Thursday Themes - Lite Blogging Edition

Not gonna break a sweat this morning, but we'll try to amuse nonetheless.

Shall we start with an evergreen?

Dogs, Food - Sometimes you simply can't make the dogs eat the food on offer, as per this:

The ratings are out, and less than 100K people tuned in for LIV Golf's individual championship finale

Amusingly, a friend told me he actually turned on the final moments of the event, and didn't hate it too much.  I'm guessing he didn't realize the selective company he was in....

Is it communicable?

Gloomy TV ratings hang over LIV Championship, PGA Tour fall debut

They call it the big boy tour, but the boys are the only part that might be big:

We’ll start with the PGA Tour, which recorded 69,000 average viewers during Sunday’s final round at the Procore Championship in Napa, less than a quarter of the audience that tuned into Sahith Theegala’s final round victory in the same event last fall.

Per Ian Faith, this is a good thing because it means their appeal is becoming more selective....

I've been noting the irony for some time, that in the early stages of the Tour v. LIV cage match there was a curious lack of criticism of LIV's exhibition match format, for reasons that are now blindingly obvious.   To wit, that the top players envied those miniscule field sizes and lack of cuts, yanno, guaranteed paydays.  So their attempt to mimic LIV on the PGA Tour has been wildly successful, including its television ratings (or, more accurately, lack thereof).

But there was one bright spot in golf TV ratings:

In a year that the news on television viewership for golf hasn’t always been the best, there was a big positive coming out of last weekend. As noted on X by the Sports Business Journal’s Josh

Carpenter, ratings for the Sunday singles in the American win over Europe in the Solheim Cup saw a massive gain over Spain last year and significant progress from the last time the matches were held on American soil.

Sunday’s viewership for the 15½-12½ American victory—their first since 2017—had an average viewership of 657,000 on NBC. That’s more than double the 277,000 who watched on Golf Channel in the earlier coverage window in 2023, when the teams tied 14-14 as Europe retained the Cup. Three years ago at Inverness, where Europe won on Labor Day Monday, there were 588,000 viewers on Golf Channel.

Upon further review, perhaps that should have been brightish:

The numbers are good, but not what they used to be. In 2021, NBC televised the first two days of the Solheim on the weekend (with the Monday finish on Golf Channel) and drew 634,000 viewers on Saturday and 878,000 on Sunday.

Purses and other forms of compensation are exploding while viewership numbers are tanking.  Sounds like a viable business model to me....  The only good news is that the network contracts are locked in until +/-2030, so the Tour can continue to lose three-quarters of its TV audience each year with no financial ramifications until then.  The saddest bit being that they seem committed to doing just that....

LIV Stuff - As I teased Monday, I hadn't blogged this bit:

Jon Rahm's victory in season-ending LIV Golf event adds $22 million to his bank account

If each of those 100,000 viewers  kicks in $220 to watch the broadcast, that'll cover the $22 million large to Rahmbo..... A bit of a disconnect, no?

This is also telling:

But LIV’s place within golf’s ecosystem remains a puzzle that it needs to solve. Niemann, second on its standings, is not in any of the four majors next year because the league does not receive World Ranking points for its 54-hole events.

Something the promising young talent might have considered before taking the easy money....

Do these clowns think this is a good look?

Only big rocks for Rahmbo 😤#LIVGolf @LegionXIIIgc pic.twitter.com/gdjx6YcaY1

— LIV Golf (@livgolf_league) September 15, 2024

Nothing says Serious Athletic Competition quite like a blinged-out pinky ring.... Now, Jon, I dare you to show up for Tuesday dinner at Augusta with that.

Rahm keeps pining for those Tour events he's missing and wants more than anything to play for Europe in next year's Ryder Cup....  Well, strike that "more than anything", because Rahmbo doesn't write checks:

Report: DP World Tour rejects LIV Golf's offer to pay fines for Jon Rahm, others

Here's some background:

Former DP World Tour golfers competing for LIV Golf are in violation of the DP World Tour’s

conflicting events policy, which requires a release to play elsewhere. In April 2023, the Tour won a U.K. arbitration case that allows it to enforce the penalties. That means if players want to compete on the DP World Tour, they’ll have to pay a fine, among other penalties.

Jon Rahm, who Sunday won LIV’s season-long individual championship and the $18 million prize, as well as others like Tyrrell Hatton, want to compete in at least the minimum required events on the DP World Tour to be eligible to play in the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black. However, to do so, they must pay up.

Rahm and the DP World Tour have been in a somewhat back-and-forth, with an appeal coming from Rahm and his side last week of the sanctions, allowing him to play in events like next week’s Spanish Open.

So, what's the problem?

A DP World Tour player must compete in a minimum of four events, excluding majors, to remain a member. The Olympics count, leaving Rahm three events to go this year. Next year, it’ll be the same process.

“I’m entered into the tournament,” Rahm said last week at LIV Golf Chicago. “We entered a long time ago. Whether they let me play or not is a different thing. I’m not a big fan of the fines. I think I’ve been outspoken about that. I don’t intend to pay the fines, and we keep trying to have a discussion with them about how we can make this happen.

What a remarkable coincidence.... he's not a fan of the fines and we're not fans of his, so win-win, baby!

Then he tries to hide behind his mother's Spain's skirt:

“I’ve said many times, I don’t go to the Spanish Open for the glory or anything else. I think it’s my duty to Spanish golf to be there, and I also want to play in Sotogrande.

“At that point, it would almost be doing not only me but Spanish golf a disservice by not letting me play, so yeah, that’s why we’re trying to talk to them and make that happen. I would also love to play the Dunhill. I have a good friend who asked me to play, and Johan has been a great, great ambassador for the game of golf. I would love to be able to play all those events.”

I'm sorry, Jon, but who did this to Spanish golf?  This was all known when you took that big check, so perhaps some cheese with that whine?

Now, things have gotten a little weird, first with this:

LIV Golf chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan made an unannounced visit Tuesday to the Fields Ranch East course at the Omni PGA Frisco Resort, on the same North Texas property that houses the PGA of America’s new headquarters.

Al-Rumayyan, who also governs the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), which funds LIV, is in town for the season-ending LIV Team Championship at nearby Maridoe Golf Club; the reason for his PGA Frisco visit is unclear.

A PGA of America executive told GOLF.com in a brief phone interview that he had “no idea” why Al-Rumayyan was on site and that he was unaware of any scheduled meetings with him; the executive said that he did not know who, if anyone, had arranged Al-Rumayyan’s course tour. Omni PGA Frisco director of golf Paul Earnest was among the Frisco staff professionals who were off property Tuesday at the Northern Texas PGA sectional championship in Dallas.

If we show up unannounced, we get the Scottie in Louisville treatment....see if you're buying any of this:

The PGA of America official and an Omni representative said, respectively, that neither the PGA of America nor the resort has had any discussions with LIV about any kind of partnership. Al-Rumayyan’s visit was characterized as social in nature.

“There was absolutely nothing arranged [business-wise],” the hotel official said.

LIV representatives did not immediately reply to a GOLF.com inquiry about Al-Rumayyan’s drop-in.

Al-Rumayyan arrived in the pro shop in the afternoon and asked if he could see the Gil Hanse-designed course and perhaps play a few holes. In a black LIV polo shirt, he motored around the East course with an Omni staffer, with one of Al-Rumayyan’s aides trailing them in a second cart.

Had he booked it on Golf Now?  The LIV swag is indeed a nice touch, but apparently Yasir is now stalking Seth Waugh.

We're getting some mixed signals, but I'm only human and simply can't take any more of Rory McIlroy.  It's not as if he hasn't effed everything up already, but get this bit which the header called "optimistic":

With that out of the way, McIlroy was inevitably quizzed on the latest developments (or lack

thereof) in the seemingly never-ending PGA Tour/PIF negotiations. Asked for what he felt was holding back a resolution, the Northern Irishman identified the U.S. Department of Justice and the wide range of views prevalent on both the PGA Tour and the LIV Golf League.

“I'd say maybe half the players on LIV want the deal to get done; half probably don’t,” he said. “I'd say it's probably similar on the PGA Tour. Everyone's looking out for themselves and their best interests. It would benefit some people for a deal not to get done, but it would obviously benefit some people for a deal to get done. When you have a members-run organization, it complicates things a little bit, especially when players are having to make decisions on the business side of things. The tours want it to happen. The investors certainly want it to happen because they can see the benefit for themselves.”

“It seems like the people that are really making the decisions are all rowing in the same direction, which is a really good thing,” he said. “That still doesn't mean a deal may get done because it's just a very complicated set of circumstances. But yeah, from what I hear, there's optimism there, and that's good to see.”

Yes, Rory, isn't it great that Tiger, Patrick and you are rowing in the same direction.  And those nasty Tour rabbits are being so damn selfish.  I mean, could you guys be better to them?  You actually let them play in a few events., though it's events without actual cash purses.  Don't those plebes know their place?  have they not kissed your ring?

As the late Grayson Murray famously said to Rory, "F**k You."  

he goes on and on about young talent emerging in a Ryder Cup context.  Oscar Wilde famously said that irony is wasted on the stupid.  Rory has done more to keep young talent from emerging by elbowing them out of the Signature Events (not to mention the PIP program), that they now hate him as per the Murray bit, as well they should.  He's allowed Cantlay and others to use him to turn the PGA Tour into a LIV equivalent, and he remains totally clueless.

If he keeps missing three-footers I'll welcome the day when he gets shut out of the big money events.  Of course, he's taken care of himself to such an extent that it won't matter much any more.

We're at a point where I don't much care whether deal gets done or not, because I won't be among those 69,000 souls tuning in.

I'll leave you here and wish you a good weekend.  I'm sure there will be something to talk about next week.