Your Friday Frisson

Lots upon which to gnaw... Before we're done, you'll laugh, you'll cry and you'll throw things at your computer monitor, all before Breakfast.

LIV Under Par - Heh. see what I did there?  Geez, sometimes it's hard to type when I keep cracking myself up...

To kick off, let's just circle back on that field announcement.  As I had noted, forty-two names were announced for a forty-eight player field, while a certain dog refuses to bark.  It's slightly more complicated than that, but also more suspicious:

There are still six gaps to fill before the tournament begins, with five of them up for grabs at this week's International Series. That will leave one slot unaccounted for.

Hmmmm, exactly one slot set aside for an unnamed player.  I've been racking my brain  and just can't come up with a likely candidate for that.  But, let's go to the videotape:

1. Steve Loy, Fixer Du Jour since Mickelson left college, confirmed that Phil filed for a competing event waiver to play in London;
2. James Corrigan broke a story a few weeks ago that Phil had been paid an eight-figure sum to commit to all eight LIV 2022 events;
3. Phil's February statement has been loosely called an apology, though the Unplayable Lies style book considers it a fauxpology.  But to the extent that statement tests positive for apologetic sentiments, such are for the benefit only of the Saudis and their minions.

The only logical conclusion is that Phil, the backlash from his peers notwithstanding, thought he had done nothing wrong and intended to fulfill his lifelong dream of playing for folks that engage in industrial scale beheadings.... To paraphrase, they may be scary MoFos, but they're my scary MoFos.

So, has anything changed?  Has he not enjoyed life as a pariah?  Because everyone and his mother has bene telling us that he's in a really good place.  Now, when I said his mother, I meant, yanno, his mother:

But Mickelson’s mother was available to talk. She said her son is as happy as she’s seen him in years and, during his three-month absence from professional golf, occasionally in public view.

“I didn’t recognize him at first,’’ Mary Mickelson told USA Today Sports during a phone interview. “He had a little bit of a beard and mustache. I don’t ever remember him doing that before. Not too many people recognize him, so it’s been fun to be able to go out with him.’’

 Is she a credible source.  I think B.B. King would be the expert on that subject....

Bryan Zuriff, Producer of The Match series, had a similarly upbeat take:

“No. I swear to God, people think I’m making this up — Phil is enjoying his time off the hamster wheel. He’s enjoying it. He has gone balls to the walls for 30-plus years — doing every interview shaking every hand being an incredible ambassador.”

“He’s taking a break and he actually is enjoying it. So we will eventually see him, but he’s enjoying his time off. And he’s really happy about that. But I consider him a lifelong friend and a partner. And when he wants to come back, he’s welcome to come back.”

I totally get it, because Phil has never been one to hog the limelight.  And wouldn't have been comfortable being the Toast of Tulsa as he defended his PGA Championship, an accomplishment that he could Lord it over that guy with the big-cat nickname.  

According to James Corrigan (again, but also again behind a paywall), while Phil was doing his Hamlet thing, DJ grabbed the brass ring as per Geoff's account:

So imagine if James Corrigan and Tom Morgan are correctly reporting that Greg Norman lured Dustin Johnson away from the PGA Tour after Phil Mickelson refused to fully commit what Phil

is worth now?

After all, Johnson’s not exactly P.T. Barnum in the sales department so Mickelson must be worth double to make the LIV Golf thing go, right? A spot awaits Mickelson for next week’s event and now it seems this has been less about wishing to remain reclusive and more about Phil wanting to get the best deal.

Meanwhile, Johnson and Graeme McDowell were dropped by RBC, sponsor’s of next week’s Canadian Open they were probably contractually obligated to play.

I'm sure this is all in the interest of growing the game, though to do so he and that Ulsterman quite obviously violated the terms of their contracts with RBC at the very least.  Not like that will have a chilling effect on RBC's commitment to the game or anything....

Do you wonder if Eamon Lynch might have a thought or two here?  

Lynch: Dustin Johnson was presented a test of character by the Saudis. Unsurprisingly, he failed it

Tell us what you really think, Eamon.

The only conventional business principle evident in LIV Golf isn’t one of those antiquated

notions like return on investment, quality of product or accountability of leadership. It’s the ‘whale’ strategy, the art of securing one high-profile client, at whatever cost, to lend a patina of marketing credibility to an enterprise and distract from the reality that every other client is a sardine by comparison.

Dustin Johnson’s willingness to act as the whale for the Saudi sportswashing effort is unsurprising. As it became apparent that the field being assembled for the inaugural LIV Golf tournament would boast all the star power of an episode of Hollywood Squares, it was no less obvious that an enormous wire transfer would be made to save Saudi blushes. Johnson merely waited until his value was maximized. He is LIV’s great blue whale, but they might yet fill the unassigned spot in next week’s event with at least a pygmy whale. A Brinks truck may already be backing up to Rickie Fowler’s front door in Florida.

So, what you're saying is that without DJ they might have a weak field.  Yeah, and with DJ?

The function of the whale is to both draw and deflect attention though, and Johnson’s inclusion ensured headlines did not focus on some others who made Greg Norman’s elite field, like world No. 1,349 Andy Ogletree, whose 12 career starts over two years in the paid ranks have produced eight missed cuts and a best-ever finish of tied 33rd. Ogletree is still ranked a couple hundred spots above fellow competitor Chase Koepka.

But, Eamon, when he's not relentlessly growing the game, he's just doing it for his family:

The reaction in the 48 hours since the LIV field was announced helps explain how a blatant sportswashing scheme has made it this far, and why so many players are comfortable committing to it. Slavish sycophants claim someone who has earned over $100 million on the PGA Tour is motivated solely by concern for his family’s future (thus DJ is recast as a model family man!). Keyboard commandos insist everyone has their price but won’t admit to it, unable to conceive that others might value human rights over money. Contrarians hint that criticism of LIV Golf is tantamount to carrying water for the PGA Tour, as though opposing golf being hijacked by a regime that beheads its critics isn’t a position one could arrive at without a bribe from Jay Monahan’s slush fund. Dullards declare any hostility toward Saudi ambitions is illegitimate if the regime is an ally of the country in which one lives, or has invested in any company with which one has ever come into contact.

The waters are endlessly muddied with ‘whataboutism’—the residue of phones that are smarter than their operators—and that provides sufficient cover for players to shrug and say it’s just a business decision. Which it is, for the combatants. They view this as a purely commercial dispute, not one in which a moral compass is required for guidance.

DJ has never been the sharpest knife in the draw, but I was initially surprised that DJ would jump on board just as the thing seems dead in the water.  Though, upon further review, maybe that's actually the appeal.  Cash a big check, reports have it in the $100-125 million range, watch the thing die on the vine and assume all will be forgiver in Fortress Ponte Vedra Beach.  

Golf Digest has a Tour Confidential knock-off panel up on this subject, so shall we sample?

Have we seen the last of Dustin Johnson on the PGA Tour?

Shane Ryan: It's so hard to say what the PGA Tour will do, and based on their vague response today, I'm not entirely sure they know what they'll do, either. I get the feeling that the question of

whether we see DJ on the PGA Tour again depends so much on the fate of LIV Golf. If it ends up being kind of a joke, an incompetent mess that flames out in a year and is known more as a sideshow than a true competitor to the tour, I have a feeling the tour will find its way to forgiving players of DJ's stature. If it ends up being a true threat, or it appears that further threats are looming, they'll be forced to be harsher to set an example. As of now, I find the tea leaves totally unreadable.

Dan Rapaport: Depends what you mean by PGA Tour. He'll play in the majors this year for sure, since the remaining two haven't come out with a firm stance on the LIV-ers. I have a hard time believing, however, that he'll play another “regular” PGA Tour event—at least until any potential suspension works its way through the courts. If they let him continue to play, that opens the door for all the other guys to have their cake and eat it too.

Joel Beall: Let’s reheat the statement from Johnson’s agent, David Winkle, regarding DJ’s decision. “Dustin’s been contemplating this for the past two years and decided it was in his and his family’s best interest to pursue it. He’s never had any issue with the PGA Tour and is grateful for all it’s given him but in the end felt this was too compelling to pass up.” That very, very much sounds like a man who understands the gravity of what he's doing and is looking at the tour in the rearview mirror.

Shane I think does the best job here, as no doubt this will somewhat be dependent on how things play out.  It's inconceivable that DJ would never play an actual PGA Tour event again (and, Dan, I do hope you'll continue to explain that which everyone understands), but maybe that's not the more interesting subject.

To me, the more interesting question is whether leniency is a reasonable expectation were the Saudi effort to crash and burn.  I've been arguing, most recently with Bobby D. last evening, that Jay would be foolish to let these guys off easily, even if the existential threat seems to have passed.  There will be another right behind this one, just look at the Brits who started this whole mess.

but, more substantively, I assume that Jay will differentiate between those that took an opportunity, versus those that actively promoted the threat and tried to recruit others to the breakaway tour.  Obviously Phil is Exhibit A in this regard, along with the three unnamed coconspirators (though Jon Rahm seems like he had to have been involved, no?) that wrote LIV's operating agreement.

We don't know whether DJ was involved there, though the combination of DJ and legal documents amuses your humble blogger, though he's notoriously easy to amuse.  But here Eamon's whale analogy I think applies, as DJ just gave aid and comfort to the enemy at a critical juncture, so does anyone think DJ can expect mercy from Jay Monahan?

What are the ramifications of Johnson’s decision for other players considering making the jump?

Ryan: If nothing else, it normalizes the jump slightly. It's no secret that many other top-tier

players are interested in collecting the paycheck, but are leery of potential discipline. Maybe DJ gives a few the courage to take a similar leap (especially those who aren't fond of the tour in the first place), but I think what it does more than is to provide a test case. Now, interested players can sit back and watch how the tour handles this situation, how any lawsuits play out, and whether the tour has real teeth in imposing discipline. DJ's a stalking horse for all these other guys.

Rapaport: Other guys will be grateful to him for being the guinea pig. It's easy to suspend a Hudson Swafford; it's much harder to do it to Dustin Johnson.

Beall: Phil Mickelson was originally supposed to be the guy to absorb whatever PR heat comes from defecting; instead, Phil damn near took a flamethrower to the entire operation. Though Phil will likely be among those in the London field next week, his fall from grace can no longer provide that protection. Now Johnson can be that figure, and frankly, he’s more suited for the role. Whereas Mickelson can come off like a carnival barker, Johnson has no appetite for elaborating, preferring conciseness and generalizations. Given the controversy around this league, Johnson won't be able to douse those flames; he also won't spark a fire when faced with the bevy of questions that will come with this decision. Which is exactly the cover other defectors need.

Two for two Dan!  Well played.  You make a cogent argument and then you draw the exact opposite conclusion for your own argument.  Yes, DJ just made it easier for Hudson Swaffford, which makes it imperative that he is punished far more severely.   

I guess they liked that last question so much that they felt the need to repeat it:

Who benefits the most from Dustin Johnson’s decision?

Ryan: The biggest benefit has to fall to LIV Golf, for now. Sounds like an obvious answer, but this field looks incredibly different without DJ's name in it. He lends them a certain amount of prestige and credibility, and they look more legitimate than they did a day ago.

Rapaport: All the other big-name guys who got huge, guaranteed money offers but decided against taking them to see how things play out. He’s doing them a solid.

Beall: Johnson’s pro-tour statement in February was a lot less tepid than that of Bryson DeChambeau, another player linked with LIV. Now that Johnson has gone back on his word (which, considering it was released by the tour and said in language that clearly wasn’t Johnson’s, remains very weird) the beefy man won’t face nearly the same scrutiny should he also make a U-turn.

There will be scrutiny.

Is the tour looking at this list with a sigh of relief or as the opening salvo of a long battle?

Ryan: Any competing entity with unlimited money and no pressing need to make a profit is a threat, full stop. They were a threat before they had a field, and now that they're going to stage an actual event, they're even more of a threat. Anyone who thinks the lack of top 10 players is a sigh of relief should be dropped into PGA Tour headquarters ... I guarantee you nobody feels relieved there.

Rapaport: The latter, for sure. I think they wanted this list to look the way it did without DJ, but he’s a bit of a game changer in that he’s still semi-in his prime and he’s obviously a superstar, top 10 in the PIP, etc. The next move is in the courts; once he plays, they’ll punish him, and that’ll likely be challenged. The result of that lawsuit will go a long way in determining the future landscape of pro golf.

Beall: Speaking with a handful of sources close to the tour late Tuesday night, this wasn’t their doomsday scenario … but it wasn’t great, either. While the tour is aware a number of American players may jump for the LIV events based in the U.S. later this year, their hope was a London field filled with has-beens or rank-and-file players would be such a dud that it would scare off others from joining. Instead, as we alluded above, DJ gives a series that has been nothing short of a circus the shred of validity it desperately sought. There are no sighs of relief in Ponte Vedra; the threat they’ve been staring down for years has become very real.

I think DJ took everyone by surprise, but the Saudis spent $100 million or more on him and got Hudson Swafford?  How much better than that could it have been?

What comes next?  

Will the next big exodus come after the tour’s disciplinary measures, the end of major season, or end of the year?

Ryan: This all depends on the disciplinary measures. If the courts go against the tour, and it becomes clear that they can't bar members who play in LIV Golf events, and if it also becomes clear that players who leave can still play in majors, the floodgates will open.

Rapaport: The next exodus would come after there’s some sort of ruling on the PGA Tour’s disciplinary measures on players. If they’re eligible to play in the meantime, I think more will jump. If they can’t play until it makes its way through court, that’s a different story.

Beall: Greg Norman has been such a disaster artist it’s worth wondering if he’s working as a secret agent for the tour. But of all the knuckleheaded stuff he’s said, the thing that’s resonated is this: “Quite honestly, it doesn't matter who plays, we're going to put the event on,” Norman told the Telegraph in April. “There's a $4 million first prize. I hope a kid who’s 350th in the world wins. It’ll change his life, his family’s life. And then a few of our events will go by and the top players will see someone winning $6 million, $8 million, and say, ‘Enough is enough, I know I can beat these guys week in, week out with my hands tied behind my back.’” Of all the things that have to worry Jay Monahan and company, this scenario has to be near the top. The third LIV Golf event is scheduled for the end of July at Trump Bedminster, two weeks after the Open Championship. Should a mass migration occur, my guess is that it would be then.

Who says there will be a big exodus?

I certainly agree that the Tour's disciplinary actions will be a factor, but the litigation thereof will take a long time.  Unless, per our prior discussions, some judge issues injunctive relief.  

But Joel's description of how this plays out interests me, because I see it differently.  LIV has been all talk until now, but now the hard part starts and that event in London will be a joke.  Yeah, some guy ranked 350th in the world will get paid (how embarrassing to DJ, but that's not important now), but all Joel can see is that drawing flies.  I see a fiasco that will have the golfing world laughing at Norman and the Saudis, and that's not good for the sportswashing business.

This is an interesting long-term issue for sure:

Will the Ryder Cup ultimately have to allow these players back in some capacity?

Beall: A bit of context needed. Both the PGA of America and DP World Tour have promised any defectors will be banned from future Ryder Cups. Conversely, given Johnson's star power (and he did go 5-0-0 at Whistling Straits) and the fact that a third of the Euro team is in the London field, do you guys see this threat holding up?

Ryan: Again, I think it depends on how well LIV Golf does in the next year or two. If it's a joke that fizzles, we all know how weak golf is at holding its most powerful people accountable. You can bet there will be forgiveness. If it's a lingering threat, who knows? It could last a long time.

Rapaport: Yes. The DP World Tour has very little leverage in this situation; it’s two heavyweights duking it out with a light middleweight trying to get their attention. They’re either going to have to back off their stance or lean even further into the “strategy tic alliance” with the PGA Tour, whatever that might look like. One thing that’s for certain: These are very dramatic times in world golf.

Beall: Tough day for the “It just means more to the Europeans” crowd. Three of their stalwarts are willing to jeopardize future participation in the match they allegedly hold so dear in favor of a paycheck … I say no. It will be interesting if the likes of Tyrrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood and Shane Lowry—all 2021 Euro Ryder Cuppers who played in the 2022 Saudi International—make the jump, but the Euro team still has Rory, Rahm, Hovland, Fitzpatrick. As for the American team, their core is intact. I don’t envision this line being redrawn in the sand.

This does get very interesting, but it also hits at a time when the Euro Tour has been substantively marginalized.  The only issue for the U.S. in 2023 might be DJ, and even there his desultory play makes him less of a lock has been typical.

But the Euros are in a world of hurt, less for actual golfing talent than for the appearance of Ryder Cup stalwarts demeaning their captaincies.   Why should Viktor Hovland inconvenience himself to maintain Euro Tour membership when Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter are spitting on that tour?

Lots more to come, so stay tuned. 

Shall we cover a couple of other stories?

Deep Throat? - Rory and Patrick will be a two-ball today:

A white substance? Online pictures? An unknown informant? Some detective work? While this is a story of a golf rules infraction, you may also think it reads a little like a mystery novel.

In the end, it disqualified Hideki Matsuyama from Thursday’s first round of the Memorial. Last year’s Masters champ had the substance on the face of his 3-wood, he hit his first shot at Muirfield Village with it, and that meant the DQ, under rule 4.1a (3). But how rules officials got from opening tee shot to ejecting Matsuyama on the 10th hole required some sleuthing.

In a press conference with reporters midway through the round, Steve Rintoul, a PGA Tour senior tournament director, said that a member of his committee had been sent pictures of the club and was asked whether they had seen it. The pictures, Rintoul said, were from a website — Golfwrx.com posted pictures of the club earlier this week — but Rintoul would not reveal who alerted the committee member when twice asked.

Good luck finding a picture of it, though the one I saw last night had a circle on the club face.  

But the refusal to tell us who saw it is really maddening.  When Phil talks about changing how the Tour operates he's not all wrong, though of course he's only interested in changing that which puts more coinage in his pocket.

Hook-Em Horns - I do hope you sampled some of the NCAAs, which delivered the team match play goods: 

After starting their college careers as runners-up at the 2019 national championship, three years later the Texas trio of Cole Hammer and twin brothers Parker and Pierceson Coody are walking away with the trophy.

The Longhorns defeated hosts Arizona State 3-2 in the final match of the 2022 NCAA Div. I Men’s Golf Championship on Wednesday at Grayhawk Golf Club for their fourth national title in program history (1971, 1972, 2012) and second since the match-play era began in 2009.

To your humble blogger, watching the kids toting their bags and tending the pin for each other is the perfect antidote to the Phil/Shark/DJ news cycle, restoring one's faith in this game and those that play it.

Two bits of note.  First, the broadcast of the final match for the National Championship had an oopsie:

The final day also marked another sad chapter in Golf Channel and NBC Sports, as the network’s coverage was off air for around 50 minutes of the final match and viewers let them have it. Not the synergy and support the NCAA signed up for but life in the world of Comcast chintziness.

And Golf Twitter was not kind:

 That's likely gonna mess up the formatting of this post, but so be it....

Lastly, you might have noticed that reference above to this being the Longhorns' second title in the match-play era, the first being quite notable but not televised.  As I'm sure you've heard, it was held at Riviera and featured quite the pairing of future Tour stalwarts Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas, as well as Dylan Fritelli making a bomb to wrap it up.  Many consider it the best NCAA tourney ever.

I've not read it yet, but it's the subject of a three-part retrospective at GolfChannel.com, which I'll dive into over the weekend.  For now I'll just leave you with this:

Things That Will End Well - Fresh off watching those that will win majors in 2025, we have news on a kid that will likely contend in that 2037 U.S. Open:

Cobra Puma got into the name, image and likeness space when the golf company announced

Friday the signing of 12-year-old golf phenom Xavier "Xeve" Perez.

It's the first NIL deal for the company, and while Cobra Puma did not disclose specifics, the agreement includes free product and monetary compensation to help Perez pursue professional golf.

"Xeve's personality, talent and love for the game is inspiring, and we're thrilled to welcome him to the Cobra Puma Golf family," Dan Ladd, president and general manager of Cobra Puma golf, said in a statement. "He is a fantastic talent and role model, which aligns with our mission to push the game forward and inspire the next generation of golfers. We're excited to be part of his journey."

Shockingly, he seems to be pretty good:

"He hits the ball further than any 12-year old I have ever seen, and when it comes to his short game, he already has hands like a professional," Falkoff said in a statement. "His larger-than-life personality and well-mannered demeanor will set him apart, and we feel that combined with his work ethic and passion for the game, it's only a matter of time before he takes the golf world by storm."

You heard the name here first.  But still, paying 12-year olds strikes this old curmudgeon as creating more problems than it solves, but we live in a NILihistic world.

I haven't blogged it, but give the Women's Open a look, as Pine Needles looks quite spectacular.  Enjoy the weekend and I'll see you Monday.