Monday, February 21, 2022

Weekend Wrap - Death In the Family Edition

It feels as if this might be my most challenging day of blogging ever.... There's so many juicy little bits and my schadenfreude meter blew past 11 and I had to turn it off, the constant buzzing became annoying.  But there are actual points to be made, let's just hope I can remember them two paragraphs from now.

I hadn't even heard the Sunday piece of this story when I caught this In Memorium post at Geoff's blog:

R.I.P. The Saudi Golf League

Really, it seemed so vibrant just a few weeks ago in the Kingdom.   Was it cancer?  Well, yes, cancer of a kind, a hybrid variant that goes by the acronym GN-PM.  

The Saudi Golf League, a short-lived effort to reinvent the model of professional golf backed by a murderous dictator via the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, has died. It was barely six months old.

The league passed away after legendary golfer Phil Mickelson gave two interviews revealing an almost incomprehensible level of greed, rage, hypocrisy and avarice aimed at the same PGA Tour that helped him amass millions. Authorities speaking on the condition of anonymity have identified Mickelson as a “person of interest” in the league’s demise. Law enforcement has been unable to locate him at his California or forever-future Florida residences.

I have no shortage of quibbles with Mr. Monahan and the Ponte Vedra Mafia, but one has to give them credit for the week at Riviera, which served as an effective repudiation of the Saudi's effort.  The Tour put on quite a show, even if you ignore those press conferences (which I won't do for long).  It's product is a mess, a problem that Messrs. Norman and Mickelson have likely made more intractable, but we'll get to that in a sec.

But they produced the top eleven players in the world at Riviera, and No. 12 was only absent due to injuries.  And that "a Riviera" to me is as important as the "top eleven", because seeing them playing a storied venue with such a rich trove of history may just be the best argument in their favor.  Add Tiger's participation (hi 50 minutes in the booth eclipsed his prior record by an estimate forty-eight minutes), plus the celebration of Charlie Sifford's 100th birthday even allowed the phrase "Caucasian-only Clause" to be mentioned while celebrating the progress, as opposed to demanding reparations.

But before we go too far I want to add a point that I think is important.  The Sunday leaderboard was, to this observer, an effective condemnation of the Premiere/Super/Bonecutter League business model.  You might have noticed that Joaquin Niemann led wire-to-wire, but is the Chilean under a Saudi NDA?  How about Cameron Young?  Those top eleven actually didn't do much this week (though Rory amusingly posted one of his signature back-door top tens), but isn't that our game?  

So, what happened?  Well, let's rewind the tape to Friday, wherein I repeated my recurring belief that there seemed no way for the Saudis to get their....well, minyan.  From Zephyr Melton's "game" story:

Eight players strolled through the media center for pre-tournament availabilities in Riviera’s
picturesque clubhouse on Tuesday and Wednesday. Nearly all of them rebuked the Saudi golf league and affirmed their allegiances to the PGA Tour.

Collin Morikawa took the stand first, saying he was “all for the PGA Tour.” Chasing records set by Tiger Woods was too much to lure him away from the friendly confines of the Tour. Defending champ Max Homa followed suit. Money is nice, he said, but the thrill of winning against the best was by far his motivating factor.

That guy pictured above deserves some credit as well, as his early criticism of the source of the money can't be over-stated, even though it obviously left an opening for a competitive league whose money wasn't similarly tainted.

At that point the rumor had a list of twenty defectors to be announced the week of the Players Championship.  But while there were a couple of alpha dogs that might conceivably endorse a check, DJ and Bryson most prominently, we seemed in that very condition I had been predicting all along, there just seemed no way to ensure a critical mass of participation.  As many observed, it almost seemed as if they were targeting the Champions' Tour, given that the average age of the defectors was, credit Tom Leher, dead for three years.

Then came Sunday, Bloody Sunday:

Dustin Johnson, who some believed was pro-breakaway tour, released a statement early Sunday morning stating his intentions to remain on the PGA Tour. Not long after, Bryson DeChambeau did the same.

“While there has been a lot of speculation surrounding my support for another tour, I want to make it very clear that as long as the best players in the world are playing the PGA Tour, so will I,” DeChambeau’s statement read. “As of now, I am focused on getting myself healthy and competing again soon. I appreciate all the support.”

Like rats fleeing a sinking ship, the biggest names linked to the Saudi league were suddenly voicing their commitment to the tour.

Of course, I'm eliding what was likely the most significant occurrence of the week, the release of Phil's November comments by Alan Shipnuck:

In an excerpt from his upcoming book, Alan Shipnuck of the Firepit Collective published a conversation he’d had with Phil Mickelson regarding the Saudi league last fall. The contents of the article exposed how Mickelson hoped to leverage the threat of the breakaway tour against those in Ponte Vedra.

“They’re scary motherf—— to get involved with,” Mickelson said of the Saudis. “We know they killed [Washington Post reporter] Khashoggi and have a horrible record on human rights. They execute people over there for being gay. Knowing all of this, why would I even consider it? Because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates.”

Fellow Tour pros were less than thrilled when news of Mickelson’s attempted sleight of hand reached Riviera.

Gee, Phil got himself in hot water by shooting off his mouth, who coulda seen that one coming?

I share some of my beliefs on this blog and I even recognize that I'm prone to a little preachiness, so I'm favorably predisposed to folks that have an outsized opinion of their own beliefs.  But the depravity of Phil's worldview in that 'graph takes my breath away, that a man that's banked hundreds of millions of dollars thinks it the non plus ultra of The Art of the Deal to use "Scary Mofos" for negotiating leverage.... Wow!.

Rory had this Sunday night:

“Who’s left? Who’s left to go?” Rory McIlroy said on Sunday night. “I mean, there’s no one. It’s dead in the water in my opinion. Yeah, I just can’t see any reason why anyone would go.”

It remains to be seen what will happen next in the Saudi league saga, but one thing is certain — the week that was at Riviera severely hindered its chances at survival.

You want some funnies?  I think you'll agree, these guys are good:

Yanno, Dj always seems off in a world of his own, so I'm guess he saw that Alan Shipnuck piece and hadn't realized those guys were scary mofos....

 As for the other big-time loser, he's always observed the Sabbath in his own inimical manner:

Shall we see what the lads at the Tour Confidential panel have to add?

1. While golf was played at an iconic course with a star-studded field this week, it was what happened away from the play at the Genesis Invitational that made the biggest waves. Player after player were asked their thoughts on a guaranteed-paycheck, upstart golf league funded by Saudi Arabian cash, then came a story from the Fire Pit Collective’s Alan
Shipnuck, who wrote of a phone conversation that he had had with Phil Mickelson in which the six-time major champ described himself as a key architect in the league — and added that he hoped the plan would generate leverage in future negotiations with the PGA Tour. The news wasn’t over. On Sunday, both Bryson DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson, long rumored to be part of the Saudi league, pledged their loyalty to the Tour. Whew. Lots to unpack here, but we’ll start with this. With the announcements of DeChambeau and DJ, and what seems to be a strong majority of players sticking with the PGA Tour, is the Saudi league over before it even got started?

Josh Berhow: It’s not over, but this week was a haymaker. For how long this league had been discussed and planned and with everything else that went into it behind the scenes, it’s going to take a lot more for it to be truly buried. But, yeah, this was not a good week for the Super Golf League. And years from now, if it’s still not a thing, this week, and perhaps the domino effect caused by Phil Mickelson, will be the reason why. One thing that was evident this week — the players, whether premeditated or not, seemed to be more vocal in their criticism and more adamant in their allegiance to the PGA Tour. There was a shift.

Josh Sens: I think it’s too early to pronounce it dead. There’s too much money and ambition behind it. But to live up to what its promoters have promised, any rival league was always going to need a critical mass of big names onboard, and that momentum seems all but gone for now. That doesn’t mean some kind of alternate league won’t still take shape. The general concept has been like a cicada in recent decades, going dormant for long spells and then springing back to life.

Nick Piastowski: This week was a blow, no doubt, but it’s not over. I see one of two things happening — either the Asian Tour gets a larger investment, or they pause plans on the league. Or both really. They’ve shown the Asian Tour concept works — the field was strong at the Saudi International, and the PGA Tour, though irritated, let it happen — and I could see more big-purse events. As for the other Tour, that has to be slowed. The Mickelson comment, at the moment, is too much to wash away, pun intended. They’ll regroup, up the money offered and try again.

Michael Bamberger: Saudi wealth among its ruling class is almost limitless. It’s not dead. But it’s easy to imagine it in some form, for the 40-and-over crowd, from all over the world.

I think that's right but incomplete.  I think they're missing is the extent to which the Tour had this coming, the inattention to the product and the mind-numbing schedule with no off-season.  But Jay is the luckiest man on the planet for at least a couple of reasons, though in one case he made his own luck.

First and foremost, how fortuitous that this initiative, which started in the UK, ended up with Saudi DNA.  From Rory pointing out the source of the money to Phil's scary mofos, it became quickly became about the Saudis, not about the golf business.  I'm also inclined to think that this playing out with the Genocide Games™ running in the background didn't hurt.

The second huge issue is that this hit as the new media contracts were kicking in, affording Jay tens of millions of new cash with which to placate bribe those influencers.  People asked where the $50 million large came for the PIP program, though the answer seems quite obvious.

I'm going to skip their second question for a moment and deal with the "Wither the Tour" bit before the "Wither the Phil" stuff:

3. Saudi League question three! Or this is more of a PGA Tour question. While no doubt a win for the Tour with the re-commitments of Johnson and DeChambeau, along with a host of others, where does the Tour go from here? Multiple outlets were reporting that there was discussion this week of experimenting with different formats during fall tournaments. Do you see more experimentation like this to appease players?

Berhow: Yes. Many players, including Phil, have been right in the fact that this has forced the Tour to open its eyes and make more changes to appease the players. We’ve already seen some of that happen with the PIP and Players purse increase, for example, but more still needs to happen. More team events, mix in LPGA stars — 72-hole stroke-play events, 48 weeks a year, is numbing.

Sens: Boy, is it tiring to think about what needs to be done to appease some of the most privileged people on earth. But I get it. It’s the marketplace. In my dream of dreams, we’d go back to the old days when golf took a breather. Scrap the wrap-around season. Give it a rest. Do we really need a bunch of contrived formats and watered-down events to get us through an offseason? Shut it down for a bit, and it will be all the more exciting when it starts back up again. The Groucho Marx rule is a good one here — you can love your cigar and still take it out of your mouth now and then.

Piastowski: Yep. While many of the players came out in support of the Tour, there were still a few grumblings of the status quo. This is the perfect opportunity to strike while the iron’s hot and keep the players happy. Shoot, steal ideas from the Saudi and Premier Golf Leagues. If you rest on this, PGA Tour, we’ll be talking about this again very, very soon.

Bamberger: It’s not really a question of appeasing the players. The Tour exists FOR the players. The players ultimately want what the golf-watching public wants, because it is the golf-watching public that pays the bills. We do want more team play, more mixed play, more match play, more transparency. The PGA Tour does amazing things in the name of charity, but it is also a big business. It’s hanging on to its not-for-profit status by a hair. It needs more transparency in every way.

I think most of that is sorely misguided...

My sense is that, having survived this existential challenge, that the Ponte Vedra suits will revert to form and be even more inflexible and insufferable.  But I think the answers above suffer from two major internal inconsistencies:

  1. Appeasing the players, as Josh Berhow puts it, is a misnomer, because Jay has been appeasing mostly a very small sub-set of the players;
  2. I'll temporarily pass on Mike Bamberger's hopelessly naïve concept of an organization created to serve the players actually staying faithful to that mission, as if we haven't seen countless organizations captured by its bureaucracy.  The point to be made here is about formats, and the fact that we all crave the wide range of team and match-play options or, more accurately, we think we do.  But the harsh reality is that most of those options work far more poorly than we realize, because in our minds we tie it to the Ryder Cup.  Have you watched the New Orleans team event?  It's a fine move on the part of a tertiary Tour stop, but it will never be confused with the Ryder Cup (or, quite frankly, the NCAAs).

The Post has learned exclusively, though, that the PGA Tour was presented an alternative league
opportunity in recent months that would squash the threat of the Saudi league and its controversial endless supply of “sports washing’’ money.

But, according to three independent sources with intimate knowledge of the proceedings, the PGA Tour squashed the alternative concept.

“A player-driven opportunity was brought to the PGA Tour that was financially backed with one of most respected people in finance who already has a long-term relationship with the PGA Tour,’’ one of the sources told The Post.

Those writers above who expect greater flexibility (or, yanno, appeasement) should perhaps read this, to see how the Tour responds even with the Saudi threat still exigent:

The sources said “after months of work’’ they’d mapped out all of the details about how the concept would work in conjunction with the existing PGA Tour schedule.

“We made it feasible,’’ one source said. “All of the logistical issues — TV contracts, ownership of events, scheduling, FedEx Cup stuff, points for the tournaments — were worked out. It was going to happen. There was no reason for it not to happen.’’

The hook to the proposal that snagged the PGA Tour like a tuft of Oakmont U.S. Open rough to a 6-iron, was that the league would be half-owned by the players and half-owned by the financial investor.

The PGA Tour would receive some financial benefits, but not have ownership in the eight-event series. Seemingly of most importance, the PGA Tour would rid itself of the migraine headache created by the Saudi threat and keep the team concept closer to being in-house.

After Monahan took in the information at the meeting — “Jay was seemingly on board as we were dealing with all the intricacies of it,’’ according to one of the people involved in the presentation — he brought it to the chairman of the PGA Tour’s Policy Board, Ed Herlihy.

On Oct. 30, according to one of the sources, it was shot down by Herlihy, a powerful corporate attorney, who told the investor: “If it’s not 100 percent owned and controlled by the PGA Tour, it will be viewed as hostile.’’

That single sentence uttered by Herlihy left those involved — a group that includes four of the world’s top players who have been on board with this since it was presented to Monahan — stunned.

Again, that was in October, when Jay was still sweating about releases for the Saudi event.  If you think that, with Greg Norman castrated, Jay is going to be more accommodating, you might want to think again.

Shall we get to the issue of the day, the future of Phil "Bonesaw" Mickelson?  A hero for our time, at least in his own mind...  I'm considering changing the tagline of the blog from the "Random Musings..." bit to "Proudly Trashing Phil Mickelson Since 2014"....  Whatya think?  

I guess we'll lede with the TC gang:

2. Saudi League question two. After everything that Mickelson has said over the Tour over the past two weeks — don’t forget the “obnoxious greed” comment earlier this month — how much will his commentary impact his legacy?

Berhow: Short term, it will be significant. Long term, less so. People have short memories, but it also depends a lot on what Mickelson does with the next decade or so.

Bamberger: I agree with that completely, Josh. Hold it, what are we talking about again?

Sens: Mickelson has always been a polarizing figure. In my random polls of fellow golfers over the years, the votes seemed to fall about 60-40, Phil worshippers over Phil detractors. I suspect if I took another of those surveys tomorrow, the down-on-Phil crowd would win in a landslide. Josh is right about short memories, but the incident will get mentioned in Mickelson’s obit. Not everyone will forget.

Piastowski: Sadly, the comments may be forgotten over time. They shouldn’t be. If you think otherwise, go read that quote again on the Fire Pit Collective website.

Short memories are usually a good bet, but I'm thinking this cuts deeper than than Josh and Mike sense.  I think those comments are everything that Nick does, but I also think they're the least of it.  Phil has seriously burned bridges with both the Tour itself, but also with so many of the top players, whose thoughts and objectives he's dismissed.

Remember Brooksie's tweak after the "obnoxious greed" comment, wherein he noted that Phil shouldn't be calling others greedy?  I always thought that he could have said the same about the word "obnoxious", and now seemingly every other top player has called the man out, using terms like egotistical and such.  At the very least, there are going to be some awkward pairings.

Perhaps more importantly, he's blown up the bromance with Tiger, who I felt showed an iciness on this subject that should have Phil a touch worried.  

Gonna start to wind this down, not that we won't be revisiting it regularly, but I've got a couple more bits.  I beat my chest above over having seen Phil clearly since 2014, but let me excerpt a couple of comments from that famous Alan Shipnuck piece over the weekend.  This one is just because it's funny, at least to me:

ive always thought he was dogpoop on a stick.
nothing i read here changes that.

Dogpoop on a stick?   Who knew, though, that e.e. cummings commented on golf websites?

But this one actually makes an important point, perhaps?

Regarding Phil: Never ever, ever trust the words of a gambler. Not even a reformed gambler. Their views are always distorted by their love of money to fuel their gambling.

Which is quite the optimistic take, given that Jay's vision for our game includes galleries filled with such gamblers because, well, a fellow has to Live Under Par™. 

Eamon Lynch, writing over the weekend, has a typically scathing take on the man:

An old adage—often wrongly attributed to Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War”—holds that if you wait by the riverbank long enough, the bodies of your enemies will eventually float by. That’s as good
a metaphor as any for how some golf industry executives must have felt in the wake of recent comments by Phil Mickelson that incinerated his reputation, alienated most every constituency in the game, exposed him to disciplinary action, and otherwise cast him in a light so unflatteringly amoral that even Greg Norman might hesitate to be seen in his company.

In a November interview with writer Alan Shipnuck that was only made public this week, Mickelson betrayed the traits that have frequently led him into choppy waters: a beguiling mix of arrogance and obtuseness. He confirmed what was widely known—that he’s an advocate for the Saudi-backed Super Golf League—and breezily admitted his willingness to overlook the regime’s abuses simply for a chance to force concessions from the PGA Tour that would further enrich him.

Unable to forgo an opportunity to boast of his strategic genius, Mickelson affirmed with callous indifference the approach shared by his fellow travelers in the locker room, most of whom have not yet been flushed from the shadows. But the comment that holed him below the waterline was an admission that he and other as-yet-unnamed players paid for lawyers to draft the breakaway tour’s operating agreement.

 Tell us what you really think, Eamon.

The fact that Mickelson has not disputed the quotes published by Shipnuck suggests he’s either resigned to his fate or eager for a showdown with the Tour. But if he’s assembling an army to go over the top with him, it is starting to resemble more a mangy assortment of moth-eaten veterans than an elite fighting force. His benefactors in Riyadh are facing the prospect of spending hundreds of millions of dollars to buy a Venn diagram of the washed-up, the uncompetitive, the cash-poor and the egomaniacal, all overlapping to form a subset of the unconscionable.

 Eamon, the term I think you're looking for is "Basket of deplorables".... But he does circle back and pay off that Sun Tzu reference:

Mickelson’s braggadocio has hastened a reckoning that was overdue. Ultimatums loom in the coming days and weeks that will force this sorry episode toward a conclusion. The charlatan Tour members involved in this scheme—Mickelson and Norman chief among them—have never been more isolated from their peers, never more exposed in their heartless opportunism, and never more lacking in public support. Jay Monahan and his European counterpart Keith Pelley, among others, have waited patiently by the riverbank for several years. They will not have to linger much longer.

Let's finish with Alan Shipnuck, who had this silly bit:

He's kidding, right?

More substantively, I wonder about Alan forthcoming unauthorized biography of the man.  First, is it timely or did he miss his window, with release not until May 17th.  I also wonder whether his book will have an outsized effect on how he's viewed or, as per the writers above, how short our memories are.

Here's what Alan has to say about it:

It sounds as if Alan shares my long-term view of Phil, the one in which the world bifurcates into Good Phil and Bad Phil.  I know, Good Phil seems to have left town without leaving a forwarding address...

I am particularly interested in the Bones break-up, because there's quite obviously more going on there than has been made public. But it seems significant to me that a rehash of the twenty years of Phil's obnoxious greed will hit just as this story might have otherwise receded, which is at the very least interesting.

 Exit question: Is Phil playing at Sawgrass?  

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