So, how's your week going? My own has been shockingly good, including playing Old Oaks yesterday in shorts with Employee No. 2. Oh, and there was this:
America Unburdens Itself From What Has Been https://t.co/MElsQSK1sE pic.twitter.com/8OpkkqK9Jc
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) November 6, 2024
Although, given my slightly elevated A1C, I'm a little worried that the tears of liberals might be a little too heavy on the carbs....
Very little golf to cover, but I do promise to stop gloating...notwithstanding the intersection involved below. As you might recall, on Monday we featured a report for The Sun that a merger deal between the PGA and LIV was done, or at least doneish. But what has followed is radio silence, excepting this from Front Page Sports:
Multiple sources say reports of professional golf’s unification are premature; heavy internal pressure remains to ink a peace treaty before the end of the year.
Well, to be fair, it's been almost 18 months since Neville Jay announced Peace in our Time.
Alas, there's little there there, with no details on where the fault lines in the negotiations might be:
British tabloids reported Saturday that the two sides have a deal at last. But multiple industry sources say the reports are premature.One of the few things you can say with absolute certainty about the PGA Tour–LIV deal is that everyone working on it is bogged down in the details—details that will allow them to quell antitrust concerns, prevent players who turned down the rebel tour from mutiny, and keep golf fans happy.That is quite the needle to thread, and the lack of publicly available details speaks to the sensitivities and difficulties of piecing everything together to finalize a deal.There has been heavy internal pressure, sources tell Front Office Sports, to ink a peace treaty before the end of the year to avoid making future scheduling more complicated than it already will be. The PGA Tour has already released its 2025 schedule, while LIV has released only four international tournament dates.
Though this 'graph might induce a spit-take:
Whether you believe pros wearing shorts and tournaments with no cuts is truly a radical development, players who defected to the team-based competition are largely happy with their decision based on reduced workloads, equity in the franchises they represent, and a novelty that is yet to wear off. The majority would, however, like the opportunity to play in majors as well as see an end to the fractured landscape.
Oh, sure, they're happy as clams, at least if you ignore all of Jon Rahm's whining.... That being on actual TV gets old, so I suppose it's a relief to them to not have witnesses to their desultory play.
Some of the background music is just plain hysterical. For instance, apparently Norman père has made such a hash of things, that the fils is handling the clean-up in Aisle Six. Here's the set-up, which itself is worth a chuckle:
As a result, both sides are continuing on their own separate paths. The PGA Tour, for example, is considering a bevy of changes to reduce the field sizes at tournaments to a more manageable size. The changes are currently before the Player Advisory Council, awaiting its decision.Among the strategies to reach their goal of smaller tournaments is the elimination of Monday Qualifiers at some tournaments, and the reduction of spots available at Monday Qualifiers at other events.
Is their goal to make their events smaller? Because I must admit, these guys are good!
But what's the brainstorm?
But now that could largely be coming to an end. Enter the son of current LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman, Greg Norman Jr.Upon hearing of the potential changes to PGA Tour Monday Qualifiers, Norman Jr. took to X to share a wild idea for LIV that he has “been preaching for a while.”The idea? Run weekly qualifiers at LIV events to make up a “People’s Team” that would compete against the pros like Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau.“For what it’s worth… I’ve been preaching for awhile that LIV should absolutely open up weekly qualifiers for a People’s Team, a team that anyone can qualify for,” Norman Jr. wrote on X. “If you play well, you stay on the team, and the general public can participate in shared ownership and governance.”
Does he know that Dad is being kicked upstairs? I didn't think LIV could be a bigger joke, but perhaps I need to be more unburdened by what has been. Although my strongest reaction to attempts to make LIV appeal to actual golf fans is along the lines of, "Why start now?"
But now we get to the intersection of LIV/PGA Tour and the larger news cycle, as apparently the sock has fallen out of the mouth of a certain Ulsterman. Though it's amusing to hear him admitting that he's out of the loop:
McIlroy, speaking Wednesday ahead of the DP World Tour's Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, the tour's penultimate event of 2024, said he was unaware of the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund having already come to a deal, reported last week by The Sun, calling it a surprise. “It’s the first that I’ve heard of it,” McIlroy said of the alleged pact. “I know [PGA Tour commissioner] Jay [Monahan] was in Saudi Arabia last week at the FII and was having some meetings. I think I would’ve heard if there was.
“He’s briefing the transaction committee tonight, so maybe some news comes out of that. But as far as I’m aware, I haven’t heard a thing.”
Oh sure, Rory, you'll be the first to know....
But here's his hot take:
However, McIlroy pointed to Trump’s victory over Kamala Harris as potentially facilitating peace between the two sides.“Given today’s news with what’s happened in America, I think that clears the way a little bit,” McIlroy said. “So we’ll see.”Trump is heavily involved with LIV Golf, with the Saudi-backed circuit hosting several of its events at Trump properties.In a separate interview, McIlroy was asked about Trump’s previous claim that he could end the game’s civil war “in 15 minutes.”“He might be able to,” McIlroy told Sky Sports. “He’s got Elon Musk, who I think is the smartest man in the world, beside him. We might be able to do something if we can get Musk involved, too.“Yeah, I think from the outside looking in, it’s probably a little less complicated than it actually is. But obviously Trump has a great relationship with Saudi Arabia. He’s got a great relationship with golf. He’s a lover of golf. So, maybe. Who knows?"
Yeah, that would be enemy of The People Elon Musk? Have they locked him up yet? We can't be able to express our opinions in public, can we? I had been reliably informed that Free Speech and Democracy were mutually exclusive.
Please do bear in mind that I've been hoping for Rory to shut his pie hole for some time now, as he's become quite pathetic in his need to be relevant. So, I think as always he should duck such questions, but I also believe that this Eamon Lynch piece will include some howlers:
But Eamon is always interesting and amusing, so let's allow him to beclown himself:
The first Wednesday of November during leap years is a perilous time for public commentary as U.S. Presidential election results are debated in a manner just as partisan as the campaign that preceded it. This one is no different. Depending on whom you ask, one political party peddled faux populism and racism while displaying an astonishing appetite for conspiracy theories, while the other is woefully incapacitated by its indulgence of identity ideologues, Hamas groupies and gender jihadists. Which is to say there was already plenty to pick over without wondering if the election of Donald Trump would help professional golfers get paid more.During a Wednesday press conference at a tournament in Abu Dhabi, Rory McIlroy was asked about progress in talks between the PGA Tour and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. “Given today’s news with what has happened in America, I think that clears the way a little bit. So we’ll see,” he offered, before adding that it would be “a huge moment” if the Department of Justice under Trump was more amenable to green-lighting a deal than Biden’s DOJ might have been.
It's not even clear to me that we fully understand what a Biden Justice Department would do, as this is a bizarre application of antitrust law.
In our hyper-polarized moment, even comments that are both bland and obvious can be construed as endorsing the election outcome, something McIlroy didn’t actually do. But those three words — “clears the way” — earned a pointedly sour reception. McIlroy gave the impression of welcoming the prospect of Trump interfering with a regulatory process to benefit a coddled group of golfers who’ve already alienated legions of fans weary of their entitlement and greed.
Eamon, are you suggesting that the Biden Justice Department isn't politicized? Really, do you know Merrick Garland? More importantly, did you see yesterday's announcement?
Justice Department and special counsel in talks about how to wind down Trump prosecutions
Gee, Eamon, any thoughts on why they would do this if they were strong, righteous cases? But Eamon wants us to believe that the "regulatory process" under Trumps predecessor was somehow unsullied by temporal life.
But here's where Eamon reveals what a profound buffoon he can be:
Even leaving aside the generous encomium for Musk, who has spent months amplifying racists and antisemites in his social media sewer, McIlroy knows better — a fact he quickly admitted. “I think from the outside looking in, it’s probably a little less complicated than it actually is. But obviously, Trump has a great relationship with Saudi Arabia. He’s got a great relationship with golf. He’s a lover of golf. So, maybe. Who knows? But I think as the president of the United States again, he’s probably got bigger things to focus on than golf.”
He just slurred Trump voters as anti-Semites. Obviously, according to Eamon, we can't have democracy with free speech rights, because some of those folks use spe4ech of which Eamon doesn't approve. Of course, he'll call those Twitter posters conspiracy nutjobs, ignoring that the difference between a conspiracy theory and the truth is, checking notes, fifteen minutes.
Eamon is having a bad morning, as liberals will when their ability to control outcomes by calling normies racist is taken away from him. Eamon, there are all sorts of allegedly serious organizations offering milk and cookies for those distraught by Tuesday's results, I suggest you go find a safe space. I's gonna be a long four years for you...
But here's where he appeals to the broader intifada:
Instead, what McIlroy inadvertently did was reinforce a widespread perception of myopic entitlement among Tour players. Millions of people awoke this morning with leaden uncertainty about things that actually matter — economic stability, support in times of war, global alliances, civil rights, basic healthcare, immigration status. That environment is sufficiently fraught without a golfer idly speculating on whether the election might be a treat for those impatient to get their hands on some Saudi riyal.
Notice that buried "Immigration status"? Eamon, let me explain the world to you, using this from your sainted Beeb:
The Republican presidential nominee has repeatedly criticised the government's record on the border, claiming - without providing evidence - that "Kamala Harris has allowed 21 million illegals to pour in from all over the world.”
Do you see that number, Eamon? We're not talking about a few folks' immigration status, we're talking about an invasion force.
Two quotes that Eamon might want to consider, first from David Horowitz:
“An SDS radical once wrote, “The issue is never the issue. The issue is always the revolution.” In other words the cause - whether inner city blacks or women - is never the real cause, but only an occasion to advance the real cause which is the accumulation of power to make the revolution.”
It's hardly about immigration status, Eamon, the revolution took a hit with Tuesday's results, so I understand that Eamon is in mourning.
The second might be the most frequently utilized quote in this blog:
“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”― George Orwell, 1984
I'll exit on the meme, which I do hope Eamon sees:
Have a great weekend and perhaps we can pic k up other golf news beginning Monday.
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