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"I'd like to try and get him back for what he did to me at the U.S. Open," McIlroy said.DeChambeau then interjected: "To be fair, you kinda did it to yourself."That prompted roars from the gallery.Even the aforementioned Scheffler could be seen in the background cracking a smile."I don't really know where to go from there," McIlroy said.
As a first take, pretty much spot-on, Bryson. But, while we all understand that when a mic is shoved in your face what comes out might might be less than profound, I still have to ask, WTF, Rory? The premise being that if Rory gets him in the Crypto-whatever that they'll be even? Does that perhaps explain the last fourteen years....
A couple of the Golf.com writers take on this very question:
The first obvious question I would ask is whether anyone actually tuned in, by my Googling hasn't revealed any ratings data....
While we’re on the subject of stilted, awkward, chilly and talking about things no one ever needs to see again, someone gave out a lot of crypto out Tuesday night at Shadow Creek. The preferred “currency” of drug and arms dealers had never been given to golfers for winning before and may never again if the presentation is even half as dreadful as this disaster. Oh, that’s harsh. Tom Fazio’s chef d’oeuvre has never looked better. Maybe that’s because it was pitch black for most of the back nine.This screen-capture of Bryson and his compression boot jacket captures the event’s verve.
That was such a weird look....and I say that as I write from the land of puffy jackets....
Let's see what Golfweek thinks of it all:
Rust is a thing, even in an exhibitionMcIlroy and Scheffler came into The Showdown winning their last two starts: McIlroy last month at the DP World Tour Championship and Scheffler nine days ago at the Hero World Challenge. DeChambeau's last competitive reps were at the LIV Golf Team Championship in late September while Koepka's came at the Alfred Dunhill Championship in early October.Advantage PGA Tour, and that was apparent most of the competition. The LIV pair lost three of four four-ball holes, lost in alternate shot and only won a solitary hole in singles. And while Koepka and DeChambeau had their fair share of good shots, McIlroy and Scheffler provided more entertainment with theirs.
I would say especially in an exhibition, as that U.S. Ryder Cup team discovered in Rome.
It's actually an interesting issue, because the quality of the golf was a bit ragged. That said, part of that was the cold and darkness, and challenging these guys with such firm conditions is one of the few ways to make these things interesting.
Here's a twofer:
Format was betterIt seems the format for every past version of The Match and now The Showdown had had a slightly different format, but this one seemed to work well. Essentially, it was three six-hole matches, starting with four-ball, then foursomes then singles. One point was awarded for winning a session, and the team to 2.5 points first wins.All in all, the four golfers ended up playing only 14 of the 18 holes at Shadow Creek, and even that took a little more than four hours, which leads into this...
It takes too long
Yes, it's a made-for-TV event with dozens of sponsors willing to fork over millions for advertising (or $10 million in crypto as the prize). There are going to be lulls in the action when commercial air or ads happen in competition, or when a fan is chosen from the crowd to hit a putt for a paid excursion to Big Cedar Lodge in Missouri (he missed the 10-footer but got a $1,000 certificate to Bass Pro Shops). But from the first tee shot to the time the event was over, it took more than four hours to play 14 holes.Whether a golf sicko or someone tuning in casually, that's too slow, and that's a theme for the made-for-TV events. And that's not good when considering this next point.
Look, they're struggling with all the reasons no one actually watches golf....
I agree the format had positives (I only watched through the first hole of singles), especially alternate shot. Fourball (and singles, I assume) just move too slowly, though the tough conditions at least made the fourball potentially interesting (I say potentially because in this one case it just wasn't competitive).
But now we get to the tragic flaw, the reason these things never really work:
Where's the banter?Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of The Showdown was the lack of banter between the four.Sure, DeChambeau had everyone making fun of him early when he pulled out his winter coat thatlooked like he was spending a weekend in the Swiss Alps, but once those jokes wore off, there was hardly any trash talk between the groups. Even the banter between the groups was limited. One of the best conversations captured of the night was about creatine (and no, it wasn't Koepka and DeChambeau).Especially with DeChambeau's comfortability with YouTube golf and commentating on camera, he was tame by his standards, which was a massive disappointment. No jabs at McIlroy for the U.S. Open. In the heat of competition, these guys are locked in, even if it's a silly-season match for fun. But for viewers who aren't familiar with the golfers, it makes for a difficult TV product in certain spots.
If you're expecting Brooks and Scottie to carry a show with their bon mots, you'll end up disappointed.... This is always and ever the fatal flaw of these matches, and stay tuned to see whether the TGL can solve this issue....
This falls into that "necessary but insufficient" category:
Charles Barkley remains best part of broadcastTNT should be thankful it employs Charles Barkley. He once again was the best part of the broadcast team, with his co-hosts throwing jabs at him and even McIlroy joining in on the banter at points.Barkley even went on a rant about the LIV Golf and PGA Tour needing to merge, which, in typical Chuck fashion, got off the rails. "I can say what I want to cause I ain't worried about getting fired," he said.
He made me laugh exactly once, with his take on the guy with the unfortunate nickname "Cupcake", though that was about it....
Golf Digest also noticed this obvious miss:
Biggest whiff: The "banter," or lackthereofThat last point got me thinking how much better it would have been had Koepka actually verbalized what he was thinking to DeChambeau. Now THAT would be electric television. Smack-talking your own teammate. So, too, would smack-talking the opponent. But that just never really happens in these events. We forget these guys are professional golfers, not NBA or NHL players who study their opponents entire family trees in order to find the most cutting chirps for one another. Yes, guys like Koepka can be killers on the course, but they aren't going out there trying to show each other up. Your own golf game is hard enough to focus on as is. The best banter in these made-for-TV events comes from Charles Barkley. Without him, I'm not sure how much legitimate chatter there would be.
When the indispensable man at a sporting event is an announcer, that might serve as a red flag, no?
This was far from the worst of these made-for-TV events, but it's just naïve to think that such a flat, disjointed broadcast could appeal to non-golfers.... And even the PGA-LIV frisson didn't turn out to have any real juice, at least to this observer.
The Tiger & Charlie Show - With a crazy crowded sports calendar and Saturday being a travel day, I'm unclear as to how much of it I'll see. That said, here's the Tour Confidential guys' take:
Tiger Woods returns to the course this week for the first time since July when he’ll team up with his son, Charlie, at the PNC Championship in Florida. Will we learn anything about Woods’ form and health this week — or should we just sit back and enjoy some family golf?Dethier: We’ll see him swing and we’ll see him walk and we’ll even see him hit some pressure putts! Let’s not get carried away — not by Woods’ form nor by his son’s. But yeah, I think what we see this week from Woods will give us some sort of hint at what to expect from his 2025.Sens: To borrow from Bobby Jones, there are two types of golf, tournament golf and hit-and-giggle father-and-son golf, and they are not at all alike. For one thing, Tiger will be allowed to use a cart. You can’t do that at Augusta. That’s just one of many reasons why we shouldn’t use this as a barometer of anything more than what it is.Colgan: It’s Tiger playing in a televised golf event. Can we convince ourselves we’ve learned something? Obviously yes. We will, whether we should or not.
Give it up, we know everything we need to know about Tiger's 2025 season, to wit, he's toast. The reason to tune in is to assess Charlie's development and potential.
PGA Tour Follies - It's a clown show for sure, not that I've been following the story at all, because who really cares about Ponte Vedra suits? This header gives you the gist of it:
PGA Tour's second-highest paid executive retires; Jay Monahan announces search for new CEO position
This has Geoff on an epic rant, so buckle in and enjoy:
“Everything is on the table.”It’s the new Live Under Par! But before the full campaign is approved, a new nine-figure CEO job has become available in Ponte Vedra Beach (PGA Tour) to go with openings in Frisco (PGA of America) and Daytona Beach (LPGA).Yet only one of these outfits went public with its search and did it in totally weird fashion.We learned this week that the lucky recipient of a newly opened/created/something CEO position will report to a PGA Tour board featuring the guy who held the job for a few months. One who is also letting it be known he will continue to have a vote on his successor’s salary while continuing as PGA Tour “Commissioner.”Fun!Now, this is a newsletter about the majors and best Cup events. But it’s so hard not to have a giggle or twenty at the PGA Tour’s expense after the latest weirdness. After all, this is also an organization that wants to run grow the game and they can’t even run a basic internet campaign in a world where your neighbor is probably better doing on-camera YouTube how-to’s about getting out olive oil stains (dish detergent it turns out).The same PGA Tour lobbies against most Rules of Golf because, you know, that written code which governs the game can be so mean, cold and unfair for asking someone to hit a shot in under 40 seconds. The same Rules that became evil and in need of eradication if one player (or corporation) whines often and loudly enough.In sharp contrast to the state of other leading organizations, the Tour appears to be a mess of boards, committees, subcommittees, subcommittees of subcommittees, and now a new CEO search committees. This after years of almost never hearing about any governance news that might distract from the “product.” Undoubtedly, there are plenty of people on this army of committees cringing at the latest scheme revealing a CEO search in public fashion instead of through a headhunter.But for some silly reason—maybe one last holiday gift to content creators—the Tour launched a two-pronged video attack using grown men who are not good on camera to tell us everything is peachy in PVB. The sight of leadership; blatantly reading off prompters discussing the future of the PGA Tour only reinforced an ongoing authenticity black hole.First, there was Jay Monahan’s attempt at a hostage video where the (kind of?) maybe-demoted CEO but still Commissioner hyped the upcoming season. He had to be edited for misidentifying a tournament. Media and Twitter users noticed and many asked the same question: you couldn’t do another take? Oh right. Just because one receives a $23 million package does not guarantee basic media competence.After the tournament name slip, Monahan seemed to be testing a desperate new slogan (“everything is on the table”). And somehow it’s still better than Live Under Par! Then, Monahan buried the lede by announcing a PGA Tour search for a new CEO. That’s when you really felt like someone was off camera pointing a pistol. Because you may recall—and for the sake of your mental health I hope this detail long left your sphere—Monahan was bequeathed a CEO title in a May press release when a new board chairman was announced.The Monahan rollout video posted at PGATour.com and YouTube was accompanied by embargoed stories attempting to explain what the new C-Suite occupant will be doing. And because fans are dying to know details of corporate governance, they learned the captivating holiday news that Monahan is taking a seat on the Policy Board to go with his other board Tour board seat.What a merry mitzvah for the fans! Shame they didn’t tell us where he likes to sit at the meeting table and if he likes ice in his water.Random question: if Monahan’ll be working under the new person as the Commissioner, won’t the CEO atop the whole operation need a salary higher than Monahan’s recently reported $23 million package?I digress.“We’re bringing new perspectives onto our team to realize the incredible opportunities ahead for our sport,” Monahan said as he held up a copy of today’s St. Augustine Record. “We can learn so much from the world of sport and entertainment, and I’m excited to meet candidates for this important new role.”In memo sent to players, Monahan expanded on the news: “The CEO will report directly to the PGA Tour policy board & the Tour Enterprises board of directors. In addition to my role as a director of the Tour Enterprises board, I will join the Tour policy board & serve [on] the search committee.”What a relief.Meanwhile, the Tour’s new Chief Marketing Officer Matt Weitz, made a couple of genuinely awful appearances on CNBC and Golf Channel. The apparent goal was to excite tiny business and golf audiences with news of a CEO search committee headed by Arthur Blank. One hitch: the CMO said all of this as his pupils appeared to move back and forth like he was reading off a teleprompter. Or he needs to see his optometrist ASAP.The whole State TV thing has been coming and it’s as pitiful as feared. There was a time not long ago when all parties involved would never have resorted to such ungainliness. Still, the shabby rollout left grizzled cynics of the Tour aghast at the amateur hour vibes as YouTube and Twitter commenters pounced.
Was that a long enough excerpt for you? Just remember that Jay was paid $23 million to orchestrate this mess....
The Year That Was - The inevitable year-end wrap pieces are out there, but I'll just sample a couple of bits from this take:
Never mind. I'm struggling with embedding Twitter memes, and just don't have the time and inclination to work through the issues. Give it a scan, including the honorable mentions.
Other year-end summaries can be found here:
2024 Newsmakers of the Year
And here:
55 things that happened to Scottie Scheffler in 2024
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