Tuesday, April 30, 2024

Tuesday Tastings - LIV Hijinks Edition

Just a few bits for you today, as we traverse the post-Masters, pre-PGA lull.  

Appointment TV - What a strange evolution in the professional golf world.  The players are the recipients of untold riches, which only has the odd effect of angering them.  Whereas the fans are told this is all for their benefit, yet said benefits are difficult to discern.  For instance, this piece's header buries the lede:

Uncertainty with NBC’s golf broadcast team raises question: Who’ll be the lead analyst at the U.S. Open at Pinehurst?

That's a fair question, though it obscures the more relevant bits involved:

Sometime in early March, Sam Flood, the executive producer and president of production at NBC Sports, told a few colleagues he needed to shake up the network’s golf coverage. Undoubtedly, eyes must have been rolling. Because the last thing NBC’s golf production needed was for Flood to shake things up further.

The duration of an earthquake can range from a few seconds to several minutes, but the tremors and aftershocks that have been rattling Peacock golf have lasted a few years now. And the foundation is weakening to the point where the network, gearing up for the Olympic Games this summer, does not appear ready for one of its premier golf events, the 124th U.S. Open in June at Pinehurst.

Cost-cutting moves in sports production aren’t always noticeable. One fewer graphic here or the loss of a speed camera or editing machine there aren’t necessarily going to diminish coverage appreciably in the eyes of most home viewers. The production team knows the difference, however, and many of them at NBC and Golf Channel (which operate jointly under the Comcast banner) can’t believe what little has been left at the disposal of the brilliant long-time golf producer Tommy Roy. Every week during NBC’s recent run of events in Florida and Texas something else was being hacked as golf ratings flagged. The penny pinching shouldn't be surprising when the outlet opted to produce coverage of the 44th Ryder Cup in Rome—only one of the two most popular golf events in the world aside from the Masters—from Stamford, Conn.

One staffer joked that “pretty soon, we’re going to just do artist’s renditions of coverage as opposed to showing actual shots with a camera.”

You guys show actual golf shots through a camera?  Geez, big if true.

They do capture the good news, which is that no one is watching....  You might have noticed talking heads dropping like flies, although many were well past their sell-by date:

Lead analyst Paul Azinger was cut loose last November when the former PGA champion, through his agent, countered on an underwhelming one-year extension not knowing it was a take-it-or-leave-it offer. But Azinger, who along with Johnny Miller are the only men to sit in the analyst chair since 1990, was only the latest scalp.

The year before that, veterans Roger Maltbie and Gary Koch learned their contracts would not be renewed. Maltbie actually had one foot out the door before that, but Jim “Bones” Mackay returned to the caddie ranks with Justin Thomas in late 2021, leaving NBC short an on-course reporter. The bench got even thinner when major winners David Duval and Justin Leonard resumed their playing careers on the PGA Tour Champions and Notah Begay III cut back his TV commitment to also accommodate senior golf. Meanwhile, Peter Jacobsen, a semi-regular contributor, rarely gets called upon anymore.

And then there was the departure of popular quipster David Feherty, who walked out of the NBC compound at St. Andrews following the 2022 Open Championship and promptly jumped onto the LIV Golf League broadcast team. “David was the canary in the coal mine,” said one former colleague. “He left in the middle of his contract. Heck, it was in the middle of the year! And NBC didn’t lift a finger to keep him. It was just another number they could move off the ledger.”

It's worth noting that Feherty, Azinger, Maltbie and Koch were the four highest-paid announcers.

On the one hand, we know the demographics of the golf audience and too many familiar voices were likely canned too quickly, but I suspect NBC was relived when Feherty took them off the hook.   Obviously the analyst experiment is an open issue, but Zinger was phoning it in for years.  The Internet has all the receipts....

I'm still on the fence as to the analyst tryouts:

All of this wouldn’t necessarily indicate disarray were it not for Flood’s throw-it-against-the-wall approach to finding Azinger’s replacement. In house, Begay, Brandel Chamblee, Paul McGinley and Smylie Kaufman have taken turns in the hot seat, while Kevin Kisner and Luke Donald have been given tryouts. Mackay, still on the hook contractually for a few events this year, had to slide in at the Vidanta Mexican Open when Kisner and Geoff Ogilvy weren’t available. With Brad Faxon becoming a staple in the 18th hole tower, the network has transitioned to a four-man setup. There is little elbow room, let alone a sense of continuity, though host Dan Hicks, in the last year of his contract, Terry Gannon and Steve Sands hold things together. True pros.

In a reflection of growing desperation, Flood managed to lure Maltbie and Koch back for the opening two days of coverage of the Players. The rest of the NBC team seemed buoyed by their presence, but, oddly, neither was asked to stay the weekend.

I'm on the fence because a trial run seems a better option than committing to the wrong guy, though maybe that's simplistic.  But shall we get to the bits that made your humble blogger laugh?  I thought you'd agree, first this:

Having gone through all the trial and error—and don’t even ask how those PGA Tour events felt about their involuntary involvement in the experiments—sources at the network say NBC is no closer to finding a successor to Azinger.

Yeah, hadn't thought of that.  These sponsors, especially those of non-Money Grab events, must be used to being screwed by the Tour, now they get doubly abused by NBC as well.  It so sucks to be a PGA Tour sponsor.

But there's a double-dip here, because all of these personnel moves are made to accommodate a budget driven by the viewership numbers.  In other words, NBC is being criticized for living within the economic constraints of the golf ecosystem, whereas the players themselves steadfastly refuse to do so, and are able to in the short-term because of the Saudis and the private equity funding.  Can they do so for the long-term?  Stay tuned.  or, not, as the ratings indicate.

Is that booth configuration for Pinehurst critical?

The clock is ticking. The U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 that begins on June 13 fast approaches. A
USGA spokesperson said an announcement on coverage plans—specifically who will be sitting in the lead analyst chair—will be made in a few weeks at U.S. Open media day. Which might be another way of saying NBC has yet to be forthcoming with answers.

Imagine CBS Sports officials telling Masters chairman Fred Ridley seven weeks out that they’ll get back to him on their broadcast lineup.

What are NBC’s options? Well, Ogilvy, the 2006 U.S. Open champion, apparently is out; he recently declined an offer, though perhaps in the interim NBC can talk him into it. Kisner probably isn’t an option after his history of criticism of the USGA. Donald at least brings decent credentials as a former World No. 1. Chamblee and McGinley are Golf Channel heavyweights on the “Live From” set. No point in weakening that program.

That leaves Faxon as perhaps the best viable alternative. Plus, he’s already on board. Zero additional overhead. Meanwhile, Maltbie and Koch reportedly will make an encore appearance at Pinehurst, supposedly for all four days this time. Is Mackay, once again out of the caddie ranks, also returning? He could not be reached for comment, but sources say he has been asked to further buttress the ground game, where the reliable Curt Byrum also can help out if he’s not calling holes.

I'm not sure that golf fans are on the edge of there seats over this.  Though that Masters reference is just inane, because of the unique nature of the ANGC-CBS relationship, that basically created televised golf.

But more importantly, why not Fax?  I'm not sure they'll do any better, and I quite agree that Chamblee and McGinley are where they belong.  I'm a big Geoff Ogilvy fan, but I haven't seen enough of him in front of a microphone.  

I don't see the U.S. Open as make or break, though this does add a measure of urgency given the USGA's irrational expectations:

The USGA transferred its broadcast rights from Fox to NBC/Golf Channel at the height of the pandemic in 2020 after Fox submitted a stunning $1.1 billion bid that began in 2015. That deal ended a partnership dating back to 1994, when NBC was able to pry the USGA rights from ABC, thanks largely to Roy being at the controls, then-president Dick Ebersol committing the resources, and former U.S. Open winner Miller, brutally honest and a passionate champion of the USGA, serving as the voice of the telecasts.

The current deal, on which Fox still pays 30 percent, expires in 2026. The exclusive negotiating period between the USGA and Comcast begins later this year and then is thrown open in ’25 if the sides can’t come to an agreement. Golf viewers would be right to ask how much Flood even cares.

If you don't understand that reference to the USGA, this Ron Sirak backgrounder explains how unrealistic expectations resulted in that megadeal with Fox that blew up on all parties.  Bonus question:  Anyone remember who Fox's initial analyst was?  Shockingly, he only lasted the one event....

Today In Tiger Sycophancy - It's not that I disagree, more that I wonder why bring this up now?  Turns out that it's all Rory's fault:

Actually, it wasn't Brandel who technically (re)started it, but rather Gary Williams, another golf analyst, who tweeted this:

You think Tiger is going to give Rory some shit for his 25th tour win being a team win? Rory leaves DJ and Gary Player behind with 24.— Gary Williams (@Garywilliams1Up) April 28, 2024

Then Brandel couldn't help himself:

Team wins should have their own category amongst “tour wins”… most golf fans, if not ALL golf fans assume “individual” wins when a player’s total tour wins are named… but Sam Snead has 5 team wins counted amongst his 82 wins while Tiger has ZERO team wins in his 82 wins… so I… https://t.co/TYC1ItRlwJ

— Brandel Chamblee (@chambleebrandel) April 29, 2024

They're right as far as they go, but they're not even attacking the most suspect part of the Snead record:

And you know what? He's right. (For the record, Williams agreed with Chamblee in the thread.)

A few years ago, we took a deeper look into the topic of most PGA Tour wins, a record Woods officially shares with Sam Snead. But as Chamblee points out, Woods has zero wins among his 82 while five of Snead's count. This despite the fact that Woods won the 2000 World Cup with David Duval. Why doesn't that count? That alone would give Woods 83.

And there are a lot of other reasons that Woods should have the record to himself. Go read the article! But if you don't want to, just know that if Woods' professional wins were counted the same as Snead's are, he'd be sitting on 95(!) wins now instead of 82.

Yes, but shall we discuss the deficiencies in Tiger's win counts, principally the gaudy number of limited field WGC wins?   I do think Snead's number are more suspect just because of the the era, he played so often in marginal events for monetary reasons that it's insane to even compare.

Just kinda weird for this to surface at the moment folks are finally realizing that Tiger isn't getting to eighty-three.

What's It All About, Sharkie? - Dylan Dethier, in his Monday Finish column, mulls the meaning of that LIV event in Adelaide, beginning with Greg Norman's triumphalism:

Greg Norman declares victory.

LIV’s Adelaide event was a rollicking success, drawing a combined crowd of 94,000 over the three days. League commissioner Greg Norman, himself an Aussie, didn’t hold back in his post-event triumph.

“Vindication is not the right word,” Norman told Australian Golf Digest. “It’s the ignorance of others who simply didn’t understand what we were trying to do. I actually feel sorry for them because they now see the true value of LIV Golf and want to be a part of it.”

He cited what LIV Golf has gone through since its inception, “both as a league and what I’ve copped personally … the hatred … this makes it all worthwhile.”

So it's all come together?  Except, and I do so hate top be Debbie Downer, Adelaide for two years running has been utterly unlike any other LIV events.  So, and maybe this is just the liquor talking, maybe it tells us more about Adelaide than LIV?

Dylan is of a similar mind:

Bluster aside, this event is a fascinating case study for LIV and for professional golf as a whole. Clearly LIV tapped into something special in Adelaide. The fans were there and they were invested. The team format panned out like a dream, too, with the all-Aussie Ripper GC beating out the all-South African Stinger GC in a playoff. Ripper captain Cameron Smith called it the best tournament he’s ever been to, and Norman as well as the LIV players cited the passion in the crowd as evidence that the format is working.

I see their successful weekend as evidence that tapping into golf-starved markets by bringing top-level competition is a great idea. I see that as evidence that Australia should figure into any potential world-tour plans. I see that as evidence that for team golf to be meaningful it helps to have common ties that bind, as with the geographic unity on the two top teams. In reporting by Golf Digest AU‘s Evin Priest there was some talk of “home” and “away” courses going forward; that’s intriguing, no doubt, though most of the teams currently lack meaningful geographic synergy.

I’m curious if Jon Rahm‘s presence will yield a similar local response when LIV heads to Valderrama later this summer. I’m curious what would happen if LIV made its way to Chile for an event hosted by Torque GC’s Joaquin Niemann and Mito Pereira. And would South Africa rally behind Stinger GC?

Good point about Valderrama, though I'm going to be the under.

I’m not convinced that this means instant international viability for LIV; the specific circumstances at play could make Adelaide a one-off. This week’s LIV event in Singapore, for instance, is unlikely to boast a significant audience, never mind booing or shoeys. There are probably more but aren’t an infinite number of massive untapped golf markets like Adelaide — or else big pro tournaments would already be there. And while the Aussie audience tuned in at an impressive rate the global TV audience still hasn’t reached meaningful mass, given LIV’s 10-figure talent investment.

What’s the point? The point is I still don’t know where men’s pro golf is headed. In a week that Norman declared LIV to be plowing forward and McIlroy renewed calls for unity and the DP World Tour head pointed to 2026 as the earliest potential date for peace and two different tours played two different brands of team golf on opposite sides of the world, the only thing we know is that nobody has this thing figured out all the way just yet.

For some reason Adelaide turns out at battalion strength, but we haven't seen any other LIV events generate buzz.  So, while we may not know where golf s headed, but we can remain confident that we're going to hate it.

And, because we aim to amuse, it has come out that not every player in Adelaide had such a great experience:

Take Kevin Na.

Yes, please taker Kevin Na, who most of us had long forgotten about.

His Iron Heads had a chance to win their first team title entering the third and final round just one shot off the lead. But a disappointing day dropped them to sixth place. And a disastrous hole by Na didn't help.

Na began on No. 10 with a bogey, but then played excellent golf after that, racking up six birdies and no bogeys over his next 16 holes. In fact, he'd made four birdies in a row when he reached the par-5 ninth, his final hole of the day. Then things really came undone.

Na found himself in a particularly sandy lie in the woods after an errant. And after failing to get his ball back to the fairway on his first attempt, his second hits a tree branch and stays in trouble. Let's just say he wasn't pleased with the situation. Have a look and listen: 

So, Brendon Steele credited Phi's mentoring for his win in this event.  I'm going to guess that Sergio has mentored Kevin Na here, and the resemblance is uncanny.

But what exactly , pray tell, is f*****g b******t?  I'm going with your entire tour, but maybe Na was being more specific.

On Rory -  I am so over the guy, but Eamon Lynch takes a more benevolent and paternalistic approach:

Lynch: Rory McIlroy thinks he can help the PGA Tour’s board. Bless the lad’s optimism

It's been my personal experience that useful idiots only think they're useful, but never realize that they're idiotic....

This week, the sport — or at least the PGA Tour’s corner of it — inched closer to drawing a line under the flagrant greed that has disfigured the game, diluted the product, disgusted fans,
alienated sponsors, undermined partners, undercut governing bodies and beggared reputations, all while enriching golfers beyond their dreams and the parameters of any rational market valuation. On April 24, Jay Monahan notified a couple hundred guys of the equity value they’ve been gifted in the for-profit PGA Tour Enterprises. Recipients’ eyes will have danced directly to their numbers, but only the obtuse will miss the subtext that Monahan is too politic to spell out: Want more? Work to earn it. Don’t like it? Go forth and multiply.

Tour players have moved from imagining themselves as part of a member-led organization to one that’s member-owned, newly flush with compensation that was earned in much the same way that hostage-takers earn a ransom. Of course, there’s an enormous difference between being even nominal owners and actually being equipped for such a role. Rory McIlroy admitted as much when he met the media in New Orleans on the day Monahan’s memos were dispatched.

“We’re golfers at the end of the day. We don’t need to be trying to run a $15 billion business,” he said. “We need to go out there and play golf and let the business people do the business things.”

And yet. Rory, you refuse to just shut up and play golf.

Players will eventually get back to playing, but not before one crucial and outstanding aspect of the Tour’s future is decided upon — a deal, or not, with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. The absence of meaningful progress on negotiations with the Saudis has McIlroy keen to rejoin the Tour’s Policy Board, which he quit five months ago.

“I think I can be helpful. I don’t think there’s been much progress made in the last eight months, and I was hopeful that there would be. I think I could be helpful to the process. But only if people want me involved, I guess,” he said, with commendable optimism. “If it was something that other people wanted, I would gladly take that seat.”

Pretty sure Grayson Murray doesn't want you there.  But equally sure that Cantlay does, because there are Tour rabbits to screw further.

Sponsors and fans might welcome the Tour’s only active needle-mover getting involved anew, but others won’t be thrilled at the prospect. A small faction on the board sees McIlroy as allied with those who engineered the Framework Agreement last June, and also view his publicly stated position — that a Saudi compromise is both essential and urgent — as incompatible with their positions, the particulars of which they haven’t yet revealed for the record.

That to me is the least of it, Rory is actually arguing for even smaller field sizes....  His capitulation is really quite profound.  He'll continue to steadfastly refuse to consider going to LIV, but is perfectly content to turn the PGA Tour into a LIV lookalike.

Eamon's crie de coeur misses one important constituency:

But McIlroy’s return might help usher the board beyond the schoolboy squabbles that have beset proceedings for 10 months, and which have exhausted even their entertainment value. The sooner that happens, the sooner players will do what he suggested: get back to playing and leave the business to those qualified for the job.

Players got what they wanted — more. More money and more power. When they eventually accept that their role is one of oversight and not management, then perhaps the Tour can focus on giving more to disaffected fans and sponsors who are weary of being squeezed like gullible johns on the Vegas Strip. Because those stakeholders are perilously close to withdrawing their equity from the sport.

Tiger and he sold the bulk of the Tour membership down the river, and now Rory wants to go further.  That's not a constituency that has any leverage, but I can't imagine Rory being very popular in the locker room these days.  And when we see young players jump to LIV, perhaps we shouldn't be so critical?  After all, Rory and Tiger don't want them clogging up their limited fields.

That'll have to do for today.  I'll catch you later this week.


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Monday, April 29, 2024

Weekend Wrap - Irish Eyes Are Smiling Edition

It'll finally start warming up today, though that's not what has the aforementioned Irish eyes smiling....

Team Golf, U.S. Edition - I did actually watch some of the finish later on tape, and it was quite the hot mess.  That said, no doubt a popular win:

Over the first four months of the 2024 season, commentators have lamented the lack of big-name winners on the PGA Tour.

On Sunday at TPC Louisiana, though, the opposite occurred as the two brightest stars in a low-wattage field claimed victory at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.


With a ho-hum par on the first playoff hole, they took the title over Martin Trainer and Chad Ramey, who had been waiting around for nearly three hours to see if the 63 they’d teamed up to shoot would be good enough for sudden death.

“Absolutely amazing, ” McIlroy said. “The crowds all week have been absolutely amazing. To get the support we’ve had out there and to have so much fun while doing it, it’s been an awesome week, and obviously I feel like it’s just a bonus to win in the end.”

Is irony covered in the Golf Magazine Style Book?  Because the absence of big-name winners has been most notable in events rigged to ensure that the alpha dogs win, simply by excluding those players that could disrupt the narrative.  Yet, despite the Tour's efforts to control that narrative, the best finishes of the year have come in full-field events, here and at Sawgrass as examples.

Winning is good, though the bigger surprise is that they even played the event, because if you know any of the other players that will be mentioned, you should probably think about getting out of the house more often.  Or perhaps give the UFL a look...

The Zurich and NOLA folks have made lemonade, taking a moribund Tour stop and creating something a little different from the week-to-week dreariness of 72-hole stroke-play events, the buried lede being how the calcification of the Tour (largely FedEx Cup driven) almost precluded the team event.  It works at a certain level, especially on those days they play alternate shot (those -11 fourball scores render those days as putting contests).

Having pulled off that minor miracle, they are then totally undermined by that Tour to whom they commit tens of millions of dollars.  As a team event, the are not a candidate for Signature Event status, rendering them about as irrelevant as a Tour stop could be.  Just look at the rest of that leaderboard, no surprise with the event placed in the week after The Masters and an actual Signature Event, so we'll see how long Zurich stays in the fold.

The downer is the train wrecks, of which we had many.  These guys seemed to have things in hand, right up until they didn't:

After hanging tough on the front nine, Blair and Fishburn made double-bogeys on both par-3s on the back side to dash their chances. Other contenders either stalled or fell back.

These guys are so damn good that it takes an impossible format such as alternate shot to create any interest, as per my diss of the fourball above.  I didn't see their first double, but the one on No. 17 was hard to watch for sure.

But it's these two guys I feel so bad for:

The exceptions were Trainer and Ramey, who fired an early-day 63, an alternate-shot course record at the Zurich, to claim the clubhouse lead at 25-under, and then were forced to play the waiting game.

Obviously this is not a difficult golf course by Tour standards, but a 63 in alternate shot is simply insane.  But the reward was a three-hour wait:

Nearly three hours later, after Mcllroy bombed a drive to set up a closing birdie for his team on the par 5 18th, the playoff began on the same hole.

It was over almost as soon as it started, as Ramey and Trainer scuffed their way toward bogey with a sequence of pulled shots and a flubbed chip, and McIlroy and Lowry made routine par.

The guy I felt really bad for was Martin Treanor, who hit three of the worst golf shots you'll ever see from a Tour pro on that one playoff hole.  He pulled his drive some forty yards left of his target, but given that he actually got the clubface on the ball it was by far the best of his three shots on the hole.

I get that it's the yin and the yang of our game and they came from way off the pace (they were the second group out on Sunday), but waiting around for three hours had to feel surreal.

This was the extent of the Tour Confidential coverage, a pretty silly question that would potentially undermine the only thing this event now has going for it:

4. Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry won the Zurich Classic, beating Chad Ramey and Martin Trainer on the first playoff hole. McIlroy and Lowry, who decided to play the event on a whim, entered the week with 26 combined PGA Tour wins and five major titles, while Ramey and Trainer had won just once each. At the Zurich, qualified pros can pick any partner as long as they are a PGA Tour member. Does this straightforward format of coming up with teams make the Zurich imperfect, or perfect?

Berhow: At first glance it seems imperfect, as you might assume the powerhouse teams always win when you can just pick your partner and guys like Rory and Shane can team up, but that hasn’t been the case. Sure, Cantlay and Xander enter every year, but they have only won once. Ryan Palmer asked Jon Rahm to play once and they won in 2019 — smart move by Palmer — but you also have a tournament like last year, when Nick Hardy and Davis Riley won. Even Cam Smith won twice before he really became Cam Smith. In short, these guys are all good, and they can all win on any given week, especially with a unique format like this that tests your strategy and teamwork. So I’m going to call it perfect.

Marksbury: Great point, Josh. I’m torn on this one. As fun as it is to see Tour buddies chumming it up, I can’t help but think a blind draw could really spice things up. To your point, all these guys are good. Some unexpected pairings — for the players, and the viewers! — would be really fun.

Sens: I like it. It allows for some entertaining twists, including brothers (the Hojgaards) playing together, and senior citizens like Russ Cochran getting in as the father of his partner’s caddie. You wouldn’t want this kind of thing week in and week out. But it’s a fun break from the same old, as is the four-ball, foursomes format.

I think we can all agree that nothing on Tour is perfect these days, so quite the sill framing of a reasonable subject.

We had our opening day event on Saturday at Fairview, and they used the software to provide blind draws of A-B-C-D players, so I think we should do the same here.  Kidding, as quite obviously Rory ain't playing to be paired with a generic Tour pro, so that would be the way to make this event's dreadful field even dreadfullier.   

Adelaide's Lament - Any musical theater fans out there?  Just checking so see who susses out my obscure references.  I have exactly zero interest in the LIV event in Australia, except to acknowledge one undeniable fact, to wit, that folks turn out for them in golf-starved Adelaide.  That said, not sure I'll buy what's being sold here:


How can we get the best players in the world together more often? It’s a phrased that’s been muttered in golf circles for much of the past two-and-a-half-years.

While well-intended, that sentiment ignored the fact golf is a game of opposites. To hit the ball
high, a golfer needs to hit down steeply. To curve the ball left, the swing path needs to sling out to the right. To create interest in those who play golf, the solution rests with those who watch it. All this time, the game should’ve been wondering how to get the best fans in the world together more often.

The answer is simple: put the fans first and work backward from there. That is evident at the Ryder Cup every two years, and the Masters every year. It is also, on a smaller scale, what LIV Golf tapped into with its successful Adelaide event last week. In Australia, the start-up league did not uncover some secret recipe. Rather, it just reminded the game what the Masters and the Ryder Cup already knew—fans are the most important ingredient.

The second edition of LIV Golf Adelaide benefitted from that approach in two ways: firstly, the tournament didn’t suffer when its biggest stars failed to reel in Brendan Steele, who fired a 68 and at 18 under par (198) earned a one-shot win over former Open champion Louis Oosthuizen. Secondly, LIV’s first team playoff was played in front of a raucous crowd.

The success of their Australian event is entirely the result of the Australian crowd's reverence for the raw animal magnetism of....Brendon  Steele.

It's some pretty tortured logic when you're searching for connective tissue to two events, the Masters and Ryder Cup, the bear absolutely no resemblance to each other.  What Adelaide most reminds of is Phoenix, such as with this:

To his credit, author Evin Priest doesn't buy the "Get the best players in the world together" nonsense, though to his discredit he fails to connect the dots.  That misdirection was only utilized by the PGA Tour to create a diversion as they dramatically cut the field sizes at the Money Grabs so that Patrick Cantlay could make his rent.

Remember the possibly apocryphal comment about The Wasted, in which a ditzy blonde reportedly noted, "I love the phoenix Open.  I go every night."  I'm guessing that's mostly what's going on here, buttressed by the presence of home town hero Cam Smith in the field.

Can you feel the game growing?  I'll give you a minute to stop laughing....

Other LIV bits -  This gets interesting:

Jon Rahm and other LIV golfers can play for Europe in the 2025 Ryder Cup … with conditions

“If we look at the eligibility criteria for 2023, I think there has been a slight misconception,” said Guy Kinnings, the newly minted DP World Tour chief executive, when sitting down for an
interview on Thursday. “The reality is that, under the current system, if a player is European and is a member of the DP World Tour and abides by the rules in place, he is eligible.”

A closer look at those directives shows that, every time a DP World Tour member like Rahm or Englishman Tyrrell Hatton plays in a LIV event without obtaining a release from Kinnings, he is subject to sanctions. While each breach is taken on “a case-by-case basis,” that typically means a suspension from the DP World Tour and an undisclosed financial penalty.

“If you don’t get a release there are sanctions, so a player must accept those sanctions,” Kinnings said. “And if he accepts the penalties, there is no reason why a player who has taken LIV membership and maintained his DP World Tour membership could not a) qualify or b) be available for Ryder Cup selection.

“It requires a player to work within the rules, but the truth is that those rules have been looked and tested. Everything is done in a fair, reasonable and proportionate way. So there is no reason why anything needs to change. It is wrong to think Jon Rahm has written himself out of the Ryder Cup. People instantly thought we would have to change the rules. But actually we don’t. If Jon follows the procedures in place, there is no reason why he would not be eligible for the 2025 Ryder Cup.”

If you're confused, sanctions means paying the fines, the question being what kind of fines.  There was a similar discussion about Sergio before the 2023 Ryder Cup, to the effect that had he paid his fines of approximately $1 million, he might have been eligible.  I've no doubt that Rahm wants to be at Bethpage, but is he willing to write a seven-figure check to do so?

The other issue is that they'll need to play in Euro events, adding plus or minus four events to their schedules.  Rahm specifically has played enough weeks to make that doable, the complication factor perhaps being the far-flung locations of the LIV events.

The TC panel had this:

2. Speaking of the Ryder Cup, DP World Tour CEO Guy Kinnings met with the media last week and reiterated that European players who bolted to LIV — like Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton — can still qualify for the 2025 Ryder Cup as long as they play enough events to qualify for league membership before being selected. You can learn more about it here, but in short it means these players have a path, although it requires some effort and more DP World Tour starts during LIV Golf’s off-weeks. What are the chances Rahm, Hatton and other Ryder Cup hopefuls go this route?

Berhow: We’ll know soon enough, when one of those potential windows opens and we’ll see if any of those players enter. I think they will, especially Rahm. It’s a little extra work and travel, sure, but these guys don’t play in the middle row of a discount airline. This would be good for the Ryder Cup, too. Specifically referring to Rahm and Hatton, they bring a ton of fire to the event.

Marksbury: I can’t imagine why any European LIV player who wants to be a part of the Ryder Cup wouldn’t take this opportunity. Yeah, it’s a bit of a time and travel commitment, but it’s also additional reps for the players in full-field tournaments, not to mention a potential high-profile boost for the existing field. Seems like a win-win.

Sens: Sure, it takes some effort. But as Josh says, it’s hardly the heaviest of lifts. We will see both Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton on the European team in 2025. Bank it. The powers that be have made it relatively easy for them without having to lose too much face. And since Rahm and Hatton have both made it clear how much they love the event, it’s hard to see them not taking advantage of the window.

Effort?  Is it too much to expect that golf writers will know something about the game?  Yes, the effort is a factor, but none of the three seem to understand that large checks will have to be written, which I suspect is the bigger uncertainty.

We covered Greg Norman's recent comments about expanding to 72 holes, though no word on the rebranding that would entail.  Now we have further trial balloons such as this:

They are so damn happy with their tour that they'll change anything and everything.... The whole PGA-LIV debacle is quite the hot mess, and the damage to the PGA Tour is undeniable.  But let's not lose sight of the fact that LIV itself is an even hotter mess.  We get lots of these pieces tied to the Adelaide event, but just reminder that LIV hasn't created excitement anywhere but Adelaide.

Other Bits - A couple of quick, low-impact bits that will provide some content for my loyal readers, but not require me to break a sweat.  First, the lede bit from the TC gang:

1. As GOLF’s Sean Zak wrote last week, the PGA of America is about three months behind its usual schedule of announcing the next U.S. Ryder Cup captain. Any reason there might be a holdup, and do you anticipate the announcement coming at the PGA Championship in a couple of weeks? And, lastly, any chance it’s anybody but Tiger Woods?

Josh Berhow: I would assume the captain has been picked by now — or knows it’s about to
become official — so he’s had the ability to start looking ahead to Bethpage. That said, if that’s not the case, then I have no clue what’s going on. But from everything you read and hear it’s Tiger’s job if he wants it; although that could also be a part of the delay. Is he deciding if he wants the gig? You know he’d rather play, but being a captain in Ireland (in 2027) might not be as fun as a home game. And sitting out until 2029 at Hazeltine is a long wait.

Jessica Marksbury: I like that take, Josh. The delay must have something to do with Tiger, and a looming decision one way or the other. Maybe he doesn’t want the gig, and now there’s a mad scramble to find a replacement. He does seem to have a lot going on in the coming months and years, with the PGA Tour policy board, TGL launch, and oh yeah, his own competitive schedule. A captaincy is a lot to take on, let alone a home game at Bethpage, of all places. But the PGA Championship is certainly a perfect time to amplify whatever decision is made.

Josh Sens: I agree that the lag is most likely on account of waiting for Tiger, the Hamlet of the PGA Tour. The man takes his time with his decisions. But I’d be shocked if he doesn’t take the job. A perfect man for the role, and he can take a cart!

I get that most of the golf world thinks the man walks on water, but I find him to be a complete d**k at times like this.  Loo at what's been done for him just lately, the PIP program, the $100 million equity grant and being elevated to Player Director without a termination date, but he doesn't know if he can spare three days in September 2025?  

Sure, he might lose some time with his video games, but what is he supposed to be so busy with?  He is going to be the Ryder Cup captain, although I almost wish he would say no, just so others might consider who this guy really is.

As for those equity grants:

3. In an effort to reward pros who stayed loyal to the PGA Tour and didn’t leave for LIV Golf, the newly formed PGA Tour Enterprises created a Player Equity Program to compensate its membership in aggregate equity. Emails were sent out last week, informing some of the 193 eligible players how much they would receive out of the $930 million (although $750 million would go to a group of 36 players; learn more about the breakdown here). While these numbers were not made public, The Telegraph reported Tiger was set to receive $100 million in equity, and McIlroy as much as $50 million. Is this enough to make the stars happy?

Berhow: Probably. But let’s just hope these two sides get a deal done sooner rather than later. The sport needs it, not more news about rich golfers making more millions cause they might have turned down a previous offer to become richer.

Marksbury: I’m not sure that many Tour players initially stayed because they expected some kind of future equity payment as compensation, but for the players who did end up receiving a check, I’m sure it’s very welcome. Still, for players like Tiger and Rory, I imagine it’s far, far less than what they would have commanded from LIV. The players who stayed did so for reasons other than money, I think.

Sens: I dunno. Clearly, for some people, no amount of money is enough. I figure these guys are probably satisfied with this particular exchange. The more important question in the long run is, how happy are fans with the product the pro game is putting out? Maybe they should dole out some ‘loyalty’ money to folks at home to ensure that they keep tuning in.

I need a volunteer to inform the embarrassing Jess Marksbury that the guys did not get checks.   Overvalued equity is a completely different thing than cash, something that maybe somebody at Golf Magazine should understand.

The question is how will the players interpret the piece of paper they get?  Because we have no understanding as to how or why this will convert into cash, and my personal experience with things like ESOPs is that often you don't get much bang for your buck when the grant isn't in coin of the realm.

But I can't stop laughing at how clueless these folks are, and how they're allowed to put on public display.  I don't expect golf writers to understand high finance, you'd just think that Golf Magazine would employ someone that does.

I'm going to leave you here.  Have a great week and we'll pick things up as the week unfolds.


 
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Thursday, April 25, 2024

Thursday Themes - Equity Edition

For any younger readers, not THAT kind of equity..... 

The Rich Get Richer - One of society's marginalized groups is finding that they've not been forgotten:

The PGA Tour informed players Wednesday of their individual grants in the tour’s new equity program and some of the game's biggest stars reportedly will get hefty checks.

The tour does not plan on publicly releasing the amounts, but the Telegraph reported earlier on Wednesday that Tiger Woods was set to receive a $100 million grant, with Rory McIlroy getting $50 million, and Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth receiving $30 million each.

The first $930 million of grants were distributed Wednesday, with players getting a note from PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan (who also holds the CEO title of PGA Tour Enterprises) detailing their award. Tyler Dennis, the PGA Tour’s chief competitions officer, later went on Golf Channel’s “Golf Today” to explain the process.

“There’s no other sports league in the world that has this significant number of their athletes as owners of their own sports organization,” Dennis said. “And we’re really excited about it because, ultimately, we want to do what’s right."

You'll note immediately the tenuous correlation between award size and actual golf ability, at least in this present moment.  What they seem to forget is that these guys are transitory, even the guy pictured above.

But fortunately we have this helpful reminder of how that elite player putsch will be for the good of all players....  Yeah, you can stop laughing now, because you know there are table scraps for all the other guys:

The grants were divided into four categories:

• Group 1 consists of $750 million in aggregate equity based on career performance, last 5-year performance, and Player Impact Program results. A total of 36 players were in this group.

• Group 2 consists of $75 million in aggregate equity and was granted to 64 players based on last 3-year performance.

• Group 3 consists of $30 million in aggregate equity and was granted to 57 players that have earned certain fully-exempt PGA Tour status categories.

• Group 4 consists of $75 million in aggregate equity and was granted to 36 players who were instrumental to building the modern PGA Tour, based on career performance.

Yeah, they are literally awarding equity based on PIP results, adding a few zeros to Jay's slush funds.  The only good news is that these are fairy tale numbers, all valuations based upon this ironclad guarantee:

Players were told they would receive equity into PGA Tour Enterprises, which the tour says has a valuation of $12 billion.

For those unfamiliar with high finance, the tour saying the entity is worth $12 billion isn't exactly the same as the entity actually being worth $12 billion, but I'm sure Letitia James will be all over this.

This is not cash, and I've seen no discussion of how it will convert to cash, which it seems would require continued further investment from some combination of SSG and you-know-who.  But just to pick names, they're awarding sizeable equity stakes to JT and Jordan at the very time their games seem to be in remission, though I do hope someone asks JT whether Bones gets a taste.

Ryder Cup Musings - Sean Zak apparently covets Dylan Dethier's Monday Finish column, because he's now peddling  his own Tuesday Takes, from which we will sample a few bits, including two bits related to the Ryder Cup, lateness being the connective tissue:

1. The Ryder Cup is behind schedule (pt. 1).

Tiger Woods is probably going to be the Ryder Cup captain at Bethpage. He’s discussed it with
the PGA of America. He acknowledge at the Masters he was going to be discussing it with the PGA again after the Masters. Even Jim Furyk, captain of the U.S. Presidents Cup team, was talking about Woods as a shoo-in for the RC role during a press conference last week.

Even if it feels like a done deal, we’ll hold tight. But the one thing we do know is that we’re wayyyy behind on making that decision. The last decade’s-worth of American Ryder Cup captains have, at the absolute latest, been announced in February of the preceding year. Meaning at least 20 months early. Sometimes they’re announced even earlier than that, because the marketing and promotion and scouting and team building and site-visits — it all takes time. A lot of time. And currently, the Bethpage Ryder Cup is just 17 months away. The captaincy is at least three months behind schedule. Which would never be much of an issue — we probably care too much about this event during its off-years — except the American team has once again been put on notice by what appears to be a European juggernaut. It’s time to get on with it.

On the one hand, Tiger's Greta Garbo act is quite silly.  You know he's going to be the captain, he knows he's going to be the captain and he knows that you know.... They've collectively let it get to the point where no one else would even take because there'd be such a letdown.

That said, the case that it has to be resolved because of marketing or site visits to Bethpage is just awfully silly, no?  Though, given my take above on certain former stalwarts of the U.S. team, perhaps Tiger is merely concerned about fielding twelve competitive players.... He barely eked out that Prez Cup win at Royal Melbourne, sure would be a tough "L" in a Ryder Cup home game.

That Furyk reference is to this bit:

Undoubtedly, that hasn’t changed. But a question from a media member in Canada wanted to know if Woods would be an active participant of the U.S. contingent in attendance at the 15th Presidents Cup in September at Royal Montreal.

“What are the odds we'll see Tiger Woods there in some capacity?” asked Bob Weeks of Toronto Sports Network.

Responded Furyk, “Uh, I wonder what the odds in Vegas would be on that right now?”

The 53-year-old captain then caught himself. “Probably not even allowed to talk about that, Bob, because it would be odds in the gambling side of things,” he said. “But, you know, I'm curious, what are the odds he's gonna be the Ryder Cup captain? What do you think about that? Can I turn it around and ask you, is he gonna accept that position?”

Your first reaction is undoubtedly shock at the very fact that Jim Furyk is the captain of our Prez Cup team, though that's perhaps secondary to being reminded that the Prez Cup is still played.  Of course our Tiger, who presents himself as being a team player, couldn't be bothered getting his butt to Italy for a Ryder Cup, so the chances of him showing in Montreal are approximately, checking notes, zero.  And strike that "approximately"....

But it does allow me to grab this photo of Tiger's prior trip to Montreal, during which Sunday didn't turn out as planned:


On a more substantive note, I'm old enough to remember when the Ryder Cup Task Force was to save us, one element thereof being to use the Prez Cup to train future Ryder Cup captains.  Yet here we are recycling former Ryder Cup captains into the Prez Cup, most amusingly bad and unsuccessful Ryder Cup captains at that.  Confirming, as if we needed further evidence, that all of professional golf is about taking care of the self-designated cool kids.

Sean's second RC bit is of less concern, at least on this side of the Atlantic:

2. The Ryder Cup is behind schedule (pt. 2).

We know Bethpage is hosting in 2025, Adare Manor’s hosting in 2027 and Hazeltine’s hosting in 2029, but we’ve got nothing finalized about the next Cup after that. The European host two Cups from now. And while that may not seem to matter, we are once again behind schedule. The event has typically announced host venues at least eight years out, which means we’re six months behind on hearing which European country will follow Ireland as RC host.

Why? Well, the answer is complicated. In order to host the Cup, generally local governments need to get involved — as was the case with the extremely successful ’23 Cup in Italy — to approve building permits and orchestrate plans for a global sporting event landing on their turf. Spain’s Catalonia region was a front-runner for the honor until local government got in the way. Now, it’s looking like England is in the lead, but which English region will it be?

There’s a cohort who want to bring the Ryder Cup to Manchester, to a place called Bolton, endorsed by Tommy Fleetwood. There’s a separate group vying to bring it to the London area, to a place called Luton Hoo, the owner of which seems to desperately want to create “the Augusta of Europe.”

My initial reaction: good luck with that. Put me down with the Bolton party and Team Fleetwood. But I don’t call the shots. I just keep track of how long it’s taking for someone else to make ’em.

I'm having difficulty working up any concern about which dreadful venue the Euro Tour will choose, not least because, Sean's charming tale of government cooperation aside, it's determined exclusively by the number of zeros on the check.

I've long given up hope that we could have inspired Ryder Cup venues, though we are at least rewarded with many of those for the Walker Cup.

LIVing The Good Life -  As dreary as Tour life has become, I simply can't stop laughing at the clown show doing business as LIV.  But you have to embrace the schadenfreudalicity involved herein:

On Wednesday at LIV’s latest event in Adelaide, commissioner Greg Norman was asked about these changes specifically — and he delivered a surprising response.

“I think from LIV’s perspective, we’re very open-minded about [moving to 72 holes],” he said. “But you’ve got to understand there’s economic impact about putting television on for 72 holes.”

Open-minded! Sure, it’s not “enthusiastic about” or “changing to” — but Norman’s comments nonetheless mark a noticeable territorial shift for the league in its public-facing comments. Even if shifting to 72 holes would result in a relatively palatable solution for all parties involved, Norman and co. have been reticent to comment publicly about changes that could bring the league more in line with its PGA Tour counterparts. Norman’s decision to comment publicly about it on Wednesday — in the same presser LIV competitor Jon Rahm named PGA Tour events he would enjoy competing in — indicates the league is thinking seriously about a future that looks different than its present. 

 “It’s a great conversation to have. We will continue to have that conversation going forward,” Norman said. “But we sit back and say, what value do we get on putting on television on Thursday? Now, how do we build out in the future? How do we get more people to the golf course? Maybe it is Thursday and you allow another 30,000 people coming in on a Thursday.”

Hey, given that you're not on actual television on Friday, why sweat the Thursday thing?  Also, when you are on TV, no one is watching...

 Of course, as I've been cackling over since day one, there is that uncomfortable anme issue:

LIV Golf has a bit of a thing with the number 54.

The name LIV, you might remember, is derived from the Roman numeral for 54, which also happens to be the number of holes played by the Saudi-backed tour in its competitions. This has been a central piece of LIV’s “revolutionary” identity from the beginning — the idea that tournaments were too long and stars were too often removed from those fields with a cutline. And so, the league’s theory went, by removing the cutline and trimming tournaments to 54 holes with a shotgun start, we could remove all of the worst parts of golf tournaments and keep all of the best.

Now, it seems, that love affair has grown a bit stale. As the league ponders a future that could include a treaty or even reunification with the PGA Tour, LIV’s executives are also coming to grips with the suggestion that some of the league’s core tenets could be changed as part of that reunification. One of the biggest of those suggested changes has been extending the league’s tournaments to 72 holes, which some players have advocated for as a means of helping LIV achieve OWGR status or, more broadly, for keeping the tour in line with the remainder of golf’s biggest events, which are also contested over 72 holes.

Can you feel the game growing?

It's all quite hysterical, but they don't have a viable product and have no obvious path to viability.  I'll just add that the rejection of their OWGR application was less about 54 vs. 72 holes, than it was about their closed ecosystem.  But that their cleverness with the LIV name would come back to bite them was blindingly obvious, so I think I get to take a bow, no?

But LIV's biggest problem might be that none of their players seem content:

When pressed further, Rahm revealed which PGA Tour events he’d still “love to play” should those starts become available to him again.

“Right now obviously it’s 14 LIV events that I want to play, so that, majors, Ryder Cup for sure, and then after that, yeah, there’s some PGA Tour events that if it’s not conflicting with my LIV schedule I’d love to go play,” Rahm said. “I’ve said numerous times and I’ll say it again, Palm Springs [the American Express], Torrey Pines [Farmers Insurance Open], Phoenix [WM Phoenix Open], LA [Genesis Invitational], if I’m allowed to be able to play, the Players [Players Championship]. Those are events that if I could, I would love to play.”

Said with Greg Norman sitting next to him.

I hear a note of desperation in this:

But he also expressed confidence that some kind of agreement would result in the best “product” for golf fans.

“We all want to see this resolved,” Rahm said. “Like I’ve said many times, we have the opportunity to take golf to the next level in the global markets, and I think if done properly we can come up with a better product for anybody, and putting golf as a bigger product in general as a worldwide sport.”

Really?   Because your buddy Phil said that LIV's revolutionary product was going to revitalize the game of golf.  Was that all just BS?  Yeah, you mean it might have been about the money?

Lastly, how about a boo-frigging-hoo moment:

Likely?  If by "likely" you mean a dead certainty.

For most folks, $2.2 million is more than enough to make ends meet. You can buy all the cold
cuts you want from the grocery store, pick up your dry cleaning and even treat yourself to a new golf club or two with that chunk of change. Still, the math is the math … and $2.2 million is a lot less than $4 million.

At this week’s LIV Golf event in Adelaide, one lucky (and very unlucky) golfer will learn the true difference between those two numbers the league’s most popular event from a fan-attraction standpoint has one fatal flaw: Australia tax laws.

If form holds from 2023, the winner of the upcoming event is expected to see his winnings spliced by nearly half due to the Land Down Under’s tax regulations. Last year’s champion was Talor Gooch, found that out first-hand and had a very reasonable take on this mishegas. It’s a real bummer.

“It was a little bit disheartening seeing 47½ percent because Australian taxes [do] not enter the account,” Gooch said on the “Fore The People” podcast after his 2023 win. “It comes, you know, sometimes it’s like 48 hours, but it’s usually 24 hours after the direct deposit hits.

Great.  Now do California....   

Today In Entitlement - We can speculate about why golf TV ratings are down, but it's so illuminating how our modern professionals feel unconstrained by their actual popularity.  For instance, this young lady:

Yeah, we'll see about that.

Shortly after notching a historic fifth-straight win at the Chevron Championship, Nelly Korda offered a friendly (but stern) message to golf’s TV networks:

“We need a stage. We need to be on primetime TV, and we need to showcase the talent we have out here, which is a lot. We need the support from not just the crowds but the television networks.”

Korda’s message was clear, even if she risked igniting another round of whataboutist retorts from the “nobody cares” segment of the golf internet: For women’s golf to succeed on television like men’s golf, it needs to be shown on television like men’s golf. As for that insipid argument about floundering ratings on small cable networks being proof of women’s golf’s inherent inferiority, Korda seemed to be arguing that the solution to women’s golf’s popularity woes was neither the chicken (major TV networks) nor the egg (women’s golf), but rather the frequency of the two working together.

That's great, at least if you believe that men's golf is succeeding on TV, which this year's ratings seem to rebut.

But sometimes you just can't make the dogs eat the dog food:

As Nelly Korda won her fifth straight event, NBC drew 936,000 viewers for the final round of LPGA Chevron Championship on Sunday, one of the circuit’s five majors. But that figure was down slightly from 941,000 viewers last year, when Lilia Vu won in a playoff. Two years ago, the final round was on Golf Channel and drew 349,000. Sunday’s LPGA round went head-to-head with the PGA Tour’s RBC Heritage with Scottie Scheffler in the lead, but that telecast had large chunks of no golf due to rain in South Carolina. The LPGA also went head-to-head with NASCAR on Fox, the NBA playoffs on ABC and Stanley Cup Playoffs on ESPN.

That's with Nelly en fuego and the RBC in a weather delay.... Reality is a bitch, but approximately no one watches women's golf.  

This is true for sure:

EXCUSE ME?

That message might have sounded strange, particularly on the heels of NBC carrying two straight days — and at least 7 hours — of nationally televised tournament coverage from the “Chev.” But anyone watching the telecast knew the coverage was badly wounded relative to a traditional men’s weekend tournament round.

There was hardly any technology worth showing, and only a handful of camera crews were on site to cover the action — a pittance next to the coverage CBS gave Scottie Scheffler’s victory in Hilton Head. On Sunday, flipping channels from CBS’s coverage to NBC’s was a bit like going from 1.5x speed to .5x.

Thankfully, Korda was in the final group and leading come Sunday afternoon, so NBC’s cameras didn’t miss much. But the investment was clearly lacking.

To his credit, James Colgan doesn't let the girls completely off the hook:

NBC’s DEFENSE…

Is salient. Carlton Woods, which hosts the Chevron, is a spread-out tournament layout, which creates all manner of challenges for TV productions utilizing miles worth of fiber optic cable and strike crews needing to set up tower coverage. It’s hard to get set up for tournament play in the best of circumstances, and adding additional layers of production glut adds further cost and time to the NBC team.

NBC is also not in control of pace of play, which — at a shade over six hours on Sunday — was horrendous and surely contributed to the slow-motion feel of the Sunday telecast. Also, the fact that Korda was so far distanced from the remainder of the rest of the field for most of Sunday’s round, and the historical context with which she was competing, left the broadcast giving her Tiger-like levels of airtime. Considering she was quick to play, that meant plenty of waiting.

Nelly is a participant, so of course we understand her desire to promote her tour, but one is reminded of the chicken and the egg.  Her basic premise is that the ladies should be given the platform, as opposed to earning the platform.  You'll be shocked to know that I beg to differ there....

The ladies need to force NBC to have to cover them, and Nelly herself might be able to do so.  But the supporting cast seems wanting in the present moment, and those six-hour rounds will repel viewers.

I wish them the best and I do actually watch some women's golf, I chose the Chevron over the RBC unaware of the weather issues at Hilton Head.  But, as intriguing as Nell herself can be, it's not like they put on a great show.  They need to up their game dramatically, so let's not blame NBC.

Gotta get moving with my day.  Probably will see you next on Monday.


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Tuesday, April 23, 2024

Tuesday Tastings - TGL Preview Edition

Mostly kidding in that header, though we do have an item....

Gonna start with this from Dylan Dethier's Monday Finish column, in which he does a side-by-side homage to those two dominants forces in the professional game, beginning with Nelly:

Late on Sunday night I got a call back from Nelly Korda‘s coach Jamie Mulligan. He was at the Houston airport, sipping on a celebratory beverage, dried off from his plunge into (the new)
Poppie’s Pond but still soaked in the secondhand satisfaction of a dream delivered. That’s what Korda’s Sunday win — her fifth in a row and the second major of her career — amounted to. A dream.

“It’s everything that I’ve always wanted as a little girl, to lift that major trophy,” Korda said Sunday evening.

Mulligan has worked with Korda for several years, which is why I’d messaged him asking a simple, impossible question: what’s the difference? Korda was an excellent golfer a couple years ago, but she wasn’t like this. What’s changed?

He paused.

“There isn’t really a difference,” he said. “More simplicity in her own bubble is all. But it’s the same thing. Cleaner, more efficient.”

He cited Korda’s shots coming home, protecting a dwindling lead. The short iron into the par-3 17th. The drive and second into the finishing par-5. The way they’d demanded different things and the way she’d delivered.

“Imagine a ship,” Mulligan continued. “She’s been throwing stuff off the ship. Anything she didn’t need. And right now the ship is cruising along pretty good.”

Ya think?  There is the little matter of being healthy, but that bubble was all Nelly would speak of all week.  Of course, being in Houston will make a person retreat into their bubble....

Dylan had this on that other player on a tear:

MULLIGAN’S LINE REMINDED ME of a different description from a different person about a different golfer. That was Max Homa on men’s No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who was on the doorstep of victory at the RBC Heritage before play was called for the day on Sunday night.

“Scottie is tremendously talented and a hard worker and sadly, a better person,” Homa said. “I wish I could hate him. But it’s not utterly shocking what he does. He just does it over and over and over again. That’s amazing. I feel like he almost makes it seem very realistic that we should do that. He just seems like he’s playing on the driving range every day.”

There’s more to be said of this current professional golfing moment, particularly the two golfers — Korda and Scheffler — in the midst of historic runs. There’s more to be said of the fact that Korda has won five in a row and Scheffler has won four of five and finished runner-up in that fifth. Of the way this very rarely happens on either the LPGA or PGA Tour and right now it’s happening on both. Of the way it’s happening against the backdrop of a pro game mired in toxic discourse, with our focus too often centered on money and ratings and that dreaded phrase the product and not often enough on excellence. Of the way they’re making their competitors look flawed and ordinary. That’s what excellence does. This weekend was excellence continued. That’s worth celebrating. That’s golf stuff we like.

Yeah, I also don't love the "product" stuff, though the bigger issue is that the guys insist on believing that they're the product.   Also that it somehow helps sell the product to be rich beyond measure and angry about it.  Just sayin'

Scottie is a welcome respite from that, though he's perceived as being too milquetoast to move the needle.  It's probably a fair rap, but I like him all the more for it, as if somehow Patrick Cantlay is the more engaging personality.  

The always-interesting Mike Bamberger takes his own shot at these two dominant players, though it's his offhand comments that caught my eye, beginning here:

When your swing is the envy of the free world — when it is rhythmic and repeatable, with tried-and-true sequencing — unflappability can be your ultimate superpower. (Check out the Tiger
highlights, circa 2000.) When you have all that, you can take you-do-you to the mountaintop. The actual competition part of it becomes less of an issue. Mickey Wright lived her golfing life that way. Wright’s wins were ultimately a tribute to her superior technique, her spectacular swing. That’s what we’re seeing in Nelly Korda. Her older sister, Jessica, now out of action with a back injury, has a similar approach.

This kind of mentality is not what you would instinctively expect from two golfers raised by two successful tennis players. Tennis is closer to boxing. In a match of equals, the over-the-net smackdown always lingers. Golf, at match play, often has that, and one of Korda’s five victories this year was at a match-play event. But it’s not baked into the DNA of all winners of all 72-hole stroke-play events. You could say that of Korda, and you could say that of Scheffler, too. A clear mind is a beautiful thing.

Mike, I'll have to take your word for that last bit.  That's where good parenting comes in, because I suspect the senior Kordas allowed their kids to try all sports and gravitate to that which suits them best.  And, going way out on a limb, I'll posit that Nelly has indeed found a game that suits her.

Mie continues:

In golf — because its playing fields are so varied, because any single swing has so many moving parts, because the amount of time it takes to play is so long — it’s hard to keep it all going. Dark thoughts and bad luck are often lurking.

And what if your bad luck is having so many dark thoughts?  Asking for a friend....

This is a misfire:

Also, every time Nelly Korda plays, she faces the best golfers in the world, from all over the world. (Elite, global men’s golf is simply more spread out, and always has been.) Korda sees the likes of Lydia Ko and Brooke Henderson and Rose Zhang and a dozen or more golfers with similar profiles 20 or so times a year. Scottie Scheffler, in his PGA Tour life, cannot say that. It’s not his fault that he can’t, but he can’t.

Are you done laughing?  Wow, how does one even take the club back with Brooke in the field?  And exactly what has Rose done to date?

The point is that there's a point to be made, but Mike doesn't see it.  The asterisk (how was your Masters week, Talor?) it deserves isn't because Jon Rahm isn't there, regrettable as that may be.  The issue is the 70 players that Scheffler didn't have to beat because they weren't invited to Hilton Head, just to keep Patrick from whining.

But then Mike has to morph into a social justice warrior:

Nelly Korda has made $2.4 million on the course so far this year. With his win at the RBC Heritage (that was worth $3.6 million), Scheffler has made more than $18 million this year.

Something is out of whack.

Great, Mike.  Now do the relative TV audiences.....  Maybe it's not so out of whack after all?

But what a crazy moment, with the two best players on the planet on impressive heaters.  When will it end?  Who knows?  Is anyone watching?  Not on a Monday morning, that's for sure.

Hilton Head Leftovers -  Patrick Cantlay, you might have noticed, isn't my cup of tea, but this seems quite bizarre, though admittedly he probably found himself in an awkward spot.  Alan Bastable sets the scene:

When the RBC Heritage was suspended due to darkness at 7:50 p.m. Sunday, the tournament’s winner already had been all but decided. With a three-shot lead with just three holes to play,
Scottie Scheffler was not going to kick away his fourth title in his last five starts, because, well, he’s Scottie Scheffler.

But further down the ’board, other business still needed to be settled.

From that group, Cantlay’s Sunday-evening decision-making at Harbour Town was particularly intriguing, because when the horn blew he had only half a hole left to play. To finish his round, or not to finish his round? For Cantlay, that was the question. Under the rules, if play is suspended for darkness after a player already has teed off on a hole, the player may elect to complete the hole or mark and finish out when play resumes. Players generally shudder at the thought of having to come back on Monday mornings, especially if they have only a few shots left to play, so if they’re on the 72nd hole under these circumstances, they’ll make every effort to hole out. Then again, when millions of dollars are on the line, rushing or fighting the darkness is not always the wisest tactic.

See the inherent tension?  We know how players feel about coming back Monday morning but we also know how Patrick feels about millions of dollars..... But, for the record, wasn't Scottie five up with three to play?  It kind of matters...

So, we're in the 18th fairway when the horn blows:

Cantlay had hit a good drive at the par-4 18th, but when play was suspended he still had 214 yards left into a stiff wind and light rain and over marshland — not the most comfortable shot even in the best of conditions. Decision time: mark and come back the next morning, or swing away. Cantlay talked over the options with his caddie, Joe LaCava, and made the call: they would forge on with a 3-wood into the gloaming.

“It got dark,” Cantlay would say later. “But yeah, I could see okay.”

Cantlay’s effort cleared the penalty area but came up just short and left of the green, from where at least one observer — and surely others, too — assumed Cantlay would have elected to finish up his round. But Cantlay didn’t. Instead, he marked. He would sleep on his up-and-down attempt.

“Can’t believe my eyes watching Patrick Cantlay,” tweeted Ian Woosnam, the 1991 Masters champion, “why on earth would you hit your second shot then mark your ball absolutely crazy, maybe says a lot.”

It seems to me that the threshold question would be, did he have any kind of chance to win?   That's why it matters whether the lead was three or five, because at lesser margin there's always that outside chance.

Here was Cantlay's take:

But on Monday Cantlay explained his decision, saying: “I really did want to finish last night, so I felt like if I could get the ball up there maybe in an easier spot, maybe I would have finished. But as I got the ball up near the green, I realized it would be easier to finish this morning. Just thought it might be easier to get the ball up-and-down this morning.”

I'll not object to any professional grinding to the finish line, but it just seems odd to play the second shot Sunday night into that cold, wet breeze.  Could it be that LaCava wanted to get home, but then found out why Patrick is called a Terrific Phallus when he refused to hole out?

What, you think Bones is the only caddie reconsidering his career decision?

In case you're wondering why the Tour didn't move up the Sunday tee times, Dylan has a brief explanation:

Monday Finishes

Unlike this column, Monday Finishes on Tour are best avoided. So why didn’t the PGA Tour move up tee times to dodge impending bad weather? How’d we get here? Some combination of preferred TV window and overly optimistic meterorology. Here was the explanation from Gary Young, the Tour’s SVP of Rules and Competitions:

“The golf course was really very dry. We felt that could handle it easily. It actually held up very well through the rain that we got, but it was really the thunder and lightning that put us down. We did not expect that. Our meteorologist Stewart Williams felt that the front would be to our south when we came in in the morning, so we would be on the cooler side of the front, and it would keep the probability of thunderstorms down quite a bit.

“Unfortunately when we arrived this morning, the front had stalled to our north, which kept us on the warmer side and allowed for the temperatures to warm up, and of course late in the day we saw the thunderstorms develop.”

They sure did.

There was a longer piece on this at Golfweek, but I'm just too damn lazy to find it.  The forecast they had available on Saturday, when they would have had to decide, called for a 30% chance of thunderstorms during the afternoon window.  The problem, of course, is that morning play and an afternoon rebroadcast is ratings euthanasia, a tough call given the run of dreary ratings.  

A skeptic might note that they're putting civilians in harm's way, at a time when golf fans are feeling abused already.  I'll also note that this is a further argument against the Tour's new format, under which we've already seen two money grabs undermined by weather.  Rory tells us we need to know when he's playing, but that also alerts the weather gods....

Chevron Leavings - Has anyone seen Chevron ratings?  Nelly has been transcendent, but why do I suspect that about a dozen people saw it?

Given that, I was remiss in not posting this craziest of good breaks:

She doesn't exactly bounce it out of the water, but how lame is that Chevron float?  Not exactly putting money into their signage, are they?

Has Jim Nancy-Boy reached his sell-by date?

The good news is that he was, in fact, the first to congratulate Kelly.... 

Hasn't He Done Enough Damage? - You're either a cool kid or you're not, and they're not accepting new applications:

A week ago, Rory McIlroy was once again emphatically squashing rumors that he was leaving
the PGA Tour for LIV Golf, saying he would play on the American-based tour for the rest of his career. On Monday, it was reported that McIlroy is doubling down on that promise by once again returning to the PGA Tour’s Policy Board.

The Guardian reported the Ulsterman is expected to return to the board as a director for both the Policy Board and PGA Tour Enterprises as a replacement for Webb Simpson, whom, the Guardian said, offered his resignation with the request that McIlroy take his place. McIlroy is expected to be re-elected onto the board this week ahead of playing in the Zurich Classic.

This is beyond outrageous at this point, not least that Webb Simpson should be allowed to designate his successor, but also that he would designate for Rory, who has most recently argued that the money grabs should have even smaller fields.

Imagine you're a Tour Rabbit, and these are your player directors:

Tiger Woods

Patrick Cantlay

Rory McIlroy

Adam Scott

Peter Malnati

 Do you feel that your interests are going to be well represented?

Do you see why I've been calling it a coup?  Do you see how they take care of themselves?  Remember, those last two guys have been compromised by sponsors' exemptions.  

I think Rory and Yasir will get on famously.

Anticipation... - Wow, this is gonna be lit:

Hey, it's golf without walking, so no surprise that he's excited....

He's the man, so I expect his roster will be loaded, no?

Q: How did Jupiter Links GC come together?

A: “TGL league policy was to prioritize player schedules first so that all the guys could commit to and play their normal, desired PGA Tour schedule. Last thing we wanted was a player to not play in an event due to a TGL match.

“With that, I have three guys on my team that I enjoy being around, that I know are going to work hard and grind as team members, can talk a little trash and will have a great time. If I compete in something, I want to win. Jupiter Links now has one of the top all-around players in the world in Max Homa, one of the fastest-rising young stars in Tom Kim and I’ll put Kiz up against anyone in team play. So while I didn’t hand pick this team, I’m thrilled at where Jupiter Links Golf Club stands.”

Tom Km and Kiz?  Really?  Was Webb Simpson already taken?  

But don't ignore that first 'graph, in which I detect a certain defensiveness.  The untold story of the TGL is how challenging it is to get these guys together on Monday nights, and I suspect it will have an effect on playing schedules.  Which means that the Tour is competing with its own sponsors, and you know those with non-Signature events will be further impaired.  This is just SOP with the Tour, as the nice folks at Honda could testify.  Hey, they had only sponsored the event for 42 years, so they had it coming.

Tiger has perfected the art of the non-answer answer, so enjoy his tradecraft:

Q: What do you like about how each players’ game fits the TGL format?

A: “I think each player is going to bring a lot of game and personality to Jupiter Links. TGL’s format, which includes a shot clock, time outs, and both team and individual match play, is really going to highlight our players’ talents and bring a fresh, modern, and fast-paced twist to the game we all love so much.”

Which talents are those?  I mean those K-boys haven't shown much of anything recently, but never mind.

Homa almost single-handedly saved the last installment of the Match, but I'm unclear whether this be more or less dreadful than that franchise.  I imagine many of us will tune in for the first broadcast, but don't we think yet another ratings implosion is the most likely outcome beginning in week two?

That'll have to do you for today.  See you later in the week.

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