Bonus Weekend Content - Departure Day Edition

So, I was feeling some guilt over leaving you hanging early next week, then a couple of follow-ups to Thursday items appeared, so here's a bonus post for your delectation.  We shan't go long....

Breaking The Bank - With the resignation of LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan announced last week, one anticipates that dirt will appear.  This Beth Ann Nichols piece was linked on Thursday, but I left this section on the cutting room floor:

Promise of growth not being achieved

It’s not that the LPGA is struggling to stay afloat – which has been the case in the past – it’s that the tour’s not experiencing the transformational growth Marcoux Samaan preached.

The departure of Cognizant, a Fortune 100 company that was bullish on the LPGA from the start – signaled a red flag. The hope was that Cognizant’s leadership would sing the LPGA’s praises to other blue-chip companies and lead to organic growth.

Instead, they’re out after title-sponsoring four editions of the event, leaving the tour scrambling to back its own Founders Cup as the LPGA celebrates 75 years.

In addition, stops that have been on tour for decades in Portland and Toledo have been on life support now for several seasons. For reference, the inaugural Portland Ladies Classic dates back to 1972. The Toledo stop began in 1984.

As the LPGA looks to add to the number of events it owns and operates, it has become increasingly clear that the tour lacks the resources needed to make what it currently runs – such as the Solheim Cup and Founders Cup – a success. The tour has invested heavily in boosting its staff in recent years.

Sponsors are gonna come and go, and the ladies will struggle here, but obviously an event that has been aggressively promoted hasn't panned out.  But that last bit didn't make much of an impression on me at the time, but now comes a Beth Ann follow-up:

LPGA to lose $2 million in 2024 after adding staff, attempting to increase exposure

Exposure?  Say, can I put you nice ladies into a PIP program?  I mean, look at all it's done for the men's game...

The grade of an LPGA commissioner is largely attached to one thing: the schedule.

How many tournaments are being staged and how big are the purses?

But there’s another bottom line that’s important and less public, and that’s the tour’s operating

budget. Multiple sources have confirmed to Golfweek that the tour is slated to lose around $2 million this year. LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan said two weeks ago in her annual address that the tour’s total staff had increased by 35 percent in recent years.

The commissioner, who announced on Monday that she’s stepping down on Jan. 9, invested heavily on increasing exposure for the tour but, so far, has come up short in the return. The former Princeton athletic director said she was “building the infrastructure in order to build our global fan base.”

That the tour could lose money at a time of unprecedented growth in women’s sports – especially during a lucrative Solheim Cup year – set off alarm bells for some.

I'm a bit skeptical of this women's sports boom, but that's not the only aspect of this that suffers from a concentration issue.  But even the process by which these staffer could drive revenues eludes me, as those TV contracts are locked in and gates receipts are likely the property of the local organizers.

LPGA Player Director Ashleigh Buhai wasn’t too concerned about the loss, however, saying “you’ve got to spend money to make money.”

“Everybody who comes into a lead position is going to try to do things their own way to make their own mark,” said Buhai, “and sometimes you pull it off, and sometimes you don’t.”

Given the starry headlines of 2024 – with the dynamic one-two punch of Nelly Korda’s seven-win season and Lydia Ko’s fairy-tale run into the LPGA Hall of Fame – some players were surprised to see a schedule come out that showed little growth. Official money for 2025, thus far, is up $3.6 million from last season.

“We’re moving in the right direction all the time, but the schedule is very much major heavy,” Ireland’s Leona Maguire said two weeks ago at the CME Group Tour Championship.

“The purses in the majors do disguise some things, I feel like, and the gap between us and the men seems to be growing rather than us catching up. … There couldn’t possibly have been any better golf played. I’ll just say that.”

The corollary to Buhai's Rule is that sometimes you're better off just burning the money, because at least you get some heat....

That concentration reference above was specifically about the increase in purses, which are largely a result of the USGA and R&A subsidizing the two Opens.  

I've long called this the Tour That Can't Shoot Straight, but it's worth revisiting that Solheim Cup transportation issue, of which we can say that unforced errors don't get much more unforced.  It demonstrates contempt for your paying customers and quite obviously over-shadowed their premiere event, but it happened in the context of a major staff increase, and yet folks go our of their way to assert that, of course, this wasn't Mollie's fault.  Well, then whose faulty would it be?  Especially given this:

When there weren’t enough buses on Friday morning to transport fans at the Solheim Cup, resulting in wait times of more than two hours, the tour’s communication with the public and media was virtually non-existent for most of the day. It wasn’t until late Friday evening that the tour publicly addressed the issue with a plan (that was quickly deleted and replaced with a scaled-down statement). The commissioner didn’t take questions until the following morning.

What started out as a bus shortage turned into a crisis of leadership.

No, Beth Ann, that's not how any of this works.  It was always a crisis of leadership, it's just that we may not have known it until; they forgot to arrange for buses....  This is consistent with what we see in the larger world, where no one has any residual interest in their day jobs.  So, you look pretty incompetent when you staff up but are left with no one to do the blocking and tackling.  Then Mollie consults her Crisis Management 101 textbook, but she apparently reads at a remedial level, and didn't get to that chapter on taking ownership until it was too late to be credible.  So, yeah, she wasn't up to the job.

A Rebuttal - Ripped from the headlines:

Trans golfer Hailey Davidson furiously hits back at LPGA after bombshell ban

 Hell hath no fury like a biological male scorned...

I have far more sympathy for her than may be apparent from my writing, but that's the essence of the day, that we should govern ourselves based upon people's feelings....  It sounds promising, until you contemplate whose emotions will govern.

First some background on Hailey:

The 31-year-old had hoped to break into the top ranks of women's professional golf, trying to earn status on the tour over the past year.

She had competed in qualifying for the US Women's Open before playing in Q-School this fall where she earned status on the Epson Tour - the feeder circuit for the LPGA Tour.

The 31-year-old missed qualifying for the US Women's Open this year by one shot and came up short in LPGA Q-school.

Davidson last competed as a male golfer in 2015, after which, she began hormone therapy treatments and underwent gender reassignment surgery in 2021.

The first point I want to make is the Orwellian language employed, something the left could give master classes in.  We used to call this condition gender dysphoria, which was commonly considered a debilitating psychological condition.  As I heard from a commentator somewhere, when something needs to be normalized that means it's not, checking notes, normal.  Hold that thought as we let Hailey speak:

'Can't say I didn't see this coming. Banned from the Epson and LPGA,' Davidson wrote in an Instagram Stories post. 'All the silence and people wanting to stay 'neutral' thanks for absolutely nothing. This happened because of all your silence.

'What a great birthday present for 2024. Having the greatest achievement I've earned in my life taken from me,' she added.

We can all appreciate how devastating this must be, and we can and should feel profound sympathy for her.  That said, how do we feel about that first 'graph?  If you distill liberalism as practiced to its constituent parts, this is what you find, the inability or refusal to even acknowledge alternatives views of the world.  There's lots of people that think differently on this issue, Hailey, as you might have noticed, and you might want to consult a weatherman to see which way the wind is blowing on this...

But then Hailey has to add this:

'And somehow people are surprised the suicide rate for transgender people is around 50%. Situations just like this are part of the reason.'

I'm sorry, Hailey, but are you saying that we have to allow you to beat up on women or you'll off yourself?  The first question I asked myself was, is that 50% number real?  Admittedly, asking myself wasn't very productive, so asked Google:

A new study from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law finds that 81% of transgender adults in the U.S. have thought about suicide, 42% of transgender adults have attempted it, and 56% have engaged in non-suicidal self-injury over their lifetimes.

That's one data point and it's all self-reported, so I'm guessing that Hailey's number is a bit high, but I'll concede it's not crazy high.   the problem is that Hailey doesn't seem to understand that she's making my point above, which is that this population suffers from a debilitating psychological trauma.  And, Hailey, your reaction is exactly what we'd expect, and the emotional blackmail you will find to be counterproductive.  If you don't believe me on that last point, you might want to give Kamala a call...

At the risk of repeating myself, Hailey is calling out all those who stay "neutral" in this debate, the telling them they'll be responsible for the outcome of her life.  Does she actually believe that will win her adherents?  because she's actually ensuring the opposite.  She's too emotionally involved to understand that most us will respect (not understand, which is far harder) and support her decision as an adult to live the life she wants to live, by that I mean she can live it as a woman.  But that doesn't come with an entitlement to play women's professional sports, and they just won't accept that they can't compel us to require.

Because Hailey ignores several huge elephants over in that corner, first women such as this:

The tour's change came after months of pressure from female professionals who wrote to the LPGA, pleading it to take action.

And the decision was championed by players on Wednesday with retired LPGA star Amy Olson telling Dailymail.com that she was 'thrilled.'

'I think that the new policy goes a long way to protecting fairness in women's sports and making sure that women will continue to have the opportunities going forward that women have fought for for a number of years,' she added.

'It took a lot of courage by these organizations, but they did the right thing.'

Star?  No, but the retired bit I think is telling, because she can't be accused of protecting her own feed lot.

Not only does Hailey elide those who have different opinions, but she also can't engage honestly with the most important of those elephants.  Here's a telling vignette:

Women's golf tour owner reveals harrowing experience with trans golfer that sparked push for new LPGA ban

Forgive some long excerpts, but here's the background: 

Davidson's participation resulted in one of the sport's first bans of a trans athlete earlier in March

and provided evidence that doing so might be met with more praise than backlash.

This happened after venture capitalist Stuart McKinnon purchased and took control of the NXXT Golf Tour in January 2023, when Davidson was already a participant.

"I was advised that Hailey was a transgender, and I asked Hailey for some proof of verification that there's eligibility to play, and I had a partnership with the LPGA, so I'm following their rules, and I was provided with a letter from the USGA (United States Golf Association) and a letter from the LPGA by Hailey stating that Hailey was qualified to play in USGA and LPGA sanctioned events," McKinnon said during an X spaces conversation on Thursday with the Independent Council on Women's Sports.

McKinnon learned that trans athletes were very much permitted to participate in the tour he had just purchased. It was a purchase he had made because he wanted to create more opportunities for women's golfers, he said. However, Davidson became a part of that investment because of the institutional rules protecting trans athletes.

"I'm trying to help these ladies and I didn't want to break the rules with the LPGA because, ultimately, I was afraid," McKinnond said, adding that his specific fear was that of the tour's players missing out on exemptions to qualify for other LPGA events.

I'm old enough to remember way back when we cared about women, but here's what he saw:

McKinnon had to watch Davidson finish first place on the tour this past January, marking Davidson's third first-place finish at the event. The win put Davidson in the race to earn an Epson Tour exemption, which is the developmental tour of the LPGA Tour. The top 10 players of the Epson Tour graduate to the LPGA Tour.

After watching Davidson perform up close on the tour he had purchased, McKinnon had come to the belief that it was not fair.

"Davidson won an event… I wasn't at the event, but I was dialed in, hearing what was going on, and Hailey started to dominate," McKinnon said. "As a father of five daughters, I'm here to protect my daughters and protect females, and I can tell you, like, I'm the type of father, if I was watching my daughter playing soccer and there was a male that was playing against her, and he was 240 lbs, barreling down the field, I would have gone on the field and I would have stopped it.

"It's something that can cause, in certain sports, physical damage to a player. In this case, it's not the case in golf, but we clearly felt there was an advantage for Hailey Davidson."

McKinnon and NXXT banned Davidson from the tour in March. It was a landmark moment for the fight against trans inclusion in women's golf and sparked national controversy. At the time, Davidson was second in the mini tour’s season standings.

McKinnon simply could not stand to watch Davidson and the golfer's overpowering swings on his tour anymore.

Apparently Mr. McKinnon didn't get the memo that he's personally responsible if things don't work out for Hailey....

In my prior blogging of this issue I've tried focus on a more primal, existential issue for folks to sort through.  Most folks will instinctively want to afford the widest range of opportunities for all people, so there's a default position the leans towards inclusion.   But why do we have women's athletics to begin with?  If you answer that question with any candor, you come to an inescapable conclusion, that the inclusion of men will destroy women's sports.  So, Hailey argues for her own inclusion, whereas Amy Olson says that will destroy the opportunities for women.  I'm pretty clear who has the better of the arguments.

I want to revisit an argument I made in the past, one I made hesitatingly.  And really, when have you ever known your humble blogger to hold back on a hot take?  Let me use Hailey's own life story to frame my supposition.

We'll fire up the Wayback machine and go back to 2015, when Davidson is going nowhere as a male professional golfer, while struggling with gender dysphoria.  Here's one hell of a question for the world, did the ability to play elite golf as a woman play any motivational role in her decision to transition?

I was reluctant to make that argument as well, as there's a part of me that couldn't believe anyone so struggling could grasp at that.  But this is where the minimization of the condition is to me so dangerous, because we're talking about people struggling profoundly with their lives.  I think we have to at least acknowledge that it's quite the perverse incentive, and keep an open mind as to whether it plays any kind of role.

Besides the obvious existential threat this poses to women's sports, this is why I'm so adamant that the bans be put in place.  I can't know for a fact that it does motivate male-to-female transitions, but I'm really uncomfortable with the perverse incentive being in place.  And were it a factor in Hailey's transition, that's where I can get behind her anger.  Because sometimes saying "no" is actually more sensitive than saying "maybe".

I've gone quite long on that and it's a difficult, troubling issue.  Enjoy your Sunday and, as I note on Thursday, I'll be back around the middle of the week.  For those that care, there is little snow in Utah and nothing encouraging in the forecast, but my nephew is headed my way next weekend and I have a February adventure (more details as the winter progresses) for which I need to get this old body into ski shape.

Thursday Themes - Lonely At The Top Edition

Whattya know, suddenly actual golf news presents.  If only you knew someone who'd muse upon it for you.....

Of Commissioners - Funny how these things play out, but there's legitimate threads involving all our favorite players.... and by players I, of course, mean piñatas.  This hit on Sunday:

LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan unexpectedly steps down

Unexpectedly?  I guess they didn't watch the Solheim Cup over at Golf.com....

Shall we allow Mollie herself to put the best face on her tenure?

Marcoux Samaan’s unexpected departure comes in the wake of the 2024 season, which saw purses rise to a record level and Nelly Korda’s ascent to global stardom but also moments of angst among the membership and a logistics debacle at the Solheim Cup in September.

In the interim, Marcoux Samaan will be replaced by Liz Moore, the LPGA’s chief legal officer.

“I thank Chairman John Veihmeyer and the rest of the LPGA Board for trusting me to serve as the ninth Commissioner of the LPGA,” Marcoux Samaan said in a statement. “In this role, I’ve had the privilege of working alongside a remarkable community of athletes, teachers, partners, tournament operators, industry colleagues, media, fans, volunteers, and staff who share a deep commitment to growing the LPGA and using the organization’s unique platform to empower and advance women and girls.

“I am proud of the unprecedented growth the LPGA has enjoyed since I began my tenure. The strategy we have built for growth and impact along with the infrastructure we have added to capitalize on the tremendous opportunity ahead will serve the LPGA well in the coming decades. With the LPGA positioned for continued growth, it’s time for me to have more time to cheer on our three amazing children as they live their dreams while I continue to pursue my passion for building leaders, uniting communities and creating value through sports, particularly women’s sports.”

Sweet that she wants to spend more time with her family, but were there any warning signs?

Despite her successes at the head of the organization, Marcoux Samaan’s final months were marked by hard questions that face the women’s game.

While the popularity of women’s sports at-large grew at a rapid rate in 2024, the LPGA did not see marked increases in television ratings. As Beth Ann Nichols reported for Golfweek, factions of the LPGA membership have been uncertain about Marcoux Samaan’s vision for the tour. During the last week of the season, CME Group CEO Terry Duffy talked openly about why his company sponsors the LPGA, adding that the third round broadcast coverage, which was on tape delay, was “bulls–t,” and that he was challenging Marcoux Samaan to do something about it.

There was also the Solheim Cup transportation debacle, which saw thousands of spectators waiting for hours at a shuttle bus lot for access to one of the biggest golf events on the calendar. Marcoux Samaan held an impromptu press conference following the issue, blaming “miscalculations” and insufficient planning on spectator transportation.

“At the end of the day, I’m the leader of the organization and I have to own it,” she said. “We have a tournament team that runs all of this, but I’m sitting up here in front of you as the leader of the LPGA, and I need to own that.”

Grading on a curve, I see, as mentioning Terry Duffy proves that the issues weren't only in Marcoux Samaan's final months....  There was a famous dinner where she produced exactly zero players for their most important sponsor....

But is the metric above fairly presented?  Of course not, as the growth in the popularity of women's sports seems related to exactly, checking notes, one basketball player.  People don't watch golf and they seem completely locked down in that position as relates to women's golf, so hard to understand why Caitlin didn't drive the hordes to the LPGA.

Here's another take, including a reference to a warning shot across the bow from Beth Ann Nichols a month back:

Biggest disappointments? Where did everything go wrong?

This answer will be a little lengthy, though there were some insights provided by Golfweek’s

Beth Ann Nichols in mid-November in an account of Marcoux Samaan’s rocky tenure. For starters, Marcoux Samaan was not perceived as a deft communicator; she didn’t stand out in a room and seemingly failed to convey her overall plan and mission for the tour. Again, she was there for more than three years. There was enough time. If that was an issue that didn’t draw much attention from the public, those circumstances changed in September when the transportation fiasco at the Solheim Cup caused those watching the association from afar to wonder if she had control of the organization. It was an embarrassment.

Critically, toward the end of 2024, players, officials and media alike had begun to question whether the LPGA fully capitalized on having an American star in Nelly Korda dominate the tour by winning seven times, while having feel-good stories such as Lydia Ko winning the Olympic gold medal to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame, and Thitikul taking home the biggest prize in women’s golf—the $4 million being more than is handed out in three of the four men’s major championships.

But your humble blogger wonders if perhaps one of these issues wasn't a factor:

Finally, Marcoux Samaan was not proactive regarding difficult topics that players were passionate about, such as the LPGA’s gender policy, a potential merger with the Ladies European Tour and its stance on a relationship with Golf Saudi.

Because she seemed to go out of her way to duck that one issue, yet in the immediate wake of her resignation comes this news:

LPGA, USGA alter gender policies, barring players assigned male at birth

The LPGA and USGA announced updates to their respective gender policies Wednesday, placing new restrictions on transgender athletes in competition.

Beginning in 2025, golfers must be assigned female at birth or undergo gender reassignment before puberty to compete on both the LPGA Tour and in women’s USGA events.

The USGA’s Competitive Fairness Gender Policy was established with the aim of maintaining equity in USGA women’s competitions, without allowing an unfair advantage for athletes who have received the performance benefits of male puberty. According to a USGA press release, the policy is supported by current scientific and medical research which shows that sports performance differences exist between biological sexes and such differences begin to occur during the onset of puberty.

Ironically, that issue presents a binary decision for the LPGA's leadership, at a time when anything binary is out of vogue.   But, you either want to have a women's professional tour or you want to virtue signal about inclusiveness and other such nonsense, but the Venn diagram involved allows for no overlap.  If that puzzles you, I'll refer you back to Monday's post and Robert Conquest's First Law of Politics.

I won't belabor this much further, but you can peruse this if you so choose:

Who could be the LPGA's next commissioner? Here are six speculative names (and a wildcard)

The wildcard is suitably wild (and interesting), but four of the six are women, which I think will strike most folks as appropriate.  That said, see how you react to this: 

Here is a list of previous commissioners: Ray Volpe (1975-82), John Laupheimer (1982-88), Bill Blue (1988-90), Charlie Mechem (1991-95), Jim Ritts (1996-99), Ty Votaw (1999-2005), Carolyn Bivens (2005-09), Mike Whan (2010-21). Bivens, the LPGA’s first female commissioner, was ousted by players after struggling with relationships and losing some of the tour’s key, longstanding events. 

I can also virtue signal, and I feel it incumbent to express that I believe women can do just about anything in this world, although I do prefer my women to not actually be men, especially not men that go out of their way to beat up on women.  But I'm having trouble getting past a certain date point, to with, that the LPGA's two most disastrous commissioners were also their only two female versions.  How does one rationalize that?  Given my longstanding support for the ladies, I'll posit that it's attributable to the small sample size.

Commish Redux - Eamon Lynch can't resist a parting shot:

Lynch: Greg Norman finds himself in a perilous place — he’s outlived his usefulness for the Saudis

I think this is what they mean by punching down....  Not only is Greggy no longer relevant, he wasn't even relevant the day he landed the gig.  At first read, though, Eamon's screed tells us more about Jay than about Greg.  But let's enjoy the ride:

Optics matter in business, and even moreso in our current polarized moment when believing is seeing, when any detail can be twisted in support of a bias we already hold. So it is with Jay

Monahan’s compensation, which Sportico reported was just over $23 million in 2023, per PGA Tour tax filings. Nothing turns ardent capitalists into Bernie Bros quite like revelations about executive salaries, and reactions to Jay’s pay didn’t disappoint. Whether Monahan actually deserves that money is a matter for the board that approved his package, and which presumably signed off on the bonus structure that accounts for the bulk of it. But to casual observers, it fits a drearily familiar narrative: people who bear at least some responsibility for the lousy state of golf (chiefly players, with executives a distant second) are earning more than ever while their business woefully underperforms by almost any reasonable metric.

Does Patrick know?  Go on, Eamon:

It would be easy to also cite optics for the reportedly imminent departure of another industry executive — Greg Norman, as CEO of LIV Golf — given his Comical Ali-style bluster in the face of failure that only grows more glaringly obvious with each flip of the calendar. But that would be a disservice to the flaxen-haired finger puppet, who has undeniably been successful in ways that his Saudi benefactors required.

Sure, objective reality says Norman has failed to deliver a significant audience, serious commercial sponsorship or a meaningful media deal for his product. But his dexterity in signing someone else’s checkbook gave LIV the only market share it needed — enough competitively relevant players — and his inability to feel shame made him the ideal frontman to brazen out the initial disgust about sportswashing by authoritarian regimes. But while the Shark imagined himself a visionary, to his bosses he was a mere functionary. Like many a Saudi apparatchik before him, Norman has seemingly outlived his usefulness, though unlike others his severance probably won’t be literal, via bonesaw.

You knew we wouldn't get through this without a bonesaw reference, though it's pretty much what Eamon has been saying all along.  I don't think it's been productive, especially when Tiger and Rory joined in, but it may also have served to distract from the damage done to the Tour's membership.

But where are we with this deal?  here's where Eamon is a bit more interesting:

Norman’s eventual ouster will have nothing to do with job performance. It’s simply preparatory for the next phase of the Saudi Public Investment Fund’s golf project. If there is a deal between the PIF and the PGA Tour, Norman is too toxic a personality to lead LIV into whatever cooperative new ecosystem takes shape. And if there isn’t, well, it’s not like he’s been doing an outstanding job anyway. By comparison, his reported replacement, Scott O’Neil, is viewed as a sober and respected sports business leader, a chap without baggage who can work within any new arrangement.

So why would O’Neil take a position that might not exist in a couple of years? Either the pay is sufficient to justify the gamble, or the gig won’t be defunct. Bet on the latter.

Given antitrust concerns — regardless of who occupies the White House — LIV won’t be binned as part of a definitive deal between the PGA Tour and PIF. There will probably come a day when the Saudis cease funding their folly, but that isn’t imminent. So, just as one must offer a chair to the most objectionable family member at Thanksgiving, a place will need to be found for LIV in whatever new reality emerges.

Maybe Eamon didn't get the message, but baggage is no longer an issue... But Eamon has more, including this on that report from earlier in the week:

Several scenarios seem feasible. It could continue as a standalone tour; its teams could be folded into a new team golf component on the PGA Tour schedule while LIV’s player contracts fade out; or a combination of both. If a deal is struck and LIV continues as a separate circuit, then it’s likely to do so as an ex-U.S. enterprise, aligned more with the DP World Tour schedule and not competing with the all-important FedEx Cup season. Against that backdrop, consider a Bloomberg report (albeit one dismissed privately by some in Europe) claiming the DP World Tour and LIV are discussing a possible cooperative structure. Such talks would make sense as part of a three-way deal with the PGA Tour. Outside of a trilateral agreement, a LIV-European alliance would pose an existential threat to the PGA Tour. If the Saudis are platformed by a tour with world ranking points, legacy standing and a global presence, what’s to stop every player unafraid of his passport from choosing to compete for huge purses at a select few DP World Tour stops?

Give them the Euro Tour, and throw in Phil and PReed as a bonus.

But apparently this is how Jay earns his ginormous compensation:

In the absence of clarity in PGA Tour-PIF negotiations, everything is presumably on the table.

The continued existence of LIV isn’t the ultimate prize for PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan. He wants access to team franchises with real value in the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL when rules are eventually loosened on sovereign wealth funds buying ownership stakes. It’s not difficult to see how Al-Rumayyan and the PGA Tour’s existing investors in Strategic Sports Group are incentivized to be in business together. Greg’s dream is merely Yasir’s vehicle. In time, LIV will be viewed as no more than an inconvenient junk asset that needs to be parked until it is finally shuttered.

But optics also matter a great deal to Al-Rumayyan. For now, someone has to spare his blushes over having flushed several billion dollars on a farce. Someone has to facilitate a respectable disengagement over time from the LIV debacle. Someone has to provide an alternative avenue for his ambitions in golf. That someone is apparently Monahan, who finds himself having to simultaneously hold together a fractured boardroom, an underachieving organization and grousing members long enough to build Al-Rumayyan’s off-ramp. Perhaps he’s actually earning his money after all.

Are we in good hands, or what?

Did Someone Mention LIV? - Fueling those Euro rumors earlier this week was the surprising withdrawal of Big Tone from the year's fifth major.  Now comes clarification:

Tony Finau shoots down LIV rumors, says Hero WD was injury-related

Perhaps you might have mentioned that?

"They're not true," Finau said of the LIV rumors, adding that the sources who were speculating

on the matter were "random people" and "not credible."

"I'm more than happy where I'm at on the PGA Tour and looking forward to 2025," Finau told Schupak (you can read that full story here). "When I tee it up in Maui [at The Sentry], it will all go away, so, I don't worry about it one bit."

Finau told Golfweek the actual reason for his withdrawal from Tiger Woods' event at Albany this week is injury-related. The six-time PGA Tour winner underwent surgery in October to repair a torn meniscus and remove cartilage in his left knee. It was an injury Finau says bothered him much of last season despite the fact he was still able to rack up 13 top-20 finishes in 2024, including a T-3 in the U.S. Open at Pinehurst.

Don't much care, Tony, but hard to see why anyone would jump in the current moment, especially with those that previously jumped looking so happy with that choice.  

It's Kiz - We have a weiner:

NBC Sports has named Kevin Kisner its lead golf analyst for the 2025 PGA Tour season. “I’m humbled and grateful to have the chance to sit in the seat that many legends like Johnny Miller

and Paul Azinger have sat in before me on NBC,” Kisner said in a press release. “I’m looking forward to offering a different voice and adding a new dynamic to the broadcasts, hopefully reaching more fans and telling things like it is. That’s what I think I do best. I’m also excited to continue to compete on the PGA Tour amongst my peers, which I think will help me to tap into what these guys are really feeling on the course.”

NBC used a rotation of names in the booth this year as it tried to fill the void of long-time analyst Paul Azinger, who departed at the end of 2023. Kisner debuted with the network at the Sentry in Maui in January and worked several other tournaments including the WM Phoenix Open, the Players Championship and FedEx Cup playoffs, receiving strong reviews for his performance behind the mic.

I like Kiz, though when paired with Smylie the down-home Southern folksiness can become grating....

But the bigger issue is the effect of Comcast spinning off Golf Channel will have on NBC's coverage.  I've been joking about Rachel Maddow eventually calling golf, but it's quite the hot mess ahead.  The coverage quality has already taken many hits, and Golf Channel looks to be a wounded animal gut off from the NBC teet.

But welcome aboard, Kiz.

That'll be it for this week.  Monday is my first trip out West and Tuesday is already complicated, so I expect we'll next visit on Wednesday.  But it's never too early for you to start praying for snow.  Have a great weekend. 

Weekend Wrap - Seasonally Affected Disorder Edition

In case you haven't noticed, those days are getting really short, and include precious little golf content...

I don't have much for you, but fortunately Geoff went long on the Aussie thing.

Aussie Rules - I'm old enough to remember when Australia had its own golf season in December, which was real and spectacular.  This version?  Not so much, but they did at least have Kingston heath:

Ryggs Johnson Wins The ISPS Handa Australian Open

Ryggs Johnston toiled this summer in PGA Tour Americas stuff like the Centreport Canada Rail Park Manitoba Open and the Elk Ridge Saskatchewan Open Presented by Lake Country Co-Op.

This fall he entered the first of three DP World Tour qualifying stages seeking a place to play in 2025. Johnston entered the fifth and last round of Q-School finals three strokes off the qualifying mark. But the 24-year-old from that golf haven of Libby, Montana, posted a final round 65 to earn his card on the European-based circuit. He immediately flew to its season-opening events in Australia as a player ranked two spots inside the world top 1000.

Two weeks later, Johnston experienced everything but snow flurries en route to a an unlikely Australian Open victory. By holding off several budding Australian talents and Sandbelt-experienced veterans, Johnston’s 18-under-par, three-stroke win over Curtis Luck makes him the first American to capture the coveted title since Jordan Spieth in 2016. The former Arizona State golfer also gets to see his name on the Stonehaven Cup alongside Sarazen, Palmer, Nicklaus and Watson.

Not bad for a kid named after a deranged Lethal Weapon detective. Yep.

Vanna, I'd like to buy a vowel....   So much for the value of preparation:

Between the wacky weather changes, the persistence of talented pursuers, and the pain of enduring 18 holes with the psychotic-adjacent antics of Lucas Herbert (74, T5), Johnston earned the coveted title.

“It was definitely a little stressful,” Johnston said. “The weather was kind of up and down. It was really nice for 15 minutes and really bad for 15 minutes and I knew I was right in it and just had to come about towards the end.”

With his girlfriend’s dad on the bag and zero Sandbelt experience, Johnston opened his DP World Tour career with a T43 before arriving at glorious Kingston Heath by not getting in any practice rounds.

“I turned up pretty tired from all the travel and Q-School and everything,” he said. “Didn't get a practice round here with the weather. I didn't really have any expectations which probably helped me in the end.”

So much for local knowledge!

I'd like more on that Lucas Herbert bit, but I suspect he'll leave us hanging there....

Some familiar names got a boost from the event:

With top 3 finishes, Johnston, runner-up Luck and Marc Leishman qualified for The Open at

Royal Portrush via the Australian Open’s traditional spots in the Open Qualifying Series. Both Johnston and Luck will be making Open debuts. Luck is a previous Asia-Pacific Amateur and U.S. Amateur champion.

Leishman claimed the last qualifying place courtesy of his higher position in the Official World Golf Ranking (575th to start the week!). He tied for third with 2023 Asia Pacific Amateur champion Jasper Stubbs at 14-under-par 273. Stubbs started the Australian Open week ranked 1486th.

Leishman lost in a play-off to Zach Johnson at St Andrews in 2015 and also scored Open Top 6 performances in 2014 and 2017.

Didn't Leishman used to play professional golf?  What?  Really, well I guess at least the check cleared....

Distaff Doings -  One of the desperation ploys has been to contest the Women's Australian Open simultaneously, which like equal pay is one of those things that probably sounded great in the boardroom, but here on Planet Earth has challenges:

Jiyai Wins A Second Australian Open

Two of the planet’s pre-eminent links specialists—male or female—faced off in Sunday’s wild ride of an ISPS Handa Australian Open. Jiyai Shin, a two-time AIG Women’s Open winner and runner-up this year at St Andrews, held off defending champion Ashleigh Buhai, the 2022 Open winner at Muirfield.

Links masters tend to find Sandbelt golf to their liking. Even in a wet year like this one, Shin flashed her signature smile throughout no matter the outcome of a shot or how the weather

turned. There aren’t many golfers more enjoyable to watch given the mix of constant joy and creative shotmaking. There also aren’t too many whose pair of victories are 11 years apart.

While the women’s edition of the Australian Open started out close, it morphed into into a runaway only to grow close at the very end thanks to Buhai hanging around with her own spirited play. But Shin probably put this one away early on at the fourth (when world No. 6 Hannah Green was very much in it before swelling to a 79, T4).

Shin holed out a nifty blast-and-run shot from the left side waste area for an eagle two. Here’s how Martin Blake described the shot in the account of record:

A punched chip-in for eagle from 102 metres out of sandy lie at the par-4 fourth hole was the dagger that smote Australia’s Green, who had begun in second place, just two shots from the lead, in the final group with the Korean and defending champion Ashleigh Buhai.

The 8-iron shot pitched 20 metres short of the green, scurried up the ridge and on to the putting surface, trickled down toward the flag and barrelled in, perfectly conceived and brilliantly executed. Cue the Jiyai fist pump and a high five with her caddie. It was the shot that won the tournament. “It’s like a gift for me,” she said later.

It's an historically significant event played at a spectacular venue, but your humble blogger didn't do much more than flip to it during commercials in the NFL games.   I know, my only defense is to remind you of what you pay for this here blog....

But while I'll wax poetic about the Aussie golf season, it's a pale imitation of what it once was.  Jack famously used to make the long trip back in the day, yanno back when they actually needed to play golf to earn a living.  

It's an appropriate time in the zeitgeist to challenge the wokesters (after all, some 76 million people just did that), but no one seems happy with the format:

The future of the Australian Open remains unclear with player frustrations boiling over in Melbourne this week after three years of the mixed men’s and women’s format.

Before the national championship, Adam Scott, the 2009 winner – who chose to rest at his home base in Switzerland after a busy 2024 schedule instead of playing this year’s Australian summer – said: “There is a place for different formats, but your national Open is not the place for that.”

The Australian Open has been a mixed event since 2022, when a complicated format saw three tournaments – the men, women and Australian All Abilities Championship – held across two courses. South African star Ash Buhai won the first of her two consecutive Opens and had to share the stage, and a press conference, with men’s winner Adrian Meronk. Earlier that week, players had faced a 36-hole and a 54-hole cut, the latter of which Cameron Smith fell victim to and couldn’t play the final round. He was the reigning British Open champion at the time. The 54-hole cut was scrapped for the 2023 edition.

Well, when you've lost Adam Scott.... And it seems you've lost this lad as well:

But the 2024 Australian Open began with Smith, the biggest name in the field, teeing off about the “soft and slow” course set ups at Kingston Heath and Victoria as “disappointing” and not how the usually firm, fast Melbourne Sandbelt layouts play. He said heavy rain that fell in Melbourne on Sunday and Wednesday was “bulls–t excuse”.

Smith’s fellow major winner, Hannah Green, said the courses in round one had been set up easier to allow for men and women to play concurrently. “The pins were pretty generous today; I do think if the men played at this course, the pins would be much more tucked,” Green said.

Wow, talk about a buried lede, who knew that Cam Smith is still playing professional golf?

There are a host of problems in combining the events, but maybe it's helpful to list the benefits, which are pretty meager (at least to this observer):

The dual gender format has had some positives: the women’s field has competed for the same $1.7 million purse as the men. Fans have been able to watch Smith and Minjee Lee play the same course within minutes of each other.

I know we're supposed to accept that first bit as an unqualified good for society, but is it in fact so?  I think sports fans have been known to roll their eyes at the amount of money involved, but I think we instinctively understand that the games we watch draw massive interest in on-site and TV viewers, which translates into economic value.  So, in that sense, they earn it...

The problems here feed on themselves, because the women's purse is an obvious subsidy.  But, maybe of greater importance, is that putting the the respective games on side-by-side, the rather obvious comparison doesn't do the ladies any favors.  I haven't cited this in quite some time, but let's remember the first of Robert Conquest's three inviolable laws:

1. Everyone is conservative about what he knows best.

What that means in this instance is that the ladies need to earn their own audience.  They ne4ed to find their own markets and present their game in a manner that draws said audience.  If they want to be the men's game's mini-me, there will simply be no reason to watch, their version inevitably being inferior. 

Here's Geoff's rousing coda:

Australian Golf Digest’s Evin Priest considered the future of multiple Australian Open’s playing at the same time and came away feeling like no is happy with the format. The format of men’s, women’s and All-Abilities titles on the line has made for sensational viewing and worked better from the television perspective this year thanks to more separation between the men’s and women’s finishes Sunday. Slow play, course setup gripes and maybe matching purses have left players cranky. Priest says there “aren’t any known deals in place with any state governments to host the 2025 edition” but given all the complaining, Golf Australia may be forced to break-up the events. It would be especially sad if the equal purses were the real cause. But given the stories below, also hardly shocking.

Why does that give you a sad, Geoff?  They should have their own national championship that isn't diminished by proximity to the men's game and, if the purses aren't up to their standards, how about they work on building a bigger audience?  The problem no one seems to acknowledge is, an audience that they haven't earned, doesn't endure.

DP Doings - If you'll recall, I had a major insight a while back, admittedly the equivalent of George Costanza coming up with the killer retort while in the car headed to the airport....

What came to me in a fever dream was that propping up the Euro Tour might have been the PGA Tour's biggest mistake, as they might well have just let the Saudis grab it.  The only issue there might be the Ryder Cup, but it's a bit of a slow-moving train wreck, no?

Now comes this:

Saudi-Backed LIV Golf Is Said to Weigh Deal With DP World Tour

Saudi-backed LIV Golf is considering a potential tie-up with Europe’s DP World Tour that may

result in a surprise end to enmity that’s plagued the sport, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

If successful, the deal would cement LIV Golf’s position in the golfing calendar and give the DP World Tour — previously known as the European Tour — significant financial heft.

The talks with DP World Tour are separate from the ongoing investment discussions between the PGA Tour and the Saudi wealth fund, the people said, with both deals still possible. Talks may end without an agreement, the people cautioned, asking not to be named discussing private information.

Representatives for LIV Golf and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund declined to comment.

A spokesperson for the DP World Tour said: “We remain in discussions with the PGA Tour, PGA Tour Enterprises, SSG and PIF relating to the ongoing overall picture for men’s global golf, but no agreements have been reached.”

The talks between DP World Tour and LIV Golf may see the two entities merge, creating a shared schedule and allowing golfers to play in events hosted by both leagues. Any agreement with LIV Golf would provide DP World Tour with a stable source of funding. DP World Tour’s prize money is partly subsidized by the PGA Tour.

This makes so much sense that it can't possibly be true, right?  Geoff has a somewhat cynical take:

The report comes courtesy of “people with knowledge of the matter.” People who clearly wanted to liven up someone’s Thanksgiving.

The story claims talks with the “DP World Tour are separate from the ongoing investment discussions between the PGA Tour and the Saudi wealth fund, the people said, with both deals still possible.”

The timing of the report could mean someone wanted to push the PGA Tour and PIF to get going on a deal. Or, it could the first sign of a smart conclusion for all given the DP World Tour’s financials and the desire for PIF to sportwash globally and Europe far less influenced by 9/11 memories. There is also the apparent PGA Tour North America First philosophy driven by a television contract funded by U.S. networks uninterested in global events.

Unfortunately, a DP World Tour and LIV marriage could also leave half the Ryder Cup within the control of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and the occasionally batty Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

All parties declined comment on the merger possibility between the DP World Tour and LIV.

Isn't that a small price to pay?  It doesn't rule out an investment in PGA Tour Enterprises, but leave them funding the less-than-viable Euro Tour that's little more than a Korn Ferry feeder tour.  Win-win, baby!  Oh, and they get to keep Phil!

Hero Week - Yeah, I'm not feeling any great enthusiasm, and this was the best that the Tour Confidential panel could summon:

It’s Hero World Challenge week, and while the 15-time major-winning host won’t be teeing it up, we will hear from him in his annual pre-tournament press conference. What are you hoping to learn from Tiger Woods when he speaks to the media next week?

Berhow: We seem to constantly get no-update updates on the state of the pending merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, but hopefully Tiger has a little more intel on current happenings and where everything stands. As a prominent figure in golf, if he voices any displeasure or skepticism, it will make waves. But maybe it’s wishful thinking that even his thoughts will have that much impact at this point.

Marksbury: I’m still not ready for Tiger’s full transition from player to elder statesman. An update on the LIV/PGA Tour proceedings would be great, but I also want to know how he’s healing from his latest procedure and if competitive golf is far away. A tentative schedule of when we can expect to see him tee it up next year would be nice too.

Dethier: At the moment the people really want to know if Team Woods will be taking on the PNC. I’m legitimately curious to take his temperature on the TGL, too — how invested and excited is he? But Berhow’s right that we should at least be able to read between the lines of whatever sidestep he offers on the PIF-PGA Tour relationship. Mostly it’ll be good to see Woods out and about; the world hasn’t seen much of him since The Open.

In thirty years Tiger has yet to say anything interesting, so my interest in his Hero presser is asymptotically approaching zero....  though color me shocked at the absence of a TGL teaser.  These writers are so in the bag for the Tour that I assumed they'd be humping Jay's leg by promoting his silly simulator league.

That's it for today and, well, maybe the week.  Unless there's actual news.  Pray for snow in Utah, as next Monday is my first trip to Western HQ.  Have a great week and we'll make it up as we go along.

Weekend Wrap - 47 of 47 Edition

How are you enjoying your offseason so far?  Better hurry up, because it's over in the blink of an eye...

A heads up to readers that this might be it for blogging this week.  Unless, yanno, something actually happens, and the chances of that are remote.

Call Sign Maverick - A mere 142 starts later, and the can't miss kid gets the dub:

It took 142 starts for the former top-ranked amateur in the world to win on the PGA Tour.

Maverick McNealy might tell you it was worth the wait.

\

The 29-year-old pro birdied the 72nd hole to win the RSM Classic at Sea Island Golf Club in St. Simons Island, Ga., on Sunday, a victory that’s been years in the making for someone who several years ago left Stanford for the Tour and immediately became a up-and-coming name to know.

He’s been a full-time Tour player for the past five years, but in that span he’s had just two runner-up finishes and one third. That victory was still elusive, but he started this week’s season-ending RSM Classic with an eight-under 62 and suddenly was right where he needed to be. He was tied for the lead at 14 under heading into Sunday’s final round, still led by one at the turn but momentarily lost the lead on the back nine.

On 18, as the last one still out on the course, he had 5 1/2 feet to win, and he drained it.

Golf seemed to be an afterthought, as Mav was famous first for being Scott McNealy's spawn and secondarily for dating Danielle Kang.... Now perhaps an asterisk is warranted, because despite being home to many touring professionals, that leaderboard was a collection of guys still needing to earn their spot on a milk carton.

The Tour Confidential panel did call out Mav, though not to any benefit:

Maverick McNealy closed the 2024 PGA Tour season with the first victory of his career, beating three others by a shot at the RSM Classic on Sunday. What took the former top-ranked amateur so long to get his first title on Tour, and do you expect it to snowball into a breakout 2025?

Jack Hirsh: That seems like a loaded question. Winning is hard on the PGA Tour. We’ve seen numerous top-ranked amateurs get to the PGA Tour and never win, and we’ve also seen plenty who have gone on to have hall-of-fame careers. While he was dealing with an injury last year, he still played better in 2022 than he did this year, even with the win. I say it’s likely he wins again, but I don’t expect him to suddenly become a top-10 or top-20 player.

Josh Berhow: He’s kind of unique where he’s never been a star but has never really struggled to keep his PGA Tour card. He’s just been… pretty good: solid off the tee, not so great into greens and a very good putter. It was a matter of time. It’s not a fluke he had so much success at the collegiate level. The first one’s always the hardest. He’d definitely be a breakout contender for next year.

Alan Bastable: Golf’s a funny old game. Mav had six top 10s this season but also 13 missed cuts or withdrawals. Forecasting what players are capable of from one week to the next is nearly impossible. What a month for Mav, though! He helped mastermind the Tour’s recently announced revamp of its FedEx Cup points distribution system, and now he has his first Tour title. If only he’d lobbied the Tour to dole out more points for the RSM…

 Loaded?  Stupid?  You make the call....

After those five full-time years it seems pretty clear that Mav, while a really good player, isn't ever gong to set the professional golf world on fire.  Happy the young man got a win, but let's acknowledge this is effectively a Korn Ferry Tour-level win.

I watched a bit of the broadcast (the replay later in the day), flipping back and forth from the Packers game.  The broadcast seemed especially lifeless to me, as they couldn't even make the Darwinesque fight for survival interesting:

On Saturday night, not long after a disastrous double-bogey 7 had essentially derailed his chance of staying a full-time PGA Tour member in 2025, Joel Dahmen said the mood was somber.

“Funeral-effect,” he clarified.

Dahmen — the funny, fun-loving, self-deprecating 37-year-old pro — has turned into one of the most popular players on the PGA Tour over the last handful of years, but on Sunday he was in extreme danger of staying inside the top 125 at the season-ending RSM Classic, which is what he needed to do to hold onto a full membership for 2025.

Dahmen entered the week No. 124 in the FedEx Cup Fall standings, but after his late double on Saturday, in which he shot 70, Dahmen was projected to finish 128th in the standings.

That means he needed to do something special on Sunday — and his run started with one pretty spectacular shot.

Dahmen fired a six-under 64, a round that included no bogeys and a hole-out eagle from 110 yards on the par-4 13th, which was his fourth hole of the day. That ended a string of three straight pars and led to three straight birdies on 15, 16 and 17.

This is what the Fall portion of the schedule should be about, to the extent that it exists at all.  But save the crocodile tears, maybe that broadcast was lifeless for good reason:

6 notable players who lost their PGA Tour card Sunday

Depend hw one defines notable, no?

Francesco Molinari

The 2018 Open Champion has struggled in a major way ever since the final round of the 2019 Masters. He’s seemingly never been the same since dropping multiple balls in the water hazards on the back nine of Augusta National. Molinari played 15 times but never registered a top 10 on the Tour, finishing outside the top 190.

So, the first offering is a guy that hit his last good shot on the 11th hole at Augusta in April 2018.... Not sure they can top that.  What?  Sure, I'll be happy to hold your beer: 

Jimmy Walker

The 2017 PGA Champion hasn’t exactly been in hot pursuit of a PGA Tour card via the FedEx Cup Fall. He’s been spending more time playing in Europe, competing in the Irish Open and Spanish Open, where he finished in the top 15 both times. It’s possible we could see him take that form back to America next year, but he’ll have to luck his way into some tournaments first.

I'm more surprised that he's even still trying....

The TC gang weighed in here as well, and I'll leave that Wesley Bryan story to them::

Last week we found out (officially) that come 2026, only 100 players will earn full-time PGA Tour status. But for 2025, that magic number is still 125, and we learned those players at the season-ending RSM Classic on Sunday. Which player who made it just inside (or outside) that cut line was the most notable to you?

Hirsh: Has to be Joel Dahmen, who put together a Sunday 64 to finish No. 124 in the FedEx Cup. Dahmen has struggled with adjusting to his newfound fame since being a key figure in the

Netflix “Full Swing” docuseries. Having him on Tour makes for a much more entertaining, compelling and relatable product, so having him struggle to get into fields under the past champion category wouldn’t have been much fun. I still think his best years are yet to come.

Berhow: Yeah, hard to argue with Dahmen, since he was the biggest name within a few of that No. 125 spot. Two other young former college standouts, Parker and Pierceson Coody, both landed on the wrong side of that line, too.

Bastable: Must say, I didn’t foresee anyone in the Creator Classic field making a run at a Tour card, but that’s what Wes Bryan did, narrowly missing out by three spots. When Bryan took heat for playing in that hit-and-giggle event for influencers earlier this year, he tweeted, “Are there actually ppl mad that I’m playing in this event? I have filmed 100+ long form youtube videos over the last two years…missed almost every cut on the pga tour…and hardly ever practice.” Not exactly a recipe for Tour success. But Bryan still found a way to stay relevant until an MC this week doomed his card hopes.

Why this Fall was so much drearier than prior installments is hard to discern.  No doubt it's partially the result of the general zeitgeist.  These are the specific guys we've come to loathe, but the reduced field sizes pretty much ensure these guys have little chance of getting into those money grabs, so why invest the time in watching them?

Let me just throw in this last bit of fluff from the TC guys:

We’ll spend more time next month unpacking the year that was on the PGA Tour, but off the top of your head, what’s the one big thing you learned or will remember about the 2024 PGA Tour season?

Hirsh: Honestly, that a Tiger-like run is still possible. I think I had started thinking that the generation of kids who got into golf because of Tiger Woods had made the sport too deep for anyone to really go on a run of victories like he did nearly two decades ago. Scottie Scheffler disproved that theory this year. No, he didn’t win multiple majors like Woods did do so often, but until Scheffler’s 2024 no one had won seven times in a Tour season since Woods in 2007. And it’s not like Scheffler’s competition was weak, either. Sure, LIV Golf has taken away Jon Rahm, Cam Smith, Jaco Neimann and others, but Scheffler was winning against Xander Schauffele, who won two majors himself, week in and week out. Let’s not forget about that gold medal win, too.

Berhow: Scottie Scheffler will never go back to Louisville.

Bastable: Yeah, the Scheffler PGA fiasco will go down as the one of the wildest sports stories of all time, but still, this year might be remembered more for what happened off the course. Or, more the point, what didn’t happen. And that will continue to be the case until the PGA Tour and PIF finally strike a deal. The drawn-out negotiations have sucked so much oxygen out of the room. Total bummer.

Just a reminder that Scottie, as good as he is, won exactly one full-field event in 2024.   I know Tiger made bank with the WGCs, not to mention the five green jackets, but his big seasons were against more appropriate fields.

Introducing Jeeno - it was a great event with quite the dramatic denouement, but it will have exactly zero impact:

Jeeno Thitikul shocks Angel Yin for CME Group Tour Championship title, $4 million prize

The ladies just can't get arrested, perhaps they need to schedule an event in, checking notes, Louisville:

Angel Yin had a grip on the LPGA’s season-ending CME Group Tour Championship since Friday

afternoon, but finishing off a win for the largest prize in women’s golf isn’t supposed to be easy.

Especially when a former World No. 1 like Jeeno Thitikul is chasing you down.

Yin, one of the best putters on the LPGA Tour all season and had been even better this week in Naples, looked like she had locked up the massive $4 million payday when she took a two-shot lead to the 17th tee and knocked her third shot at the par-5 within five feet.

But, in an instant, the momentum that had been in Yin’s favor seemingly all weekend swung back toward Thitikul. The 21-year-old knocked it on the 17th in two and drained the eagle putt from about 15 feet before Yin pushed her birdie effort.

Then on 18, Thitikul threw a dart for an approach shot, landing her ball short of the hole and rolling it out to about five feet which she converted for birdie and a one-shot win at 22 under. She went eagle-birdie on the final two holes at Tiburon Golf Club for the second day in a row.

Angel made everything for almost four days, then made that one hinky stroke on No. 17....

Jeeno isn't exactly a household name, so another lost opportunity for the ladies.  She's such a strong presence that the TC gang only wanted to talk about that other girl:

Also complete is the 2024 LPGA season, with Jeeno Thitikul winning the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship. Nelly Korda tied for fifth to put a bow on a spectacular seven-win campaign. Quick: Will Korda match or surpass that season-win total again in her career?

Hirsh: I’ll go ahead and say it: yes! For as incredible as Korda’s season was, it was also kind of weird. She missed three cuts randomly in the middle of the season that included two majors, she took two months off between her first and second wins, she let chances to win the Open and Olympics slip away and she also dealt with some injury. As long as her mechanics stay intact, I could see her winning in bunches like this for a few more years.

Berhow: Yes. And boy, that sounds crazy to say, but I came to that conclusion in my head pretty quickly. I think she can keep getting better — as Jack mentioned, she had some weird things happen this year too — and I would not be a bit surprised to see her do this again.

Bastable: ​​Buzzkill Bastable says no. Seven wins is staggering, and the tour is only getting deeper, meaning victories will become increasingly harder to come by. As Jack notes, Nelly’s also been prone to injuries; winning in bunches requires staying healthy.

Nelly seems prone to all of the historic plagues, and a few she's made up on her own.  I have not the slightest clue what to expect from her going forward, but it might have been nice to demonstrate an awareness of more than just the one woman.

This lady offered one more example of her signature move:

Lexi Thompson has taken to social media to complain about not being able to finish out her LPGA career on the 18th hole at the CME Group Tour Championship on Sunday.

Thompson, 29, brought the curtain down on an 11-win LPGA career at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida.

'Pretty sad when you're at -4 in the season ending event, which could easily be the last CME of your career and you won't even finish on 18 because they decide to double tee on the final day due to TV coverage window,' wrote Thompson.

'Bummed I won't be able to embrace all the incredible fans on 18 tomorrow as I finish. Hopefully some will be out there on 9.

'But just know I'm grateful for you all.'

Let's see, what is it the3 cool kids say at times like these?  Oh yeah, play better!  Of course, that really goes for her entire career, so I'll not miss the mewling.  For the record, Joel Dahmen was also forced to play the nines reversed, but he just got on with things.... Lexi was always too delicate a flower for such a Darwinian world as professional sports.

We need an item to make us laugh, and this seems purpose suited to that task:

CME Group CEO grades LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan job performance A++

Hmmm, we wouldn't be grading on a curve now, would we?  Because there's some history here....

Because their relationship got off to quite the rocky start two years ago:

Former U.S. presidents, secretaries of state and business tycoons have presented at CME’s

conference, and for Tuesday night’s dinner, the firm typically invites a select number of players to attend. Earlier this week, when Duffy asked for the houselights to be turned on so that he could applaud the players in the room, the only people standing were those serving the tables.

Not a single player showed up.

“It’s an embarrassment to a company of my size and an embarrassment to me personally,” said Duffy, two days after the event.

Duffy’s beef isn’t with the players, though — it’s with who’s at the helm.

“I am exceptionally disappointed with the leadership of the LPGA,” he continued. “They better get their act together because they’re going to lose people like me over stuff like this.”

Not sounding so A++ to me.....

And even earlier this week:

Should anyone, though, be interested in watching Saturday’s third round of the CME Group Tour Championship on live television, they can’t. Coverage will be shown only on tape delay, from 4-7

p.m. ET on Golf Channel — and when the decision was brought up by a reporter, Duffy’s first thought was both unsurprising and four words long.

“That’s bulls**t, isn’t it?”

Talking to a small group on Wednesday, a day before the start of the tournament, Duffy then continued for about five minutes. He said he voiced his frustration to the LPGA’s commissioner, Mollie Marcoux Samaan, and hoped that she would “make that not be the case.” He also said he understood deals long in place (in 2020, the PGA Tour and LPGA agreed to let the men’s tour negotiate their domestic TV contracts jointly) and admitted he’s not “overly exercised” about the move and — but “I would hope that people would recognize that if you’re going to continue to build women’s sports, you have to give them the same billing as men and stop — stop — the nonsense of saying that, well, we have to show a men’s tournament because they’re the men.”

Who would be in charge of that kind of thing?  

Obviously the ladies are being graded on quite the curve.  

Golden Slumbers - i hate to give up that bit, but the man is retiring after all.  But he firs a shot across the bow of the professional game with this:

Billy Horschel wants to know how you view the current talks between the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour and LIV Golf’s financiers, the PIF?

We’re not at the table. The current position of the professional game is very bad. We have created

a game that is immensely divisive. I’ve talked about the financial unsustainability of the professional game. I will stand by that and keep saying it. That has caused significant problems. The constant dialogue of money has damaged the reputation of the sport, which is one of the reasons why the public is not watching as much golf as they can. I truly hope that peace and stability is reached soon.

I have no problem with one tour or two tours. I grew up watching a game in which the European Tour was very strong. But there was stability, and the best played each other more than four times a year. I am more frustrated by the lack of progress there than in the other issues we have just discussed.

Yeah, we noticed as well.  Of course, perhaps he didn't get the memo explaining that the game can't grow unless Patrick Cantlay gets paid...

Although, in fact, this might be the more significant response:

This next question comes from Rory McIlroy: “Who are the people standing in the way of the changes you would like to make to the distance issue?”

(laughs) Thanks Rory. The decision has already been made.

I said you would never answer that question.

(laughs) I’ll be texting him later. The decision has already been made on the ball. The change is coming in 2028.

Is it enough?

[USGA CEO] Mike Whan was asked that question a couple of weeks ago, and he said he would like to have done more. I agree with him. We did propose a model local rule for elite golf, which would have gone further. But that was roundly rejected by the industry. That led us back to changing the ball for everybody and dialing back what we wanted to do. I’m not delusional enough to think what is coming in 2028 is a significant rollback. It will hold things where we are today. But that decision is made.

It's a done deal, though it's obviously not much of a deal.... If you dislike the tour pros because of the money issue, I'd suggest keeping some powder dry for their reaction on the distance issue, as well.

I'll discharge you here, and wish everyone a joyous Thanksgiving surrounded by family and friends.  See you down the road.