I write from the cozy comforts of Unplayable Lies' Western HQ, where I have found most of the crap I'll need for making turns later. Most, but certainly not all....
Da' Match, The Backlash Has Legs - A few different threads involving The Striped One, as he's obviously promoting his little event in Albany. We'll lead with Da' Match, specifically this from Alan Shipnuck's mailbag:
How much of a car crash was ‘The Match’ as seen in the USA? Viewed as a total disaster from Great Britain. -@PasDeDeuxBetty
Boy, I’ve rarely seen a group of people hate anything as much as the British golf press despised The Match, and that was before it was even played. Sure, it was a vulgar display of American excess, but otherwise rather harmless. I read a million tweets about The Match from golf fans and pundits and nearly that many words typed by my esteemed colleagues and I think the overall impression, which I share, was this: Eh, coulda been worse. Yes, the PPV platform was a disaster, the course borderline kitschy, the golf mediocre, the mic’d up patter awkward, the makeshift par-3 to end things absurd, but the back nine was undeniably exciting as these proud champions were grinding so hard to beat each other. There are a million ways it can be improved going forward, but I think this first try was just entertaining enough to prove the concept has some merit.
He seems to be setting the bar awfully low, no? I'll stipulate to harmless, especially since we all ended up getting it for free, but they were trying to change the world.
Did The Match meet your expectations coming out of your breakfast with Phil a few months back? #AskAlan -@ScottyGMan23
That avocado toast summit is what led to me breaking the story about The Match. At the time it was very early in the process and many of the specifics and parameters were still coming together. But what I took away most from that morning was Phil’s giddiness at the concept and his belief that The Match would reinvent the way golf is consumed by fans. Per the second point, I think it proved the opposite: the telecast had many longing for the production values of the established TV networks, and the much ballyhooed aspects of the presentation – mic’d players and real-time betting odds – fell flat. But if The Match succeeded at all it was largely because of Phil’s gee-wiz enthusiasm and the intensity of his play, and he had broadcast that ardor to me months earlier.
Intensity? Was he watching he same broadcast? Imagine if it had been a 6&5 rout?
This one is perhaps a bit more interesting:
People were speculating that Tiger and Phil agreed to split the $9M ahead of time. I’d like to think they didn’t but each agreed to a percentage of the PPV take, similar to movie stars getting a cut of the box office. Did you hear any rumors like that? Also, I think the main reason Tiger lost the match was because he couldn’t swear. He was so outside his comfort zone having to worry about what he could/couldn’t say. Agree or disagree? #AskAlan -John (@jkellgrew)
In the old days on the PGA Tour it was common for the participants of a playoff to agree to split the money, on the theory that they had tied for first place and both deserved an equal share of the spoils. One of the more underrated acts of gamesmanship in golf history came on the morning of the playoff at the 1962 U.S. Open, when Arnie asked the young, brash Fat Jack if he wanted to split their winnings and Nicklaus declined. Anyway, it would make a certain amount of sense if Tiger and Phil agreed to split the dough, given that they were co-headliners, but only they know for sure. But even if that didn’t happen Tiger still earned a nice chunk of change from the rights fees and merchandising. He and Phil are co-owners of this franchise and they are taking big gulps from every revenue stream.
As for Tiger’s potty-mouth, I agree it was fascinating/torturous to listen to his G-rated mumblings during his struggles on the front nine. Not sure it cost him the victory but your larger thesis is correct: this just wasn’t Tiger’s cup of tea. He’s an introvert and a grinder. Phil is a showman and clearly was enjoying himself while Tiger looked like he had a bad case of buyer’s remorse.
Don't forget those open mic's and their effect on the human body's need to release flatulence.... Hard to look all chipper when you're missing three-footers, but I'll just remind that there's a body of thought that Lindsay broke up with him because she realized how boring he is....
As for that PPV take, ummm...what take?
The Tiger Woods – Phil Mickelson Match delivered some impressive online audience numbers for Turner Sports, but they came at an extraordinary cost.
The livestream drew 750,000 unique video views and logged 55 million minutes of viewing time. A glitch that resulted in the pay-per-view event being streamed for free on BR/Live, however, likely cost Turner Sports upward of $10 million in revenue.
No figures were available for the number of pay-per-view buys, most of which were refunded since The Match ended up being given away for free by BR/Live.Still, Turner President David Levy remains pleased with the event and hopes to produce similar events in the future.
“We are in this for the long haul,” Levy told John Ourand of Sports Business Daily. “We don’t have all the facts and figures, but based on early indications, total audience for the match surpassed expectations across all of our platforms.”
So...errr, what exactly went wrong?
“This all boils down to really insufficient memory, server capacity that was required, and the high volume of consumer access requests in a condensed amount of time,” Levy said of the technical issue that forced the decision to make the stream free on B/R Live. “Try to do this during Black Friday with Amazon’s cloud with everybody online ordering stuff.”
Seriously, you're blaming Amazon? I'd have gone with the Russians, but who could have seen Black Friday coming?
As for this?
“You now have a franchise that you can use in many different ways,” he told SBD. “It’s a little early to say what we’re going to do next. Certainly, Tiger and Phil would like to have conversations. So would I. I don’t think you have to keep this just to golf. This is something that could be used for other sports and other competitions. We now have a new model. If you put a compelling event together, people are willing to pay for it.”
Archery? Curling? Though after that first experience, I'm not sure all that many of us will be willing to pay for it the next time....
At his Hero presser, Tiger had some thoughts:
“I wish we both would have played better, but neither one of us putted well that day out there… we should’ve each played seven or eight birdies a piece,” Woods told reportersin his pre-tournament press conference Tuesday at the Hero World Challenge.
Overall, though, Woods described the experience as “positive,” while noting that there is room for improvement, “There’s some things in which we can make it better for the viewer, but I think a lot of people turned in and tried — well, tried to watch and then ended up watching.” He continued, “maybe going forward, just don’t quite have the greens so fast or the pins so difficult.”
I just did a spit take with coffee, given how easy they made that golf course. But as for the greens, and I'm just spitballin' here, but did anyone consider having the greens not visibly aerated? Back to Alan's mailbag:
Why of all things did Shadow Creek present itself with obviously recently aerated greens which apparently were terrible to putt on? #askalan -@TreeGolfCustoms
This will go down as one of the most burning questions in the history of grass, right up there with the USGA’s decision to not water the greens at Shinnecock and what exactly Ty Webb was smoking in Carl Spackler’s shed.
Fortunately, my picture quality was sufficiently poor that I couldn't see that level of detail....
If you're interested in the subject of streaming sports events, I'll recommend this Bloomberg column linked by Shack as a backgrounder on the difficulty:
Live streaming sports is harder than streaming TV shows and movies -- like Netflix Inc. does. That’s mainly because live sports is only available for a few hours, making it vulnerable to crashes when many people watch at the same time. It’s also more complicated. It involves taking a feed, ensuring it works on devices such as Xbox or Roku, encrypting it, inserting ads, then handing it off to a third party for delivery to an internet provider -- all in real time. A crash means viewers can miss a thrilling touchdown, buzzer-beater or a missed putt.
Not to worry, they missed so many putts that we all got our fill....
If you're not already worn out on this topic, Ryan Lavner has a good take on the issues involved in the sequel, first with this:
There’s almost no way there’ll be the same interest to pay $19.99 again, especially after this inauspicious debut. For Round 2, it’ll need to be $4.99 or $9.99, if not free.
Interesting... As you know, I thought PPV was an unforced error. And that was before I understood the technical risks, but there's plenty of time for commercials, so what's the point?
As for this?
2. It’s time to focus on the participants.
Mickelson is a natural showman. He likes performing in front of crowds and wowing hisplaying partners. He doesn’t mind woofing when he hits a spectacular shot, and he’s playful when he doesn’t pull it off.
There’s absolutely no one in golf who is as well-suited for PPV golf than Mickelson.His opponent? Not so much. It’s not Woods’ strong suit. Never has been. Never will be. He’s a grinder who isn’t wired for these big-money chucklefests, which are more about entertainment than competition.
Once Woods started hitting a few wayward shots, he retreated into his usual grind mode, and The Match fizzled out. It became just a golf match between two players who are well past their prime.
The PPV model probably can't survive without Woods' participation, but the quality of the product would be markedly better with a more engaging crew around Mickelson. An example: Phil with Rickie Fowler, Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas. That'd have a more Tuesday-practice-round vibe, and it'd be more compelling TV.
That's really a dilemma, isn't it? And combined with the silly restrictions imposed by the Tour, color me skeptical about the future of this franchise.
Other Tiger Scat - From that warm-weather presser, it's clear that we'll see less of Tiger next year:
Woods is still going to be careful while picking his spots for this season, even more so with the bunched-up nature of the new schedule with the PGA Championship moving to May and Players Championship in March.
He doesn’t know what the right balance is yet, but Tuesday at Albany Golf Course he said there’s no way he can play seven tournaments in a nine-week stretch like he did to conclude last season.
“Only thing set in stone is I’m playing Genesis and the four majors,” Woods said. “Other than that we’re still taking a look at it as far as, what is too much? We know seven of nine was too much. What can I handle going forward? I need to make sure I’m rested and ready to play. I have found through all of that, I’ve played all my good tournaments when I had time off and I felt rested. If I didn’t feel rested I didn’t play well. Maybe that’s being a little bit older, but I just think it’s important. Playing seven of nine last year was too much.”
That will shock exactly nobody. Last year he obviously needed to push himself to get back his "feelz", but no reason not to follow the approach of Hogan and Nicklaus going forward.
Let me digress for a second to this interview with the Champion Golfer of the Year that's well worth your while:
Why did the U.S. team unravel at Le National, and when did you first sense they were going to?
It’s difficult to pinpoint a specific reason. Undoubtedly the tricky setup of the course was a huge factor. But don’t forget, we lost all three of the first matches on Friday morning. If it hadn’t been for Tommy Fleetwood and me beating Woods and Patrick Reed, we would have been at 0-4, and it would have been really hard. We reacted by winning, 4-0, in the afternoon. But we didn’t kid ourselves. The more-experienced players worried about an American backlash, but with time we felt better on that course, which many of us know [as an annual European Tour stop for the French Open]. The key moment was Saturday morning, when only Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth had earned a point. We saw that they were probably more tired than we were, also because the majority of them had been busy with the FedEx right up until the end. But you know how the Ryder Cup is. In fact, after the 2-2 Saturday afternoon, they attempted a comeback in the singles on Sunday. But we reacted well.
One of the amusing comments in the triumphant and self-congratulatory run-up to this Ryder Cup was Phil's assertion that the FedEx Cup helped the Yanks stay sharp heading into the event. That never made any sense to me, as most of the Euros were playing the same schedule, so perhaps some enterprising reporter will follow up with Phil on that?
Lastly, Tiger will be endorsing some large checks from a new sponsor, Discovery Channel's GolfTV. Shack had the skinny on that endeavor In October, but now comes this news:
That Discovery’s new global golf brand would seek a content partnership with the world’s most recognizable golfer makes all kinds of strategic sense. That the golfer in question would actually sign on for the idea speaks to the remarkable ambition behind GOLFTV.
GOLFTV, the new live and on-demand video service Discovery is launching jointly with the PGA Tour in January, announced on Tuesday that Tiger Woods has agreed to a multi-year partnership that will offer global audiences an unprecedented look into Woods’ game and his life on and off the course. In addition to features about Woods in a competitive realm, it promises weekly practice and instructional video from the 14-time major champion.
“I want to talk to golf fans and golfers everywhere, directly, and straight from me. That’s important to me. Talking about what we care about: what’s happening on the course, how to play better, how can I shoot lower scores tomorrow, how can I beat my friends?" Woods said in a statement made through GOLFTV. "Whether you’re a long-time player or a beginner, there are some things that help us all play better."
Timing is everything.... Good to know he really wants to talk to us, just not, you know, last Friday....
Shack's got a full-frontal Fisking of the press release, well worth your time if your ecosystem is in need of nourishment. Or even if it's not....
More Alan - We've been awfully Tiger-centric, so perhaps a few more bits from Shippy?
#AskAlan will either Jordan or Rickie or both get a win in the 2018/2019 season? -@FaceSandin
Spieth for sure. Ten victories from 2015-17 is no joke. He knows how to win, and one bad season doesn’t change that. And Spieth has one of the highest golf IQs on the planet. He’ll learn from last season and be better for it. It’s hard to predict Fowler’s form from year to year – in a decade on Tour he has only four wins (plus a pair on the Euro tour). He was spectacular at this year’s Masters but couldn’t build on it. As for the coming season, I’ll say a Rickie victory is a definite maybe.
I don't see anything "For sure" about Jordan's game these days, so I'll go with time will tell. Rickie is most certainly on the clock, especially in the majors.
First tee walk up music… Yeah or nay? -Ryan (@mantheybrewcrew)
Depends on the tournament. It would be awesome at the Phoenix Open but feel out of place on Riviera’s stately first tee. Players? Yes. Pebble? No. New Orleans? Definitely! Hilton Head? Nah. You get the point.
We do, and it's the correct one.
Odds of and thoughts on Phil completing the grand slam next June?? He was breathing awfully heavy even on the first hole during the match!! -@JimsOrr
In fairness to Phil, it was the day after Thanksgiving! And Las Vegas is at 2,000 feet of elevation and the desert air is awfully dry. But more than that, I think his shortness of breath was because of the built-up nerves. It was more about feeling jittery than out of shape. The Match meant a ton to Phil, and it showed in his (mostly) inspired play. The 2019 Open at Pebble Beach is probably Phil’s last stand. He’s an emotional golfer and plays his best when he feels inspired by the venue. Well, Mickelson has won four Clambakes at Pebble and there are few places on the planet he loves more. The course will play so short that few drivers will be needed, which obviously helps Phil. Iron play remains one of his strengths and with its tiny greens Pebble is the quintessential second-shot course. After the Beach the Open goes to big brawny courses like Winged Foot and Torrey Pines, where hitting driver long and straight will be a necessity. If Phil, 48, doesn’t get it done next year I’m afraid it’s never going to happen.
He was breathing heavily on the damn putting green.... Odds are long and getting longer.
Apparently there are changes coming to the OWGR. What would you like to see changed? More emphasis on winning? One year ranking period? Hero World Challenge not getting ranking points? -@GeoPBurdell
No fair, you took all the easy answers!
Yeah, OWGR points being awarded for the Hero World pretty much destroys any credibility the system might have once had.
I'm going to get on with my day... Catch you tomorrow?
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