Unplayable Lies: Tuesday Tidbits - Dogs Days of December Edition

A brief update from the Wasatch Range, where warm, dry conditions seem to have settled in for the duration. Winding down a four-day visit from my nephew and a college buddy, which has becomes a bit of a family tradition.

Utah has actually been favored with snow this year, as Little Cottonwood Canyon, home to Snowbird and Alta, shows some 135-145" thus far, very respectable in total. The issue being that there hasn't been anything fresh in more than ten days. No matter how deep the base, the absence of fresh snow is always fatal, especially with warm conditions creating a thaw and freeze cycle each day.

Because of the dearth of white stuff, I've passed on a family gathering in Sun Valley and will head home a few days early, Thursday to be specific. So, let's try to quickly catch up on stuff, then we'll pick up the thread from home next week.

We'll just dive into the LIV/PGA mess without straining myself over clever subtitles, then hit other bits as time permits. A bit of a shotgun approach, leading with yesterdays Tour Confidential panel's opening Q&A, a sort of where the hell are we query:

1. As the Dec. 31 deadline for the PGA Tour/PIF/DP World Tour merger looms, there’s still much uncertainty on what the future of the PGA Tour, and pro golf, will look like. And,
after LIV Golf snagged Jon Rahm from the PGA Tour, the PIF seems to be in the driver’s seat. Look into your crystal ball and predict what might be the most likely outcome from this potential merger.

Jessica Marksbury: With a big name like Rahm now playing for the other team, LIV seems here to stay — at least for the time being! One thing I expect to see from the merger is a defined pathway back for Tour defectors. I also think there have to be some joint tournaments in the future, right?

Say what? I had been reliably informed that it was Jay alone who would decide the future of LIV, so Jess seems to be looking at some other deal.

Alan Bastable: I think some kind of deal will be inked by the stated deadline or soon thereafter. LIV, as the Rahm signing reminded us, has too much juice/capital for the Tour not to agree to some kind of truce. Also, no one — the Tour, the players and most of all the fans — want to see things continuing on their current trajectory, with men’s pro golf essentially cannibalizing itself. It’s time to find some middle ground and let the best players in the world compete against one another more than four times a year. Ultimately, I think we land in a place where LIV players get world ranking points (with LIV agreeing to a format change), and as Jess said, with at least some degree of fluidity between the two tours. That feels like the only way forward.

Marksbury: Yes, Alan. Definitely feel like world-ranking points have to be a priority for LIV.

Yanno, the first answer wasn't sufficiently profound that we want to start with the follow-up bit, but talk about your swing-and-misses. World ranking points have been a priority for LIV for some time, although amusingly not during their planning process. The question, jess, might be what they're prepared to change to make that happen...

Sean Zak: Best guesstimate is a Definitive Agreement of investment is finalized in January. LIV Golf launches the same week as a Signature Event at Pebble. Everyone will be happy, knowing that Jon Rahm could be back competing against them in 2025. LIV Golf runs through 2024 and after that serves as part of a team golf series, embedded within the greater Tour schedule moving forward.

That's at least a possible scenario, although back by '25 seems a stretch at this point.

But it gets a little more interesting with their second Q&A:

2. ESPN reported on Friday that a multibillion-dollar deal between the PGA Tour and the Strategic Sports Group, which consists of well-known billionaire team owners, is imminent, which would infuse more than $3 billion into the Tour. Let’s get to the nuts and bolts of this: If this deal or a similar one goes through with an entity not named the Saudi PIF, what does that mean exactly for the Tour and its future?

That ESPN report is worthy of a digression, containing few deals but bits of interest as well. It's basic news content is as follows:

A multibillion-dollar deal between a group of well-known U.S. sports team owners and the PGA Tour is imminent, as the tour still hopes to reach a similar agreement with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, sources told ESPN on Friday.

The agreement with Strategic Sports Group, a consortium of billionaire team owners that includes Tom Werner and John Henry (Boston Red Sox), Arthur Blank (Atlanta Falcons) and Wyc Grousbeck (Boston Celtics), would infuse more than $3 billion into a new for-profit entity, PGA Tour Enterprises, the sources said.

The PGA Tour is also continuing talks with officials from the PIF, which is financing the rival LIV Golf League. If a deal is reached with both Strategic Sports Group and the PIF, more than $7 billion might be infused into PGA Tour Enterprises, which would combine the commercial assets of the PGA Tour, PIF and DP World Tour.

A deal with Strategic Sports Group might be announced before the end of the year. The PGA Tour, DP World Tour and PIF signed a framework agreement to form a partnership on June 6. The agreement is set to expire Dec. 31, although sources have told ESPN it would likely be extended if progress is being made.

Above and beyond a properly-sized hat for Patrick Cantlay, it remains opaque what assets will be in the new for-profit entity and the return available to these investors. But where it does get interesting is this spicy quote from an unnamed source:

There is an increased urgency to get the deals done, after the LIV Golf League signed another PGA Tour star, Spain's Jon Rahm, on Dec. 7. Sources told ESPN that Rahm, the reigning Masters champion, agreed to a multiyear contract worth more than $300 million to jump to the LIV Golf League.

"It was nothing more than a shot across the bow," said a source familiar with the negotiations. "It was a f--- you by PIF to the tour that they can grab anyone, even the guy who was adamant about not joining. Three hundred million dollars is a rounding error to the Saudis. Their message was: 'You want to keep fighting with us, really? You want to keep talking to everyone and box us out? Good luck with that.' That's their message."

Translated from Arabic into English, that equates to "Nice little tour you have there. Sure would be a shame if anything happened to it." Why it's almost like these guys are an organized crime family... has anyone ever noted what scary mofos these guys are? Really, and yet he still took the money....

Bastable: As mentioned, I think the PIF deal will go forward and, who knows, maybe even a third investor also comes in, which means the Tour will be absolutely flush with cash. The surge of investment will mean the Tour and its new board-room partners will have big decisions to make about how to best spend and reinvest those dollars. Already swelling purses and bonuses and other revenue streams seem likely to further swell, though the Tour’s biggest challenge will be re-engaging fans. Over the past couple of years, the endless hand-wringing over players getting their financial due has been a huge turnoff. Moving forward, every decision the Tour and its new partners make should be made with fans top of mind.

Marksbury: It’s a good time to be a pro golfer, that’s for sure! More partners equals more billions, and as Alan mentioned, more eye-popping sums for the world’s best players. But in the event a deal goes through without the PIF, I think it makes things even more precarious. The Jon Rahm signing made it clear that even LIV’s staunchest opponents can still be bought, and waging a financial battle will not end well for the Tour. But with Tiger Woods’ involvement on the PGA Tour policy board, it’s also clear that the players will have more of a voice than they did previously, so whatever Tour decisions are made, they’ll at least be presented with a more unified front than what we’ve seen thus far.

Zak: If the PIF isn’t involved, then don’t expect team golf to exist much on the PGA Tour. That’s one of three things the PIF brings: team golf, billions of dollars, and some of the best golfers in the world. Without that, the Tour’s future looks worse. The sport’s future looks divided. The pathways to greater investment change for the women’s game. It is a major domino that would trickle down in ways we can’t even quite imagine. I’d guess the policy board realizes that.

Obviously golf writers can't be expected to be financial geniuses, but they don't seem to even acknowledge that these savvy financial players will be looking for a return on said investment.

Dylan Dethier, in his last Monday Finish column of the year, does better but still comes up a bit short:

Sources tell the Monday Finish that there are some pretty clear benefits to the Saudi PIF being in business (and having direct access to) the high-powered investors involved with the SSG. And some portion of the SSG investors are intrigued by the possibility of having direct access to the PIF. There is a good chance that this would help some of the savviest (and wealthiest) investors in the world get more and better investments.

Okay, you probably didn’t need sources to tell you that. Power players like this value being connected with each other. And most weeks, it turns out, are good for billionaires. Consider this one of ’em.

Fair enough, and there's also the bit about hanging with celebrity professional golfers, but $3-7 billion is still a huge boatload of money....

This comments I hadn't seen, but we've got some spiciness from Viktor Hovland that fits nicely here as well:

3. In the aftermath of the Jon Rahm-to-LIV Golf news, Jordan Spieth told the Associated Press: “I don’t think for him it was the money. I believe he saw two places that neither one was in a great situation right now, and he said, ‘May as well have the money.’” Do you agree with Spieth?

Bastable: Uh, well, of course, the money was the tipping point, but I think what Spieth was driving at was that other factors were at work, and that Rahm didn’t go just for the money. Clearly, Rahm wasn’t thrilled with the state of the Tour and presumably also was still sour, as were so many of his peers, about the secrecy of the June 6 Tour-LIV pact. I think the toughest pill for Rahm to swallow will be LIV’s format, which he is on the record as saying is inadequate. But as mentioned above, I could see changes coming to LIV in that regard so Rahm’s quandary might be short-lived.

Marksbury: With the merger looming, I think Rahm saw a way to cash in in a massive way, while still feeling confident that he could likely eventually return to the Tour one day if he wanted. His major exemptions are secure for years to come, so he probably didn’t feel he had really anything to lose by jumping.

Zak: People might forget when you said something, but they don’t forget what you said. And more than anyone not named McIlroy, Woods, or maybe Horschel, Rahm was steadfast in his disinterest with LIV Golf. That he was so comfortable flipping on his recent opinions was a reminder on how opinions change. To me, it’s not about agreeing with Spieth or not. It’s about Rahm telling himself, It’s okay that I’ve done the opposite of what I’ve said. I don’t think people will forget that.

Jordan is now a Player Director, so needs to be judicious with his words. But, when you're entire defense is based on the Saudi's depravity, then you suddenly find them not so depraved, folks are gonna notice.

Of course Jon Rahm made some of the best substantive arguments against LIV, now moot, but have you met Viktor Hovland?

In a professional golfing world defined by the PGA Tour vs. LIV, it’s somewhat refreshing to hear a golfer just go ahead and shred both of ’em. Last week, Viktor Hovland had once again found his name in the is-he-going-to-LIV rumor mill, and in the wake of World No. 3 Jon Rahm leaving, the potential departure of World No. 4 raised eyebrows. But Hovland confirmed to the FORE! podcast, hosted by Norway’s Espen Blaker, that he’s sticking with the superior competition on the PGA Tour — at least for now.

“I don’t think their product is that great,” he said of LIV. (The podcast was translated from Norwegian, so take specific word choice with a grain of salt.) “For example, I’m not such a fan of playing without a cut. You need the competition with 150 players and a cut and if you don’t play well enough, you’re out. There is something about it that makes your game a little sharper. If I had gone to LIV, I don’t think I would have become a better golfer.”

Does he read Unplayable Lies? Because I've been playing that tune since Day One. The best events should have the best fields for competitive reasons, but Patrick doesn't want the riffraff diluting his winnings.

Of course, it's a pox on both houses per the Norwegian:

That, Hovland said, was the “end of the discussion.” But it wasn’t, really. The reason he considered LIV in the first place, Hovland said, is because of what he considered PGA Tour mismanagement’s “damn bad job.”

“To be clear: I’m not complaining about the position I’m in, and I’m very grateful for everything. But the management has not done a good job,” Hovland said. “They almost see the players as labor, and not as part of the membership. After all, we are the PGA Tour. Without the players, there is nothing.

“When you get to see what happens behind closed doors, how the management actually makes decisions, which are not in the players’ best interest, but best for themselves and what they think is best … they are businessmen who say that, ‘No, it should look like this and that.’ There is a great deal of arrogance behind it all.”

The Tour is hardly the first large organization to lose its mandate, so it's nothing we haven't seen before. But, while I have no affection for Jay Monahan, Viktor is painting with quite the broad brush.

If there's one insight that I'd urge upon folks, it's that we should never speak of "The Players" as some sort of coherent voting bloc, because the last two years can be viewed as an attack on the rabbit class by the top 20-30 players. So, when Viktor speaks of wanting the Tour to treat the players as members, I'm inclined to ask which players?

Already on the clock, so let's hit some udder stuff:

They Had Quite The Run - No doubt you've heard the rumors that Tiger might be swooshless soon. Dylan Dethier had this typically Tigeresque bit from his presser:

Word on the Orlando streets seemed to be that this could be Tiger Woods‘ final week as a Nike Golf athlete. How strange is that?! Woods used to wear Nike shoes and head-to-toe clothes while playing Nike clubs and Nike balls. Even now, after the discontinuation of their hard goods line, we’ve gotten so used to the swoosh on his shirt that it’s hard to picture Woods wearing anything else.

Asked about the chatter surrounding Woods’ Nike deal, he offered a terse reply.

There’s been a lot of chatter the last month or so on your relationship with Nike, and where that’s going. Can you give any clarity to that?

Woods: “I’m still wearing their product.”

Is this the end of it, coming up?

Woods: “I’m still wearing their product.”

So, there’s that.

Readers know that I've never been the biggest fan of Tiger as an individual, and this certainly isn't the worst of his obfuscations over the years. That said, aren't there better ways to duck the question?

Of course, while Tiger was repeating this mantra, Charlie was ricking Greyson apparel, so don't we kind of know where this going? Especially since BFF Justin Thomas is a Greyson staffer....

That said, I'd love to know how much money Phil Knight lost on Tiger and golf over the years. Because it's expensive to run a golf equipment company just for the one player.... I'll always remember that, when Nike announced they were exiting the equipment business, one of their staff players said that he had never had a Pro-Am partner show up playing Nike gear. Kind of reminds one of the LIV business model, no?

Screenshots - The usual newsmakers of the year features are rolling out, but Golf Digest has a clever alternative year-in-review piece: