Tony Finau spent a portion of a six-hour weather delay on Saturday fishing with his kids, catching mostly bluegill in the pond by his rental home off the 10th fairway at TPC Twin Cities. When thetournament eventually resumed, he finished off a 65, which he hoped was enough to get him in the mix come Sunday.Boy was it ever.Finau’s family was here to greet him, too. His wife and five kids have been traveling with him nearly everywhere this summer, but they weren’t there when he won his other two PGA Tour starts, at the 2016 Puerto Rico Open and, most recently, the Northern Trust last fall. The latter ended a lengthy winless drought.“To get a win with them here just means everything. It’s an amazing feeling to walk off a green knowing you won the tournament and walk right into your family, your kids’ arms,” Finau said. “It’s quite a special feeling. It’s something I’ve thought about and dreamed about for a long time. For that to come to fruition for me and my family today is pretty amazing. I’m humbled by it and hopefully my kids will remember this for a long time.”
To be fair, there were two bits of great optics at the end of this event, Tony with his family being the most obvious. The second was the CBS cameras catching Scott Piercy congratulating Finau graciously in the aftermath of his rather epic collapse, with its devastating implications for Piercy's playing status. Of course, Piercy's meltdown alone would have required the Tour to discontinue that "These Guys are Good! promo, were it still in efffect...
Alas, weeks like this are exposing the Emperor as having barely a loin cloth, as the field strength seemed worthy of Hooters.com event, and perhaps not even a strong Hooters.
Since LIV held their inaugural tourney, the Tour's weekly stops have been subject to additional scrutiny. The good news is that, in their stronger weeks, they've put on a pretty good show. But the over-exposure resulting from holding events 49 weeks of the year has also become evident, and the disparity between the haves and have nots has seemingly widened.
We'll have ratings in a day or two, but what are the odds this even drew a measurable audience?
All Hail the King - Limited only by the all-encompassing technological failures of Optimum, I had a great weekend watching the Senior Open Championship from James Braid's King's Course at Gleneagles.
Unplayable Lies Dead Enders will know my contempt foe the powers that be in our little fishbowl, and their contempt for architectural interest has long been documented. As I noted last week, I had assumed that the Senior Open would inevitably be played on the mundane Ryder Cup course, only to be shocked to learn that somebody in charge had actually heard of James Braid. That architectural pedigree was sufficient to get your humble blogger to the TV, not that I'm promising Golf Channel there are enough like me to support the business model.
It remains to be seen what Darren Clarke will come up with to celebrate the year 2033. For now,though, it is enough to know that the burly Northern Irishman has added the 2022 Senior British Open title to his 2011 Open Championship victory. Closely challenged by a sizeable squad of regular and senior major winners, Clarke’s closing 69 over the endlessly picturesque King’s Course at Gleneagles was just enough to see off all-comers and claim the $432,080 first-place check.Another Irishman, Padraig Harrington’s 67 pushed Clarke all the way but was both one-shot shy and one-shot clear of a six-strong pack, one including Ernie Els, Steve Alker and Paul Broadhurst, in third place.It took a bit longer to than normal to sort out all of the above though. Clarke’s 72-hole aggregate of 10-under 270 was achieved only after a two-hour delay caused by torrential rain late on Sunday evening. Nine under par and standing on the 14th fairway when play was halted, Clarke (eventually) failed to birdie the almost-drivable par 4 and gave fresh hope to the pushing pack. And soon enough, they took advantage. Within minutes, Alker (at the 15th), Thongchai Jaidee (16th), Els (18th) and Harrington (17th), the recent U.S. Senior Open champion, all made birdies to advance their respective causes.
Just profoundly more interesting than that dreadful TPC track they played in Minneapolis, at least for as long as Optimum's technology didn't pull a Piercy. On Thursday, at the ninety-minute mark my tape went into error mode and could not be retrieved. Yesterday was far more subtle and annoying, with the leaders on the 14th hole the tape simply retraced itself to when the leaders were on the third hole, so you could do a front nine Groundhog Day thing for as long as you wanted. Well played, Cablevision!
Shall we get to the interesting stuff?
Bedminster v. Detroit - It's gonna be lit, as the LIVsters head to Donald's place. Before we do our deep dive on that, has the Euro Tour hired Indeed.com?
Europe needs a new 2023 Ryder Cup captain ASAP. Here are the four leading candidates
They're basically the usual suspects, those passed over with a retread thrown in for good measure:
Luke DonaldBy all accounts, the former World No. 1 was more than a little miffed that he did not get the job first time round. And, to an extent, Donald had a point. Even in March this year Stenson’sappointment was seen as a little “iffy,” his name having cropped up often enough whenever LIV Golf was mentioned.By that measure alone, Donald must be seen as a favorite. The 44-year-old Englishman has played in four (winning) Ryder Cups with some distinction, his 10-4-1 record an obvious reason for pride. And he has twice served as an assistant, to Bjorn in 2018 at Le Golf National and again under Padraig Harrington in 2021 at Whistling Straits. Perhaps the only slight knock on his candidacy is that he has hardly been an avid supporter of his home circuit. Over the course of his 21-year professional career, Donald has played in only a relatively paltry 183 European/DP World Tour events.
I guess, but he's got that American wife and family, so the ties to the old sod are a bit tentative, and he was publicly shunned when they gave it to Stenson. This has the feel of a poisoned chalice, with the Euro roster looking historically, an indifferent venue and the LIV threat continuing to diminish the prospects of the Euro Tour. Is Luke still inclined to take one for the team?
The other three candidates are equally unsurprising and unremarkable.... I do however get the sense that folks are waking up to how imperiled the Ryder Cup is, and not exclusively due to the LIV threat. The Tour Confidential panel led with this conundrum:
1. Ryder Cup Europe removed Henrik Stenson as its 2023 captain after Stenson was amongthe latest batch of pros to join LIV Golf. At this point, how worried should the governing bodies of the U.S. and European Ryder Cup teams be that their premier event could be watered down? What’s the solution?Dylan Dethier: I think their biggest worry should be the fact that the players whose careers have been most defined by the Ryder Cup — think Sergio and Poulter — were so willing to give it up, and now Stenson was willing to go back on his word and give up the captaincy, too. The European core of Rory and Rahm are still eligible, and most of its top young pros are, too. But it’s worrisome that the Ryder Cup’s cache doesn’t stand up to a bucket of gold bricks. It’ll be interesting to see if they hold that line.Josh Sens: Losing Stenson, Poulter and the like doesn’t significantly water down the Ryder Cup since those players’ Ryder Cup careers are largely behind them. But the balance feels very precarious. If bigger and younger names continue to jump to LIV, the Ryder Cup as we know it will feel radically changed.
Yes, though they could perhaps go further with their thoughts. If Lee, Poults and Sergio place no value on the captaincies, then why should young talent like Rahm and Viktor go to the extensive effort of maintaining their Euro Tour memberships? It requires them to play more events and events that require extensive travel, and if Sergio is showing his middle finger to Keith Pelley, how you gonna keep the kids on the farm?
James Colgan: Agreed, Dylan! I saw someone ask the other day who was left among the Europeans to captain a Ryder Cup team … and I don’t know the answer! And on the American side, who, if not Phil, is going to captain them at Bethpage in ‘25? What a hornet’s nest the powers-that-be have wandered into.
It's important to note that this decision doesn't have to be made for a while, but doesn't it have to be Tiger? The only other name I could even conjure would be Freddie...
Josh Berhow: They should be worried. The Ryder Cup always seemed untouchable to me. When LIV defections started, I didn’t think those players would be key Ryder Cuppers — at least not the ones who have several good years left in the event. But as LIV picks up steam, I’m starting to think the Ryder Cup might take more of a hit. It will be interesting to see what happens in the future. A watered-down Ryder Cup stings a bit, but I don’t see the PGA of America giving in.
The implications are profound, for sure. Obviously the Prez Cup is just around the corner, and there the defections are already affecting projected rosters. although there also may be a Cam/Hideki/Leishman/Scott tsunami ahead right after the FedEx Cup.
This might actually have a sliver of good news for Jay, as it could help keep Seth Waugh, which has OWGR ranking and PGA Championship implications.
But a word of praise for Greg Norman and the LIVsters, who seem to be implementing a carefully constructed business model. If you were executing on your plan to present a series of golf tournaments featuring elderly and competitively-irrelevant players, how would you want that event presented? It seems logical to this observer that you'd want over the hill, analytically-irrelevant commentators, no?
David Feherty Is Leaving NBC For LIV Golf, and That's No Laughing Matter
I enjoyed Feherty for many years, but it's he himself who hasn't been a laughing mater for some time now, so I'm thinking NBC was happy to have that problem taken off their hands.
I don't know about this guys, the issue likely being whether he can LIV to broadcast another NBA game:
And right on cue:
Broadcaster Gary McCord is in job talks with LIV, says it'd be fun to join Feherty, Barkley in 'clown car'
Well, it is pretty much a clown show....
A couple of amusing tweets, first this from geoff:
These days Greg photographs like a Bond villain more often than not. https://t.co/9LGZqYzAi2
— Geoff Shackelford (@GeoffShac) July 22, 2022
Pretty much, though at least he's bene keeping his shirt on, so we've got that going for us...
But, is this some massive troll of Jay? I milked this band's name for quite a while after Jay's disgraceful leadership at the 2020 Players Championship, but is this intentional?
Hyperventilating… they actually went and did it, tho this is an all time mush based on what we’ve seen. https://t.co/71CBlURxBh
— Brendan Porath (@BrendanPorath) July 22, 2022
I just don't think Greg is bright enough to dream up that epic troll, so perhaps it came directly from MBS?
One last bit on this, from the estimable Eamon Lynch. Color me highly skeptical, but let's give him a hearing, especially since he tends to frame his arguments with amusing historical precedents, today being Winnie:
There must surely be days when Jay Monahan can empathize with Winston Churchill’s wry observation that the best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with theaverage voter. As commissioner of a “member-led” organization, Monahan is bound by the political reality that the PGA Tour’s lower orders—many of whom couldn’t be identified in a line-up by fans—wield power equal to its upper echelon, upon whom the success of his product depends.Those are some awfully tight handcuffs when you’re fighting an outfit fueled by personal animus and financed by Saudi Arabian oil money, with no apparent accountability on either. Which raises the question of whether the PGA Tour’s very business model may one day be a sacred cow that Monahan and his board are forced to slaughter.
That strikes me as quite the bizarre argument, given that the Tour is not an electorate, but an organization formed to serve the interest of its members. That's not to minimize that it's a diverse membership and that reconciling the interests of the haves and have-nots is easy...
But where is he going with this?
The negatives associated with LIV Golf are almost as plentiful as the social media bots it employs to “whatabout” critics and otherwise rally those whose susceptibility to automated arguments is painfully evident in the body politic. There’s the sportswashing on behalf of a loathsome regime, the questionable competitive standards, the laughable shotgun starts, the shallow fields, the ever-changing teams component. But LIV also may have gotten one thing right that its rivals face an uphill battle to copy: contracting its talent.It has long been the self-congratulatory gospel of golf professionals that they only eat what they kill, that they don’t get paid if they don’t perform. That isn’t true in most major sports, where guaranteed contracts are the norm. LIV has brought that concept to golf, but predictably bastardized it. Contracts don’t assure athletes of a place in the game nor protect them from being benched in big moments, but the washed-up beneficiaries of LIV contracts will remain in tournaments no matter how lousy their performances. They are required to continue soiling themselves publicly with execrable scorecards.
Yowser, that's a pretty effed up argument, methinks.
Ensuring that remains so means ring-fencing talent for the future, and the success thus far of the LIV model means the PGA Tour may need to consider offering guarantees too. As with every sport, contracts would be scaled to stature. Most player guarantees would be nominal, only enough to cover expenses, with the potential of fresh deals for fast-rising talent. Stars who drive the product would be rewarded commensurate with their contribution. Members sacrifice some control of their schedules, tours gain the ability to deliver elite fields to key sponsors and broadcast partners.I asked one top player if he would give up his much-ballyhooed independent contractor status for a guaranteed contract. “Yes,” he replied quickly, saying that LIV is exploiting a weakness in the existing model.
If you wanted to destroy our professional game, what would you do differently?
What Eamon seems to miss completely, is that team sports have these things called, well, teams, and it's the teams (not the league) that contract with the players. Eamon seems to be arguing that Jay should be offering Rory and Jon Rahm a long-term contract, which sounds like as bad an idea as I've ever heard.
He also seems to ignore the importance of sponsorships in golf, the logos on clothing and golf bags, which fills the role of guaranteed contracts in baseball and football.
Don't get me wrong, the Tour had this comeuppance coming, as Eamon hits on the obvious flaw in their business model:
“Fans don’t know where PGA Tour stars are going to play week in and week out, sponsors don’t know what they are buying, and ditto for NBC/CBS. [Full disclosure: I am a contributor to Golf Channel, which is owned by NBC Sports.] If you can create 12-14 ‘big’ events where the stars have to sign up for a majority of them, say 10 of 12 or 12 of 14, plus majors and a couple more then that starts to look more attractive to sponsors, TV and fans. The era of maximum playing opportunities needs to go and the era of the best against the best more often needs to start.”PGA Tour insiders would likely dismiss concerns about fans or partners not knowing who is playing any given week since that has never been reflected in commercial terms, like broadcast rights, sponsorship deals or prize money, all of which have grown through recessions and tough times. But these times demand new thinking, even if the hurdles are many and obvious.
For decades your humble blogger has been railing against the Tour's overexposure and dreadful treatment of its sponsors, for reasons Eamon hints at. In expanding to fill 49 weeks a year, the Tour can't possibly deliver elite fields to that many sponsors, and their continued willingness to pay up for crap has puzzled me.
Trip Preview - Are you excited about our trip yet? Yeah, I get it, but this part isn't necessarily about you... Geoff is home from his trip to Scotland for the Open, and does something amusing and helpful, he blogs about his travel experience.
As you might recall, Employee No. 2 and I are connecting through Heathrow and traveling with our golf bags, so what would you estimate our chances of surviving the post-apocalyptic air travel industry are? Higher than Joe Biden's approval ratings?
Triple check on your car rental booking details. From two random conversations I learned I was not alone in getting a rental car counter surprise. We all booked a standard sedan and when checking in, were asked if we really wanted that van or SUV we’d requested. We reserved no such thing. I can’t help but wonder if there was something more going on here to justify the price-gouging and shortage of certain vehicles. So please call and ensure you are getting the right car at the appropriate price.
Try to play late. The Scots play less evening golf than you’d expect. There is little after-dinner golf on the longest and nicest days of the year (and often when the wind lays down. There is nothing quite like walking off dinner with a late nine or 18 in the glorious late light. So when booking or looking for places to play, ask about playing after 5. They may accommodate singles and twosomes more readily, especially if you are not renting a trolley or clubs requiring someone to be around when you finish.Cancellations. Whether COVID or a British Airways-related thing, or just the overall uncertainty of UK travel in a post-Brexit world, I heard several stories of tee times opening up due to cancellations. Don’t hesitate to keep checking in at places that rejected you leading into your trip. Or, once you arrive and are in the vicinity of a course, stop in at the shop if you really want to play there (just not Muirfield unless you’re staying at Greywalls). Talk to the staff. Maybe buy a yardage book and see if they’ll take pity on you. The pros might at least make a call to another course of note. But be sane. I was at one famous course where a player/broadcaster had stopped in the day prior and asked about getting out at 8 am on a summer Saturday. Don’t be that person.
I've assumed that there have to be some level of cancellations, and that we'll find somewhere we can get out if we want to fill in more....
But this was Geoff's note that had me springing into action:
When FlyingAir tags. David Jones, aka UKGolfGuy, first suggested we all invest in a four-pack of Apple Air Tags when traveling with clubs (Android users, consider Tile.) Given Edinburgh and Heathrow’s mounting baggage issues (detailed here by Sean Zak), I empathize with everyone whose clubs are piled up and unable to be located.(Ominously, the Edinburgh piles appear 4x larger than just two weeks ago when I was through there.)Not to be that person, but if these people had Air Tags they’d at least know where their precious clubs are collecting dust. A few things to know about Apple’s small, battery-operated trackers that go for $29 a piece or four for $99.
I immediately purchased that 4-pack which will go in our golf bags and luggage, assuming I can master the technology. I can see where this would be comforting:
4.) Be patient when opening up “Find My” on the iPhone and waiting for location data. I had a few stressful moments at Heathrow waiting for a ping to be documented. But the drama was worth knowing the bags made it on the plane.
Apparently the location data is quite specific:
Good to know where Geoff's wallet is, although I don't think I need an Air Tag for that.
I can picture myself boarding my connection at Heathrow comforted to know that all four bags had made it onto our flight. However, I tend to be more of a glass half-empty type, so I have a sense that I'll be sitting in Heathrow and finding out that my golf bag is headed to Madagascar, so stay tuned.
Have a great week.
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