Thursday, November 16, 2023

Thursday Threads - Rory In Winter Edition

It seems the gods are angry, so should be some good fun in that....

Idiots, Post-Usefulness - I'm only surprised that this didn't happen sooner, though it's as if this reporter knew what was coming:

Rory McIlroy faced the press on Tuesday in Dubai, taking questions ahead of the DP World Tour’s Tour Championship. One query proved particularly prescient.

Are you enjoying having a seat at that particular table?

The table in question was the PGA Tour’s policy board. And McIlroy’s answer was blunt.

“Not particularly, no,” he said. “Not what I signed for whenever I went on the board. But, yeah, the game of professional golf has been in flux for the last two years.”

Those comments teased at news that would come out later Tuesday evening in the form of an email from PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan: McIlroy had resigned from his position.

You didn't enjoy all that quality time with Patrick?   

The email, first posted by Monday Q Info on Twitter, said that McIlroy had sent a resignation letter to the rest of the board on Tuesday afternoon, calling it a “difficult decision” made “due to professional and personal commitments.”

So he's using the old, "It's not you, it's me" bit....Although I find this far less of a mystery than the author apparently does:

Until McIlroy comments on the resignation there’s no telling what combination of factors led to his decision, leaving questions about his motive, about the board’s future and about what leadership role he does or does not want to play. But in his Tuesday press conference, even as he trumpeted the financial strength of the professional game, he hinted at the questions it’s facing, too.

Quite obviously he timed it so that he wouldn't have to address it, his reputation for being a straight talker always overestimated.  Alan Shipnuck, like your humble blogger, seems to understand the root causes:

Softspikes?  Rory should only ne so fortunate, as I'm pretty sure Jay had retro nails in his shoes....  They used him to put his name and reputation behind changes that suited them, then they pulled the rug out from under him rathe publicly.  Not clear to me why he would even be on speaking terms with those two guys.

Geoff has some on the news cycle, mostly of an unfiltered ilk.  Here he has praise for Rory, praise with which I mostly agree, though this requires an all-caps BUT to follow:

For two years Rory McIlroy has served as the PGA Tour’s de facto spokesman all while playing
the best golf of his career.

Why has he taken on the burden at the potential expense of his game?

Because McIlroy cares. He’s also not terrified of a microphone the way his $15 million-a-year Commish appears to be whenever confronted by those soft, fuzzy sticks held by friendly faces who usually pitch prepared questions.

You see, unlike a majority of narcissistic pro golfers, McIlroy is generally able to think big picture and far beyond his self interests. And even when he’s offered curious takes on key topics in the sport—notably on the distance issue—he’s had little problem changing his mind when confronted with facts and time to process his prior stance. He’s also able to set his pocketbook aside when declaring a position. It’s why so many respect him and why one-dimensional dimwits clinging to LIV as a remedy for their life deficiencies so openly loathe a genuine article like McIlroy.

Look, I think Rory is a good guy, but he's been a minnow swimming among sharks.  At best, he has allowed himself to be used to move the Tour in Patrick's direction, whereas he's the one guy (two, with Tiger) that could have stopped the limited field money grab.  For those of us that hate the direction he took the Tour, we for a while could console ourselves with the rationale that we were heading off something worse.  But Rory got rather publicly played, so forgive for withholding any plaudits.....

But then Shack makes quite the leap of logic, to wit, that Rory has sacrificed his results to fight that which we're to assume was the good fight:

Throughout this remarkable stretch of his career, one where he’s amassed millions but no majors since 2014, McIlroy’s carried way too much water for overpaid executives. He’s nice that way. And he’s fronted the sport at a time his game is clearly better than it’s ever been.

He’s not even close to the player of 2010-14. He’s way better.

In every facet of the game. Remember, if it was firm and fast, 2013 Rory had no chance. Now he can handle any course in any condition.

Through the saga of trying to compete and double as Chief PGA Tour Spokesman since the Commissioner and his revolving door of lieutenants can’t speak without tripping up, McIlroy’s still done incredible things in the majors he covets. I remain unable to fathom how he played as well as he did at the Old Course in 2022 or LA North in 2023 without taking winner’s trophies home. But the Golf Gods work in mysterious ways I’ll never understand.

Really?  Geoff makes some very valid and good points, specifically about that crazy run of soft venues and I'll even buy that Rory is a better player today than back in 2011-14.  That said, there remain major weaknesses in his game the he appear incapable or unwilling to remedy, and how about comparison with his current bête noire, Patrick Cantlay.  The latter just hired Joe LaCava, a grizzled veteran of the looping game.  Who does Rory keep on his bag?  His childhood best friend, an obvious case of comfort over perhaps being challenged a little more....   

In other news, on Monday we showed those Player Directors, noting that the term of everyone's favorite male sexual organ was expiring.... Not so quick there:

And it announced that Patrick Cantlay, who’d been serving in a one-year capacity, had been reappointed by the Player Directors to serve a three-year term from 2024-26. That formalized his place on the board alongside Charley Hoffman, Peter Malnati and Webb Simpson as well as Tiger Woods, who joined the board in August, and McIlroy.

So the man who split that Ryder Cup team room apart is one of five player directors?  

In related news, the camera-shy Jay Monahan actually communicated with his members this week:

Despite rumors that the framework agreement with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is in
jeopardy, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan asserted to tour membership that conversations remain ongoing.

In a memo sent to players Tuesday (first reported by Golf Channel), Monahan reiterated that his focus remains working “toward a definitive agreement with PIF and the DP World Tour as our priority.”

“Progress has been deliberate given the complex nature of the potential agreement, and we will keep you apprised of the progress, with continued input and direction from your player directors and player advisor Colin Neville,” Monahan wrote.

Deliberate?  That's a useful euphemism, but fortunately we know that Jay wouldn't lie to us.... I can only hope that bi doesn't send Jay into another bout of depression, because emotional frailty is certainly the first attribute I look for in selecting an agent to negotiate a complex deal...

But Jay now has two distinct audiences, that heaving mass of tour rabbits and those whose calls get taken.  See if you can suss out which of those two he's speaking to here:

On Tuesday, Monahan outlined to tour members that the review of these bids remains ongoing following a Monday policy board meeting. Entities in the bidding process include the Fenway Sports Group (which owns the Boston Red Sox, Pittsburgh Penguins and the Premier League team Liverpool F.C.), Acorn Growth, Eldridge Industries and the investment firm KKR & Co. Executives from Endeavor—the parent company the WWE, the UFC, and sports agency IMG—said last month its bid was rejected.

Tuesday’s memo, which came after the PGA Tour Policy Board held a meeting on Monday, also noted that the tour has designed a program that would allow direct equity ownership for players in the new for-profit entity.

Well, gee, that sounds great, although I'm old enough to remember when the players owned everything.... Now just a few players will be cut in.  

Today In Omens - An idiom is a figure of speech as follows:

An idiom is a phrase or expression that usually presents a figurative, non-literal meaning attached to the phrase.

 You're a smart crowd, so of course you knew that, but perhaps an example will be helpful:

the roof falls in

 he situation collapses; everything goes wrong. Typically used in the past tense. I was living paycheck to paycheck and getting by OK, but then the roof fell in. I lost my job, then my car and house. Our sales have been in a slump for months, and now with all these legal issues cropping up, it just feels like the roof is falling in on our company.

 Got it, the roof falling in being a metaphor for things goin g pear-shaped.  I only mention this because:

Have you stopped laughing yet?

Udder Stuff - Just a few things to throw at the wall, starting with Geoff's rather harsh (but amusing) take on yet another ill-conceived chase for the microscopic golf audience:

Rough week for game growers. The TGL bubble burst. Already.

The collapse of SoNotFi Stadium GC Of Greater Palm Beach happened after a power outage put the “tech-forward” show in jeopardy of starting on time. The upstart league is backed by top players and ownership groups hoping to lure under 40-year-olds to bet like crazy responsibly and buy team-logoed hoodies.

The news landed a day after the worst thing ever put on golf television—at least since Shotmakers on Golf Channel—aired as “The Netflix Cup.” If you missed this precursor to the Saturday night F1 race in Las Vegas, (A) consider yourself the luckiest person on Earth, and, (B) if you must know more, just imagine your longest golf course nightmare infused by some wickedly strong magic mushrooms, a schlocky Wynn-infused Fazio, a giant synergistic Squid Games doll, all while experiencing a piercing case of hemorrhoids exacerbated by gruesome announcing, microphones open galore, and random B-listers (Steve Aoki!?). Oh, and there was the giant smiling Sphere (which did look amazing!) displaying shameless plugs for Netflix megahits that are in little need of help to juice their already massive audiences sizes.

Both of these grow-the-game debacles share a common thread: they are co-produced ventures from Excel Sports, the agents of several top players who suddenly seem determined to embarrass their clients in new and cutting edge ways. But at least the Excel team has yet to hit profound lows the way Golf Digest did in unveiling its “How To Cheat At Golf” package, a standout chapter in desperation phase seeking the same elusive demo of under-29, too-stupid-for-Barstool parolees-with-subscriptions that Netflix mysteriously hunted after with its painful knock-off of The Match. But in the latter case, at least the esteemed, trusted and incredible streamer will only take a brief hit as opposed to a fatal blow in proudly selling dishonesty.

So sorry I missed it....  Could it possibly have been worse than a LIV event?

Regrets, he's had a few, though I'll allow the reader to sort through the smoke being blown:

In a press conference in which more than a half dozen of the questions were focused on the Ryder
Cup, what went wrong, second-guessing, what happens next and more, Johnson did highlight one regret, which is a term he tip-toed around that night in Rome.

Johnson, on Tuesday, talked about compartmentalizing. How the best athletes — especially golfers — can do that well. Tiger Woods, he said, was one of the best at it.

“What I’m saying about compartmentalization is I think when it comes down to it, I look at things, every piece of my job is just that. Even within that compartment, there’s compartments. So I try to treat the Ryder Cup in that manner. I’m not one to tell them what to do or how to play, obviously I’m not their coach, but I am trying to put these guys in a position to play their best golf. That’s what compartmentalizing is,” Johnson said. “So I looked at every aspect of the Ryder Cup before and the week of and tried to diagnose it and study it and figure it out, like what’s the most efficient way to tackle each and every item. The common denominator that I go back to that I wish I could have changed, or not changed, I wish it would have dawned on me earlier is just the pure commodity of time and understanding that it’s precious. … If I could have put more value into time management, I could have put my guys in a better position to play golf at a better rate early on. I’m not suggesting that would have changed the outcome, not at all. I can’t determine that, that’s sports, right? I’m just saying I think in my seat I didn’t see what needed to be seen until after the fact. Now, it’s been seen and it’s been voiced by me and probably a couple others but specifically myself, so hopefully next time around there’s a better template put into place so these guys can go play golf.”

Should I wait for the English translation before commenting?  I think it's great that we have this Task Force that allows captains to see their f**k-ups with clarity three months after the conclusion of the event...

But clearly Zach is focused like a laser on these issues....Yeah, NOT:

While Johnson didn’t provide examples when what exactly he meant regarding time management, if he was alluding to the pre-tournament preparation, that was one key storyline that was hit on often. Former European Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley touched on it often during the week, as did others. Only nine of the 12 American players made it over for the scouting trip a few weeks earlier, and the majority of the team hadn’t played competitively since the Tour Championship, which ended five weeks earlier. Europe, meanwhile, had all 12 of its players compete in the BMW PGA Championship two weeks before the Ryder Cup. Seven finished in the top 10.

Asked about it on Tuesday, Johnson said “there could be some truth in that” angle, and said it’s already been talked about, hoping the PGA Tour, PGA of America, DP World Tour and Ryder Cup Europe collaborate moving forward.

“Ideally you want to have some fresh guys. I don’t know if it’s the captain’s role to say, ‘Hey, you guys got to go play.’ I don’t know if that’s the proper way to approach it,” Johnson said. “Bottom line is the FedExCup takes a lot of time, energy and they need to rest, too.”

Yes, they are so very good at the talking thing.... The doing thing?   

And remind me, Zach, why did only nine players go on the scouting trip?  And when that hatless guy started roiling the team room over money, how exactly did you handle that?  I know how Jay handled it, he gave the a*****e a three-year term as director.  So, quite the incentive system, no?  Good luck getting any of these guys to Adare Manor before the 2027 installment.

I shall leave you here and I suspect we'll next visit on Monday.  Have a great weekend.



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