I did warn you, so none of that whining... You'll be on your own for The Wasted, not that we won't have some previews below. The bride and I are off to Florida tomorrow morning for a week of sun and golf. There will be no blogging since the laptop is not invited along.... Actually, I'm smiling because I couldn't bring it even on the off-chance that I wanted to, for the simple reason that it's hanging in Utah for the winter.
Don't worry, you'll be fine.... And, if not, that won't affect our trip at all.
Wasted Away Again... - This certainly seems true enough:
It always works in its own way, no? Although this is kinda curious, also in its own way:
But this week’s event catches the PGA Tour answering even bigger, more existential questions. What’s the purpose of our existence? What are we doing here? How can we be better? (Enthusiastic tournament attendees may be asking yourselves those same questions when Sunday morning hits. Hang in there.) This WM Phoenix Open represents the Tour’s answer to those questions. It marks the Tour’s first full-field “designated event,” which means the WM has its strongest field ever. It’s offering its largest prize ever, too, a $20 million payday that would have wowed pros a year ago.The Super Bowl is kicking off just down the road, offering untold celebrity/athlete crossover hype opportunities. And Sunday marks the debut of Netflix’s new docuseries, Full Swing, which the Tour hopes will boost interest from existing fans and attract new ones, too.In other words, it seems like a good time for the Tour to launch its new product. How’s it gonna go?
Poor Dylan Dethier struggles with the physics of it all:
But the Tour hasn’t been completely consistent in its embrace of the change. What were first trumpeted as “Elevated Events” are now just lowercase “designated events.” At a tournament where Beer and Seltzer have both earned dubious capitalization (see above), this series of massive rotating events has not. This muddies the waters; defining “designated events” to non-golfing friends is a multi-step process.If Tour leadership seems somewhat bashful about boosting up some events, that’s likely because elevating some means relegating others. Last week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, for instance, got buried in the schedule, stuck the week before back-to-back designated events (this week in Phoenix plus next week’s Genesis Invitational). And it’s still not clear how different this year’s fall schedule — initially pitched as an offseason of sorts, inserted to make us hungry for star-powered golf tournaments come springtime — will end up looking.But that’s the reality of the situation. Weakening some events only pays off if those that are strengthened more than make up for it. TV ratings never tell the full story, but there’s no question the Tour is hoping for improvement after sagging numbers at its January events. They’ll have this week’s CBS viewership number circled, no doubt. I’d argue they could still help themselves by further emphasizing the big-time events, though; fans will take their cues from the Tour’s messaging but it’s still not clear if we should be focused on a 17-event schedule or a 45-event schedule.
Even if the strengthened events "make up" for those weakened, you've burned some of your core sponsors, which for 2023 includes names like Honda, AT&T and Sony. That's gotta come back to hurt them, one assumes.
They've certainly achieved their objective in terms of field strength:
Who’s here — and who isn’t?Nearly every top PGA Tour player is in attendance at TPC Scottsdale. That’s no surprise, given the Player Impact Program mandates they play every designated event (with one skip each). But it’s still significant to have 18 of the top 20 players (missing only Cameron Smith and Will Zalatoris) in the World Ranking.
The whole objective of this exercise is to ensure that Rory and Rahm (or Scottie, JT or other alpha dogs) are going head-to-head as Super Bowl kick-off approaches. But, there are 135 players in the field, and golf frustratingly remains golf, so one assumes they'll be lucky if anyone of those eighteen have an actual chance late on Sunday. I'm assuming we'll get a Jason Duffner-Briasn Gay cage match, which should, but won't, disabuse the powers that be of this pretense.
One last amusing bit from Phoenix:
All week long we've heard about this change at No. 16:
“All alcohol service on the 16th hole will be served in a plastic cup — commemorative cup for Beer and Seltzer drinks and normal plastic cups for mixed drinks.”That’s the sort of shift we’ve gotten used to at this tournament. It’s a sensible one, too, after aluminum showers dominated TPC Scottsdale’s iconic par-3 last year. But these are the singular challenges of Phoenix Open week. Players wonder how they’re supposed to putt when all of that is going on. Fans wonder if they should make a mid-morning transition from tequila to High Noon. Tournament organizers wonder if they should add another bleacher and another beer tent to go with it.
Alcohol is such an integral part of this event's DNA, that you'd think the organizers would be more concerned about those water features being used for a different purpose..... yanno what I mean?
LIV Nation - I guess this is the McKinsey way, but quite the admission from LIV's attorneys:
“The Tour’s motion to amend should be denied because the amendment would be futile, would cause unfair prejudice, was unduly delayed, and is obviously intended to inappropriately delay the case and resolution of Plaintiffs’ antitrust claims,” wrote LIV’s attorneys. “Delay will equally harm LIV because the Tour continues its anticompetitive conduct while the litigation is pending. The Tour has damaged LIV’s brand, driven up its costs by hundreds of millions of dollars, and driven down revenues to virtually zero.”
Down from what? I'm sure the IPOs for the franchises are just around the corner, just as the cash will start rolling in from the CW...
The same article did answer a question that struck me recently:
Eleven LIV Golf players, including Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau, filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour in August of last year. Over the last six months, players have joined and dropped from the suit, and now just LIV Golf, DeChambeau, Matt Jones and Peter Uihlein remain.
I was curious as to which, if any, players remained in that antitrust lawsuit, and it's an odd threesome. Two rabbits and the former Colossus of Rhodes.... It would be interesting to understand why he has stayed in, when the other long-established players all decided that they didn't want to sue the tour on which they became fabulously wealthy.
Billy's Word - We can speculate on what we might learn, but this can't be good news for our fallen hero:
Mark your calendars for Aug. 15, golf fans.A book by Billy Walters, the famed sports bettor who went to prison in 2017 for insider trading, is expected to include details of his relationship with six-time major champion Phil Mickelson that may not paint the Lefty in the most positive light. Co-written by Armen Keteyian, author of Tiger, Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk will be published by Simon & Schuster and be available later this summer.“In addition to an against-all-odds American dream story, it reveals in granular detail the secrets of Walters’s proprietary sports betting system, which will serve as a master class for tens of millions of recreational gamblers in America and around the world,” according to a press release. “Walters also breaks his silence about his long and complicated relationship with Hall of Fame professional golfer Phil Mickelson.”
To this observer, the aspect of Phil that I think deserves more scrutiny is his reluctance to pay his gambling debts:
Alan Shipnuck, who authored a biography on Mickelson released last year, said on the Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz in May of 2022 that Walters elected not to speak with him in order to save his thoughts for his own book.“Phil’s nervous about that book, and he probably should be,” said Shipnuck.Mickelson’s connection to Walters – reports said he once owed Walters $2 million in gambling debts – was brought to light in 2017 when Walters was found guilty of insider trading. Walters was convicted on all 10 counts against him, fined $10 million and sentenced to five years in prison while Mickelson was ordered to pay back trading profits totaling $931,738 plus interest of $105,292, but otherwise skated free on a technicality.
He craves the spotlight, ensuring that we know about his gambling successes, such as that famous Ravens bet way back when. But we have three examples in the public record in which he failed to pony up, including this one where Walters apparently believed that he would only get paid if he shared that insider trading tip with Phil. He should be shamed for this reluctance to settle his losing wagers, no?
A Mismatch - While I think it's generally good practice to read an article before trashing it, I'll make an exception here:
The Super Bowl of Golf: Kansas City vs. Philadelphia
Here's a pro tip for you. When one of the two cities has a school of golf architecture named for it, it's not gonna be a close call. The names you need are Wilson, Crump, Fownes, Tillinghast and Thomas...
Local News - I've never been a fan boy of Tiger (I mean of him as a man, no quibbles with him as a player), and that predates Thanksgiving 2009. That hasn't changed much recently, as his support of the tour comes with huge asterisks (again, see below).
But, while I call them as I see them, I'll also admit that his interest in golf architecture has seemed a bit more substantive than I might have anticipated, less Jack and more Crenshaw. But who knew he would land a new design gig in my 'hood:
Pack your skis, goggles and golf clubs.Tiger Woods announced Tuesday that he and his golf course design firm, TGR Design, would construct a golf course in Park City, Utah, at Marcella Club. It’s the first mountain design for Woods and will be the fourth golf course to bear his name, including Bluejack National in Houston, El Cardonal at Diamante in Cabo and Payne’s Valley in Hollister, Missouri.There will be two 18-hole courses at Marcella Club, but the second will open after Tiger’s design is completed. His course is slated to be more than 8,000 yards from the tips.
Take the 8,000 yards with a grain of salt, as Park City sits at 6,500 feet of altitude. This is part of a new ski resort being built overlooking the Jordanelle Reservoir, an attempt it seems to create a Yellowstone Club kind of private community.
It's years from fruition and your humble blogger is quite unlikely to be there when it's completed.
TMI On Steroids - It started with a weird question, in response to which the Spaniard way over-shared:
The Spaniard first climbed to the top spot in July 2020 after winning the Memorial at Muirfield Village. It had been a long time coming for the former World No. 1 amateur, having already beenathree-time PGA Tour winner and a six-time DP World Tour winner, not to mention a member of the winning 2018 European Ryder Cup team. With the win at Jack's place, Rahm became the second Spaniard after Seve Ballesteros to reach No. 1 in the OWGR.While it wasn't quite a major win (Rahm would later get his first at the 2021 U.S. Open), it was still cause for celebration. On Tuesday at the WM Phoenix Open, where Rahm is looking to pick up his third win of 2023 already, the now World No. 3 was asked if he had any sort of souvenir outside of the Memorial Tournament trophy from his first time rising to No. 1. Without hesitation, Rahm delivered what could go down as the best, and most NSFW, quote of the golf season."I do. His name is Kepa," Rahm said. "He's almost two years old. Sorry, Kelley, but yeah. She can tell you the story more than me."We suspect that it was that night. Sorry," Rahm added while uncomfortable laughter ensued.
There's much that's curious here, not least why Christopher Powers thought it took him a long-time to get there, given that he was barely 25 years old. More curious to me, is why anyone would ask quite that question.
But then Powers has a little fun with it and us:
Unfortunately, Rahm didn't last very long.
Of course, the bon mots come tumbling out, including that we should defer judgement to Kelley on that one, when he hastily adds:
At World No. 1, that is.
Well, we knew that was coming....
Alan, Asked - It's a merciful God that dumps an Ask Alan just when the need for an anaerobic day of blogging arises:
Who does what to headline this year’s WMPO after Harry and Joel’s performance last time around? @feralgolferWell, whatever they do, I hope it involves a lot less pasty flesh and doughy torso. The ceremonial removal of their polos by Harry Higgs and Joel Dahmen was zany fun, but some things are best not repeated. It would be a refreshing change if this Phoenix Open is defined by stellar golf, not tomfoolery.
Remind me again of where I can go to unsee this image:
Isn't this kind of thing why we have LIV? I mean, the juxtaposition of Dad-bodies and limited golf talent seems to be monopolized by LIV, offer the added benefit that it will only be seen by an audience measured in the low teens.
This is too much question for the venue, methinks:
‘Elevated’…can these tournaments be labeled anything else?! @nm_cantwellOver-the-top? Indulgent? It is deeply ironic that as soon as Jay Monahan pronounced that the PGA Tour would not try to fight LIV dollar for dollar he began trying to fight LIV dollar for dollar. At least this Phoenix Open had a Monday qualifier for the dreamers and will feature a 36-hole cut. Behind the scenes, a civil war is brewing about what the elevated events will look like in 2024 and beyond. The top players want small fields and no cut…LIV Lite. The Tour proletariat want much bigger fields to maximize playing opportunities, which would necessitate a cut. The secret meeting in Delaware made it clear that a small cabal of players has all the power, so the elevated events are probably only going to get grosser.
We had a more thoughtful Eamon Lynch piece on this on Tuesday. Alan does a credible job, although the focus on the cut seems misplaced, as the issue is field size. To me, it seems that they've gone out of their way to keep this unresolved issue under wraps, and small wonder. To this observer, field size is the killer point to be emphasized, as it's the logic for considering the LIV events exhibitions. Of course, making yourself LIV- lite renders those product vs. product comparisons a push.
As a local, what is the prime month for playing Pebble? It sure isn’t February with all the weather issues. #AskAlan @david_troyanOur best weather months are September-October-November, when the fog disappears and the days are clear and toasty. Regular visitors to the area know this, which is why all of the hotels and golf courses are packed. Under the old Tour schedule I always advocated for the Clambake to swap dates with Las Vegas, so Pebble could show off in October and Vegas could slide seamlessly into the West Coast swing. But the folks with the rapacious Pebble Beach Co. would never go for that because they don’t want to miss out on a week or more of tee times in the busiest time of the year. Alas, I don’t know what the solution is. We’ll have to see how the ’24 Tour schedule shakes out; I expect a lot of upheaval. Pebble could/should be a marquee event, so every option needs to be on the table for moving it to the spring or summer.
Alan is quite right about Northern California in October, as I took man trips there in a prior lifetime. But the Tour would never go to Pebble then and have 12 people watching on Golf Channel....
But the distinction worth making is how different conditions are in June, when the USGA occasionally visits. I'm not a fan of taking majors to Tour stops (I'm through with you, Quail Hollow), but I make an exception here because the course is quite the different animal in June.
Would Pebble be a good course if it was in the Midwest? @ddavies2006This is like asking, Would Derek Jeter have slept with so many models if he wasn’t captain of the Yankees? Some things just are. Let’s say the 8th hole doglegged over nondescript prairie grassland instead of the Pacific F’ing Ocean. It would still be a stout par-4 but would your heart pound the same way standing over the approach shot? Of course not. You can’t penalize Pebble Beach for being Pebble Beach. And I always submit that 11, 13 and 16 are underrated, and 2 and 3 are fun risk/reward holes that get no love. So deal with it.
I've long called Pebble to most overrated course on the planet, though I'm being deliberately proactive there for sure. There's more weak holes than is generally recognized, and amusingly Alan named a couple of those.
Should we feel good that “Golf Twitter” roasted the addition to Swilcan Bridge so much that they tore it up not even 24 hours later? @VeryAvgDadNo, the last thing we need is Golf Twitter to get any frisker or cockier, though I think we can all agree that the short-lived stone work was ill-conceived. Part of the outsized outrage was the long-simmering disenchantment over the R&A’s negligence in controlling distance gains for pros and how that has compromised the Old Course. I mean, during the Open the tees had to be placed in truly ridiculous places, just as the greens had to be cut too tight in 2015, leading to wind delays when every other course in that part of Scotland was unaffected. So people are sensitive to the R&A’s poor stewardship of such a beloved course and therefore we all lost our collective minds about a few stones at the foot of an old bridge.
Gee, Alan has been happy enough to stoke Golf Twitter to promote his book.... even to let us know after the fact that he left the juicy stuff out.
I suspect the linkage to the distance debate is a stretch, it was simply an ill-conceived project executed poorly, and the memesters quickly made them beat a hasty retreat. They were sufficiently stupid to have installed the stonework, but not so stupid as to endure more abuse, so about the intelligence level of most of us.
Not sure this guy understands what's coming, but nor does the guy with the buyline:
The move has to be LIV players competing in DPWT events in between LIV events, right? It would be great for the tour and Ryder Cup, TV rights, sponsors and it solves the World Ranking point issue.@JerryB78champOh, yes, I’m sure Keith Pelley is quietly praying that his tour loses the ongoing arbitration case and all of his most popular players who have defected for LIV are allowed to compete on the European Tour. As you note, this would be the way for LIVers to get OWGR points and many would flock to the Euro tour. The ensuing domino effect could be quite impactful, as these players qualify for the European Ryder Cup team and/or play well enough to warrant captain’s picks, with the entire season to mend fences with colleagues. If Team Europe is taking LIV players then Team USA would probably have to as well, for competitive and anti-trust reasons. That could open the door for a detente between LIV and the PGA Tour. So a lot potentially hinges on an obscure UK court case!
Alan has been down this road previously, but the scenario he and his questioner provide has to be considered unsustainable, no? I know everyone in our game craves Jay coming home from Munich waving a piece of paper and declaring "Peace in our Time", but it's quite hard to see how that can be. The business model of LIV destroys the PGA Tour as we know it, so how could we expect an accommodation with it.
I've noted earlier my uncertainty as to Keith Pelley's actual inner dialog, though we can all agree that his options range from the bad to the truly horrible. But if you think that Ian Poulter is going to be fitted for a uni, and that Jay will then say, "Heck, we might as well allow DJ to play", I think you've perhaps over-sampled the mushrooms....
How big of a miss is it that the winner of the Waste Management doesn’t get a huge dump truck like the Genesis or the Schwab gives away a car to the winner? Imagine Jon Rahm posing in a giant green and yellow dump truck trying to figure out where the hell he’s gonna park it. Huge miss. @luke_peacock #AskAlanThis is the best idea I have ever heard. And might be enough to lure King Louis away from LIV.
Amusing to reference Louis' love of tractors, though two caveats:
- It would be a better gag for the Deere, and;
- Do we want him back?
In his recent burst of communications, Phil said he’s never been injured. Is that true as far as you know? How many 35+ golfers can say that? Seems very rare. @SusanSSLWell, Mickelson did break his leg skiing and miss three months of tournament play in 1994, and he popped his wrist in 2007 and had to sit out the U.S. Open. But he is correct in saying he has been remarkably injury-free. This is a credit to good genetics, Phil’s unseen work as a yogi and kickboxer and John Daly’s old maxim, “You can’t pull fat.”
If Phil got injured in a forest.... Yeah, as a wise woman once said, What difference does it make at this point?
Will the Green Jackets give Rory McIlroy the career Grand Slam by ignoring all protocols and pairing him with Patrick Reed every round at this year’s Masters (making victory a foregone conclusion)? #AskAlan @HenriDeMarsayThose good ol’ boys are too polite for such a thing. I do miss the muckrakers at the old USGA, who often came up with mischievous pairings. Who among us will ever forget the heavyweight trio of Brendon de Jonge, Shane Lowry and Kevin Stadler?! The blowback on that one—Lowry called it a “mockery”—appears to have scared the USGA straight. So I’m afraid Rory is going to have win another major all on his own.
Egads, all that would do is give the green jacket to Patrick.
Remember, in holding on a few weeks ago, Rory had to tell himself to ignore Patrick's name on the leaderboard.... That told me everything I needed to know, but apparently the questioner (and Alan) didn't get the same memo.
But we can all agree that those early-round Masters pairings will be scrutinized differently this year, though it seems that the protocol has become to keep them in separate silos. Of course, the Tuesday dinner traditionally only has the one table....
What are your thoughts on joggers? (The clothing item, not the humans.) @TeddyGreensteinThey’re fine but require common sense. In the spirt of my white belt rule—you can’t wear one if your age or waist size is over 34—I think joggers should had have a Rule 32: That’s the minimum inseam and maximum age of the person wearing them.
I find that inseam comment especially hurtful.... But, I would, wouldn't I?
Who wins a PGA Tour vs. LIV Tour Ryder Cup style match? @JayVanesaOh, LIV all the way. Those guys would play with righteous indignation, fueled by grievance and victimhood. That’s a powerful cocktail!
Winner take all? Meaning that, if the PGA Tour wins, we never hear from Greg Norman again? Might just be enough to get a few LIVsters to tank....
That's it for a while. Have a great week and I'll see you at the end of next week.
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