I'm very happen to have provided that bonus weekend post, given how things went to hell-in-a-handbasket when I arrived in Utah. Nothing too serious in the long term, just the same nobody can do their day job stuff we see all around us these days.
Fortunately it didn't affect the ski schedule, only the blogging..... But, and stop me if you've heard this before, we need snow.
Tiger Scat - So, this is the man to lead us out of the wilderness? If you say so, but did you catch his awkward booth appearance from the Hero World Challenge?
Tiger Woods says 'we'll see' when asked whether he, Charlie will play 2024 PNC Championship
Tiger Woods didn't tee it up this week in the 2024 Hero World Challenge, saying in his pre-tournament news conference he wasn't tournament sharp yet.On Sunday, he was asked about whether his next time teeing it up could be in two weeks at the 2024 PNC Championship, where he and son Charlie have played the last four years in the season-ending event at the Ritz-Carlton in Orlando, Florida."We'll see," Woods told NBC's Dan Hicks during the final round coverage.
This is an interview that took place on December 8th about an event to be held on December 21st to 22nd, for an event in which "tournament sharpness" isn't required.... Do we think he really didn't know his plans? Because, not much time has elapsed until this:
In 2030 Tiger will expect Comcast/NBC to up their rights fee payments, but will anyone remember him unnecessarily being a Dick to Dan Hicks? I found him insufferably smug during that interview, not that I ever find him engaging when he deigns to duck questions.
Might as well excerpt the Tour Confidential panel's take on this State-of-the-Big-Cat update:
Tiger Woods spoke to the media at his Hero World Challenge, calling last season a wash and still unsure about how healthy he’ll be to play consistently in 2025. What was your biggest takeaway from Tiger’s time with the media, and how much longer do you think he’ll approach each season hoping but unsure if he’ll play a few majors before he decides to hang it up for good? Are we close to that?Josh Berhow: It’s like deja vu at this press conference every year. Tiger seems to always befrustrated with his health and unsure of what he’ll be able to do the coming season. When he said he hoped to play once a month it turned out that wasn’t even close. But none of this is surprising at this point; it’s just reality. The guy’s body has been through a lot. That said, I think this will be the status quo going forward. He’s still competitive and is going to play as much as he can and I don’t think a full-fledged retirement is coming soon unless things get substantially worse. But I’m also curious how much (if at all) he’ll play on the Champions Tour when he gets to cruise around in a cart. That day is approaching quickly.Josh Sens: Agreed, Josh. Tiger famously plays things close to the vest. But for a long while now, I don’t think he’s known much more about his plans than the rest of us have, and those plans have been to play as many majors as possible, along with a tiny handful of other events. All of the majors are available to him for pretty much as long as he’s willing to hold out hope. And I don’t expect him to give up on them entirely anytime soon. But as Red Sox second baseman Jerry Remy said when he became a broadcaster: we’re all day to day, even GOATs.Zephyr Melton: Tiger is always going to say he’s hoping to play the majors (and a few other select tournaments), but the reality is his body isn’t going to allow that. The day his car veered off the road in 2021, his career effectively ended. It remains to be seen how long it will take him to accept that fact.
Isn't the bigger issue when the writers at Golf Magazine will accept that fact?
Which might not matter if we hadn't put all our hopes and dreams in his hands.....
Status Update - Via Geoff, an update on where things stand:
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is nearing a deal to acquire a minority stake in PGA Tour Enterprises, according to people with knowledge of the matter.The sovereign wealth fund is in advanced talks about taking a roughly 6% stake in the PGA Tour’s commercial arm, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. An agreement, if reached, would come after months of negotiations, and follow a deal inked earlier this year with Strategic Sports Group, which can invest as much as $3 billion in PGA Tour Enterprises.
Only 6%? Obviously missing from this accounting is the extent of their investment, but we've seen a billion dollar number from other sources. Of course what I'd most like to know is how much of SSG's initial $1.5 billion large has been burned through....
Enjoy the howlers in this 'graph:
A fear among those involved in the deal is that the Saudis walk away, refocusing on growing LIV and luring more PGA players. The fracturing of golf, which used to see the top names tee off against other, has helped cause a drop in viewership for flagship events on the PGA Tour, while LIV has failed to consistently attract large scale audiences.
Obviously, you'll have done a spit take at that last bit.... I mean, it's technically true as presented, since they've failed to attract large scale audiences everywhere (with the exception perhaps of Western Australia). But maybe the more significant obfuscation is that causality subtly implied above. Are we not watching PGA Tour Signature Events because Bryson and Brooks aren't there? Or is there perhaps a deeper cause... Because they pretty much sucked, just like the WGCs sucker and LIV events suck, so of course the idea of turning the Tour's premiere events into LIV/WGC events is nothing short of strategic brilliance.
Shack has this reax:
Depending on how you feel about giving the Big Bodychopper His Ownself a 6% stake, these latest details from a credible outfit seem (A) surprisingly minimalist after all this time, or, (B) like one last lethal injection into the Tour’s inconsistent response to an existential threat. If the Bloomberg report turns out to be accurate, a 6% stake and continuing independence of PIF’s LIV feels galaxies away from the original “framework agreement.” Especially if the same Bloomberg crew’s report of a possible LIV-DP World Tour partnership pans out.The original “framework agreement” looks like the Declaration of Independence compared to the details in the latest report. You may recall that the FA’s parameters were ironed out by Jimmy Dunne and friends with an eye on returning non-major championship control of pro golf to the PGA Tour, and, as a byproduct, likely adding His Excellency to membership rolls at places he’d otherwise spend centuries hoping to join.Ah, those were the days.
So how does this continued existence and independence of LIV cause the best players to compete against each other more often? Although perhaps reminder of this thread:
LIV is also considering a potential tie-up with Europe’s DP World Tour, Bloomberg News reported last month. The talks with DP World Tour are separate from the investment discussions between the PGA Tour and the Saudi wealth fund, the people have said.The PGA Tour and DP World have a strategic alliance which guarantees prize money growth to events run by the latter, and some reciprocal memberships.
Geoff ties it into the event next week:
The struggle to merge massive egos ignorant of cratering viewership numbers became even more clear when grounded golfers named Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, Brooks Koepka, and Bryson DeChambeau gathered for a conference call to plug next Tuesday’s crypto-funded match at Shadow Creek. The made-for-TNT showdown will pair the PGA Tour’s Team McSheffler against LIV defectors Team DeKoepka. The call revealed that McScheffler eventually got a release to play from the event after Global Home groveling—according to McIlroy—and overall, the PGA Tour is staying as far from the thing as possible without getting their usual $1 million-plus vig. This unusual distancing from Ponte Vedra could be a result of how the crypto match came together and might even be a wise move at staying clear of the promoter’s shady past. And I’m not referring to his paling around with Phil Mickelson.“The showdown is a great showcase for bringing the two tours a bit together,” DeChambeau claimed.A bit.Bryson continued, “And I think what we’re doing to do next year, all of us aligned, is bringing something a little bigger and badder, so we can have a couple of times—at least one more time—where we can see most of the best players on both sides competing.”At least we have those weeks called The Masters, the PGA, the U.S. Open and The Open.The Vegas quadrilateral of major winners acknowledged the sad state of seeing the best get together only four times a year. Yet as long as LIV keeps hiring and trying to grow, a split-status quo seems set. That might be fine for PGA Tour locked into a solid media deal while LIV searches for its CW replacement in hopes of drawing over 100,000 average final round viewers in 2025.
The PGA does have those good media deals, but can't meet the demands of its alpha dogs with investors willing to fund such losses, so they kind of need each other. But hard to make any real sense of how this unites the game (not that I miss any of those guys that left). But Geoff doesn't seem high on letting the bonecutters combine two moribund, failing tours:
A more disastrous scenario sees the Public Investment Fund taking some NEOM slush fund money to buy the DP World Tour with hopes of creating a world-versus-the-U.S.A. scenario. This seems likely to set up a Ryder Cup-alternative floated by Koepka this week.“Let’s be real — wouldn’t you want to see a LIV versus PGA Tour Ryder Cup-style thing?” he asked. “That is what it is. This is growing into a big thing. That’s what will draw the fans.”Down boy, down!Okay, maybe the moribund Presidents Cup becomes LIV vs. the USA. Anything will be better than another blitzing of the International squad. But it’s hard to see the PGA Tour going very far to support what will still be a competitor even after getting $700 million to buy Pebble Beach or whatever the for-profit does with the blood money.It’s remarkable to think that these four players are the ones left attempting to broker increased competition. The bizarre state of affairs, combined with shrinking fields and eliminating cuts in big events, speaks to how much the PGA Tour has lost the plot. Because it’s still all about the competition and who puts out a “product” of integrity. Not some watered-down mess or something built around what the CMO-du-jour thinks is campaign-worthy.
Even more remarkable is that Rory, a man whose made a hot mess every time he's opened his mouth, is one of those four. But Geoff, we really can't credit them with promoting greater competition when they're limiting those money grabs to 70 players with no cut. You're not pro-competition when you're excluding half the competitors at each event....
The good news? They haven't figured out how to destroy the four majors.... Yah, I know, Tiger is still working on it.
It's Kiz - Color me lukewarm, I like the guy but think he'd do better in Smylie's role. in fact, has anyone actually seen Smylie Kaufman and Kevin Kisner in the same room? because they seem very much the same guy:
Behind the scenes of NBC Sports’ Kevin Kisner hire
Yeah, not sure I need to deep a dive, but the issue seems to be that Kiz still wants to play, despite the obvious shortcomings in said game.
Flood, Cordella and Roy arrived in Aiken in the fall to find Kisner feeling open-minded. Theclock was ticking on the 40-year-old pro, who now had just one year remaining of PGA Tour eligibility courtesy of a lifetime top-50 earners exemption. He would get into a dozen or so Tour events in 2025, but would be mostly relegated to weaker-field events. If his play improved — unlikely for a player of Kisner’s age (40) and length (181st on Tour in 2024) — his playing schedule might fill, but that was uncertain. On the other hand, if his play kept with its recent trajectory, he would be available for most weeks of NBC’s PGA Tour coverage in 2025, and his playing career would be over in 2026.In other words, if NBC was willing to work with him on the details, Kisner was open to taking the gig.“I have a great relationship with Sam Flood. I like the way he talks about things. He’s very straight up, and that’s the way I am,” Kisner said. “My wife and I sat down with [Flood, Cordella and Roy] for three-and-a-half hours and just discussed life. We talked about the future — what we felt like was good, bad, how to make golf better, how they thought I could fit into their team.”At the end of the conversation, the decision was made. Kisner would take on 10 events in 2025 and the permanent title of NBC Golf lead analyst while maintaining part-time PGA Tour playing privileges. If his playing career got in the way of the arrangement, NBC would be flexible, and if not, NBC would be the beneficiary.
I think I have as good a chance of playing my way into those money grabs as Kiz does, given that he hits it about 260 off the tee. But apparently, per Geoff, this doesn't avoid the most awkward part of NBC's presentation for 2025:
By the time Kisner signed his contract, the network had already decided to bring back a big broadcast experiment from 2024, the “odd-even” format, splitting play-by-play and analystduties between teams designated to odd and even-numbered holes. The goal of the strategy, Flood and Roy said, is to facilitate a conversation between broadcasters that fans can “eavesdrop” in on, rather than having broadcasters speak to the audience at home. NBC hopes the shift to “odd-even” will make life easier for Kisner as he switches to golf TV. It will simplify preparation, for example, and create fewer, more targeted speaking opportunities.
That the format is suggested as a way to keep Kisner from doing too much work or preparing to back a pointed take, seems like a pretty sad statement about where the once-vaunted NBC Sports has landed. For golf fans, it’s especially sad given how thoroughly Johnny Miller prepared every time he donned a headset.
I have no idea about the photo either, but that odd-even bit was beyond bizarre.
On LIVsters - We like folks who can admit when they're wrong, though perhaps an exception should be made here:
'I was wrong': Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau open up on the evolution of their relationship ahead of The Showdown
The fun is in reliving some of the silly bits in this spat:
"I've always had respect for Brooks and what he's done, and how many majors he's won,"DeChambeau said. "It's been quite impressive, and even the tour events he's won. Obviously, early on, we didn't really understand each other. Pretty rocky relationship."To say the least. It was a feud so publicized that it produced its own "controversy timeline" in many online spaces including this one. It's easy to forget that the saga began back in 2019, complete with slow-play callouts, "he doesn't even have abs" callouts, fire ants jokes, etc. After they both made the jump to LIV, the rivalry began dying a slow death, understandably."We had our spats," DeChambeau said. "But we realized when we both went to LIV we had quite a few things in common. Kind of like stepbrothers in a sense. And we've developed a pretty solid relationship and have good respect for each other now."
Though this comes with some buried terms and conditions, perhaps:
Of course, one could argue they are both in promotion mode before their LIV vs. PGA Tour tilt with Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy next Tuesday at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas. They have to be cordial for this shindig to work. Judging off their back and forth Tuesday, though, DeChambeau and Koepka have come a long, long way since SpikesGate at Kiawah Island in 2021.
To sum up, Brooks now says he was wrong about Bryson, but we're not so on Brooks.... As I noted above, I don't miss the LIV golfers when I watch PGA Tour events.
I always hate these defections:
The No. 1 ranked player in Korea has withdrawn from PGA Tour’s qualifying school to sign with LIV Golf.Yubin Jang, 22, was supposed to be in the field for Q School’s final stage that starts on Thursday, Dec. 12 at TPC Sawgrass’ Dye’s Valley Course and Sawgrass Country Club., earning his spot as the top earner on the Korea Professional Golf Association’s money list. Jang won twice and had five second-place finishes the KPGA circuit while also leading the tour in scoring, grabbing Player of the Year honors in the process. He also scored the gold medal for Korea at the 2023 Asian Games.At No. 135 in the Official World Golf Ranking, Jang was the second-highest ranked player in Q School behind Kensei Hirata, who captured the Order of Merit in Japan this year. But on Tuesday Jang dropped out of Q School, followed by LIV Golf announcing that Jang had joined Kevin Na’s Iron Heads team. There are no alternates for the final stage, meaning Jang’s exemption will not be filled. The field tops out at 170 players, with five PGA Tour cards on the line.
I've never heard of the kid, so I have no opinion on his potential. But this can't be the way to build a golf career, and I suspect we'll never hear of him again, his golf career will be limited to cashing the one check.
And this delicious schadenfreude:
In terms of LIV, the DJ and Phil signings were the more significant. But in terms of acting like a spoiled child and pissing on both tours, you'd be hard-pressed to find a bigger jerk than Sergio.
But get this from the miscreant:
Amidst such outward optimism, Garcia will surely be aware that his chances of participating at Bethpage—where he finished third in the 2002 U.S. Open amidst his notorious battle with countless re-grips of the club prior to swinging—remain slim. But whatever happens, in at least one area he stands united with his fellow Europeans. Under no circumstances will he be asking for financial compensation should he make the team.“That is unfortunate,” he says of the possibility that the American team will be paid. “It takes away everything that the Ryder Cup stands for in a way. It’s never been an issue for the European players. But the Americans seem to be making it one. And now it seems like they will be getting something. Hopefully they are happy about that. But it doesn’t help the Ryder Cup. We Europeans don’t care if we get paid or not. That’s not our priority. Our goal is to play as well as possible and for Europe to win.”
So, let me see if I have this straight. Sergio is lecturing others on why it's wrong to excessively focus on money.... Pretty rich from a guy who's signature move is spitting in cups and destroying greens.
But I'm torn.... If he wants another Ryder Cup I instinctively want to deny it to him, for being such a jerk on his path to LIV. But, I'm conflicted, because there's a certain appeal to the image of allowing those Bethpage crowds another go at Sergio.... Could be good fun.
That will be all for today. The schedule will be a bit tough, as my nephew and a friend of his coming here for a few days of skiing. That will inevitably affect blogging early next week, so please bear with me. I'll cover any actual developments as best I can. Have a great weekend.
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