least because he took the game and his own place in it with what seemed to be some ironic detachment. Westy fits the LIV mold to a "T", well past his prime of conceding but never winning significant events. He obviously felt no obligation to the tours that made hime a wealthy man for indifferent results, but he also didn't seem to throw Molotov cocktails either. Yeah, I know, it's quite the low bar....
Yesterday we had news of Westy's resignation from the Euro Tour (along with fellow miscreants Sergio and Poults), but today we have this precious sound bite:
Lee Westwood, who joined three other LIV Golf players in resigning their DP World Tour membership this week, slammed the formerly named European Tour, questioning its sanctions after his move to the Saudi-backed league and calling the DP World Tour a “feeder tour” for thePGA Tour.“People say I knew exactly what would happen, but nobody told us the extent of the punishments,” Westwood told the Independent in a story published Thursday. “And they continue to do that. The way I view it is that, as a European Tour member, I was allowed to be a member of the PGA Tour without any problem for all those years. Tell me, what is the difference? Just because LIV is funded by the Saudis — a country where my tour used to play and where we were encouraged to play? …“But now, in my opinion, the European Tour has jumped fully in bed with the PGA Tour, and even though Keith [Pelley, the DP World Tour chief executive] says he hates to hear it, it is now a feeder tour for the PGA Tour. … Sorry, I don’t want to play under that sort of regime.”
Sheesh, where to begin with the disingenuous revisionist history, except to note that he's a pathetic, has-been crapweasel....
I think most folks will focus on that last bit, and it's hard to argue otherwise. I mean one can readily understand a man repelled by the noxious "regime" of Keith Pelley, I mean the eyeglass frames alone are a crime against humanity. But calling it a "regime" is like catnip to the irony police because, well, those crazy Saudis and their kooky mass beheadings and all.... that's just a different culture and all.
Because I march to a drummer others can't hear, I'm fascinated by that middle 'graph, which is really exposed Westwood as none too bright. The more substantive obfuscations are the latter, in which this highly sophisticated and entitle warrior cannot see the rather substantial difference between allowing the Saudis to host one feeder tour event, vs,. allowing them to create a Super Tour that threatens the business model of both the U.S. and Euro Tours. Is he dimwitted or merely disingenuous? You make the call.
Of course, Lee can't be bothered with any of the practical realities, after all who needs the worry lines? Why did the Euros place that event in Saudi? Why did they take all that Middle East money? Because their tour is profoundly weak and needed it, which makes that shaking of the fists in the last 'graph so laugh-out-loud funny. That Euro Tour weakness is, of course, partially the result of players like one Lee Westwood playing most of their golf in the U.S., so this business pf panting for financial handouts is nothing new....
But I just can't get past that first sentence in the middle 'graph, and its pathetic, take no responsibility attitude, because as he was screwing everyone on the way out the door, apparently they had some kind of affirmative responsibility to tell him every woe that might befall him. Gee, Lee, seems like there's a crybaby that needs to go into time out. Boo-friggin'-who! I continue to laugh out loud at the amateurism of LIV and how woefully unprepared they are for the pushback from the Tours. Yanno, if only they hired a professional firm to help them, yanno, like McKinsey.
Next up, the antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour continues to hemorrhage players, though this header is pretty amusing:
A star? They only have a couple of those, so I'm guessing it's a pretty loose definition thereof:
Peter Uihlein has withdrawn his name from the LIV Golf lawsuit against the PGA Tour, leavingjust two of the original 11 players attached to the legal battle.In a 105-page complaint filed in early August of 2022, Uihlein joined Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Talor Gooch, Hudson Swafford, Matt Jones, Abraham Ancer, Carlos Ortiz, Ian Poulter, Pat Perez and Jason Kokrak in challenging their suspensions by the PGA Tour for joining LIV Golf. However, in a filing with the United States District Court in San Jose Thursday, Uihlein was granted voluntary dismissal as a plaintiff.
Uihlein a star? OK, even I couldn't conceive of so defining a man whose major accomplishment in the game of golf is being Wally's kid (OK, I am ignoring his U.S. Amateur). Though one must doff one's cap at the delicious irony of a man that can't hold a PGA Tour card suing that same tour on antitrust grounds.
You'll be asking the obvious question, and that's exactly where I'm headed:
With Uihlein’s departure, only DeChambeau and Jones remain on the suit. DeChambeau said last fall he remains on the lawsuit because the tour owes him money for making its Player Impact Program, but added, “It's not about the money; it's about the principle. It's the way you deal with situations."
Isn't it special when those LIVsters tell us it isn't about the money? I just love when they tell us how the world works and how special they are....
Bryson has informed us that it's all about how one handles things, so shall we spend a few moments reminding ourselves of how Bryson handled things? First, where does Bryson come down on the honesty thing, because this was his comment in late May 2022:
As recently as last week, DeChambeau denied being enticed by the mammoth upfront payouts and appearance fees being offered to the world’s top golfers by LIV Golf.“Me, there’s obviously a lot of conversation,” DeChambeau said at the PGA Tour’s Memorial Tournament. “For me, I personally don’t think that at this point in time I’m in a place in my career where I can risk things like that.”
A week later? Well, you know....
But Bryson doesn't like how he was treated by Jay, shall we see how he treated others?
Bryson running a little hot. Caught up with him on 7 where he took a Sergio slash at the sand after splashing out of a greenside bunker, muttered an expletive after missing the par save and spent 60 seconds in a...testy discussion with a cameraman on his way to 8 tee. pic.twitter.com/ENjQt1U689
— Will Gray (@WillGrayGolfbet) July 4, 2020
Apparently, it was that cameraman's job to protect Bryson's brand, which I was happy to learn. Because I had these naïve belief that he was there to record the golf tournament, but I'm happy to be corrected.
So, it's just a camera guy, and we know where he sits on the food chain, but one assumes that Bryson treats other better, right? How about those whose checks he's cashing?
When Bryson DeChambeau tugged his tee shot at the par-3 fifth hole on Friday at Detroit Golf Club, the ball bounced hard left and buried in a cavernous bunker.Was it another case of the “bad luck” DeChambeau said had doomed him on the back nine of the final round of the U.S. Open? We don’t know because he declined to speak to the press for the second straight day after his round at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.For the record, DeChambeau shot an uneven round of 1-under 71 on Friday morning and his 36-hole total of 1-under 143 missed the 36-hole cut. It marked just the second time this season he’s done so and first since the Genesis Invitational in February. It’s not unusual for a player to decline to speak after a poor round, but DeChambeau is one of Rocket Mortgage’s paid ambassadors. As defending champion, he’s the face of the tournament and as the top-ranked player in the field and one of the most popular players in golf, he has a responsibility to answer questions even when the topic doesn’t suit him.
Are you developing a sense of what an entitled jerk he is? This was his sponsor's flagship event and he was the defending champion, and he was off in the corner sulking.
The good news is that Bryson and I are in complete agreement, it is how you handle things. The bad news? Bryson himself isn't very good at handling things....
This was at the 2022 Rocket Mortgage event and ties back nicely to that bit about Nurse Ratched above. How did Jay react to Bryson failing to meet the demands of a professional? He excused and failed to hold him accountable, saying merely that "Bryson is going through some things". As with DJ, it does seem that in some kind of karmic punishment that those most protected by the Tour were the quickest to jump. Food for thought, no?
One last bit of amusement, as I was wondering whether those Euro Tour fines had been paid after the arbitrator's decision. It so happens that all but one have been satisficed:
According to a release from the DP World Tour, Sergio Garcia has not paid the £100,000 fine that he was issued for playing in LIV Golf’s first two events last June.In the statement, posted to the European Tour’s website on Wednesday afternoon, the Tour revealed that 16 of 17 players have paid the fine, but Garcia has yet to do so and has not given “any indication that he intends to.”Garcia, Lee Westwood, Richard Bland and Ian Poulter, announced their formal resignations from the DP World Tour on Tuesday.“Sergio Garcia has not paid his £100,000 fine, nor has he given any indication that he intends to. We will therefore take appropriate action if he continues not to respect the Sport Resolutions panel’s decision,” the statement read. It is unclear what action the DP World Tour is referring to in this case.
His exit from that tour was surpassingly elegant, running from Wentworth back to Austin, TX when the event was delayed due to weather (and he was playing like, well Sergio).
Bob Harig has an interesting take:
LIV made clear to the players earlier that they would handle any legal issues/fines in the manner the player chose. They did not comment on this specifically but it suggests he did not want to pay it even though LIV would have for him. https://t.co/IHwDzVWN5t
— Bob Harig (@BobHarig) May 4, 2023
He's just a petty, spiteful, overly-entitled crybaby.
That's it for today. Not much of a post, I readily concede, but just always amusing when they reveal themselves.... The only good news is that we're well rid of their lot.
See you Monday.
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