Enjoy the week, kids, they don't give us many quite like this one. Exactly four in total, including this week and three of the majors. Elite professional golf should and used to be about beating strong, deep (but I repeat myself) fields.... Keep that in mind as you list to Jay's nonsense.
I'm in the late stages of my last full-field (see what I did there?) ski trip of the year. It hasn't been brilliant, 220 inches of snow to date being quite the half-assed year. Now the last few days have been warm and sunny, and its been quite fun sliding around in the slush low on the mountain. A series of storms hits beginning today, though it has the potential to merely complicate my final two days on the mountan.
But enough about me....
The Players - I shan't spend too much time previewing this event, you can read Golf Digest's ranking of the entire 144-player field here, or ESPN's preview here. Shall we just take a quick peak at the ESPN writers' picks?
Schlabach: Give me Scottie. It's March and the world No.1 golfer hasn't won a PGA Tour event yet. To win the Players, you have to be accurate off the tee and on approach. Few players hit it as straight as Scheffler, and I think he'll work some magic around the greens and make enough putts to complete the three-peat.Uggetti: Maybe I'm a sucker for the storyline this would create, but short of Scheffler three-peating, I think I'm going with the Morikawa instant redemption arc. He has been playing such good golf lately that it feels like he is due. Then again, it felt like he was due last week, and we saw what happened.However, despite the fact that he said he never needs some kind of external affirmation for coming up short, everything he said Tuesday struck me as his own version of a self-prescribed pump-up speech fueled by some combination of anger, frustration and motivation."If you get beat, you get beat, like I can't do anything about that. But I knew I had more inside of me to control for that day to where I'm like, 'Man, if I shoot, if I have two more birdies, I win the tournament,'" Morikawa said. "So I look at it both ways. And that's why it sucked. That's why you just, you're pissed. But you got to move on."At a course that fits him like a glove, I think Morikawa will be able to do just that and finally get his first win since 2023.
I haven't seen that much from Scottie since his return, but we all understand it will click back in at some point. But the Morikawa pick seems a good one on the merits, but would it be a popular win? Well, depends who you ask, because Collin might need a remedial PR course:
Three PGA Tour pros who have adopted a role in golf media took offense to Collin Morikawablowing off the media on Sunday after finishing second at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.Morikawa, who lost a three-stroke lead with five holes to go, said he was pissed and needed time to cool down.“Like I don't owe anyone anything. No offense to you guys, but for me in the moment of that time, I didn't want to be around anyone. Like, I didn't want to talk to anyone. I didn't need any sorries. I didn't need any 'good playings.' Like, you're just pissed," Morikawa said on Tuesday during his pre-tournament press conference. "I get it. Like you guys are there to figure out how we played and how things went, but in my perspective, like I just didn't want to talk to anyone, and I think that's fair to myself, you know."
Translated into the original English, it' basically a double-middle finger.....
But I personally love it when they drop the mask.....Don't you? I mean, we all get the disappointment and he could have skated if he had merely said that he was so distraught and disappointed that he couldn't pull it off. But what he said was so much clearer. Shall I render it with a little bolding?
“Like I don't owe anyone anything. No offense to you guys, but for me in the moment of that time, I didn't want to be around anyone. Like, I didn't want to talk to anyone. I didn't need any sorries. I didn't need any 'good playings.' Like, you're just pissed," Morikawa said on Tuesday during his pre-tournament press conference. "I get it. Like you guys are there to figure out how we played and how things went, but in my perspective, like I just didn't want to talk to anyone, and I think that's fair to myself, you know."
Does that help explicate? I've bolded everything that's important to Collin.... Really, what could he do to make things clearer to us. We're just lucky to be allowed to live in the same world as he does.... But by all means don't take offence.
Now, there are a handful of guys out there that get it:
But Rocco Mediate, a longtime pro who won on PGA Tour Champions last year, isn’t buying Morikawa’s explanation.“Biggest bunch of horsesh--t you could ever say, period. I mean, that is the dumbest, most selfish garbage you could ever say,” Mediate said. “Mr. Palmer would've hunted him down. Trust me on that one because he told me one thing, Mr. Palmer told me one thing that stuck with me. [He said,] ‘You know what, Rock, it's real easy to go in and talk to somebody when you won or when you've played well, but can you do it when you don't? That's the key.’ Obviously he can't, OK, so stop talking to me about, ‘I didn't wanna talk to anybody.’ Your job is to tell people what happened. I don't give a s--t about your workout in the morning and all that other crap. Tell me what happened. You lost? You lost. You got beat? That's what happens. Guess what? Golf's hard.”
Arnie has left the building....
Obviously the worst bit was the lede about not owing anyone anything, which doesn't even have the benefit of being true:
Mediate continued his rant against Morikawa: “Please stop trying to tell me, ‘I didn't feel like talking to somebody.’ I mean, if Mr. Palmer was there, he'd have grabbed, I'm telling you, it wouldn't have been pretty, it would've been public, too. You don't need to act that way. The Tour does not need that garbage at all. I'm not sure if I was clear. Was I clear or was that a little ambiguous? Man up, talk about it and be done. He said, ‘I don't owe anybody anything.’ Actually, he does. The people that are watching. The reporters that bust their ass to write stories about our sorry asses. And I get this s--t? No, pathetic. You can say it. You can put it all, I don't care. Come to me, Collin. We'll talk about it.”
It's hard to overstate how bad this crap is, because he's showing contempt for the Tour's fans and sponsors.... There are precedents that Jay and other might want to consider, yanno, major brands such as....wait for it, Bud Light.
Brandel gets it as well:
Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee, speaking on “Live From,” echoed that sentiment, beginning his comments by saying, “It’s so disrespectful.”“When I found that he had refused to do the interview I was thinking about the players who had suffered far more devastating losses, far more momentous losses, who regained their equilibrium and with class gave the media – and it’s not just giving the media, it is giving the fans and the sponsors and the entire ecosystem of the golf world an explanation of the humanity of losing,” he said.Chamblee thought of Robert de Vicenzo signing an incorrect scorecard at the 1968 Masters; Greg Norman losing a six-shot lead at the 1996 Masters; Jean Van de Velde at the 1999 British Open after tripling the last hole to fall into a playoff; Phil Mickelson at the 2006 U.S. Open, Jordan Spieth at the 2016 Masters – each of whom stood in front of the media and answered questions with candor.“The one that really resonated with me and that Collin Morikawa and Rory McIlroy can learn from, there is no more devastating loss in the history of golf and maybe the history of sport than Tom Watson not winning the 2009 Open at Turnberry. He gathered himself after the loss and went in and spoke and opened up his heart to the world to what this loss meant."
Collin was very clear that he doesn't owe us anything. The only logical reaction to that is to remind ourselves of that should he win soon.... That's not something I feel compelled to watch.
State of Play - Jay's presser was quite the work of art:
Let me help you with the translation there. We have Patrick Cantlay reasonably content, so we've successfully destroyed our product be copying LIV, so as long as Tiger and Rory are happy, we're good. I know, not much in there for the rest of us....
Speaking Tuesday at the TPC Sawgrass ahead of this week’s Players Championship, Monahan opened his annual state of the tour address by giving an update on the discussions with LIV Golf’s financial backer, stating reunification with those who defected to Saudi-backed circuit remains his priority. However, as Golf Digest detailed last week, both sides have hit a roadblock in trying to finalize a deal, a sentiment Monahan nodded to by mentioning “when you may be near a breakthrough, there are ebbs and flows in the discussion.” While Monahan was quick to say both sides are operating from a place of respect, the commissioner was adamant he would not accept anything that would harm the existing tour product.“We will not do so in a way that diminishes the strength of our platform or the very real momentum we have with our fans and our partners,” Monahan said. “So while we've removed some hurdles, others remain. But like our fans, we still share the same sense of urgency to get to a resolution.”
Oh yeah, it's like a rocket ship..... No doubt you've noticed the coordinated talking points about the Tour not needing a deal, though buried in the fine print is an asterisk, since they much be burning through that SSG cash infusion, no?
But there's a lot to unpack here:
Publicly and privately, Monahan continues to push for a deal. He is wary of the fatigue from fans about the schism and also has preached the danger of continuing to war with the PIF. The tour’sprivate equity partners, the Strategic Sports Group, are in favor of a deal, as well. Conversely, though the PIF has vast resources at its disposal, it also is under a mandate to curtail some of its expenses. LIV has already burned upwards of $5 billion on the fledgling venture. To those who view LIV Golf as an exercise in sportswashing and soft power, LIV has succeeded, giving the kingdom direct access to the White House. With that mission accomplished, LIV Golf’s success as its own vehicle warrants further scrutiny. Now in its fourth year of existence, LIV continues to struggle to gain traction with the golf populace. Though the league signed an American broadcast deal with FOX Sports, ratings have been soft, and for the second time in three years LIV failed to extract a marquee player from the PGA Tour or DP World Tour for the 2025 season. In short, there’s the question of what leverage LIV has at the moment.
The same leverage they've always had. Because of the greed of the players, they have the financial wherewithal to inflict pain on the rest of professional golf. Just not the power to create a compelling product.
Of course, everyone assumes this is a reference to team play:
In his opening remarks, Monahan spoke about assimilating some aspects of LIV Golf into the PGA Tour product. However, in Golf Digest’s reporting, LIV’s team element remains a sticking point. When pressed by Golf Digest and other reporters on what exactly the tour is interested in, Monahan repeatedly declined to get into specifics.
It has to be, because the other core components of LIV, specifically tiny elite fields and no cuts, have already destroyed to competitive integrity of the Tour's premier events. It would take a heart of stone to not to laugh at Jordan Spieth's frustration at not getting a sponsor's exemption into Bay Hill, maybe he should take that up with Cantlay? Or Tiger?
But while beating their chest, have their ratings improved?
PGA Tour telecasts (finally) trending up, but biggest issue still looms
Issue? You sure about that use of the singular?
Good news first. The Tour knows it has to get better on TV, and efforts to get there are leading somewhere. For years, the biggest problem facing PGA Tour telecasts was the same problem facing the Tour itself: It was too large, too slow, and much too bureaucratic. Most fans understood that commercials were unlikely to disappear in an environment where the Tour had to generate $700 million in ad revenue each year for its network partners. But why did that render the Tour incapable of changing anything that irked its most loyal consumers?The Tour introduced the Fan Forward program — a survey that solicited responses from more than 50,000 golf fans — almost exclusively to fix that. The program has identified a roadmap forward for “fixing what can be fixed” in Tour telecasts, in the parlance of many Tour execs. These changes, outlined in Monahan’s annual state-of-the-state speech on Tuesday, include more live golf shots, more player-caddie interactions and an increased focus on cutline battles. According to multiple people at the Tour, the modifications also include new focus group-tested shot sequences that show fewer tap-in putts and a greater number of golf shots per minute.Many of these changes already are on display, with a few more expected to roll out this weekend at the Players Championship. And while the Golf Twitter army will be relieved to hear there is still ample room to quibble with the Tour’s network partners — including after NBC missed a tournament-deciding moment on Sunday — there is little disagreement that the survey already has produced welcome changes. Before Henley’s tournament-winning eagle at Bay Hill, NBC had delivered one of its more comprehensive Tour telecasts in recent memory, and its analytics-focused approach to the cutline replaced an outdated Friday golf TV tradition with something new and considerably more watchable.
Let me see if I have this straight..... We're wowed by NBC analytical approach to......really, the cut line? When Tiger and Rory are committed to a world with no cuts? Sheesh, what a clown show.
I do love the buried counter-point:
Still, these changes to golf TV can best be viewed as fixes on the margins. They are fixing problems of golf TV that can be fixed, and that’s good, but they fall well short of addressing the proverbial elephant in the room: commercials.
Yeah, the broadcasts are unwatchable due to that commercial load....
As part of the PGA Tour’s 2019 TV rights agreement with CBS and NBC, the networks air between 17 and 21 minutes of commercials per hour on any given week, and average about 18 minutes of commercials per hour. That’s a tremendous “commercial load,” as it’s called, and it places an equally tremendous burden on the editorial folks responsible for bringing Tour broadcasts to life to stitch together something in the remaining 42 minutes that keeps fans engaged.The problem, of course, is that the current PGA Tour TV machine basically prints money. Eighteen minutes of commercials per hour might not be the best way to win over an audience, but it turns out to be a great way to make everybody in the golf world (Tours, networks, players and sponsors) very rich. Considering the many pieces of professional golf that remain broken as the golf world turns to Players Championship week, it is understandable and perhaps fair for the Tour to view tweaks to the one irrefutably solid piece of its business as being beyond reproach.
Really? I don't expect that it's printing money for the broadcasters, and even that commercial load doesn't sate the players.
Of course, it’s easier to sell your advertising partners on higher prices when you’re delivering on your end of the bargain, and that can also be said for the Tour in 2025. Since the Farmers Insurance Open, Tour viewership is up 16 percent in Nielsen’s new “big data panel” — and by a smaller but still encouraging margin in Nielsen’s more traditional ratings panel.That viewership rebound can largely be attributed to a successful sophomore season for the Signature Events, particularly in Pebble Beach, which went from three rounds to four in 2025 and also saw a thrilling win by Rory McIlroy. For the first time since they were announced a few years back, the Signature Events seem to be delivering on entertainment value. The schedule is more solidified, the stars are getting together more often, and the big events feel bigger — this is what golf fans were promised.
From the numbers I've seen, that 16% increase is entirely attributable to decreases in 2024, and leaves the Tour with a viewership lower than before the creation of these money-grabs. More importantly, those ratings can't support the economic model of the Tour.
Tied to the Morikawa hissy fit, it creates a weird juxtaposition. The players demand more money than the ecosystem can produce, then they tell us they owe us nothing. We, in turn, owe them the respect of acknowledging their contempt for us, and responding in kind.
Elvis Has Left The Building - I'm legally required to cover this story, right?
For the two people on the planet that missed the story:
"As I began to ramp up my own training and practice at home, I felt a sharp pain in my leftAchilles, which was deemed to be ruptured," Woods wrote. "This morning, Dr. Charlton Stucken of Hospital for Special Surgery in West Palm Beach, Florida performed a minimally-invasive Achilles tendon repair for a ruptured tendon. “The surgery went smoothly, and we expect a full recovery,” added Dr. Stucken. I am back home now and plan to focus on my recovery and rehab, thank you for all the support."
Tiger injured? Say it ain't so, Joe!
I'm so bored by this man. Remind me again why hw isn't the Ryder Cup Captain? What, it would cut into his Call of Duty play? Maybe you can devote yourself to making those field even smaller.......
That's it for this post and this week. Heading home Saturday and we'll wrap the Players on Monday. Have a great weekend.
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