Weekend Wrap - Peace In Our Time Edition

Always a sad time on the golf calendar as we segue into ski season.  This weekend was our last with pristine greens, as the crews are descending upon Greenwich, CT and the punching will commence at daybreak.  

I spare you most details of my own games, though yesterdays round, played in cold, blustery conditions, began in amusing fashion.  I walked off our sixth green realizing that my card included five bogeys and an eagle....  Yeah, it's a funny game.  But there was a pure 8-iron to 3 1/2 feet whose memory will keep me warm all winter.

Shall we get to business.  I awoke thinking this would be a cobbled-together post with items of marginal interest.  On the contrary, it seems that our world is about to be rocked, but you wouldn't know it from any of three major golf websites/magazines.  Seriously, the lede is a photo of Charlie Hull and a camel:

I believe that's Charlie in the blue top....

Golf Digest has an item on using the rules to lower your scores, and Golf.com uses their Tour Confidential feature as the lede, but their writers are amusingly out of the loop these days.

You've seen the HE-Jay pairing (don't know what that "HE" means?  Stay tuned) at the Dunhill.  There apparently was another such pairing in Saudi Arabia, and this as well:

Another meeting between the PGA Tour and PIF leaders? Both just attended the same conference in Saudi Arabia

I shan't leave you in suspense any longer, per The Sun our long national nightmare is apparently about to end:

ON PAR: Golf’s civil war OVER as Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods help negotiate £1BILLION peace deal between PGA Tour and LIV Golf

LIV put on 14 events this year but their tournaments will now come under the PGA umbrella

Phil hardest hit?  If only....

Rebel tour LIV’s Saudi Arabian backers are poised to cough up the staggering fee to become part of the PGA Tour circuit.

The money will give Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, who bankroll the breakaway LIV Golf, an 11 per cent share in the Tour.

In return they will get two places on the PGA Tour board — including the post of chairman.

Superstars Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy have played key roles in the peace talks.

The deal still has to be approved by PGA players but they are expected to agree.

Only $1 billion?  Kind of a distressed deal, no?

But, lest you be worried about how this will affect Patrick, no need to fret:

The sweetener for golfers who stayed loyal to the PGA Tour is likely to be another massive cash injection into the £1.2bn fund created this year to reward those players.

The DP World Tour will also benefit, as their ‘strategic alliance’ with the PGA Tour will be reinforced, with extra cash diverted for prize money.

Yeah, I'm guessing they'll get Patrick's vote.

This is as good a time as any to allow the stenographers at Golf Magazine to show how out of the loop they are, from this week's Tour Confidential panel:

Amid golf’s continued divide, there was another reported meeting last week between PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and PIF boss Yasir Al-Rumayyan. How significant is this news in the interest of a deal being completed? A little? Or a lot?

Berhow: I’m bored with this. They have jets and can meet whenever they want.

Sens: Word is they were just trading casserole recipes. I read that on social media, so it must be true. Come to think of it, maybe they should try sharing a potluck meal. None of these other meetings seem to be leading anywhere

Bastable: Right. I think we’re all at or well past the point at which only an official announcement about the PGA Tour and PIF’s path forward together will get our attention. Fans are frustrated, jaded, disenchanted. Even when a deal is hammered out and presented, it’s going to take a long time to re-engage those fans who have walked over the past couple of years. I, for one, remain hopeful, though. There are too many smart people in the room — and the stakes are far too high — to screw this up.

So much for shoe-leather journalism....

To this observer, the $1 billion large is a yawn, but the most interesting bit is the one about turning LIV over to the PGA Tour, which would seem to invite Justice Department scrutiny, although they can't force HE to continue to fund LIV.  At least, I don't think they can, though after tomorrow all bets are off.

The only U.S.-based golf writer that has this story is our Geoff Shackelford, and he comes at it from a weird angle.  Geoff has always liked the ponies, but see how you take to this take:

The Pro Golf Horse Race 

With a deal close between the PGA Tour and PIF, can the two sides learn from the decline of another sport that put off-course business above the competition?

Happy Melbourne Cup to all QuadrilateralDownUnderians!

Last Saturday, America’s horse racing Super Bowl wrapped up two-days of races at Del Mar. Those who watched saw Kentucky Derby runner-up Sierra Leone capturing the $7 million Breeders Cup Classic. This traditionally well-run November gathering is played out in ever-more anonymity despite bringing together the best on a beautiful stage. And the once-wildly popular American version of horse racing continues to toil in anonymity on all but Kentucky Derby day.

The list of self-induced problems starts with an inability to jettison cheaters who maniacally sent out unsound horses, only to see some die while their jockeys broke collar bones (if they were lucky). The year-round sport also races too many days compared to other parts of the world. Beyond the bizarre inability to weed out twisted trainers and low-level claiming races where stuff happens, the sport revolves around the wildly lucrative breeding business over the actual racing.

This unhealthy prioritization of what happens off the track started when Middle Eastern interests took an interest in the sport a few decades ago. Since gambling is forbidden in places like Dubai and Saudi Arabia, the push into horse racing was primarily designed to westernize images. And now, to profit off the breeding business. But silly money on the breeding side has made the sport less relatable or competitive. American stakes races now seem to exist only to build a resume for peak stud fees or eye-popping auction sales of unproven horses.

Race purses are comically low, disincentivizing longer racing careers that would let fans get to know the sometimes-wild, often-heartwarming backstories of horses and their connections. As a result of the misplaced priorities, general sports fans have largely abandoned the sport and left it to bettors and the breeding industry. The average American sports nut could not give two, three, four, or five hoots if Into Mischief sired a winner. Or that he now commands $250,000 every time he hooks up with a chosen mare. 

Those prioritizing the breeding business think it’s all wildly fascinating. Even as the sport is dying after prioritizing commerce over safety and while waiting too long to reassure fans that integrity mattered.

Readers under forty will be sending me a TL:DR on that, and justifiably so.  But I think he's trying to hint that certain folks in the golf ecosystem might be overly focused on commerce....  Any thoughts, Patrick?

Here's where he ties it together:

I point this out because professional golf is veering toward the same lack of popularity as horse racing. The men’s pro game is struggling to uphold the integrity of its competitions after years of not enforcing slow play policies. The PGA Tour continues to resist regulations to keep golf's footprint from growing to unsustainable sizes. And now, tournament fields are shrinking to accommodate the bloat.

The pro game is solidifying a Middle East partnership with a government looking to replenish a sordid reputation. Saudi Arabia wants to use golf to open up new communication lines with business leaders and sell stakes in golf team franchises.

For the love of the game, this is not.

Fair enough, although horse racing at least was once popular..... I know the appeal of professional golf is becoming, in the immortal words of Ian Faith, increasingly selective, but perhaps we might also acknowledge that, at its peak, no one was watching.

Since Geoff is mostly sole source at this juncture, I'm going to spit at the fair use doctrine and pretty much excerpt the whole damn thing:

The Sun’s David Facey reported Saturday that “Golf’s civil war is on the brink of a £1 billion peace deal,” with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund finally ready to hand over the lightly-watched, rarely-taken-seriously LIV Golf to the PGA Tour. This should not come as a surprise since it’s been well over a year since the “events of June 6th” rollout of a “framework agreement.” Comments from well-connected players in recent weeks predicted an impending deal between the adversaries—with the usual caveats about possible detours caused by the Department of Justice, Lina Khan, the Presidential election outcome, or if Mercury is in retrograde. We also know from reports by Bunkered and Golf Digest that PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan was in resplendent Riyadh last week and joined by select minions. All of this comes just weeks after October’s olive branch pro-am round at the Alfred Dunhill Links featuring Andrew Waterman Yasir Al-Rumayyan His Excellency H.E. and Monahan.

I know. You’re getting emotional thinking about those two hacking it around Carnoustie and brainstorming how to bring some Steamboat to the future slopes of Neom.

H.E. His Ownself confirmed last week that PIF was cutting back on international investments to focus on domestic stuff like the disastrously expensive and deadly Neom. But before cutting back, PIF is still going to cut a large check to the PGA Tour and, according to The Sun, let them figure out what to do with LIV Golf while having cash to possibly buy some stuff. Who knows what? But they can now afford the Ryder Cup or Pebble Beach.

For the headache and agony of figuring out how to assimilate the two tours, PIF will reportedly take an 11% share in the Tour. According to Facey, H.E. will get a “Chairman” title entitling him to tedious conference calls about slow play. The Tour will reportedly throw in an additional board seat since they do this a lot these days and have two bloated boards to prove it. But it’s not clear from Facey’s report if the Saudi seats will be on the for-profit or non-profit boards.

Who cares?

Yes, but what's also unclear is whether the for-profit entity can actually make a profit, rather a non-trivial query given that we'll now be at $2.5 billion of invested capital theoretically interested in a return above and beyond the pleasure of smelling Tiger's jockstrap.

Eventually the non-profit model will get swallowed up by the money maker. Arthur Blank already said the quiet part out loud back in February.

So it’s only a matter of time before the still-non-profit PGA Tour is touting its multi-billion valuation and sending more checks to players for (still) being in the right place at the right time. Emboldened golfers armed with a Tour card will continue to insist on TIO relief from every wire, imaginary fishing line, leaf, branch or plume of gassy air interfering with a direct line at the flagstick. But at least the rule-bending in golf is not nearly as grim as what happens when horse racing looks the other way. People and animals get hurt. Fans can’t flee fast enough.

Golf’s flaunting of the rules goes over almost as poorly with core fans who still value displays of sportsmanship and integrity. Casual fans are not turned on by much of anything other than major championship weeks.

I think we can agree on some core principals, most importantly that the game of golf is unable to grow until Patrick Cantlay gets paid.  That is the essence of the Brave New Golf World, and we've seen golf fans voting with their eyeballs.  Cornhole is drawing larger viewership, but nothing to see here....

I will leave you on that depressing note.  I just ask that everyone remember the involvement of Tiger and Rory in creating this effed up world, and their abandonment of the larger Tour membership.  At least that's my primary takeaway from the last three years.

I'll catch you later in the week as the story develops.

Thursday Themes - Bad Week To Quit Smoking Edition

And you thought they were done destroying the PGA Tour?

But get this as a mission statement:

The PGA Tour has undergone a dizzying array of changes in the last few years, some voluntarily, some imposed upon it. On Tuesday, however, it was made clear that golf's strongest circuit has further room to evolve. The tour’s 16-member Player Advisory Council shared a 23-page memo with the entire membership that outlined several proposed changes it’s asking take effect in 2026. They include everything from the reducing the size of tournament fields to whittling down the number of exemption categories, from tweaking FedEx Cup points distributions at certain events to reimagining its pace-of-play policy.

These proposed interconnected changes—to which PAC chairman Camilo Villegas foreshadowed were coming an Oct. 16 memo—are intended to streamline the competitive environment, create more drama and clearer storylines, and improve the overall PGA Tour product. It’s no exaggeration to say that what the tour Policy Board will be voting on when it convenes Nov. 18 is the most sweeping overhaul since the creation of the all-exempt initiative in 1983.

In my fevered imagination, i can hear Glinda telling Patrick that he's always had the power....

Here's where the rubber meets the road, and I pay off the header.  because it's a pretty awful time to be a Tour rabbit:

Smaller tournament fields. The proposal creates a new maximum field size of 144 players (down from 156) in an open tournament held on one course. However, fields can be reduced further to 132 or 120 to account for available daylight. Notably, the Players Championship would be trimmed from 144 to 120.

Yes, we can't have any of those pesky players taking food out pf Patrick's mouth:

 

Having completed the palace coup that keeps the riffraff out of those massive money grabs, the powers that be decided there were still too many pretenders   But, bear with me, as I repeat a few words from the excerpt above:

create more drama and clearer storylines

Do you feel silly?  You should, because I suspect that we have all been laboring under a naïve assumption that these are athletic competitions.  You see our mistake, though, as they're in this to control outcomes.

Shockingly, nobody does the math of the total reduced playing opportunities, but the fix is not even evident on the graphic, as it elides their biggest coup, those eight Signature Events.  The rabbits will know, as they're being warned to not ever expect entry into those moneygrabs.  Know your station, proles!

Are you ready for that next shoe?

The PAC is calling for significant cuts to the number of players who are exempt on tour each year, while also proposing to limit exemption categories and other qualifying avenues. First and foremost, the plan calls for a reduction in the number of fully exempt players who retain their tour cards off the FedEx Cup points list each year from 125—a number established in 1983 with the creation of the “all-exempt tour—to 100. The Korn Ferry Tour would see a reduction of 10 cards, from 30 to 20. The tour also would cap the Q-School graduated at the top five finishers (it used to be top five and ties) and either eliminate Monday qualifiers or reduce the number from four to two in others during the regular FedEx Cup season, depending on an event’s field size. This is all part of the tour redefining, to some degree, what it means to have a card and its significance. In some ways, the tour is strengthening its position as a meritocracy—drawing a clear distinction from the rival LIV Golf League—by challenge its members to play better in order to keep their tour status.

And as soon as they've choked off that supply of exempt players?  You know the LIV guys are coming back at some point....

Reactions are bizarre, take this from two Golf.com writers about the reduced field sizes:

Dylan Dethier: Why? Because the Tour was sick of finishing their first rounds on Friday instead of Thursday and making the cut on Saturday instead of Friday! Because they were sick of players warming up in the dark and finishing in the dark! And, if you want to zoom way in, because they were sick of players finishing the ninth hole of their Thursday or Friday round and having to wait at the turn because there was a backup caused by 13 groups in a wave (current) instead of 12 (proposed). A fog delay would essentially derail the structure of the entire event. The status quo was getting bad for players, for staffers, for viewers, for broadcasts, for gamblers. Even for golf writers. Really bad. This is good. Sean?

Sean Zak: It’s the easiest way of making sure these tournament days finish on time, which had sneaky become a real issue for the Tour. Could you make players play faster? Sure. But could you just take a few players off the board instead? That’s going to be much more efficient.

Sure, Sean, it's more efficient, unless you're one of the few players involved.... And heaven forfend these guys get around in under five hours, but that's a lot to ask.

I have trace elements of sympathy for the early season events with their limited daylight hours, but we seem to have given up any sense that we remember what matters.   But it's quite the sequence of changes, because fresh off denuding those Moneygrabs of interest because of their comically small field sizes, they've turned their attentions to destroying the tour's remaining events.   Yanno, those events that they've already beclowned by making them Non-signature.

Now, in this case I do kind of agree with them, except we're forgetting who expanded to fill 52 weeks of the calendar:

2. TOUR SIZE

For decades the Tour has maintained full status for the top 125 players on its FedEx Cup list (and, pre-FedEx, its money list). In this proposal, they’re changing that to 100.

Why? And is this good or bad?

Dethier: It’s hard to call this “good” without seeming a bit heartless, but I think there’s a better way to think about it: these changes are protecting the sanctity of what it means to have a PGA Tour card. In recent years the Tour has added so many different side-doors into PGA Tour membership that you could have status and still not get into a lot of events. When you factor in reductions in field size, this isn’t necessarily “good” but it’s essential. And look, this isn’t a career-ender for those outside the top 100 — if you finish No. 105, say, you just get bumped down a couple categories and you’ll play a bunch of events. This is a more realistic reflection of what it should mean to have a full PGA Tour card.

Zak: I think it’s really solidifying the top part of the pyramid. I’ve written a good bit about the PGA Tour-As-Food Chain idea, and in this case we are moving to a very round 100 players with full status and a very round 50 with full Signature Event access. It’s turning the membership into a much easier to understand, more package-able entity. It’s cutthroat, to be sure, but it probably is necessary. Mr. 101 is still going to do just fine, but as always I would suggest they play just a little better.

Guys, I've got some swamp land in which you might be interested, because clearly you'll buy anything....

Having succeeded with their coup involving those moneygrabs, I agree this seems like petty cash.  But it's all about insulating the only players that matter, yeah all six, from any effects of the marketplace.  Obviously to make that stick you have to slow this train down.

3. PATHWAYS

The Tour’s “Pathways Subcommittee” determined that they needed to cut down the number of cards given out by 10 or so. While the Korn Ferry Tour was determined as the “primary pathway” to the Tour, spots given to KFT grads will cut from 30 to 20, Q-school will go from top five and ties to just top five, and the DP World Tour will still get 10 spots.

Why? And is this good or bad?

Dethier: Woof. Here’s where it’s tough to avoid the real-world consequences of these changes. It’s not “good” that there are only 20 cards coming from the KFT instead of 30; that’s a pretty limited number and a significant cut. On the other hand, I’m glad there aren’t cuts to the 10-card DP World Tour pathway, because 1. Those guys have played well on Tour, 2. It’s an important and tangible connection with the DP World Tour and global golf and 3. It’s smart and arguably essential for the PGA Tour to maintain a mutually beneficial relationship with the DPWT, given LIV’s looming presence in the global golf market.

It’s good from this perspective: If you make it through these pathways, you’ll have a better idea of where you stand. The KFT pathway is just slightly narrower than it was. I think I’d prefer keeping 25 KFT cards, though, and finding a few more mini-cuts elsewhere.

Zak: Overall, I think this is just creating a structure that actually aligns with the immense money atop the game. There’s going to be a lot of money up top — and it’s really not going away, given the spending in sports these days — and the people who deserve it most are those who earn the tee times. Who earn their spots in the fields. The journey to those spots is tighter than ever, but so be it. The prize at the end of the rainbow has become shinier than ever, too. (And let’s not act like the path to get there isn’t also pretty profitable)

Sean, you're an ignorant slut.  he just buys without any cognitive dissonance that there are only a handful of players that matter.  Yet, he wouldn't be able to answer why the Signature events sucked (and the Tours best moments came in those unscripted full-field events) or why twenty years of WGCs were so dreadful.

Focus if you will, on the italicized bit.  Yes, the KF Tour is and should be the primary gateway to the PGA Tour, but we've just reduced those cards by a full one-third.  Tell me how we're not sacrificing the next generation of players for the glory of Patrick Cantlay!

And if the DP World Tour gets ten slots, how can we limit the KF Tour to twenty?  Of course, with the reduced field sizes, we'll find that even the remaining twenty cards might not come with all that many tee times....  

Eamon Lynch is mostly a fellow traveler in these matters, though I think his current offering is missing some key points.  But you know his mind from his header and the photo at the top of his piece:

Lynch: The PGA Tour is right to cut players and fields, but the wrong guys are making that call

Eamon, you don't seem to like that guy.... 

His lede is fun, especially in the coming moment, but I'm not sure it advances an actual argument:

Pity the PGA Tour’s proletariat, who are now fretting about two votes in November that could jeopardize much of what they feel entitled to. Some of them might even be less wary of a former California prosecutor than they are of a prosecutorial Californian. After all, Kamala Harris doesn’t much care about reshaping the PGA Tour, but Patrick Cantlay sure does.

On Nov. 18, Cantlay and his fellow Policy Board members will vote on an extensive slate of proposals that will have an enormous impact on rank and file Tour members. Potential changes include reducing fields in most regular tournaments from 156 competitors to 144, and in many cases 120; cutting the number of fully exempt players from 125 to 100; slashing by one-third the number of cards earned via the Korn Ferry Tour; and reducing or eliminating Monday qualifiers, which award four spots most weeks.

Some players will see an unfair narrowing of pathways to make a living; others will welcome a toughening of competitive standards. Either way, it represents revolutionary change for an organization whose members revere Adam Smith but are accustomed to seeing their workplace run as though Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez were the commish.

Capitalism for thee, socialism for me!

I think that's such a hot mess that I don't know where to begin.  He seems to be accusing the rank-and-file of being overly entitled, but it's that guy pictured above that has insisted on guaranteed money for himself, to the detriment of those clawing their way up.  Not just the PIP program (and Patrick isn't much of a social me4dia guy), but the limited fields and no-cut regimen, combined with the outsized purses, is nothing short of guaranteed money for Patrick and his homies.

He throws a coupler of punches that land, including this on a subject I haven't even gotten to yet:

The Tour’s longstanding raison d’être — creating playing opportunities for members, an objective on which its executives were bonused — is dead. Remaking a complacent product for a competitive market means it’s now about earning opportunities. Every proposal is defensible, if debatable. (Except the elimination of Monday qualifiers; that’s the ultimate meritocracy and ought to be expanded and streamed as additive to the Tour’s weekly narrative.) And while it’s easy to characterize these likely changes as another sop to top stars, the truth is that any reform is unlikely to ever discomfit the Tour’s one percent.

They've only held Monday qualifying since, checking notes, the year of the flood, but history is for losers.

But I think Eamon's last sentence is a pretty big misfire.  I think what he's missing is that these moves are necessary because of the coup already conducted, necessary to keep the riffraffish further removed from the gates to heaven.  

But here's where Eamon needs to be more cynical:

These proposals emerged from the Players Advisory Council, a 16-man committee made up of both superstars and journeymen, and they administer an overdue dose of reality. Players are fond of pointing the finger at HQ when it comes to bloat — not unfairly, it must be said — so there’s irony in the first announced layoffs being players themselves. Whether in the glass-walled offices of Ponte Vedra or the wood-paneled locker rooms on Tour, too many people are paid too much money for too little. More than 600 guys have made starts on Tour this year, and the average inside-the-ropes earnings currently stands at $2,030,418. That’s a lot of money for what is, comparatively speaking, a lot of mediocrity.

Finally, the Tour has reached the stage of making incremental changes to better its product rather than to slake the cash thirst of its stars. There’s a long way to go — not least in delivering a product that focuses more on fans than players — but the fact that proper improvements are imminent doesn’t necessarily mean the right folks are making the decisions.

The Tour has always boasted of being a member-led organization, even when it was only nominally so. Since the backlash to the Framework Agreement with the Saudis and the subsequent governance reforms, players are now absolutely calling the shots. In fact, three Policy Board members who will vote on the recommendations — Peter Malnati, Webb Simpson and Jordan Spieth — are perilously close to finding themselves at the mercy of the unforgiving new dispensation they could usher in.

I'm sorry, Eamon, did you take the summer of 2024 off?  Do you not remember who got the sponsor's exemptions into Riviera or how many such exemptions your Webb Simpson bagged?  Those votes are in the bag, having been purchased for sponsors' exemptions into the Signature Events.....  The Guild takes care of its own, the rest of us are merely nauseous at the sight.

What we are seeing is nothing short of disgusting.  The Tour has historically featured men such as Arnie and Jack that evidenced a desire to leave the Tour stronger for those that came after them.  Today the Tour's player-leaders, Tiger, Rory and Patrick, have renounced that commitment.

I watched far less golf in 2024 than in prior years, a trend line guaranteed to continue in 2025.  To me, the best moments in 2024 were the most unexpected, say Nick Dunlap at the AMEX, and the money grabs repel this potential viewer.  At least we have the four majors.

Sorry, I needed to get that rant out.  There's no golf being played this weekend, so next week's schedule will be made up on the fly.  Have a great weekend.

Weekend Wrap - Indian Summer Edition

Sorry about the schedule head fake last week.  I had a jammed Monday, but a late cancellation frees up time....Even though we can blog, there remains the issue of what to blog.

Dueling Headers - Shack has the proper take:

Weekend: Echavarría Earns A Masters Trip

Well, that's awkward.  I had been reliably informed that young golfers never win anything, so there's no cost to excluding them from the Signature Events money grabs.

Nico Echavarría captured the ZOZO Championship for his second PGA Tour win and first trip to The Masters. The 30-year-old Columbian held off Justin Thomas and Max Greyserman to win the sixth and possibly final playing of an event held since 2019.

Echavarría carried the 54-hole lead into Sunday, where he birdied the 18th hole for a 67 and stout 260 four-day score, his career-low by seven strokes. The mark also set a new tournament record previously held by Tiger Woods (261).

“It's surreal,” the former Arkansas collegiate golfer said. “This moment is very special. It's been a good year for me, I just haven't had that top result. I've been very consistent, I've learned a lot this year. To finish the year this way is, it's incredible, especially doing it here in Japan in such an amazing country.”

Most of the golf press focused on this guy's performance:

Why Justin Thomas’ latest ‘disappointment’ at the Zozo looked different

Gonna guess it has something to do with breaking 100....

Yes, Thomas’ loss at the Zozo sounded a lot like his losses at other tournaments this year —

events where his game has arrived for long enough to be in the hunt but not long enough to grab a victory. After those events, Thomas has told us about his pride in his performance, and about his faith that things are moving in the right direction.

But for once, at the Zozo, it looked like those platitudes might be headed toward something.

Thomas made just one bogey over the course of 72 holes for the week at the Zozo, ranking near the top of the field in strokes gained: off the tee and strokes gained: approach — two stats that were hallmarks of his career’s high points in ’20 and ’21. He managed the pressure of the lead on Sunday with a characteristic blend of opportunistic golf, gaining close to 2-and-a-half shots on the field over a long, bogey-free Sunday.

These were not the visions of Thomas who climbed to the world no. 1 spot, nor the visions of him that snuck into a PGA Championship victory in ’22 after Mito Perreira’s 72nd hole collapse. No, they were visions of a new JT — a player who is not self-evidently relevant, but who has seen down the chasm of obscurity.

Passive aggressive much?  What the author seems to be saying is that all you have to do to best JT is outperform, checking notes, Mito Pereira.... A low bar indeed.

But notwithstanding this result, JT will undoubtedly have a tee time in those money grabs (even if it requires a sponsor's exemption), whereas Echavaria will not.  That's because the guild protects its own.

As Geoff hinted above, this may be curtains for the event,:

The event at Narashino Country Club appeared to be the final ZOZO Championship based on questions to players. Last week’s playing completed a six-event contract that started with the inaugural won by Woods in 2019. No announcement of a renewal has been made as of this time.

If this is the end of the PGA Tour’s first sanctioned Japan tournament, runner-up Thomas spoke highly of the experience.

“It's not only an opportunity for us to play different golf courses in front of a different, you know, setting, and grow our brand and kind of have the opportunity to grow the game of golf,” Thomas said. “But it's an opportunity for us to travel and see some great places and compete in a completely different part of the world, so it's always a treat.”

The ZOZO’s possible demise comes on the heals of Gregg Robertson’s report confirming Shriners Children’s Hospital’s 18-year Las Vegas sponsorship coming to an end.

I've been a broken record since the exception of this blog, but the Tour's treatment of its sponsors is one small step above what happens to those Hamas hostages down in the tunnels.  The Tour has pulled the rug out from under anyone sponsoring a non-Signature event, so one assumes it'll be musical chairs going forward.  Although Barnum seems to have been onto something, because they seem to keep finding new suckers as needed.

The Tour Confidential panel did allocate a precious question to this event, but you'll understand the significance of the questions being unnumbered this week:

Nico Echavarria won the Zozo Championship in Japan, beating Justin Thomas and Max Greyserman by a shot. Thomas, who held a share of the lead at one point, is still winless since the 2022 PGA Championship, a drought of 49 starts on the PGA Tour. Was his performance and close call this week more encouraging or discouraging?

Colgan: I would say encouraging. JT played some of the best golf we’ve seen from him in a long time, and more importantly, he played some of the steadiest golf we’ve seen from him in a long time (just one bogey in 72 holes!). That’s the winning formula for him, he just didn’t get the win.

Sens: He put himself in contention to win a tournament. That’s no small thing, especially given his recent struggles. Encouraging. I don’t know how you could see it any other way.

Berhow: Encouraging. Winning golf tournaments is hard.

I'm OK with "encouraging", though let's remember that his next competitive round will be, checking notes, on a simulator.... 

But did someone mention the TGL?  You know what Tiger fanboys they are, that of course was their lede.

Counting Down - I know it's a slow golf news cycle and you're really missing Tiger, but aren't you supposed to pay lip service to actual professional golfers?  Sure enough, this is how they led:

TGL, the indoor, virtual golf league founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, announced its TV schedule for 2025, with the first showdown airing in primetime on Tuesday, Jan. 7, on ESPN. Tiger Woods and his team won’t play on opening night — he’ll play the next week — but how important of a role do you think Woods will have when it comes to viewer interest?

James Colgan: Uh, Tiger’s role in this league is basically the only thing that matters for viewer interest in the early days. The TGL is betting — and hoping — that fans will enjoy the concept

enough that they’ll still feel compelled to watch during the non-Woods weeks. A lot depends on how the broadcast looks and feels, but my bet is they’ll steal elements from the ManningCast to expand player access (as basically every new sports telecast seems to be doing).

Josh Sens: This is not like the James Bond franchise, where you can swap out the leading actor without dimming public ticket sales. As James notes, Tiger is key to getting this thing kick-started. Though, long-term sustainability will likely hinge more on how compelled people feel to gamble on it.

Josh Berhow: Tiger will be a huge part of it, but the key will be using his name to get viewers in and then using the product to get them to come back. But this is a TV show, after all, so the golfers playing will need to be entertaining and carry the action when they aren’t hitting shots. I’ve always felt pros in The Match have struggled with that part, so we’ll have to see how it all goes down with TGL.

Sure, guys, but those Manning boys are actually entertaining....  Berhow has his kid gloves on in describing the shortcomings of The Match, but does he remember the least interesting player of all?  That would be that Woods guy, whose next interesting comment will be his first.

The venue for TGL, the SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., seats about 1,500 and tickets start at $160. If you are a fan in the area, what’s your interest level of attending one of these in person?

Colgan: I would think pretty high! Some of the best players in golf, in a super intimate setting, in

an area that’s already golf-mad? Seems like an okay business proposition to me.

Sens: Sartre had it wrong. Hell isn’t other people. Hell is sitting in an arena with a ton of other people, watching grown men hit golf balls into a screen. If I have $160 earmarked for entertainment, I’m playing golf. Not watching it indoors.

Berhow: As someone who lives several states away, I’m not buying a plane ticket to head south and watch the TGL, but if I was in the area I’d definitely consider it, mostly due to the curiosity factor. There are lots of worse ways to spend $160, (other) Josh! Plus, holding only that many people, you won’t exactly be sitting in the nosebleeds.

I'm expecting this to suck big-time, for the simple reason that these guys are mostly humorless and overly self-interested.  And given that the Tour struggles to get folks to watch actual green grass golf, the hitting into a screen thing seems a tough sell.  

But your humble blogger fixates on idiosyncratic threads, so there's two aspects of this that have me curious.  The first is that $12 billion valuation of the Tour, that screams out for a deep dive.  I'm assuming that the Tour's ownership stake in TGL is one asset that they could wildly over-value, but the TV ratings will the point when they can no longer lie to themselves....  Unless yanno, Tiger morphs into Charles Barkley.

The second point is slightly more subtle.  The scheduling of the TGL is harder than anyone will realize, given that the Tour is on the West Coast in January and February.  Getting these guys to Florida on a Monday or Tuesday night has issues, basically pitting the TGL against that week's regular Tour event.  Do you see how the Tour treats its sponsors?

You might have heard that Farmers did not renew their sponsorship of the Torrey Pines event.  Can you blame them?  After the ink on their contract dried, the Tour has done the following to them:

1. Created the series of Signature events, essentially blackmailing sponsors to pony up additional millions to avoid have-not status.  Those that didn't or couldn't found themselves starved of top level talent, thereby seeing their event quite publicly devalued.
2. The TGL start-up further commits the Tour's top-tier talent away from the Tour's own green-grass events.

I keep asking, why would any new sponsor jump in with these thugs?

On the subject of ticket prices, this header makes a valid point:

What's the more egregious ticket price? $750 for the Ryder Cup or $160 for TGL?

Embrace the power of the ampersand.  They're both crazy numbers, but I've no doubt the Ryder Cup will sell out.  I'm sure the TGL will sell out early, especially that second week, but these guys better be funny...

Before we move on, they just can't help themselves:

Seventeen of the 20 spots were announced for the Hero World Challenge to be played in December in the Bahamas, although the 15-time major-champ host will yet again be a last-minute decision coming off his September back surgery. Given what we know so far, do you think Woods plays?

Colgan: I think he probably won’t play, considering the PNC Championship is just a few days later and would serve ostensibly the same purpose. Better safe than sorry.

Sens: Agreed. Granted, Tiger has shown a Deadpool-like capacity to bounce back from physical injury. But the agonies have now piled up to the point that I expect him to focus his energies on his hosting duties, while saving what remains of his back and knees and feet to play with his son.

Berhow: I disagree! I think he’ll play. We don’t know the specifics about his recovery, but the surgery was minor and he might very likely be healed by then.

 You might be the only three guys that actually care....

Wasted, Not Wasted - When you business model involves recreating the movie Lost Weekend, it's more than a bit odd to be asked to take this seriously:

Following a chaotic 2024 WM Phoenix Open, organizers announced changes for the 2025 edition in what they say will be a “better, not bigger” event come February. Among the changes: a new entrance and expanded walkways, a fully digital ticketing format, relocated food and alcohol vendors to reduce foot traffic and more. Do you think these changes will be enough to solve the tournament’s issues? Or will its reputation mean tweaks like this won’t go as far as one might think?

Colgan: I love the WM Phoenix Open, but I think it’s unlikely to change noticeably for as long as fans continue to attend in pursuit of getting absolutely sloshed.

Sens: Last year was a perfect storm, literally. Rain-soaked turf. Hordes of well-served fans. It was destined to turn into the Jackass Invitational. But I’m with James. Even in dry conditions, I don’t see how you alter the essential character of the tournament with these tweaks. The wildness is a feature, not a bug.

Berhow: This might improve some of the logistics but I have a hard time thinking it’s going to change much more than that. The tournament’s biggest issue is its perception, and that’s more difficult to change. You’re still going to get that same throng of fans who attend simply because they think it’s a free pass to act like idiots.

We all know how to stop it, you just cut off alcohol sales.  Wake me when they do that, but there's an irony in the mention of the Ryder Cup above.  That event may outdo the Wasted.

That's it for today, kids.  I'll resurface later in the week, assuming there's something worth blogging.  Have a great week.

Thursday Threads - ZoZo Week Edition

I'm thinking we should put the blog on a seasonal hold.... Come back live, say, the second week in April?

I would say that at least we'll have some baseball to watch, but the air times of that aren't any better than the ZoZo.

So, who can we make fun of?  

You Can't Make Me Watch - The major golf publications have been in the tank since forever, but ESPN?

PGA Tour season winds down with a lot left to play for

Apparently the writers at ESPN were never informed that a preposition is a very bad thing to end a sentence with....

But two actual reactions, the first being surprise that the PGA season is still in progress, the second being the obvious need to parse what is meant by a "lot".  More importantly, to whom?

The FedEx Cup fall schedule is halfway over, and there's plenty at stake in the final four tournaments for the golfers who are still trying to secure their PGA Tour cards and playing privileges for 2025.

The FedEx Cup fall finalizes the top 125 golfers who will be eligible for full-field events and the Players Championship next season, as well as the final 10 players who will qualify for the first two signature events of 2025: the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Genesis Invitational.

"For some guys that are here this week, I mean, it's a matter of keeping their job or not," said defending Zozo Championship winner Collin Morikawa. "With such a small field, it's an opportunity for some of these guys to make a big leap because they're going to be able to play four rounds, they're going to be getting points. This is a big tournament."

There are five golfers in the 78-man field at this week's Zozo Championship who are currently at Nos. 51-60 in the FedEx Cup fall standings: No. 53 Séamus Power. No. 54 Patrick Rodgers, No. 55 Maverick McNealy, No. 58 Nick Taylor and No. 60 Kevin Yu. They need to play well.

There may be a lot to play for for a small number of overly-entitled millionaires, but you'll find it hard to discern a reason for a fan to much care, though I'll try to thread a needle.  There's two lines in the sand, this being the truly existential issue:

There's also a fight to get into the top 125, though you might be scratching your head over how that can be on the table when it's a m78-player field.  But I guess you didn't get the memo that the fix is in:

In regard to the top 125, Michael Kim (No. 112) and Joe Highsmith (No. 125) climbed on the right side of the bubble after last week's Shriners Children's Open in Las Vegas, while Kevin Tway (No. 126) and Joel Dahmen (No. 129) fell out.

Not Joel Dahmen?  OMG, how will the sport survive?  But why are you telling us about Joel this week, he can't possibly be in the field can he?

Dahmen, who received a sponsor exemption to compete in the Zozo Championship, withdrew from the Shriners Children's Open before the second round after he was assessed a four-stroke penalty for having an extra club in his bag.

Talk about sticking to the approved narrative.... Dahmen throws a hissy fit after that penalty (which, we might remind, was result of Guinness-level stupidity), he withdrew from the second round, leaving his playing competitors and the folks from Shriners with egg on their face.  So naturally, he's a perfect candidate for a sponsor's exemption into this money grab....

Not only do we not hate all these people enough, it may be impossible to do so.... Dahmen is T53 after the first round, so stay tuned to see whether that positions him sufficiently well to actually show up for his second round tee time.... Yeah, just kidding, this is obviously one of those no-cut, guaranteed cash and points events, so we know he'll be there.

Ketanji's Revenge - A/K/A the suicide of competence, but we'll test your tolerance for euphemisms and evasions, beginning here:

As transgender golfer Hailey Davidson competes in this week’s LPGA Qualifying event, there’s

growing concern among players on the LPGA and Epson Tour about the organization’s Gender Policy. The Independent Women’s Forum recently shared a letter with Outkick signed by more than 275 female golfers that was sent to the LPGA, USGA and IGF (International Golf Federation) last August calling for the organizations to repeal all policies and rules that allow biological males to compete in women’s events.

The letter, which was obtained by Golfweek, states that “it is essential for the integrity and fairness of women’s golf to have a clear and consistent participation policy in place based on a player’s immutable sex.”

 Does Ketanji know the definition of immutable?

Unless, of course, someone identifies differently....because, reasons.

But do words mean anything in today's environemnt?

Golfweek confirmed that in the memo, LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan stated that the tour planned to conclude a lengthy review of its current policy by year’s end and would implement any updates to the policy before the 2025 season.

The commissioner stated that the tour’s top priority must be to have a policy that provides for fair competition and considers “first and foremost” competitive advantage.

If I weren't such a lazy blogger, I'd search out some of the recent videos in which women volleyball players were injured from a spike from a player identifying as a demure college coed....

You would think this would be an easy one if you were truly focused on competitive advantage, because men against women in sports range from non-competitive to physically dangerous.

But what is amusing is that Ketanji might actually have to decide what a woman is:

Recently retired LPGA player Amy Olson believes the tour should return to requiring that athletes be female at birth.

“I would say I’m cautiously optimistic that the LPGA will do the right thing,” Olson told Golfweek. “That they will update their policy to reflect a fair competitive environment for women and also continued opportunity for women.

“I am optimistic. The LPGA has fought so hard for women golfers for over 70 years – our mission has always been consistent.”

While the threat of another lawsuit undoubtedly plays a large role in decision-making, Olson has noted that the threat works both ways. Should a transgender woman earn an LPGA card and replace a biological female, the threat of a lawsuit against the tour could be just as strong.

“I so strongly believe that if the LPGA does the right thing,” said Olson, “they will have an immense amount of support.”

It isn't hard to see competing lawsuits as Olson suggests, though you'd like to think that this wouldn't be decided by judges.  What remains blindingly obvious to your humble blogger, though seemingly less clear to others, is that allowing biological males into women's sports will destroy women's athletics.  I'm old enough to remember when we were supposed to support women in sports, but this quite clearly takes us off the hook for that.

Contain Your Excitement - Apparently my mind is supposed to be blown by this:

After its inaugural season was postponed for a full year, TGL, the tech-infused team golf league created by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy and their TMRW Sports business venture, released its

2025 schedule, which begins Tuesday, Jan. 7 and culminates in a best-of-three playoff series March 24-25.

Consisting of six teams with four players each, TGL will debut on ESPN at 9 p.m. ET Jan. 7 with the New York Golf Club, led by reigning PGA and British Open champion Xander Schauffele, facing the Bay Golf Club featuring major champions Shane Lowry and Wyndham Clark and 2024 Masters runner-up Ludvig Aberg. Week 2 in the eight-week regular season features Tiger Woods’ Jupiter Links Golf Club meeting Los Angeles Golf Club, led by Collin Morikawa, at 7 p.m. Jan. 14.

If all goes well, Woods will make his debut in the new endeavor that week. Woods underwent surgery on his back in September and has not said how long the recovery process might be or when he expects to play again.

The overall TGL schedule is highlighted by a tripleheader on ESPN and ESPN2 on Monday, Feb. 17, Presidents Day. The first of those matches begins at 1 p.m. ET.

I love that "tech-infused" bit.  Would Twitter shadow-ban a user that calls it a simulator league?  

Lest you were surprised to not have the big guy in week one:

Wasn’t the whole point of the new league to increase Tiger Woods’ television presence in his post-full-time career? Did the league not grasp the increasingly fleeting attention span of the sports-watching world? Did it not know that Tiger Woods was a crucial piece of the league’s long-term audience success, or did it just not care?

As it turns out, the answer is much more sensible than it seems.

While the league still has every hope of delivering a high-entertainment, big-audience week 1 telecast, the TGL placed Woods’ first competitive appearance in week 2 for a very tactical reason: The NFL.

Not exactly a show of strength.  But their introduction to America will be that first week, and the match-up seems sub-optimal:

Yes, when the action begins in the brand-new TGL from the brand-new SoFi Center in West Palm Beach in January, it will feature a matchup between neither of the league’s biggest stars: New York Golf Club (belonging to Xander Schauffele, Cam Young, Matt Fitzpatrick and Rickie Fowler) and The Bay Golf Club (Ludvig Aberg, Wyndham Clark, Min Woo Lee and Shane Lowry).

This enterprise will succeed or fail based upon the ability of these players to be entertaining during live coverage, which is a big ask of Wyndham Clark or Cam Young.

But, in the tank as the may be, credit Golf Digest for asking the important question:

What's the more egregious ticket price? $750 for the Ryder Cup or $160 for TGL?

I don't have an easy answer here, but perhaps we could kick this to Ketanji?

Did Someone Mention Ryder Cup Ticket Prices -  The gift that keeps on giving, but Geoff has some good fun with it, leading with the origin story:

A lot has changed since the Ryder Cup was awarded to Bethpage Black.

A 2013 rollout event included then-CEO Pete Bevacqua, PGA of America president Ted Bishop, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, and state senator Dean Skelos.

All involved lauded the awarding of the 2019 PGA and 2024 Ryder Cup by regularly invoking the excitement surrounding the “People’s Course.”

Since that announcement press conference 11 years ago, Cuomo resigned after sexual harassment allegations piled up, while Skelos was twice convicted on federal corruption charges. The senator only did three months in prison before finishing his time under house arrest during COVID’s early release days for white-collar criminals.

“This truly is the people's course,” Skelos said at the time. “And the Governor, as he says, works for the people, and he's managed now with the support of Larry [Schwartz] to bring the PGA here and The Ryder Cup, and for that, we say, thank you very much, Governor.”

Including this delightfully out-of-focus police lineup:

 Surprisingly, there's a party whose abuse at the hands of the PGA of America exceeds that of the fans:

There may be no greater grift in golf than to charge people for the privilege of working. Yet few things have confounded me more over the years than listening to volunteers—good people who just love the game and want to be part of making a tournament go—say they are willing to pay to have their job. And one that often requires horrible hours and little gratitude from the golf world.

No where is the mistreatment of volunteers more perverse than the requirement to pay for new uniforms when a tournament changes sponsors, a logo or its name (some quality events like the Memorial do not stoop this low, thankfully). Worst of all are the events with a clothing company partnership charging retail prices to turn workers into billboards.

The Ryder Cup at Bethpage should test the boundaries in new and disturbing ways as James Colgan reported in a follow-up to his story lamenting the price gouging at a state park. According to Colgan, the Bethpage Ryder Cup volunteer package costs just under $400 without guaranteeing a plumb job inside the ropes.

From James Colgan who has been all over this side of the story:

The Ryder Cup’s volunteer package, though, prices the Cup at $80 more than next April’s PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, and $100 more than the volunteer fees at the next priciest golf event, the U.S. Open. According to a letter sent to volunteers and obtained by GOLF.com, the $350 package will not provide volunteers with any additional goods or services: just a volunteer uniform, a drawstring bag, a commemorative pin, food (during shifts only) and a tournament credential. After taxes and a credit card processing fee, the total for the volunteer package rings in at $392, more than two times the price of the volunteer fee at that ’19 PGA Championship ($175).

“It’s basically the same package that volunteers received at the 2019 PGA,” one volunteer said.

“It’s absolutely tone-deaf,” said another.

As outrageous as this is, I have to acknowledge that apparently P.T. Barnum was correct:

 Well, having seen the ticket prices....

That'll be all for today.  Not sure I'll be able to blog on Monday, so you may have to wait until Tuesday for your wrappage.  What we'll be wrapping remains in doubt, but assuage your FOMO by checking back early and often.

Weekend Wrap - Ohtani v. Judge Edition

You can tell from the header where my mind has been.  Excited to have my Yankees back in the Series for the first time since the Carter Administration, although there's a price to be paid.  We'll never be rid of Cashman now, Dammit!

There's precious little going on in the golf world, so I won't be keeping you long...

The Postman Rings Twice - Alternatively, I could have titled this Scenes From the Class Struggle:

The eminently likeable and unequivocally popular J.T. Poston probably isn’t quite as well-liked among his PGA Tour peers after the very selfish act he perpetrated Sunday in Las Vegas.

In a proverbial rich-get-richer development that seemed appropriate in the Nevada desert, Poston arrived at the $7 million Shriners Children’s Open playing with house money and went on to cash in big, collecting his third career PGA Tour title with a nervy one-stroke victory over stubborn Doug Ghim. After leading by as many as four strokes on the inward nine at TPC Summerlin, Poston needed to coax in a four-foot par putt on the final green to collect $1.26 million and a few angry stares.

Poston, you see, was one of nine players in the field who finished among the top 50 during the FedEx Cup regular season. That means he is guaranteed starts in all of the tour’s 2025 signature events, so heading out west for his first start since the BMW Championship was a chance to add a little gravy to a season that wasn’t exactly a feast but also didn’t leave him hungry. Well, he went whole hog, and the win added further delights to his 2025 plate in the form of berths in the Masters and the Sentry.

Not sure Jay wants you reminding folks of how weak this field was.

A couple of bits caught my eye from this event.  First, while I had exactly zero interest in the event, I do regret not watching Friday's survival test:

50-mph winds! No fans! A 5-putt! Friday at the Shriners in Las Vegas was no ordinary PGA Tour round

Eventually, the golfers teed off, but it was a different sort of game that they were playing compared to the usually “fire-at-the-flag, throw-caution-to-the-wind (no pun intended)” style that has made winning scores at the Shriners rest comfortably in the 20-under (or lower) range for years. Players had to think they’re way around the course and recalibrate in their minds what were good shots and scores compared to normal.

“Yeah, it was probably a test of patience,” said Doug Ghim, who shot a seven-under 64 to sit three off the opening-round lead on Thursday then posted a one-under 70 on Friday as part of the second threesome off the 10th tee. “It usually is when it gets that windy. I think the toughest part was trying to figure out when we were going to play. I think I was in the fitness trailer at 5 this morning. You can’t really be caught off guard and expect to be a delay and not be ready.”

The most sinister moment? It might belong to Joseph Bramlett, a journeyman pro ranked 146th in the FedEx Cup points standings trying to scramble for some kind of PGA Tour status in 2025. The 36-year-old shot an opening 64 on Thursday to put himself three off the lead put posted a 75 on Friday that include a five-putt on the par-4 first hole after hitting his approach shot to 10 feet, 5 inches.

The only thing that would make this a better story is if, after the 5-jack, Bramlett did a Seve impression.... IYKYK.

That's good fun, but this bit I won't allow to stay in Vegas.  Remember my bit about evolving to hate all of these guys?  Are there no minimal standards of behavior?  Do these players not owe anything to the fans or their fellow players?

Here's where this starts:

There are tough starts to tournaments, then there are Joel Dahmen’s first two holes Thursday at

the Shriners Children’s Open at TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas.

It’s quite simple really. He started the round with 15 clubs in his bag. The infraction was discovered when he was on the fourth tee.

Rule 4.1b in the Rules of Golf states that a player must not start a round with more than 14 clubs or have more than 14 clubs at any point during the round.

The catch? The player is slapped with a two-stroke penalty for each hole played with the extra club, but there is only a maximum of four penalty strokes that can be added. That’s why Dahmen was given two shots on the first hole, two on the second and none on the third before noticing he had too many on the fourth.

Alas, Ian Woosnam was unavailable for comment.

Any guesses where this ends?

Joel Dahmen withdrew before the start of the second round at the Shriners Children's Open on Friday, one day after absorbing a four-stroke penalty for carrying an extra club.

Dahmen, 36, was sitting in 131st place out of 132 players at 5-over-par entering the wind-delayed second round at TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas.

The situation could impact Dahmen's playing status for next year. He is currently No. 124 in the FedEx Cup Fall standings, and the top 125 players at the end of the fall circuit will retain full status on tour for 2025.

Really?  It was too much trouble to show up Friday?

Why does the Tour allow this?  He's not even pretending to have an injury, he's just got a sad on.  He's leaving the two guys he was paired with in a horrible spot, and he's displaying his middle finder to the nice folks at Shriners, and apparently Jay, Tiger and Cantlay are all perfectly fine with this behavior.

With all the nonsense we hear about fans needing to know when the best players will play, is there any concern for sponsors that guys that sign up will actually show?  Should we talk about that first alternate that didn't get into the field because Joel thought he wanted to play.  Yanno, until it got tough.... Here's the thing, Jay, I no longer much care when any of these guys will p[lay, so good work there.

Ryder Cup Pile-Ons - The Tour Confidential panel took their crack at those ticket prices, though there's precious little more to say:

A week after the 2025 Ryder Cup captains, Keegan Bradley and Luke Donald, visited New York City for a “Year Out” media blitz, the Ryder Cup made headlines again this week, this time for what it will cost fans to attend. Tickets for the event, which will be conducted at the Black Course at Bethpage State Park, will run about $250 for practice rounds; $420 for the celebrity matches and the opening ceremony; and a whopping $750 for each of the three competition days — fees that have ignited outrage on social media. By way of explanation to our Sean Zak, the Ryder Cup’s championship director, Bryan Karns, said, “The general price is I think just indicative of (a) this market, (b) where we position ourselves, where we feel like we are [in the greater sports landscape], and then the demand.” What’s your take on the pricey rates?

Alan Bastable: Two things can be true at once: the PGA of America is simply charging what fans (or enough fans, anyway) will be willing to pay, so can you really fault them for cashing in? But

the organization also is willfully alienating a large swath of the golf-following populous by pricing them out. Compounding the awkwardness is (a) the players don’t get paid to play so surely some of those savings should be paid forward to fans, and (b) this edition of the event isn’t at some swank resort course — it’s at the country’s most famous muni, where weekday rates for state residents are only 70 bucks, and which has been the site of two so-called “People’s (U.S.) Opens.” The 2025 Ryder Cup’s exorbitant admission fee just feels incongruous to Bethpage’s DNA. Call it the Corporate Cup.

Jessica Marksbury: Well said, Alan. Some tiered pricing would have been appreciated. Seems like there could have been an opportunity to offer a percentage of tickets by lottery at a more affordable price, and let the rest of them go sky-high to buyers with more disposable income. It’s a weird one, because as you mentioned, this is coming from an organization in which the mission is promoting and growing the game. But those initiatives cost money, and it has to come from somewhere!

Dylan Dethier: Jess, maybe you should take up a side gig as PGA of America consultant? This feels like the correct answer — at least give people some sort of chance to get in the gates for a couple hundred bucks before you raise prices for the rest of ‘em.

I wish I had a hotter take to share on this subject. On the one hand I think it stinks that there’s no way around a $750 ticket. On the other hand I guess I’d rather the PGA of America get that money than secondary sellers finding a market? It’s cool that the Ryder Cup has become such a hot ticket. But also — manage your expectations if you do end up going. It’s a great way to spend a day, the atmosphere rocks and team match play is the best. But it’s also tough to see every shot; you’ve gotta get comfortable with the idea that you’ll miss a lot, or watch it on a screen. So yeah, Alan, a bunch of things can be true at once…

I've been critical of Jess over the years for sophomoric commentary, but here she makes me realize what's missing.  I don't if her lottery idea if the perfect solution, but what we'd expect to see is them gouge the blue bloods in hospitality tents and private facilities, yet keep a reasonably-priced option for the masses.  The PGA of America has just decided that everyone will pay the GNP of a Central American country, and we'll see how that works out...

My fixation is that for two of the three days they're not actually in a position to deliver much golf to their spectators, a factor one thinks folks will wake up to at some point.

Here's their take on the Super Bowl issue:

Do you suspect the steep ticket prices will have any impact on the overall vibe of the event?

Bastable: I hope not! For as long as the Bethpage Ryder Cup has been on the calendar, I think we’ve all been looking forward to rowdy, wisecracking New Yawkers descending on the property and charging up what already is a hyper-charged event. I expect the place to be rocking no matter who fills the seats, even if some spectators are sipping not from plastic cups but crystal flutes.

Marksbury: I agree. As long as those seats are filled — and they will be! — the atmosphere will be incredible. Now, the U.S. just has to win…

Dethier: I have a feeling the rowdy fellas will find their way in regardless. This isn’t LACC, where the members got first crack at ticket-buying. I suspect these will still be bought by the good people of Long Island, who will just wince a little harder at checkout than they’d like.

I don't really think we need to worry about the U.S. winning, though it's fun to think about how the crowd might turn on them were they to lay an egg...  

I think they're right that the seats will be filled and the crowd will be rowdy, though would you pay $750 for a general admission pass?  Knowing that you have no guaranteed seat or spot from which to watch the play?  Knowing that you'll have to be there at zero-dark-thirty and sprint to grab a grandstand seat from Joe Sixpack?  Stay tuned.

Eamon Lynch, fresh off a similar suggestion for the Prez Cup, offers a suggestion that will have heads exploding:

How organizers arrived at $749 is neither clear nor relevant. They obviously believe the market

will support it, and they’ll be proved correct. The Ryder Cup will sell out, but then so did last year’s U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club, when too many tickets went to club members who preferred to sit in suites and rattle their jewelry than to cheer on the rope line. The PGA of America runs on a four-year budget cycle funded by proceeds from domestic Ryder Cups, so the revenue generated at Bethpage is crucial to bridge the organization until Hazeltine in ’29.

Of course, there’s a way for the PGA of America to more comfortably underwrite operations, fund championships and devote greater resources to the education and employment goals of its members: it could sell the Ryder Cup.

Regardless of the fact that the last five Cups have been decidedly short on drama and close finishes, the event will never be more valuable than it is at this moment, when private equity is circling the sport’s biggest assets. There are compelling reasons why the PGA of America should cash in with a sale, beyond no longer having to indulge gripes about ticket prices.

An amusing concept, though most of us will know little about the underlying legal status of this event, specifically the commitment of the PGA Tour to deliver the talent (which comes out of the separation of the Tour from the PGA of America back in the 1960's).   The point being, as Eamon acknowledges, that there's only the one potential buyer:

Given the division and evident erosion of the audience for men’s professional golf, the media rights landscape could be unfavorable when the Ryder Cup broadcast deal expires in 2031. The day could also be near when players make their move — demanding not just payment for participating, but an ownership stake. Why assume their power grab ends with the PGA Tour when other organizations also profit off their work? The argument about representing one’s country will be no governor since players have air cover on that with the Olympics and Presidents Cup. Which points to the most obvious buyer of a Ryder Cup: the players themselves, through the vehicle of PGA Tour Enterprises, the for-profit entity now flush with private investment cash.

I'm sure Yasir would buy it....  

I think the oddest element of this piece is that it deals with the Ryder Cup, and I get that that's the news peg, but ignores the PGA Championship.  It's an odd historical relic that this organization runs those two professional events, but Eamon I think misses the essential point about the nature of the PGA of America:

In defending ticket prices to reporter Sean Zak, the Ryder Cup championship director, Bryan Karns, said that his lens is helping the PGA of America’s 30,000 members grow the game on the front lines. That noble mission would be made easier with a substantial endowment generated by a sale rather than being cobbled together every four years, and it wouldn’t be hostage to a volatile market or a pandemic, as happened with the last Cup held in the U.S.

Given the troubled state of men’s golf, a raft of tough decisions awaits whoever takes over as CEO of the PGA of America (Seth Waugh stepped down in June and a successor has not yet been named). How best to future-proof the association’s ability to serve its members and mission will be a high priority. Perhaps the next leader can persuade colleagues that a clear path to safeguarding the next century is to exploit this moment and sell what was built over the last century.

Eamon, you ignorant slut....They all pay lip service to serving those 30,000 teaching professionals, but shall we ask ourselves a question?  Would Seth Waugh have taken the gig if they didn't own those two professional events?  What Eamon elides is that the leadership of the PGA of America hasn't given a whit for their members since those two organizations split up.  The PGA of America's status as one of golf's five families is utterly dependent on their control of two professional evets, and they will not allow their 30,000 member to get in the way of Seth's invite to Augusta.

Speaking Of Augusta... - I'm going to post a couple of his pictures, but you can give Geoff a read if you want more detail.  As we know, Helene did a number on ANGC, and props to them for keeping the focus on the wider community.  The reason the story is only mildly interesting is that, with six months and unlimited resources to put Humpty-Dumpty back together, there's no actual uncertainty as to what things will look like in April.  Spoiler alert, the place will be perfect.

So, first, a before and after of the 16th green:

And a similar take on the clean-up required in Aisle 4 the 9th fairway:

Quite the mess, but it'll be like i never happened.

That's it for today.  Catch you later in the week....