Monday, December 26, 2022

Weekend Wrap

Nothing to wrap, just happy to have actually made it home despite the bomb cyclone... And happy to report that Tate still prefers to take his post-breaky nap in his father's lap.  Not great as far as the blogging schedule is concerned, but we do it for the children.

To the actual golf news, which is sad.

Kathy Whitworth, RIP - I toyed with an 88, 86'd header, but better to play it safe methinks:

Legendary LPGA Tour player Kathy Whitworth, the winningest golfer on any professional tour, has died at the age of 83.

Whitworth passed away suddenly on Dec. 24 during Christmas Eve celebrations with family and friends, according to a release via the LPGA Tour from Whitworth’s long-time partner, Bettye Odle.

“It is with a heart full of love that we let everyone know of the passing of the winningest golf professional ever, Kathy Whitworth,” Odle wrote. “Kathy passed suddenly Saturday night celebrating Christmas Eve with family and friends. Kathy left this world the way she lived her life, loving, laughing and creating memories.”

LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan said in a statement: “The golf world and the world in general lost one of its most incredible women with the passing of Kathy Whitworth. Kathy was a champion in the truest sense of the word, both on the golf course and off.”

It's a lot of wins, whatever one might think of the level of competition:

Whitworth was born in Monahans, Texas, on Sept. 27, 1939, several weeks after the beginning of World War II. By the age of 45, in the mid-1980s, she had amassed 88 LPGA Tour victories—six more than fellow LPGA Hall of Fame member and her great rival, Mickey Wright. Whitworth’s total is also six more than the PGA Tour men’s record of 82 wins, shared by Sam Snead and Tiger Woods.

"I was really fortunate in that I knew what I wanted to do," Whitworth said in a Golf Digest interview in 2009. "Golf just grabbed me by the throat. I can't tell you how much I loved it. I used to think everyone knew what they wanted to do when they were 15 years old."

The circle of life thing is on full display, first with this tribute:

As well as this 2015 photo:


 Golf Digest has reposted this 2009 Ron Sirak feature, in which he ledes with her Texas roots:

The main dining room at Trophy Club Country Cub outside of Dallas gazes upon the rolling hills
and old oak trees through which two courses meander, one named for the club's most famous member, Kathy Whitworth, the other the lone design by the icon of Texas golf, Ben Hogan. Inside the dining room the wall opposite the windows appears at first to be a shrine to the rich golf history of a state that gave the game Hogan, Byron Nelson and Babe Zaharias, among others. The glass case running nearly the length of the room overflows with the spoils of victory.

But closer inspection reveals the hardware was all earned by just one daughter of the Lone Star State—Whitworth—whose 88 LPGA victories are the most ever on a professional tour, eclipsing the PGA Tour record of 82 shared by Tiger Woods and Sam Snead. Fifty years after a rookie season in which she averaged 80.30 strokes a round, won only $1,217 and came within a hairsbreadth of quitting, Whitworth stands alone as golf's greatest winner. But the trophies that fill the shelves represent more than victory on the course; they symbolize the lifelong demands Whitworth made on herself to master the game she loved.

Definitely something in the water down there....

But this is the bit you'll remember, because it's the same for all of us:

"I was really fortunate in that I knew what I wanted to do," Whitworth says on a crystal clear morning, the sun streaming across Trophy Club and into the dining area that celebrates her career. "Golf just grabbed me by the throat. I can't tell you how much I loved it. I used to think everyone knew what they wanted to do when they were 15 years old."

Same for most of us, just she was actually good enough to make her living at the game, though it was barely a living unless you won 88 times.

A giant for sure.  RIP.

Dispatches From Planet Phil -  Like Hans Gruber falling from Nakatomi Plaza:

World Ranking milestone that wouldn’t exactly please Phil Mickelson went almost unnoticed for two weeks: The six-time major winner dropped out of the top 200 for the first time in more than 30 years.

On Dec. 11, 45-time PGA Tour winner Mickelson dropped nine places on the Official World Golf Ranking to No. 201. A week later, the 52-year-old Mickelson dropped to No. 209 and a week after that, on Christmas Day, he fell to his current rank of No. 213.

The last time the California native was ranked outside the world’s top 200 was before the 1992 New England Classic, the PGA Tour’s stop in Sutton, Mass. Mickelson had just turned pro in the summer of ‘92, following his third individual NCAA title while playing at Arizona State, and his first event as a pro was the 1992 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.

If you right click on it, you'll see the name I gave the file.  Which is modestly amusing, only because it sits in my photo library next to photo denoting his fall outside the Top 50....  Isn't it great when a plan come together?

As for the header, I assume my astute readership is aware of the raging debate as to whether thast certain film is or is not a Christmas movie.  Well, buster, hold my beer:

I’m sorry, but did I just overhear you guys saying Die Hard is a Christmas movie? I did? Oh, well
I hate to sour this holiday party, but I’d be remiss not to point out that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard in my entire life of hearing things. Die Hard has been and will always be the greatest Hanukkah movie ever created.

But not only is the film anti-Christmas, the whole plot is Hanukkah. Do you guys even know the story of Hanukkah, or have you been too busy polishing Santa’s candy cane to learn it? Hanukkah is all about reclaiming the Temple in Jerusalem from invaders. What does John McClane, AKA J.M., AKA Jewish Man, do in Die Hard? He reclaims the skyscraper, Nakatomi Plaza, from invaders: Hans Gruber (short for Hanukkahs Gruber, aka “The Hanukkah Grabber,” aka “The Man Who Wants to Steal Hanukkah”) and his evil elves.

How did you guys not see that? I mean, the place is called Nakatomi Plaza, one of the most Jewish-sounding Japanese names in existence, and what does the building look like? Nobody knows? Really? It looks like a really tall dreidel! This is Film Symbology 101, people. If there’s a building in a shot, that’s called a “dreidel scene,” and it represents the fact that we should all fear God, because He could spin our buildings around whenever He wants.

perhaps slightly off-topic, but we try to cover the most pressing issues of our day. 

But at least he doesn't have to deal with that obnoxious greed from Ponte Vedra Beach any longer and he has the benefit of owning his media rights now.  What?  LIV owns those rights?  The bastards!  Why it's almost as if everything Phil says is, well, self-aggrandized BS.  I'm so disillusioned....

This is obviously as fake as Phil himself is, but who doesn't love the photo?

What would be the best historical analogy of someone squandering their legacy?  For some reason Charles Lindbergh pops into mind, though admittedly the coffee hasn't quite kicked in.  Maybe the steroid-era baseball players as well, but our baby FIGJAM is more FII these days, the "I" being irrelevant.

Golf In The Time of LIV - The Tour Confidential gang as their 114th year-end column up, but there's little else with which to amuse ourselves, so shall we?

1. Before we look ahead to 2023 in Tour Confidential next week, let’s recap some of the most memorable headlines of the past 12 months. While the stories of the year were obviously LIV’s inaugural season and Tiger’s return, what other major storyline did everyone seem to overlook?

Hmmm, a LIV-free zone sounds promising, though perhaps unachievable. 

Ryan Barath: Scottie Scheffler had one of the hottest runs of any player on the planet this year but because it coincided with LIV Golf, players leaving the PGA Tour, and a demeanor that shies away from the spotlight, it went almost forgotten by the fall.

Well, I'm pretty sure we noticed at the time.  He looked unbeatable and it was quite the heater, but the more interesting question is to ponder when he'll resume his winning ways. 

Josh Sens: You can’t really disentangle this one from LIV, but to me, the biggest story was professional golf being forced to reckon with itself. There’s clearly a disconnect between what the sport says it wants to be (global, diverse, forever growing) and what it actually is. The question is whether golf at the elite level can close that gap by creating a product that will continue to draw in a new generation of fans while satisfying extremely well-compensated professional golfers who somehow seem to think they’re underpaid.

Boy, that's quite the hot mess of an answer.   He quite clearly conflates the fame with the professional game, which bear only the slightest connective tissue.  But LIV has exacerbated all of those fault lines, and cause the Tour to become more exclusive and, more importantly, cast the most famous of players in a most unflattering light.  

Jack Hirsh: I think Rory McIlroy’s statistical brilliance went somewhat overshadowed by his outspokenness while rising back to World No. 1. Even before McIlroy took down Scheffler for the FedEx Cup, McIlroy was No. 1 on the PGA Tour in Strokes Gained: Total and scoring average. Data Golf actually pegged McIlroy as the best player in the world in June, after he won the RBC Canadian Open. The duel with Scheffler in East Lake was a matchup of the winningest player of 2022 and the statistical best. In a year most will probably remember McIlroy (partly) taking the mantle as the face of the PGA Tour through his statements to the media, his play on the course was just as memorable, if not more. Honorable mention is how Jon Rahm didn’t have a bad season.

I guess Rory's statistical freak show is meant to obscure the fact that he didn't actually win anything of importance?  Now, there's a case for optimism for Rory, because he did seem to have actually improved an area of weakness, specifically the distance control issues with his wedges, but it did seem to take him decades to do so.

I like Rory as an individual more than most of these guys, but I've been a consistent skeptic about his game for some time.  I'll note the progress, but I also feel compelled to add that he let a rare opportunity slip through his hands at St. Andrews, one with out-sized importance because of Cam Smith's widely-known intention to bolt to the dark side.  It's by no means fair, as this game is so cruel, but as good as his positions were on LIV, this resulted in the Smith defection being far more important than it would have been otherwise.

2. What was your favorite major of 2022 (men’s or women’s), and why?

Let's just agree that it wasn't a great year for majors.... The best of the bunch was clearly at the Old Course, but alas it leaves quite the bitter after-taste.  Now we'll allow the writers to prove my point:

Barath: On the men’s side, the US Open is my top choice thanks in part to the host course The Country Club, along with the nail-biting finish it provided. Matt Fitzpatrick hit the shot of the year on the 18th hole and there’s not much more you could ask from major championship golf.

In an example of bad tradecraft, your humble blogger was on an Alaska Air flight from Portland to Bozeman, MT that day, without access to live TV or adequate Internet service to stream.  But, while in Utah, I did catch the replay on Golf Channel of the final round, and it was indeed pretty good, mostly because of all the show ponies that, well, showed.

But I'm left with this nagging sense that the USGA has lost it's mind.  If the Country Club is able to handle the demands of modern golf in 2022, why on God's green Earth wasn't the 2013 Open held there to celebrate the centenary of Frances Ouimet?  Yanno, the signature moment in the history of American golf....

Ryan now turns to the ladies:

For the women, it was the Chevron Championship thanks to Jenifer Kupcho – the inaugural Agusta National Womens Amateur winner, winning the event and taking the final leap into Poppie’s Pond during the same week as the ANWA. It was a fitting time to win her first major.

Except that the week was consumed by the realization that the ladies were forced to abandon their most iconic event because of the patriarchy.  Nice job, Fred!

Sens: The Open Championship could have used more wind and the Masters could have used more drama, but on balance, this was a great major year thanks to the venues. I’m with Ryan in giving the U.S. Open top billing, given the quality of the course and the tautness of the competition. But the PGA Championship was a close second for me, on another terrific course, with some heroic shot-making by Justin Thomas down the stretch and the underdog-hero-tragedy element of Mito Pereira coming oh so close. It had all the ingredients for great drama.

The PGA?  Yeah, that's the ticket.... This to me was the definitive take on Mito's 18th hole tee shot:

It's no disgrace to hang around and win a major as JT did, but it's also not the stuff of heroism.

Hirsh: I third Barath’s choice with the U.S. Open at Brookline. Perfect example of the USGA bringing back a classic U.S. Open host back into the rotation and providing an excellent venue. Not to mention it was one most of the public hadn’t seen, at least for a while. The leaderboard had every character you wanted: A couple of the best players in the world (McIlory, Rahm, Scheffler, Morikawa), a hometown hero (Keegan Bradley), the upstart looking for his first title (Will Zalatoris) and the guy who won the U.S. Amateur at the same venue (Fitzpatrick).

This seems, well, ambitious:

3. Who, or what, in the golf world won 2022?

The amateur game?  

Barath: One word — Speed. Whether it was the much talked about extra swing speed gain from US Open winner Matt Fitzpatrick, or the speed of the golf news cycle that made it feel like you were trying to drink from a fire hose. It felt like the fastest-moving golf season I have ever experienced as a fan, and as someone that covers the game for a living. As someone that lives in a four seasons climate, I just hope winter feels like it flies by equally fast.

Didn't see that one coming.  True enough that Fitzy and Lydia Ko did seem to do the impossible, add distance without losing their games and their minds.  That said, it's also the year in which the exemplar of speed, that DeChambeau guy, told us all it was a horrible mistake.

Sens: Lydia Ko. She didn’t win the biggest tournaments but she won Rolex Player of the Year and the Vare Trophy for low-scoring average. She did this after pulling her game out of a death spiral of the kind that most players never recover from. And she did it with the class and kindness and joy that she has always shown, in good times or bad. It’s corny to say, but a win for Ko is a win for anyone who appreciates the best aspects of sports in general and golf in particular. There is no easier player to root for in the game.

The more so as 2022 looked to be a struggle for primacy between Nelly Korda and Jin Young Ko.  Given the struggles of those two worthies, the LPGA drew to an inside straight in having Lydia reemerge.  Tees up an interesting 2023 for sure, though the ladies remain the tree that falls in the forest...

Hirsh: Change. The PGA Tour has a rival now. The game has defined its villains and heroes more clearly than ever. The PGA Tour is making radical changes to its schedule and structure which were long overdue. Legendary broadcasters are hanging up their microphones. Purse sizes are blowing up out the wazoo. Is all this change good for the game? Check back in 2023 I guess.

OK, but those changes mostly suck.  

Look, until LIV golf pretended to have no villains, mostly because of the protective umbrella from the PGA Tour.  Their calculation was to assure us that their members were all gentlemen, and to ensure that no information would emerge to contradict that narrative.  Obviously, discrete data would occasionally emerge, DJ's failed drug tests and the priceless release of John Daly's disciplinary file, but mostly omertà held.

To me, the biggest effect of 2022 was to remove that veneer of respectability, and to see these guys as they really are, most notably in front of microphone justifying their support of those who employ bonecutters and mass beheadings.  I actually think this is a win, berceuse ultimately reality has to bne a win, no?  perhaps now, if someone admires one of these guys such as Rory, it might actually be real.

Augusta Bits - Nothing too profound, though I'm running out of time:

4. Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley announced any player — regardless of which tour they play on — will be invited to the 2023 Masters as long as they qualify, a big win for LIV players. Surprised by Augusta’s decision, and how much will it influence golf’s other three organizations that run major championships?

Barath: From the standpoint of holding course, this is not a shock decision from Augusta National. Now considering the other major golf organizations that host championships are all in it for their own business reasons in the same way Augusta is (although in a more public way) I expect much of the same from everyone else.

Sens: Not a surprising decision. This never looked like a battle Augusta was going to take on. The safer–and more sensible–approach is to stick with its traditions and wait and see how things shake out. I’d expect the same from the other organizations. They’ll stick with their customary criteria. As we all know, those criteria might wind up keeping some LIV players on the sidelines based on the Official World Golf Ranking, which those organizations have a say in. That’s the elephant in the room, of course, and it can only be ignored for so long.

Hirsh: Sure it’s a win for LIV players, but in the same way going to the bank without getting robbed is. It was never realistic Augusta National was going to disinvite already qualified players. I see this actually more of a win for the PGA Tour. Augusta is essentially saying it’s not their fight, but by not creating a new pathway for LIV golfers to qualify, it’s standing by the Tour. Now that could change, as you see in the next question…

It was never going to go asny other way.  The coming fight will be about the OWGR, where Mr. Ridley has a vote.  The only one to watch is the PGA, but not that I'm expecting them to be excluded.

That doesn't mean that the Tuesday dinner at ANGC will be a warm gathering of dear friends....

5. The statement also added that “any modifications or changes to invitation criteria for future Tournaments will be announced in April.” Does this mean more changes might be on the horizon, or simply an obligatory statement stamped to the end of a press release?

Sens: There will be more to come on this. See above on the OWGR.

Barath: It would not surprise me to see Augusta National completely ignore LIV Golf and its roster of players as a whole moving forward, but on the flip side — I could also see them devise their own internal ranking system to fill the field and offer some sort of top LIV exemption. It really is a complete wildcard at this point and I’m as curious as everyone else to see how this pans out in the future. Their power in the world of golf lies in their ability to remain a completely separate entity and I don’t think have any intention of giving that up any time soon.

Hirsh: This isn’t obligatory at all. It could end up meaning nothing, but if Augusta announces any sort of pathways for LIV golfers to earn Masters invites, it would obviously be a massive win for the Saudi-backed league. But it also may end up meaning nothing.

It means that Augusta will do as Augusta pleases.  But a lot will depend on what happens between now and then, specifically whether there are additional defections.  

That'll have to do you for today.  I'll be playing it by ear as to blogging this week.  

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Thursday, December 22, 2022

Thursday Threads - Wasatch Range Edition

Notwithstanding 9" of freshies out there, we've got work to do.  

The Long Game - I'm old enough to remember when a "Masters Ball" was supposed to solve the distance debate, which struck this observer as a big ask of a simple golf club.  OK, maybe not so simple, but still a big ask, so little surprise here:

Augusta National scolds LIV defectors, stops short of Masters ban

I'm actually reminded of Billy Payne's scolding of Tiger at the 2010 Masters, but it's fairly mild:

“Regrettably, recent actions have divided men’s professional golf by diminishing the virtues of the game and the meaningful legacies of those who built it,” the statement said. “Although we
are disappointed in these developments, our focus is to honor the tradition of bringing together a preeminent field of golfers this coming April.”

“As we have said in the past, we look at every aspect of the Tournament each year, and any modifications or changes to invitation criteria for future Tournaments will be announced in April,” the statement continued. “We have reached a seminal point in the history of our sport. At Augusta National, we have faith that golf, which has overcome many challenges through the years, will endure again.”

So, who looks like they're in?

LIV golfers currently eligible for a 2023 Masters invite include Abraham Ancer, Bryson DeChambeau, Talor Gooch and Brooks Koepka, as well as LIV golfers who have won the Masters: Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Bubba Watson and Patrick Reed.

That's an incomplete list, but now doubt you're wiping your brow with relief that Talor Gooch is in.

Geoff's take aligns with that of your humble blogger:

Moving along, at least we got some much-needed clarity on a possible Masters “ban” that will now force LIV bros to rage about something else. And based on the tone of Chairman Fred Ridley’s statement, it sure sounds like he’s going to let the Official World Golf Ranking weed out most defectors by 2024.

That and another year of LIV playing in the Cone of Silence, perhaps. But this is what I meant by the long game:

All former champs, with the exception of Cam.  But, can you say awkward?  Back to Geoff:

As for certain past Masters champs and Tuesday’s cherished dinner? Would anyone really miss DJ’s storytelling? Bubba’s gripes about the menu? Phil’s steady stream of bull&%^$? Or wondering if a certain Augusta State great might make off with the silverware?

Thursday-Friday pairings should be fun, as well.  But yeah, that Champions Dinner should be awkward on steroids.... Does Netflix have access?  Or will we have to depend upon the FBI sheep-dipping an agent in?

Family Values - I know its tough growing up with a famous father, but this one's pathology has now spilled into a third generation:

Gary Player is suing his son and grandson over memorabilia, including trophies and clubs, he
says the duo have sold or tried to sell despite an agreement requiring the items be returned to the nine-time major championship winner.

Player filed a legal complaint in May in Palm Beach County against his son Marc Player, followed by a November lawsuit against Marc’s son, Damian Player.

The lawsuits were “reluctantly” filed after a years-long dispute between Gary Player and Marc Player about the 87-year-old’s collectibles after he ended a business relationship with his son in 2019, said Gary Player’s attorney Stuart Singer.

Damian Player was named in a separate suit because it’s alleged that he solicited buyers for memorabilia held in 19 lockers at a South Carolina storage facility, and allegedly sold or helped sell multiple Rolex watches to someone in Florida “for significant sums of money.”

Allrighty, then.  The Player family is the gift that keeps on giving, beginning with the ethical cloud that follows the patriarch.  For anyone unfamiliar with this, I'd recommend YouTubing the original Skins Game, in which Tom Wartson told The Black Knight that we're all tired of this s**t.

Amusingly, this isn't the son that fouled Lee Elders last moment in the sun:

Because the world gave a rats ass as to what ball Gary used for a ceremonial shot.  Yeah, that's the ticket.  Forget banning the Livsters, how about relieving us of the tedium of the Player clan, Fred?

VanCynical Redux - The rather dramatic changes to the golf media ecosystem have, alas, not been for the better.  Gary Van Sickle has been banished to the rotting husk that is Sports Illustrated, so we don't see much of him anymore, which is a pity.

He has a year-end feature up and it's got some bits of interest:

> Notah Begay and Padraig Harrington said in recent weeks they believe Tiger Woods still has it in him to win another tournament, maybe a major. (Well, he’s probably not going to play in
much other than major tournaments, so ...) You saw his impressive clubhead speed in the PNC Championship, the fun father-son made-for-TV event. He looked great the first day, less than great the second. If we were talking about anyone other than Tiger, I would disagree with Begay and Paddy and say Tiger is reduced to ceremonial golf. However, Tiger has earned the benefit of any doubt with his career and his work ethic. Maybe I wouldn’t bet on him to win again, but I definitely wouldn’t tell him there’s anything he can’t do.

I find this whole discussion tedious in the extreme.  It could be interesting, because it's hard to think of a precedent, where a player's ability to perform is dictated by non-golf factors, to wit, Tiger's ability to walk.  The closest I can come is Fred Couples' back, but that's obviously not quite on point.

But when Tiger tells the world he's had two surgeries since we last saw him, and no further details are forthcoming, that's the exact point at which I lose interest.  Even the newer, warm and fuzzy Tiger, is still a dick, so who cares?

But you'll be shocked to know this was my fave:

> In case you were wondering, Bryson DeChambeau didn’t go into a witness-protection program. He jumped to LIV Golf, a tour that gets a lot of attention for existing but almost no attention for the players who play on it or the tournament results. DeChambeau was golf’s biggest attraction two and a half years ago. When was the last time you saw him hit a shot? Not this year. If his face shows up on a milk carton soon, I wouldn’t be surprised …

As it so happens, I wasn't wondering in the least.  LIV has done us a huge service in taking a healthy portion of the Tour's miscreants under that Cone of Silence.

I'll throw this one in as well:

> The PGA Tour’s plan to elevate 12 of its events in response to LIV Golf’s super-big purses seems like a great way to minimize the PGA Tour’s other 30 or so events. So they’re going to pass around the elevated status to other events? Sounds great but the reality may not be so great. One year, your tour stop is elevated and gets all the big names. The next year, it’s not elevated and that event is practically guaranteed to NOT get anyone in the top 70 of the world rankings. Good luck selling those tickets. The elevated tournament plan is a punch in the gut to the non-elevated tournaments and the first step toward potentially shrinking the number of PGA Tour events—and the number of playing opportunities for tour players—dramatically …

Ya think?  It does force us to focus on the reality that the Tour's product has become too diluted and undermines the Tour's position in the golf ecosystem.  Those other events need to exist, whether under the PGA, Korn Ferry or other banner, it's just that there'll be no interest or audience.  

Funny Bits - A few bits that activated your humble blogger's funny bone, including this rather awkward transition:

The reader is free to insert his own DJ joke here.

And the LIV bots are everywhere, at least according to my Twitter feed.  I won't even pretend to know what this means:

 If that's the guy snorting the Vicodin?

And this:

Fair enough, but the most notable stalwart that never assured himself a Tuesday dinner reservation would be, checking notes, Greg Norman.

 Alan In Full - Shippy has another mailbag up, satisfying my need for anaerobic blogging,  Shall we?

At what age does Charlie Woods turn pro? #askalan@RealTurtleBR

I’d say 22 or 23, once he has earned a degree from Stanford. When his old man waxes about his two years at Stanford, it is clear those were the happiest times of Tiger’s life: finally away from his omnipresent parents, surrounded by other high-achievers, who didn’t care that much about golf, and part of a diverse team that supported and inspired him. No matter what endorsements are waiting for Charlie he’ll never have to fret about money, so I am quite sure his dad will mandate that he max out his college years instead of cutting them short.

I think that's both well-argued and mostly nonsense, because ultimately it will be driven by Charlie's talent.  But Alan is right that Tiger loved his years at Stanford and  I certainly expect that Charlie will play some college golf, let's just see how good he turns out to be.

Tiger turns 50 in three years. Will he play on the Champions Tour? Y/N/ LOL? And has your answer on this changed in recent years? #AskAlan @stensation

It’s all about the cart. Tiger has made it clear that, even if such a thing is possible, he won’t take one in major championships or even regular PGA Tour events. But he’s fine riding in fun events like the Father-Son. I think he will look at Senior Tour events in the same vein. Taking a cart will allow him to compete and hit golf shots, two things he will always love. So I think the answer is yes, and certainly smashing up his foot in the car accident changed Woods’s thinking, and mine.

Color me skeptical.  The precedent here is Jack, but with the caveat that Jack was healthy.  He seems unwilling at this point to use a cart in Tour events and majors, so why would that change?

This on Van Cynical's point:

How bad a spot is the PGA Tour in with its sponsors? With LIV picking up the high-profile players it has, plus many longtime tournaments not being included in the new elevated events (i.e. weaker fields for them), is there a danger of many sponsors pulling out like Honda? @KitDuncan10

The Tour has managed to hold things together for 2023, but ’24 will be the big test. Expect more attrition from sponsors as the newly bifurcated Tour promotes dozen of tournament featuring basically no stars. Many tournament directors and the corporate masters they serve are grumbling behind the scenes about a steeper price for sponsors and a diluted product. It has already passed into legend that one tycoon who singlehandedly saved an old, proud Tour stop, upon getting a recent phone call from Jay Monahan informing said tycoon that his event would not be granted elevated status, offered this verdict to the commissioner: “Go fuck yourself, Jay.”

OK, did that guy work for Honda?  Really, it could be any number of sponsors, but the Tour has long treated its sponsors with contempt, and the surprise is that Jay hasn't heard that more often.

But isn't the problem less the LIV defections than the Tour's response thereto?  This is a point I've been trying to hammer home, that the steps deemed necessary to retain the alphas would make the Tour a worse place.  I suspect the sponsors would have been reasonably supportive of the Tour in face of the LIV defections, but in the face of Jay "elevating" events above their own, the only appropriate response is Honda's or that gentlemen Alan quotes above.

This whole season I’ve felt like a kid whose parents are getting an ugly divorce and now my favorite uncles Roger and Gary are leaving. Please tell me next year gets better?? #AskAlan @pete_adamson

It has to! The LIV disruption has peaked; the upstart league will pick off one or two more players between now and the start of the new season, because splashy signings are an important part of the business model. But there won’t be anything like the upheaval of this summer. The changing of the guard on TV is also largely complete. Gone are Gary McCord, Peter Kostis, Roger Maltbie, Gary Koch, Nick Faldo and Judy Rankin, and Jerry Foltz and David Feherty are entrenched in their new gigs, so things have to settle down on that front as well. I, for one, look forward to a golf season during which we talk more about…golf.

Well, good luck with that, Alan.

In that Quad post linked above, Geoff had a long bit on the forced retirement of Rog and Gary:

I’ve seen my share of television goodbyes and there has never been one as weird as the send-off to NBC’s Gary Koch and Roger Maltbie.

To be clear, the NBC crew handled an unprecedented situation beautifully without depriving viewers of PNC Championship action. Anchor Dan Hicks was left to handle most of the landmine-filled moments, artfully navigating the awkward farewell of two stalwarts who weren’t ready to say goodbye. Hicks had to do this knowing that craven ageist executives were watching from afar, not welcome at any going away proceedings and with ghastly Comcast vultures on the lookout for any suggestion these forced retirements were…forced retirements. So Hicks and producer Tommy Roy tip toed around the hissing Peacock in the room: this goodbye was brought to you by crude cost-cutting in the name of shareholder value brought to us by Peacock having just 1/3 the number of paying subscribers as Paramount+ (even with Viacom’s streaming effort launched 8 months later than ’cock).

I'm of mixed minds, because the broadcasts have gotten awfully stale.  That said, the golf audience is an older crowd and doesn't deal well with change..... Well, we'll deal fine with that change that has Sir Mumbles in Montana, but otherwise.... 

What is Charlie’s ceiling? What is his floor? #askalan @mattymcginley

Bill Haas is his ceiling. A stroke average of 74.7 as the fourth or fifth man on the Stanford golf team is his floor, and that ain’t half bad.

Bill Haas?  That strikes me as a weird answer, and I'd be interested in what he's seen that sets the ceiling so low.  We can't know, but he sure can hit the ball and you'd think that since, per Bobby Jones, golf is contested between the ears, that he'd be learning much that will prove useful.

With the COO of LIV gone, we now must wonder how much time Sharky has left? If we start the clock on January 1, who lasts longer—Greg Norman or a head of lettuce? @ZitiDoggsGolf

I hope that lettuce is freeze-dried because Norman isn’t going anywhere. Things are definitely happening behind the scenes at LIV; one exec described it to me as “corporate restructuring.” In fact, it is a consolidation of power for Norman, and the recent departure of COO Atul Khosla is only one manifestation. His day-to-day duties will be handled by the clever fellows (Gary Davidson, Richard Marsh, and Jed Moore) who basically birthed LIV. While Norman has been out front, Marsh and Moore especially were handling the details and hammering out the contracts. They have a Day 1 kinship with Norman and are more spiritually aligned with him than Khosla, a sports/media veteran who was brought in to be an outside voice. But Khosla’s abrupt departure does speak to LIV’s behind-the-scenes dysfunction; at Trump Doral he welcomed the assembled media for a splashy presentation about how the team franchise concept is key to LIV’s financial future. It’s a weird look to make him the public face of organizational competence and then he’s gone a couple of months later. And Khosla had already performed triage for LIV, absorbing the chief commercial officer duties after Sean Bratches abruptly departed in May, four days after the London media day, at which Norman dropped his infamous “Look, we’ve all made mistakes” line about the Saudis’ assassination of Jamal Khashoggi. LIV was set to announce on Dec. 21 its 2023 roster of 48 players and 12 reserves, but that is now on hold until after the holidays, just as the release of the full ’23 schedule has been bumped back a few times. These delays speak to all of the internal turbulence. But the bottom line is two C-Suite warriors have now been ousted without full-time successors being named, meaning Norman is more entrenched than ever and he has more of a direct line to the Saudi kingmakers who have been dazzled by his star power and willingness to fight for them. As long as the Saudis are happy with Norman he’s on firm footing, despite the press conference sniping of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.

Dazzled by his star power?  Yowzer, talk about getting what you deserve.

Some interesting background from Alan there, but you know I think Tiger and Rory erred in going after the Sharky, and have probably entrenched him further as a result.  But that's a good thin, methinks, because he's quite the boob.  But this whole issue devolves into the question on what the Saudis think they're getting for their $2 billion large.

Alan doesn't indicate whether those announcements will include new defections, but he's previously said that he thinks whoever wanted to go has already gone.  

Most impressive return to #1—Rors or Lydia? I got with Lydia. @golfnomadic

Oooh, good one. Both are exceptionally impressive, but I agree Ms. Ko had a tougher climb back to the top simply because of her years-long victory drought and associated strife. McIlroy certainly had his struggles but was never that down and out.

Gotta be Lydia because she did it without the glasses.  But the common thread is that neither did much in their majors, leading to this Q&A:

#Askalan Can you see a major championship win in McIlroy for ’23? @CiaranGBoyle

Of course! Unfortunately, so can Rory, and that’s the problem; he keeps getting in his own way. But I liked his recent comments that it has been so long since his last major it feels like he is chasing the first one again and he can feel some of that old hunger. I have no doubt McIlroy will contend in at least a couple of majors next year. Can he finally get it done? Gawd, I hope so, because he is playing at such a high level. If he doesn’t nab one in ’23 I fear he will be irreversibly broken.

I'm not loving his chances, as he seems to play his worst when he wants it most.  But we can speak of majors generically, but there's the one he needs the most, only so that he can impose his childish antics on Sergio, et. al.

Is it just me or has golf become so vanilla to watch in any format? PS: it’s not just me, I don’t know any golfer who watches outside of the majors. @georgebooth73

This is the result of many things. You can blame equipment advances, which have allowed the modern professional to overpower outdated playing fields, leading to mindless caveman golf that lacks artistry and creativity. Blame the PGA Tour (and now LIV) for choosing boring venues and setting them up unimaginatively. You can blame the GQ cover story from 1997 that captured Tiger Woods telling tasteless jokes, leading to a minor media backlash that burned into Woods’s brain it was safer to be bland and boring rather than risk endorsement by being yourself; generations of would-be Tiger imitators inculcated this depressing worldview. You can blame the old dogs at the TV networks who rarely innovated and allowed golf telecasts to become so stultifying. There’s plenty of blame to go around, and the bloated, boring state of PGA Tour golf made an easy target for a new competitor. LIV has at least tried to do things differently, but its product is not exactly wowing disenfranchised golf fans. At least not yet. It will take even bolder thinking to win back the fans cited in this question.

Golf is boring, kids, which might have taken the Saudis by surpise.

Kids, I'm going to leave you here.  I've moved my travel day to Saturday from the craziness of tomorrow, but that's not without its own wind related risks, though not sure I'll get to the keyboard tomorrow.  Why don't we just agree that I'll see you when I see you.  

And a Merry Christmas to all.


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Tuesday, December 20, 2022

Tuesday Treats

A typical blogging day involves a gazillion open browser tabs compromised by a 60-Minutes style clock ticking in the background.  Today we find ourselves in Bizarro World, with time to burn but little actual news....

'So, whatcha want to talk about?

News, Made - We never finished counting down Golf Digest's Newsmakers of the Year, so we ought to be able to find a few bits of interest there.  For those keeping a scorecard at home, I can inform that you have to count backwards up to the ninth slot to find an entry, Scottie Scheffler, that's not LIV-centric (and even there you could argue that his not defecting is newsworthy).

So, which caught the idiosyncratic eye of your humble blogger?  Well, leopard, spots:

No. 21: Patrick Reed's lawsuits

It wasn’t the most productive season of Patrick Reed’s career on the course—he fell out of the top 50 in the World Ranking for the first time since January 2014—but when it comes to taking people
to court, it was a downright historic year for the 2018 Masters champ. In August, Reed filed a $750 million civil lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Houston against Golf Channel and Brandel Chambleealleging the defendants conspired with the PGA Tour to defame him by misreporting information “with falsity and/or reckless disregard for the truth.” Reed subsequently withdrew the case and refiled it in September in a District Court in Florida, adding Golf Channel broadcasters Shane Bacon, Damon Hack and Eamon Lynch, as well as their media companies Golfweek and Gannett. In November, Reed filed another defamation suit, this one for $250 million, against Fox Sports, the New York Post, Hachette Book Group and the Associated Press, as well as author (and Golf Digest contributor) Shane Ryan and AP journalist Doug Ferguson. That’s $1 BILLION in damages being sought by the nine-time PGA Tour winner, who managed to earn more than $12 million playing for the 4 Aces after jumping from the PGA Tour to the upstart Saudi-backed circuit in June. Reed’s personal legal efforts have been panned by golf fans on social media, and a judge dismissed Reed’s initial complaint against Golf Channel and Chamblee in November, requiring him to file an amended one this month. But before we get wrapped up in one of these, we’re going to stop talking … Just to be safe … —Alex Myers

Blogger is in one of it's pissy moods, as you can tell from the formatting issues above.  I've already spent five minutes trying to correct it to no avail....

Of course, there's no need to read the full 'graph, because everything you really need to know is captured by the use of the plural noun in the header.  Or is it?  Because, while I had thought PReed had limited himself to defamation claims, according to this (h/t Shack) Patrick is a far more well-rounded athlete than we realized:

Palm Beach Court Denies Motion to Dismiss and Case Now Heads to Discovery Depositions of Jay Monahan, Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods, Davis Love III & Others on the Horizon

Say what?  How come we haven't heard previously of this lawsuit?

(Palm Beach, Florida, December 9, 2022). Yesterday, Larry Klayman, the lead plaintiff on behalf of his public interest foundation, Freedom Watch — formerly known as the International Center for Economic Justice — defeated the motion to dismiss filed by the defendants, the PGA Tour and its commissioner Jay Monahan, in the consumer class action complaint filed in Palm Beach County, Florida. Freedom Watch's mission, in addition to pursuing justice, is to promote free and fair economic competition.

The Second Amended Complaint at issue in the case styled (Klayman v. PGA Tour et. al 50-2022-CA-006587, 15th Jud. Cir., Palm Beach County) can be viewed at www.freedomwatchusa.org. It joins along with the PGA Tour and Monahan the DP World Tour, the Official World Golf Ranking ("OWGR"), and NBC's Golf Channel, for allegedly colluding and conspiring in violation of Florida's antitrust and competition laws, to restrain trade in the golf industry. As the Second Amended Complaint alleges, due to the Defendents' anticompetitive conduct, Klayman and other golf fans, who are consumers in Florida, have been harmed due to the reduced competition, causing the price of admission tickets and concessions for and at PGA tournaments to increase greatly for the golfing consumer.

Patrick suing over the price of a beer at The Honda might be the funniest thing you hear today, so take a moment to enjoy it.

But depositions could be fun, so I'm maintaining a topped-up strategic popcorn reserve in both Unplayable Lies offices.

 This one COULD be interesting, although the timing is unclear:

No. 20: Netflix jumps into golf

The success or failure of the upcoming, still-untitled Netflix documentary on the year in professional golf will inevitably be compared to the breakout hit “Formula 1: Drive To Survive,”
which transformed how the world—and especially America—saw F1 racing. It will be tempting, in fact, to believe that it was “Drive to Survive” that was the direct inspiration. In fact, Chad Mumm, the chief creative officer at Vox, dreamed of making a golf-themed show since at least 2014, when, as the head of Vox's ad agency, he lost out to Skratch in a bid to work with the PGA Tour. Having maintained his relationship with the tour’s media team—they played golf together each year in Las Vegas at a tech conference—he finally got his shot in 2019. By that spring, it was starting to become clear what Netflix had on its hands with DTS, and even if it didn't necessarily assist with Mumm's initial pitch, it helped with everything that came after, from signing players to securing Netflix as the platform of choice.

With the first audio recorded at Tiger’s Hero World Challenge in December 2021, and shooting starting the week of Torrey Pines in 2022, Mumm’s teams have been behind the scenes, chronicling a year in professional golf, whatever that might entail (and in 2022, it involved more than they ever expected). Among the “cast” of signed players are Rickie Fowler, Brooks Koepka, Ian Poulter, Tony Finau, Matt Fitzpatrick, Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas, Mito Pereira, Joel Dahmen, Max Homa and Sahith Theegala.

The biggest "character" of all, though, might be the one they weren't expecting: LIV Golf. Whether the schism in the sport is good for the game is up for debate, but controversy and drama of that type is never bad for a film crew, and in that sense the Netflix team couldn't have picked a better year to start its project. 

What’s to come is an eight-episode series that debuts early next year, and if it reaches anywhere near the dizzying heights of DTS, it will be a coup not just for Vox and Netflix, but for all the stars of the show and the sport of golf itself. A few years ago, it might have sounded hyperbolic to say that a simple documentary could transform an institution like golf. Now, we've seen what it can do for a niché sport, and we know that the so-called Netflix Effect could be seismic. —Shane Ryan

We can all agree that they picked the only year since 1744 that could make golfers even remotely interesting.... Amusingly, Shack also has an update for us here:

🎥 Justin Byers says Netflix announced a January 13th launch date for its tennis version of Drive To Survive. Still no word on a drop date for the golf version filmed all of last year.

Amusing because, with the success of Drive to Survive, Netflix has quite obviously decided to trot out a knock-off anywhere they can get access.  I understand that the coming series on cornhole has some devastating material...

Will it be entertaining and enlightening?  I don't know, but why start now?

And is this merely an post facto, or a portentous omen for 2023?

No. 11: Cup Upheaval

In an alternate universe where COVID never forces the Ryder Cup onto an odd-year cycle, the PGA of America, which runs the Ryder Cup, would have been the first to confront an uncomfortable question: Should the organization do a solid to the PGA Tour and risk damaging
its headline revenue-generating event by prohibiting LIV Golf participants from being on the teams?

Instead, that burden fell on the Presidents Cup, set for September at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte. Given the PGA Tour runs that match, it didn't hesitate banning LIV golfers. For the U.S. team, this was a largely incidental decision. All six automatic qualifiers were still card-carrying tour members, and there was no American plying his trade on LIV whose form would make an obvious captain's pick for Davis Love III.

It was a different story for the International team and captain Trevor Immelman. Two of his top four players in automatic qualifying—Cameron Smith and Joaquin Niemann—took themselves out of the running when they jumped to LIV after the Tour Championship in late August. Same with six-time PGA Tour Marc Leishman, who would've been an obvious captain's pick. Suddenly, a team that had won just one time in 13 editions of the match looked like an even more under of underdogs.

To Immelman’s credit, the Internationals succeeded in making the contest more competitive than anticipated, the 17½-12½ final score betraying just how close things were during Sunday’s singles. Tom Kim rose as an unlikely hero, one of a trio of young South Korean players who emerged as potential anchors for Mike Weir when he captain’s the Internationals at Royal Montreal in 2024.

Even so, the weakness of an already flailing contest is plain for all to see. The International team hasn't lifted the Presidents Cup since 1998, and to have several of its best players likely ineligible moving forward is a gutting blow. With LIV appealing specifically to the best International players, it's hard to comprehend what the road back—if any—is.

The Ryder Cup, meanwhile, has the luxury of waiting to let things cool down and play out. The awkward removal of Europe’s original captain, Henrik Stenson, after he signed with LIV in July was a controversial call, one that even golf fans passively opposed to LIV considered harsh. But, ultimately, it's a tradeoff they'd take. There will be no uprising against Stenson’s replacement, nice guy Luke Donald.

The luxury it doesn't enjoy is golf fans not caring what they decide to do. The Ryder Cup has stakes. Real stakes. Ones people as passionate about. Ones that depend on the allure of an outcome nobody can predict. —Luke Kerr-Dineen

I'm not predicting a disruption of that certain event in Rome, but I can see scenarios that call its occurrence into question.

The Match - If a made-for-TV golf event falls flat in its face in the woods (heh, see what I did there?), does anyone hear it?  Apparently not, per Geoff:

I've been unable to capture the relative audience sizes for the seven installments, with only the second iteration drawing what I would characterize as a substantial audience, which I'm sure we can credit to Tom Brady splitting his pants.

But no one is watching, even with Tiger actually playing, so Lord knows where this might be going.  

But I did want to include this for two very important reasons.

First, because of its shear size, it appears to make this post more substantive.

But, more to the point, I'm pretty sure they're no longer calling it the Shark Shootout.... Why?  Well, I'm guessing you can suss that one out on your own.

LIV Bits - The actual story is behind a WSJ paywall, but Geoff had this on further legal maneuvering:

I'm unclear on why this would be deemed tortious, though I'm unable to find another source that references the WSJ account.  

But there's something in the water, because it was the WSJ that ran that weirdly-timed expose on Jay Monahan's private jet use back in September.  We've seen similar inconsistencies from the Biden Administration, which has careened from calling Saudi Arabia a "pariah state" to having its Justice Department conduct an antitrust investigation of the PGA Tour, which could seemingly only be at the behest of the bonecutters.

The fault lines are difficult to discern, but my Spidey sense indicates that this is no mere coincidence....

I'm going to post a couple of weird tweets, the authenticity of which your humble blogger cannot verify.  The first is from an account called LIV Insider, which smells to your humble blogger just like PReed's oft-discussed UseGolfFactsNow burner account.  See how you like this one:

First obvious question is whether that can possibly be true.  So what if it is, but I just look at Charlie's game, especially with cameras pointed at him, and can't see there being too many better at his age.  

But, more importantly, I thought we avoided attacking the women and children.... Your humble blogger thought Tiger calling for Norman's head was "punching down", so what would we call this?  Although, to be fair, I think Norman could make a compelling case that taking on Charlie is a battle of equals...

This one is even nastier, though I can't find any evidence that this was actually said:

Color me skeptical, given that his father always said that Tiger was good to him.  Just some strange times we're living through, which should effectively dispel any remaining sense that golf is a game for gentlemen.  Glad to have that out of the way...

Pay close attention, because if you blink you'll miss another of those effortless segues.... Golf Digest has this item topping its home page:

7 surprising social media stars of 2022

And, whatya know?

LIV Golf Bots

This isn’t a specific person, but rather a specific type of person. You know, accounts that seemingly popped out of nowhere with no profile photo. And ones that suddenly were very vocal when it came to defending LIV Golf and attacking the PGA Tour. These bots were everywhere! I won’t highlight any, but rather a joke at their expense:

Like me, the author is putting his faith in you-know-who:

It's OK to share differing opinions, but the mean streets of Golf Twitter are actually getting mean thanks to some of these people pests. Clean it up, Elon!

Elon's doing great, just quite a few years too late for most of us.

I'll leave you there and see you as news and my ski schedule permits. 

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Monday, December 19, 2022

Weekend Wrap

I'm back in the saddle, after three days of trying to keep up with the young punks.  The good news is that I probably don't need my quads for blogging....

Singh For Your Supper - It seemed they were destined to always be the bridesmaids....

Thanks to a “committee” decision, Vijay and Qass Singh were not placed in the final grouping of Sunday’s final round of the PNC Championship, despite finishing earlier than the team they shared second place with.

That team was, of course, Tiger and Charlie Woods.

But the Singhs ended up as the last team standing Sunday. Vijay and 32-year-old son Qass fired a second-straight 59 to edge defending champions John Daly and John Daly II, and Justin and Mike Thomas, by two strokes. They’re the first team in PNC history to shoot two sub-60 rounds in the tournament.

“It’s about time, yeah, so I’m thrilled,” said Qass, who works in the insurance business. “I’m so happy. This is already the best week, so this is just making it just, you know, no words can describe. It’s going to be a memory I’m going to have forever.”

I'm sorry, is that not the team you wanted to discuss?  We'll circle back to that committee decision, but first this little bit of Vijay's winning personality:

“Funny thing is we don’t really know what’s going on there until 18,” the 59-year-old Vijay said. “Whoever is looking should put some scoreboards out there so we have some idea what the hell we are doing out there.”

Entitled much?  I mean, it's the friggin' Father-Son, so maybe chill a bit...

As noted, they were due:

The win is the first in 16 tries for Vijay and Qass, who finished second three times and third three times in the event. Like the Woodses and Dalys this week, the Singhs also dealt with their own injury woes. Vijay was dealing with a sore foot that forced him to wear running shoes this week, as opposed to golf shoes.

OK, but even playing with his son, Vijay remains an awfully tough guy to warm up to.  If he were maybe five years younger, he's be the LIV prototype, no?  Prickly personality, with his best years behind him and rules imbroglios following is around?  Is that not the profile McKinsey designed for LIV?

Team Charlie - I watched a bit of yesterday's action, though crashed before its conclusion.  Watching Charlie develop under his father's guidance is a uniquely interesting thing, and it does cast Tiger in a far more appealing light than usual:

The 2022 PNC Championship didn’t by any means have the stakes of a U.S. Open or Masters,
but as Tiger has told us many times, he doesn't enter tournaments to finish in second place. He was at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club this past week, competing with his 13-year-old son, Charlie, in the two-player team event, to win.

The problem was that neither Woods had their best stuff.

Mind you, despite having played just nine competitive rounds on the PGA Tour this year, the most recent coming five months ago, Tiger’s swing was impressive at times during the two-day exhibition. He drove his ball past Justin Thomas on multiple occasions and flagged a series of long irons to set up birdie opportunities. But even during the good rounds, in 2022, there's no escaping reality for Tiger.

Translated into Tigerese, they didn't have their A-game.   

Silver lining?

And, perhaps most important of all, an opportunity for Charlie to learn his dad's superpower of fighting through.

"It's probably a great learning opportunity for Charlie," Justin Thomas, who finished two back of Team Singh, said. "To be in competition and just being like, 'Hey, I didn't have my best stuff.'"

Yanno, Charlie, it is what it is.... How many times do you think he's heard that?

I took some time to watch their post-round pressers for both days, and it's fun watching Tiger's reactions to Charlie's answers, this being the most notable:

At the same time, Charlie was also impressed at what he saw from his dad.

"I feel like I already knew what he was capable of,” Charlie said, “and then yesterday, that's the best he's ever played in a while, and that kind of shocked me a little bit."

“I used to be good," Tiger responded with a smirk.

Lots of eye-rolling involved, but an appealing side of Tiger.

Shall we see what those Tour Confidentialistas thought?  Yeah, you know that was a rhetorical question, right?

1. Our James Colgan, on site for this week’s PNC Championship, wrote about Tiger Woods’ eventful year despite the 15-time major champ playing just three official events. Woods, along with Rory McIlroy, was the PGA Tour’s most loyal and vocal backer in the year LIV Golf was born. With less and less golf in front of him, how important do you think Woods’ 2022 will be to his legacy?

Josh Berhow: Not as significant as becoming the first Black player to win the Masters, or winning the Tiger Slam, or winning the U.S. Open on a broken leg, but the words Tiger uses
matter, and as he ages, they’ll start to matter a lot more than his play, which will be less significant as those days wind down. A lot of it depends on what happens with LIV Golf. If it doesn’t last, how much credit will guys like Tiger and Rory receive? If it does, will people remember what they said? Rory was one of the first guys to say he wanted to be on the right side of history, and Tiger’s actions and words have proven he agrees with that. It’s too early to tell, but this year is another important chapter in Woods’ career, and for different reasons than what we’ve seen before.

Dylan Dethier: Woods has pointed out that the PGA Tour is where he’s made his legacy. In other words, that legacy would be diminished if the PGA Tour was to be diminished. Woods’ 2022 was defined by his decision to speak out in support of the Tour, and his hand in architecting its future. It was also defined by his appearances at the majors: His improbable appearance at the Masters; his rally to make the cut at the PGA; and his memorable walk up No. 18 at the Old Course when he played the Open. He’s never had a year quite like this one — it will define what comes next.

Sean Zak: 2022 for Woods felt like one of those moments in the movies where the main character decides, “this is the first step in the rest of my life.” It was the first year where he really, truly had to grow comfortable with doing less and making it count more. That stands for him still trying to contend despite fewer opportunities as well as saying more with fewer speaking opportunities. His voice has never been more important to the PGA Tour, and Woods recognized that. He spoke up. If he didn’t, we’d be singing a different tune about the battle with LIV Golf. At the end of his career, 2022 could be nothing more than the start of a new chapter, but this chapter might be the most revealing.

I think that's mostly right, though I'm still troubled by that off-kilter Hero World presser.  Not only did he get his ass fact-checked by the unhinged Phil, but punching down at Greg Norman seemed foolish.  

2. Vijay Singh and his son, Qass, won the PNC Championship, but, as in previous years, Tiger Woods and Charlie Woods stole the show and the headlines. Did this week reveal anything new to you about the Tiger/Charlie dynamic?

I guess that's so they can't be accused of not mentioning the winners?

Berhow: Charlie, whether it’s intended or not, has many of his dad’s mannerisms, including playing through some injuries. It’s fun to watch them together. This tournament was already a fun one-off on the pro golf schedule, but Tiger and Charlie entering it have really elevated it the past three years. There’s also a really fun dynamic there when they play with the Thomases. Was good to see another Tour star get in on the action with Jordan Spieth joining this year as well.

Dethier: This is the first time we’ve heard Charlie talk about Tiger. And while Charlie knows in theory how good his father was in his prime, this week he saw something different — and better. “Yesterday — that’s the best he’s played in a while,” Charlie said after the second round. So to answer the question, I learned that Charlie’s still learning about his dad. That’s cool.

Zak: This week was a reminder of what seems like a real two-way friendship between father and son. Tiger gets so much joy out of competing with Charlie, and Charlie gets so many lessons from perhaps the best golf teacher in the world. Son pushes Dad’s buttons. Dad reminds Son when he’s going too far. We’ve all been there.

This seems the relevant bit, Tiger playing the exact role that Earl played for him:

But he’s softened as a dad even while indulging in the gamesmanship that his father visited upon him: the well-timed jangling of coins, ripping of Velcro, and/or clearing of throat.

“If I can get into his head,” Tiger said of Charlie, “that means someone else can get into his head. It’s going to get to a point where I can’t get into his head, and then no one else can.”

Though no Mike Douglass show appearances for young Charlie....

And this on that controversy:

3. The Thomases led after the first day, with Team Woods and Team Singh tied for second. Yet despite the Singhs finishing their round first on Saturday, it was Tiger and Charlie who were in the final grouping on Sunday with Justin and Mike Thomas. Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard reported: “As one tournament official explained, with a knowing smile, the pairings were adjusted by a ‘committee’ decision.” Any issue with this?

Berhow: Hmm, a slightly odd move, but I’m not offended and I don’t think anyone else should be. Yes, they are playing for some money, but this is a fun, laid-back event. Slightly tweaking the final-round pairings to get Tiger and Charlie and the Thomases together makes sense to appease one person they desperately want to keep coming back (Mr. Woods), and it makes for a better made-for-TV grouping, especially considering how well those four gel together. It’s also worth noting this wasn’t an egregious tee times tweak, with Tiger and Charlie three or four back, for example. They had the same score. Oh well.

Dethier: Nah. I consulted with a committee of my own and determined that if the tournament you’re arguing about is a scramble that includes 13-year-olds, you can basically make up any rules you want.

Zak: LOL, no. And anyone who has an issue can kick rocks. First, this should be the rule, anyway, for pro golf played on TV. And second, this event should be kept as casual as possible. If reworking the pairings in — and this should be noted — the slightest fashion is possible, do it.

Am I the only one in America troubled by this?  Only a little bit, but still...

If you want the Committee to play matchmaker, then just announce ahead of time that you won't be adhering to the typical protocols.  Just a little weird to do in the dark of night, as it were.

But the other thing is that, to this observer, it kind of violates the spirit of the event, bring legends from all different eras together.  I just think they should go out of their way to pair Tiger-Charlie with Lee Trevino or whoever....

I guess what I'm really saying is that I'd have been more favorably disposed to it if they hadn't paired them already in the Saturday round.  

And this tiresome yet inevitable question:

4. The PNC Championship was the last time we’ll see the elder Woods compete in 2022, and we’re not yet sure when we’ll see him next in 2023. He said his goal for this past year was to play in just the Open Championship, but he ended up playing an additional two majors. When do you guess we’ll see Tiger next, and what do you think 2023 has in store for him? (And there’s no chance he can win another major, like Padraig Harrington just predicted, is there?)

Berhow: I’m guessing Tiger decides to be just a host at the Genesis Invitational and doesn’t play, but I bet we see him at the Players Championship the next month. And I think this year was very much a blueprint of what we’ll see from Tiger going forward: the majors if he can, a PNC Championship with Charlie, and maybe a random start here or there. I don’t expect him to win another major — sorry, Paddy! — but if it’s going to happen anywhere, it will be Augusta, and crazier things have happened.

Dethier: Man, I dunno. He’s hitting the crap out of the ball — Justin Thomas was one of the longer hitters on the PGA Tour last year and said Woods is currently longer than he is. Walking just seems like a massive issue right now. Walking 72 holes of stroke play is a taxing endeavor, so Woods contending in 2023 seems like a long shot. But I’ve sworn off swearing off Tiger Woods.

Zak: Woods already looked a lot better this weekend than last weekend. I’d guess he gets daily treatment for his plantar fasciitis throughout January and gives it a go at Riviera for the Genesis. The course is hilly on the 1st and hilly on the 18th. Everywhere in between should be somewhat comfortable for him by then.

The Players?  That's quite the howler....

I don't think there's a chance in hades we see him before Augusta, but if he wanted a Florida appearance I'd be betting on Bay Hill....

LIVeration - Actual news from last week:

One of the top executives of LIV Golf has resigned, according to a report from the New York
Times.

That would be Atul Khosla, chief operating officer of the Saudi-backed circuit. Khosla, 43, left his job with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to join LIV in January 2022. Khosla is a sports-business veteran; before his five years with the Buccaneers, he spent six years as COO of the Chicago Fire Soccer Club and five years with Alli Sports, which is a part of NBC Sports Group.

Khosla was seen as one of the voices of reason inside LIV, sources tell Golf Digest. Against criticism that LIV Golf was nothing more than a publicity stunt to improve the reputation of Saudi Arabia—which funds the golf entity through its Public Investment Fund—Khosla insisted the organization’s goals were business related.

So, let me see if I have this right, shilling for the bonecutters makes you the "voice of reason"?   Compared to Greg Norman, sure, but that's an awfully low bar....

He had these further comments about the viability of the enterprise:

“If you look at the investment portfolio of our primary investor, PIF, they have invested all over the world in incredibly large businesses that they believe will be profitable,” Khosla told Golf Digest this summer. “Their view of this is no different. That’s the expectation that we have from our board.

“Like any other startup, do we have upfront costs to get the product off the ground? Yes, we do. And it is no different than a burn rate that an Uber may have or any other startup tech might have to get the product off the ground with a vision of disrupting the space. We are fortunate, of course, to have an institution that has the patience to be able to go through this methodically and in the right fashion.”

Ya think?  Because I hadn't heard that Uber gave Phil $200 million large....

So, what's it all about Alfie?  Here's the take from that TC confab, the last response being the most thought-provoking:

5. LIV Golf’s President and COO, Atul Khosla, resigned from his role as the breakaway league prepares for its first full season. Is this a sign that things aren’t progressing as quickly as LIV’s brass would like, or not much of anything?

Berhow: It’s hard to say. LIV had ambitious goals for Year 1, but given all the hurdles they faced over the past year, I’m not sure it would have ever been easy to create a realistic set of goals in the first place. The first year of anything is hard to predict.

Dethier: Two things are true: No. 1, there’s turbulence in the ranks. This is a bad sign for LIV; Khosla was a legitimizing force on the organization’s business side. And yes, despite their early success, they’re still projecting behind where they’d like to be. But No. 2 is that we should be wary of writing off LIV. As long as a few very powerful decision-makers remain determined for it to succeed, it’s not going to suddenly vanish. It’ll also be interesting to hear more about why he stepped aside — if we ever get the chance.

Zak: Let me lead with a timeline. On Oct. 29th, Atul Khosla walked media members through LIV Golf’s future business plan. On Oct. 30th, I asked him a simple question: “Can you sell this thing?”

“Absolutely,” he said. “[I] had to show the world what it was all about.”

He was awfully confident that weekend, but then left his post in a matter of weeks? To me, that is alarming. I’ll just leave it at that.

I just want to get ahead of the curve and state that Atul Khosla did not commit suicide.

We can't know for sure, there might well have been personal issues.  But, given that I think they're between a rock and a hard place, this is at the least very curious.  We're all wondering about future defections and about that TV contract and, the cynic in me says, were it going well the COO wouldn't have employed his parachute.

One last bit, Eamon Lynch takes his characteristic look at the LIV world and its mouthpiece:

With his carefully curated image of a man swaggering across the global stage disrupting industries, dictating terms and settling scores, Greg Norman exhibits a delusion common among
courtiers who imagine themselves in the vein of those for whom they labor. But far from earning comparison to MBS, or even with Yasir al-Rumayyan, the Crown Prince’s bagman at Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, Norman increasingly calls to mind another legendary figure from the region: Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf.

Al-Sahhaf is better remembered as “Comical Ali,” a derisive moniker he acquired while serving as Saddam Hussein’s spokesman during the Iraq War two decades ago. His every utterance defied ample evidence to the contrary, most memorably his insistence that American troops had been slaughtered outside Baghdad, even as U.S. tanks rolled through the very neighborhood in which he stood. The hapless shilling for middle eastern autocrats and a refusal to acknowledge reality seems eerily familiar today, although Norman lacks the levity provided by Al-Sahhaf’s obvious lunacy.

Funny, though we can agree that the LOW degree of difficulty makes it impossible to post a good score.

But the best part is his parsing of Greggy's nonsense:

This week, he gamely presented the fact that Justin Thomas took a meeting with LIV—and didn’t immediately squat on the concept—as evidence of the league’s success, while omitting that the conversation took place some time ago and that Thomas has since been vocally loyal to the PGA Tour. The contortions continued when Norman said that Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy “have no idea what they’re talking about” and accused them of being childish for saying he had to be replaced as CEO, before adding that the door to LIV remains open for them, much as a drowning man’s arms are open to anyone who wishes to toss him a life vest.

Combined with the Khosla resignation, there certainly is the appearance of a bit of flailing amongst the LIVsters, though that Dylan Dethier qualification above should be reinforced.  I can't speculate on how this all looks to the Saudis, but we can have no clue as to how long they might bankroll it.

And here's Eamon's take on that McKinsey report:

The off-boarding of another key executive followed a damaging New York Times report on Dec. 11 that detailed the struggle facing Saudi golf ambitions, based on a 2021 report by the regime’s consultant of choice, McKinsey and Company. McKinsey has long flattered odious clients—the company previously helped identify Saudi dissidents on social media who were later targeted by the government—yet even its dependable toadies couldn’t manufacture a plausible path to success for LIV, at least not as a conventional investment.

McKinsey took pains to note that it wasn’t challenging the laughable assumptions underpinning LIV’s projections. On that basis, the most optimistic scenario—one that required signing every top player, obtaining a broadcast deal, and experiencing no pushback from the PGA Tour—suggested earnings (not profit) of several hundred million dollars annually by 2028. Failing to meet those benchmarks, which is how things stand, would see losses in excess of $350 million a year. That study was completed before LIV had to throw grossly inflated sums at players to sign on.

In the cagey language of consultancy, the report was a throbbing, neon stop sign. McKinsey created a decision matrix that was then ignored, and LIV was launched with no market research to determine whether it was a product craved by anyone other than Norman and the players and agents who would burrow into MBS’s purse. That McKinsey’s assessment was ignored illustrates just how few people in Riyadh needed to be sold a bill of goods for LIV to get this far. Concomitant to that is how few people must lose faith before the plug is pulled.

This makes me wonder whether Eamon has seen the actual McKinsey work product, or is limited to that Pravda account.  I don't actually think it was so much a stop sign as a report that sufficiently vague to allow the Saudis to claim it justified whatever they wanted to do in the first place.

I shall leave you here and we'll visit again soon.

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