Thursday Thoughts - Dog Days of August Edition

Are you hyped for East Lake?  Let me know when you're finished laughing and I'll go on....

Scenes From East Lake - We'll start with some minor bits that caught my eye.  First, this amusing (and tongue-in-cheek) whine:

The tournament trophies, the season-long awards, and the stats all say the same thing: Scottie Scheffler has been the best golfer on the planet for the past three years. And it's not even close.

But during his Tuesday press conference ahead of this week's Tour Championship, the World No. 1 sounded like every weekend hacker out there. Why? He was just another golfer bitching about how many strokes he has to give his friends on the course.

"Depends on the game, but at home I'm typically playing to a plus 7," Scheffler said. "I used to be a plus 5. They moved me to a plus 7. So now we've got guys in the group that are getting like two strokes a hole."

Ironically, this is being discussed on the one week a year in which Scottie gets strokes, as many as ten, from the best players in the world.  

It's a new, or newish, East Lake:

Architect Andrew Green offers fresh challenge at restored East Lake for Tour Championship

 Really?  Because it's got a Deja Vu feel to it:

PGA Tour adds internal OB at East Lake after Scottie Scheffler discussed shortcu

And that's without Bryson in the field.... Nothing to see here....

And then there's our Jay, winning hearts and minds every time he opens his mouth.  First, on the topic of greatest interest:

But one subject Monahan gave very little clarity on, despite being asked four questions on the

matter, was the status of the negotiations between the PGA Tour and the Saudi Public Investment Fund.

“We’re at the table and actively engaged with the Public Investment Fund,” Monahan said in his opening statement, echoing previous hesitancy to update on the talks directly. “We remain hopeful about that outcome. But at the same time, we’re moving forward at speed and focused on what we can control, because that’s what we owe to our fans.”

“That’s a direct result of dialogue and conversation and really starting to talk about the future, future product vision and where we can take our sport,” he said. “I think when you get into productive conversations, that enhances the likelihood of positive outcomes, and that enhances the spirit of those very conversations.”

As of now, Monahan said there is no deadline to come to an agreement or drop the framework altogether.

Gee, Jay, if we're talking about obligations to fans, I might have been tempted to start with honesty and clarity, not to mention a watchable product.  But, hey, why start now?

Eamon Lynch has thoughts, frames as usual in imaginative fashion:

”I was in the Virgin Islands once. I met a girl. We ate lobster, drank piña coladas. At sunset we made love like sea otters,” Bill Murray rants about the repetitiveness of his existence in the movie “Groundhog Day.” “That was a pretty good day. Why couldn’t I get that day over and over and over?”

Jay Monahan’s groundhog days also lack lobster, piña coladas and escapades worthy of frisky marine mammals. Instead, his involve press conferences in which he repeatedly declines to answer questions about the one subject folks wish to hear from him on: the state of negotiations with the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund. Wednesday brought another of those at East Lake Golf Club during the commissioner’s press briefing at the Tour Championship, the transcript of which will show considerable overlap with his last one, at the Players Championship in March, and with his appearance here last year. That Monahan has actually offered more detail on the talks than his PIF counterpart, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, counts for naught since MBS’s bag man doesn’t make himself available for questions and is held to different standards in many matters, not least transparency and accountability.

OK, I have to ask, how exactly do sea otters make love?  To be fair, Yasir hasn't been any less available to the press than a certain Presidential candidate, but I'll move on.

But Eamon has a singular focus, and I agree with this up to a point:

But one comment that passed largely unnoticed in Monahan’s prepared remarks hinted at a shifting reality. “We now have the structure and the resources we need to define the future of professional golf on our terms and the significant support of a world-class group of investors,” he said, referring to Strategic Sports Group, which injected $1.5 billion into the Tour in January.

Humorist Will Rogers once described diplomacy as the art of saying “nice doggie” until you find a rock. In SSG, Monahan found his rock. It provided him something the Tour didn’t have a year ago: $1.5 billion worth of options.

I don't know about those "structures" especially when one looks at the extra-judicial way in which Tiger was added to the Board.  But, yeah, they got a shit-pile of cash, with maybe more on the way.  But, Jay, how's that burn rate looking?

I would have like him to expand on this:

To be sure, there are weeks when the PGA Tour’s product struggles to breathe, but by comparison, LIV’s is in hospice care. It has an audience that could be comfortably accommodated in one of East Lake’s hospitality suites (as long as there’s wifi for online trolling), zero market traction, expensive contract renewals looming, all while being hostage to capricious internal politics in Riyadh. Monahan can be forgiven for thinking his hand is strengthened as time passes.

I might have gone with a Cone of Silence analogy, given that they're not even competitive with pickleball in the ratings... But the larger point is that struggles have been concentrated in their Signature Events, yanno, the ones they tell us are designed specifically for the fans.  But what to conclude when the dogs simply refuse to eat the dogfood?

Geoff takes his shots at the Commish, and it's quite a bit of fun:

The Creator Classic was not even close to the most embarrassing thing Wednesday at the PGA Tour’s second most important tournament. Jay Monahan held a laborious press conference and the re-re-re-remodeled East Lake already required last minute internal out-of-bounds to protect humans from monster drives which, you guessed it, Jay Jay really wants to keep happening for his friends in Fairhaven. Or, whatever shallow reason.

Thankfully, we are all still basking in an amazing major championship year to keep spirits up while recalling how some organizations get it, and, well, then there’s the PGA Tour.

The lavishly-compensated leader of two PGA Tour operations wheeled out some gobbledygook, vanilla corporatespeak, earnings call elusiveness and authentic frontier gibberish to pay homage to his predecessor. In many ways, you can’t blame him. An $18 million comp package (as of the last 990) and free jet rides to Steamboat would have most of us obfuscating during one of two annual Q&A sessions.

Furthermore, the Commissionership is now about pandering to a few egomaniacal players who approve his job status. So that means you get LOL stuff like the Commish breathlessly saying how all of the Tour’s Boards displayed devotion to country and cash by showing to a meeting in Memphis. Then again, no one in their right mind willingly goes to Memphis in August. So he does have a point.

So Patrick was there?  Nice, although not sure he's on board with the country thing....Yanno, unless he gest paid to wear a cap with USA on it.

But for the few who sat through the inane press conference had to feel dirtier and insulted since everyone was sold on a coming merger with LIV that’s not close to happening. Yet players had their biggest and best moments in majors featuring full fields, 36-hole cuts, and when non-PGA Tour organizations did their best to put on a competition of integrity. These events were contested over venues featuring elaborate preparation work by setup and agronomy teams as thousands of volunteers put in hours of thankless work to make these weeks go.

So instead of learning valuable lessons from what still works, the PGA Tour keeps chipping away at their brilliant model by continuing the response to Saudi Arabia’s disruptive golf league by embracing what LIV does. It’s a shame.

Yeah, it's a bit difficult to understand, but only on the surface.  You'd think the demise of the WGCs combined with the unwatchability of the LIV events would serve as a cautionary tale, but only if you take Jay's pontification about the fans seriously.  As Eamon Lynch once said, the problem was never the source of the Saudi money, rather it was always about the recipients.  Now that Patrick is getting his, it's all good (at least until; they burn through that $1.r billion large).

But here's where Geoff strikes gold (and sounds very much like your humble blogger);

What was the one substantial thing Monahan said Wednesday?

“Fridays are one of the most important days on the PGA Tour,” he said in answer to a question about experimenting with telecasts this fall. “We’ve got more than half the players that don’t make it to the weekend.”

Eh, em. Aren’t you the organization that began reducing field sizes and eliminating Friday night cuts? Or instituting meaningless cuts at meaningful events to appease those pesky troublemakers Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus and their 33 majors?

This year showed us how the traditional way of doing things still works and grabs huge audiences. Fans, sponsors and players are still drawn to the weeks when the competition is pure, difficult and featuring a satisfying culmination where many elements come together in honor of the past while creating new legends.

Maybe the Friday comment was a slip by Monahan? More likely it’s just a sign the organization is confused these days and not to be trusted with the keys to the sport.

The absence of a cut removes any reason for a sentient human being to watch the tournament on Thursday and Friday.  They keep demonstrating their contempt for golf fans, and then are shocked when those fans make other arrangements.... Go figure.

But wait, it gets worse:

Monahan and lieutenant Tyler Dennis delivered more evidence on that front by continuing to signal contempt for the Rules of Golf. They also magically forgot basic facts in answer to a question about distance. The irony of their stance was also missed.

Within minutes of the Tour putting out a statement about adding last-minute out-of-bounds at East Lake after a few players signaled intent to play down other fairways with their juiced drivers, the Tour brass indicated a lack of willingness to accept updated testing rules in 2028.

This comes even after a five-year “Distance Insights” process led to a watered-down final decision. One abandoning the driver as a target for restoring the skill of solid strikes while getting the start date pushed back two more years. Yet the PGA Tour is still sifting through the distance data they supplied for the various studies even after the designated and agreed-upon comment period has long ended. Dennis was involved in the process throughout, yet they are still not sure the Tour can go along with the decision.

Geoff has the receipts, posting a transcript of the back and forth with Tyler Dennis.  It's all interesting and could involve a civil war amongst the golf organizations, although that assumes any of us would still be watching professional golf in 2028.  I recommend taking the under on that, as they seem hell bent on ruining it all, perhaps with the exception of the majors.

Today In Golf Ratings - Also from Geoff, a factoid on the dogs and their food:

Last year’s AIG Women’s Open at Walton Heath was not exactly a ratings killer, so the 42% increase in average audience size for the 2024 edition only had room to grow. Still, even with NBC’s diminished marketing muscle and minimalist broadcast, a strong leaderboard and close finish drew a solid 950,000k average for Sunday’s final round according to SportsMediaWatch.com. Saturday’s third round averaged 547,000.

The increase is also revealing given how the PGA Tour once again delivered a big decline for the BMW Championship. Get ready for plenty of 228i Gran Coupe spots in the coming months.

According to SMW, the BMW final round averaged 2.45 million viewers on NBC even after the strong Women’s Open lead-in. That’s down 19% from last year (3.03 million) and the smallest audience for the event since 2017.

BMW third round action was down 14%.

There is absolutely no truth to rumors that going from historic, awe-inspiring St Andrews to a suburban Denver flower nursery cost the broadcast 500,000 sensible viewers.

Heh!  Yanno, I could give them pointers on effortless segues....

Am Golf Venue Bliss - I actually feel a little bad about the inadvertent trashing of Castle Pines above.  It's not a bad place for a regular Tour event.  In fact, they used to have a perfectly fine event there, but Nurse Ratched sacrificed it to the Gods of FedEx.

But venues matter so not this:

Originally named “The Women’s International Cup” and dating to informal matches starting in 1905, the Curtis Cup Match between USA and Great Britain came into the competitive golf world in 1927. The matches became a biennial competition in 1932 thanks to sisters and U.S. Women’s Amateur champions Harriot and Margaret Curtis. They subsidized the Paul Revere silver bowl held by the winning team and inscribed it, “To stimulate friendly rivalry among the women golfers of many lands.”

The Americans own a 31-8-3 leading record in the competition turning up at historic Sunningdale Golf Club’s Old Course this week. The Willie Park Jr. design opened in 1901 and will be set up at 6,488 yards and par 72.

Willie Park, Jr. designed, but Harry S. Colt tweaked, quite the daily double.  There is some Golf Channel coverage:

Sunningdale Old is no East Lake, thankfully.

Then this:

Royal Dornoch has been announced as site of the 45th Curtis Cup in 2028. The brilliant Scottish Highlands links will be hosting its first team event after recently hosting the 2022 Women’s and Men’s Senior Amateurs won by Terrill Samuel and Mike McCoy. The esteemed course designed primarily by Old Tom Morris, John Sutherland and George Duncan, and is where Donald Ross served in many roles before emigrating to America has also hosted the 1985 Amateur Championship and 2023 Scottish Men’s Amateur.

“As a Club, we want to support the highest level of amateur golf and believe our Championship Course will provide a fitting platform for the players,” said Neil Hampton, General Manager at Royal Dornoch. “The Curtis Cup is also going to be a tremendous occasion for the local area. With the Championship Course consistently ranked highly in global standings and the investment in our infrastructure as we build a new clubhouse, a match of this standing and stature will only enhance the reputation of Royal Dornoch, the town and the local area.”

Played out and back with a brief sojourn up a gorse-covered hill to recently updated holes, the great links rose to international prominence after Herbert Warren Wind penned a New Yorker feature that inspired Sandy Tatum and Tom Watson to pay a visit. Lorne Rubenstein subsequently documented his time there in the recently re-released A Season in Dornoch.

This was that New Yorker feature, sadly now behind a paywall, which was exactly how I became aware of Dornoch.  It's far too remote to host any events with a big footprint, but this is perfect.  And the future venues are pretty boss as well:

The 2026 Curtis Cup will be contested at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles.

In June, 2030, The National Golf Links of America will host. In 2034, Pine Valley Golf Club will welcome the teams.

Quotable - Caught this from Geoff.  Wouldn't you think that if you're putting all your eggs in eight baskets, that the scheduling of those eight would be, well logical?  Not only were the guys forced to go to Hartford after the last two U.S. Opens (no short journey from LACC in 2023), but they just had to force the Memorial into the week before the U.S. Open:

Scottie Scheffler on the year and scheduling. “I played Memorial the week before the U.S. Open, and Memorial is basically as close to a U.S. Open test as we see on Tour, and I think it kind of wore me down going into that major championship.”

If they were trying to destroy the PGA Tour, what would they do differently?   I think Jack should have told Jay where to stick it, but he's more polite than your humble blogger.  

That's it for today.  Not sure whether I'll blog tomorrow, but do check in just to be safe.

Weekend Wrap - Gold And Silver Edition

Your humble blogger has rarely enjoyed a golf tournament as much as I did this weekend's comp on that museum piece in the Kingdom of Fife.  Not only were the memories of our own recent round still fresh, but the yardage book came out to anticipate starting lines off those back nine tees.... 

Lydia In Full - Admittedly, it hasn't been quite the same for me since she lost the glasses, but she's had quite a good few weeks.  From Shack:

As the wind howled and rain ensured a full Scottish experience, multiple current and former World No. 1’s rose atop the 2024 AIG Women’s Open leaderboard. But only one player in the last 15

groups broke 70 during the ghastly weather: Lydia Ko. Her steadiness outlasted dynamic efforts from the pursuing greats and made the New Zealander a fitting winner of a St Andrews major.

Early in the week the new LPGA Hall of Famer, recent Gold Medalist and former low amateur at the Old Course mirrored the sentiments of past winners at the world’s most important golf course: Ko admitted early in the week to being a gradual admirer of links golf.

Just days later after surviving the worst imaginable summertime links weather, Ko’s two-stroke victory may end up defining the 27-year-old’s brilliant career. And while current No. 1 Nelly Korda threw away her second major win in 2024 after two head-scratching double bogeys over four days of otherwise brilliant play, Ko’s absurd steadiness ultimately prevailed.

More on Korda for sure....

The commentators kept insisting it was the worst conditions ever, but far too dry for that to be remotely true.  But they were proper links conditions, ones we can only pray will recur when the men next visit.  

But while the names aren't all top-of-mind for casual golf viewers, but it was cream doing that which cream does:

As some of the surprised contenders faded away, a four-way tie surfaced with Ko on the Road hole, Korda a group behind and the final pairing of Vu and Shin at the 15th. All have ranked first in the world, including young Yin, who’d overcome the worst side of the first-round tee time draw to hang around long enough to finish in a four-way tie for second.

And spread over the final three games, so Lydia had to wait and watch to see if that 18th-hole birdie would suffice.

Shall we check in with the Tour Confidential gang?  How good was this event?  So good that the TC panel was forced to ignore the men (not to mention that Tiger guy) were forced to lede with it:

Lydia Ko won the AIG Women’s Open for her first major title in eight years. It was her first start since getting her final Hall of Fame qualifying point after winning the gold medal in Paris two weeks ago. She went toe-to-toe with World No. 1 Nelly Korda, who was looking for her second major of the season and seventh win overall and World No. 2 Lilia Vu in the final round. Where does this finish rank among the best major finishes this season (men or women)?

Jessica Marksbury: There’s always some recency-bias with questions like this, but that was

definitely one of the most — if not the most — exciting finishes of the year. The last few holes were incredible. The cast of characters, all of whom were seeking a third major title: Nelly, World No. 1 seeking her seventh win of the season and suffering a late back-nine disaster; Lydia, newly-minted future Hall of Famer coming off a gold medal at the Paris Olympics; Jiyai Shin, the resurgent veteran seeking a third Open; and World No. 2 Lilia Vu, all in the mix with four holes left to play. Then throw in the Old Course, wind and rain, and Lydia’s clutch birdie on 18, and I mean, WOW! What a way to cap the major season.

Josh Sens: We’ve been spoiled with some electric finishes in recent months. This one was riveting enough to finish second in my book, behind the U.S. Open but ahead of the PGA. The fact that it starred the most likable player in professional golf made it all the better. Who can resist rooting for Lydia Ko?

Alan Bastable: Yeah, Ko’s vibes are good for the game. She’s a great and worthy champion. And, yes, this was a final round fans could feast on. But I was most intrigued by Korda’s Sunday. As Nelly proved earlier in the season, there are weeks when she’s untouchable. But there also are, well…other weeks. Like her three straight missed cuts after her win at the Mizuho in July. Or her unremarkable showings at the Evian and the Olympics. And then this week in St. Andrews. The title was hers to seize, but then came a sloppy double on 14 and a bogey on 17 when she left her par try the one place she couldn’t afford to: short of the hole. Korda admitted at the Olympics, “I think recently what’s been happening to me is I make a mistake and then I make another mistake on top of it.” That’s ultimately what cost her this Women’s Open title. I’m very intrigued to see which version of Korda shows up at the Solheim Cup.

Bastable jumped the gun on Nelly, who seems to be auditioning to be named the Greg Norman of women's golf.  

Let me just interject a word of praise, or at least respect, for the much-maligned finishing hole on the Old Course.  It looks sufficiently short to be drivable and it appears to have no defenses, but good luck if you get to that tee box needing a three.... There's no metric that defines bewildering greens, but it is the most maddening green on the planet.  

She was ahead of the other contenders when she realized where she stood:

“Just before my second shot on 18, I realized that I was tied for the lead, and I knew I kind of felt like the girls coming in would also birdie the 18th,” Ko said. “So I wanted to make sure that I birdied and just give myself a chance at it, no matter if I go in a playoff or end up not winning.”

She made the birdie, respectfully acknowledged the crowd, then camped out at the putting green to stay loose for a playoff to get visual confirmation on a historic win. Ko’s biggest major victory to date came after Vu missed a downhill birdie putt, freeing up the low-key champion to celebrate with family and friends as the latest legend to conquer the Old Course.

Of course, that shot is iconic, the only thing missing is the crowd filling in behind her, because there were two more groups yet to play in:

One always feels that those yet to play will birdie No. 18, and yet not so many of them actually do....Of course, there was that Rocca guy, but no time for that right now.

Folks are calling this Lydia's Golden Summer and all, and no doubt she's one of the most popular girls out there.  But while we might be happy for her about that Olympic Golf Medal, that event is not a serious competition because of the dreadfully weak field.  This one, however, has no such limiting factors, so it does deserver to be considered, well, major.

The silver reference in the header refers to the trophy (the subtlety being that in this case the silver is far more impressive than that golf medal):

AIG WOMEN'S OPEN

 This isn't your traditional grand trophy that you might expect of a Major but it remains a thing of

beauty for the champion. This trophy was first awarded to Lorena Ochoa in 2007, when it was the Ricoh Women’s British Open, and in 2023 Lilia Vu would get her hands on a second Major.

The trophy is a fluted design with floral pattern and it was created by Edward Asprey who has had a hand in many of the game's best-known bits of silverware, including the iconic falcon trophy awarded to the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship winner.

If they had asked me, I'd have suggested a Championship Belt....

But what to make of our Nelly?  It's frankly hard to watch at times:

On Sunday, Korda made birdies at 5, 7, 9 and 10 to vault past everyone and take a two-shot lead,

with fellow Americans Lydia Ko and Lilia Vu trailing behind and on the verge of falling out of contention.

Then at the par-5 14th hole, disaster struck for Korda. The hole should have been a great opportunity to add a fifth birdie to her scorecard and set her up for a waltz to the winner’s circle. A layup attempt on her second shot ended up in the long grass, where she caught a flyer to send her third shot over the green. Then Korda came up short with her chip, which rolled back off the green.

With her fifth shot, she successfully chipped to four feet, leaving her a great look at bogey which would have left her in the lead by one. But Korda’s short bogey try missed, giving her a devastating double-bogey to fall into a tie for the lead.

“I had 58-degree and it just shot on me. The wedge shot that I had over the green was kind of sitting a little bit in a hole with some of the — whatever you call it, the ‘hay’ or whatever you call it behind it,” Korda said Sunday after her round, explaining her double-bogey on 14. “I just can’t catch it cleanly and then obviously didn’t make the putt for bogey.”

To me, it feels Normanesque, in that we're anticipating the blow-up holes.... And she didn't just miss the bogey putt, she didn't exactly put a confident stroke on it.

Shack has more:

Korda seemed as if she was destined to win and repeat Vu’s feat from last year in capturing the first and last majors of the year. The 26-year-old’s focus and calm seemed restored after a brutal

summer run and reportedly came thanks to recent lessons from dad Petr, who she worked with in Prague following the Paris Olympics. Korda birdied the fifth, seventh, ninth and 10th holes while three-putting the sixth for bogey. She arrived at the par 5 14th with a one-stroke lead over Ko and by two over Shin. With the tees moved up to 548 yards, Hell bunker was not the issue. Korda actually got within paces of the green after two strong shots and faced a semi-blind lob shot to a pin cut 30 paces into the massive double green. Five shots later, she was back to 6-under par.

The double bogey seemed as unimaginable as her Saturday six at the par 4 16th, where Korda drove out of bounds despite a westerly wind blowing balls away from the boundary fence.

“I'm going to mess up and unfortunately I messed up over the weekend twice in two penalizing ways coming down the stretch,” Korda said. “Theoretically that's what cost me the tournament but I played well.”

The same overall brilliance that saw Korda win six straight times earlier this year in a variety of settings was also on display throughout her first foray over the Old Course. But the rare hiccups came at the worst times imaginable, including a bogey at the 17th where she had to play away from the hole after barely trickling into the Road bunker. A par putt came up way short and set up a required eagle at 18.

That par putt was as unconvincing as the bogey putt three holes earlier.  This is one she let get away, which seems to be something of a signature move.

What a great week that ended with a worthy champion.  I watched so much of it that I won't need to watch golf anytime soon.  Good thing the men don't have anything important happening this week.

Keegan, Begrudgingly - I'm sorry, I'm a bad blogger, but I just don't give a you-know-what about the FedEx Cup:

Keegan Bradley won the BMW Championship Sunday thanks to a final-round 72 in difficult conditions at Castle Pines to hold off Adam Scott, Ludvig Aberg and Sam Burns by one. It’s his first win since being named the 2025 U.S. Ryder Cup captain last month and certainly adds fuel to the argument that he could be a playing captain next fall at Bethpage. Do you think Bradley can play his way onto next year’s team and if he does, should he give up the captaincy?

Marksbury: It’s awesome for Keegan to have this resurgence in his game … and yet! A playing

captain just seems like a bad idea. The Ryder Cup is such a pressure-cooker of emotions, and totally exhausting for both players and captains alike. I can’t imagine trying to lead with a clear head and compete at the same time. But maybe that’s just me!

Sens: I feel exactly the opposite: that the demands of the captaincy are exaggerated by fans and the media alike. Pick your team and send them out to play. When you boil it all down, how much more is there to it, aside for some media obligations. As with golf, overthinking things rarely does much good. If Bradley can play his way on, he should compete. We don’t get to see player captains often. For all the flag waving and chest-beating USA, USA chants, it’s still meant to be an exhibition. Entertain us. Seeing Bradley in the dual role would be good fun.

Bastable: Tiger pulled it off the double duty at the 2019 Presidents Cup, going 3-0 in Melbourne. No reason Keegan can’t also play both roles effectively at a Ryder Cup. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. There is still much golf to be played between now and decision time. One win at this early stage will not secure Bradley a spot. I’m with Sens, though. Few players bring the energy and fire that Bradley does to match play. Having him in the heat of the action with his squad would be fun to watch and surely a motivator for his troops.

OK, guys, let me see if I have this right.  We're in the middle of the PGA Tour's dramatic playoff run, and the only aspect of this outcome that you find interesting is how it affects the 2025 Ryder Cup?   Jay must be so damn proud of his marquee events....

That's A Wrap - A different kind of wrap, that is:

With major championship golf now complete the for the year for both the top men and women in the world, what moment sticks out to you from 2024?

Marksbury: It’s been more than three months, and I’m still not over Scottie’s arrest. I don’t think I ever will be! But aside from that, I really loved the Olympic golf this year. The tears on the podium we saw from Scottie and Lydia demonstrated just how much it means to these players to compete for your country on the world stage. It was great to see.

Sens: Scheffler’s arrest was tough to top in its sheer weirdness. But the image I can’t shake is Rory standing over that little slider on the 18th at Pinehurst, looking doomed to miss it before he drew the putter back.

Bastable: Korda’s win at the Chevron will stick with because of its historic nature; it was her fifth straight LPGA title, an achievement that my little brain still can’t process. But on a personal level, I’ll never shake Rory’s meltdown at Pinehurst. When he packed up his stuff and emerged from the locker room that Sunday evening, I was standing in the hallway just outside. The glassy, shell-shocked look in McIlroy’s eyes is one I won’t see forget.

That's a pretty good summary of a bizarre year in golf, but there's actually some follow-up news about Scottie:

Officer involved in Scottie Scheffler arrest accused of stealing thousands of dollars from suspect

The officer who reportedly did not turn on his body camera during the arrest of professional golfer Scottie Scheffler was arrested after allegedly stealing thousands of dollars from a suspect.

Louisville Metro Police Officer Javar Downs was searching a man during a traffic stop and seized an envelope with about $10,000 cash just after midnight on Wednesday.

The man reported that Downs took about $4,000 of that cash and submitted the rest to evidence at the Louisville Metro Department of Corrections.

According to an arrest citation, Downs was booked at LMDC on theft and official misconduct charges.

We're in the best of hands, folks.

Headers Of The Week - Just a few bits that caught my eye, beginning with this:

Tom Kim apologizes for bludgeoning green at FedEx St. Jude Championship

 It's the B-word that makes this an all-timer, but Sergio Garcia was unavailable for comment.

Did you hear about that epic Brooks Koepka-Jon Rahm playoff at the LIV event at the Greenbrier?  Two studs fighting for supremacy at an iconic venue, seems like they're finding their groove.  I'm guessing that the ratings will reflect the intensity and drama on offer?  What?  OK, I'll guess again....

Pickleball on FOX outperforms LIV Golf on CW by notable margin on Championship Sunday

I'll need a moment to stop laughing....

I had a couple of Rory headers, but I think I'll give him a pass today.  Though that Alan Bastable bit above does have me thinking that  late-career Rory might be the better comparison for Nelly than Norman.

That's it for today, kids.  I'll undoubtedly be back later in the week, but don't intend to push myself too hard unless there's news to dissect.  Have a great week.

Thursday Threads - Gale Force Edition

It's a light week of blogging, though that I hope doesn't deter you from checking in on the ladies playing the Old Course this week.  I shan't tax myself too much, but we'll hit a couple of high points, then declare the weekend has commenced.

The Open Championship, Distaff Edition - We saw the build-out during our day on the Old Course way back on August 3rd, but we were in shorts and vests.  These girls seem to have dug a bit deeper into their closets:

Shack leads yesterday's post with this weather update, in which the improvement in confidence isn't necessarily an improvement in the underlying conditions:

Be careful what you wish for ladies.

Several combatants in this week’s AIG Women’s Open have admirably sung the praises of links golf, creativity and even the comedic qualities of facing a five-club wind. We may need to check back with them Thursday night now that The Met Office has dumped the low confidence labels and predicted a wild 49th playing over the Old Course at St Andrews.

“The forecast is sort of settling down to being pretty windy (Thursday), particularly (Thursday),” said R&A CEO Martin Slumbers in noting a “small but realistic chance” of 40 to 45 m.p.h. winds during the round.”

I’d call that pretty windy.

“We have slowed the golf course down quite a bit,” Slumbers continued. “We've raised the height of cut on the greens. We've put a bit of water on them to help them grow a little bit. We've got some pretty good ideas about where we can put the pins to actually protect it as much as we possibly can.”

Who are the mudders on the LPGA?  Also, in wind it doesn't hurt to be short and skinny...

He's got all sorts of graphics, sepcifically designed to make your humble blogger's job less taxing:

 

They've slowed the joint down because of 2015, when play was suspended at the Open on the Old Course, while every surrounding course remained playable for recreational players.  Hmmm, why do we think that might have happened?

Love seeing great players battle the fans, but this to me is a bit disappointing:

Slumbers said the wind direction will largely come from the same southwest and westerly directions to at least rule out—theoretically—a dreaded scenario of facing winds going out and coming in.

“The good news is the wind is forecast all four days to come from pretty much the same quadrant, so we know where we can put the pins to give them some room.”

Good news for picking pins, not so great if you’re trying to win the final major of 2024 given the already complex nature of the Old Course.

These massive greens have plenty of pin locations, it's just that the joy of links golf is in seeing how the course changes when the wind shifts.  

In his prior day's post, Geoff reported on final qualifying, played at a venue that may have arisen a time or two  in these pages:

Field Filled Out At Crail

Twelve players secured their place in the Women’s Open at St Andrews through Final Qualifying Monday, with another 12 having to decide the final three spots.

Weiwei Zhang of China led the qualifiers with five-under-par 67 at Crail Golfing Society’s Craighead Links. She finished one clear Casandra Alexander, Annabell Fuller, Kristen Gillman and Emma Grechi, who each posted four-under-par 68’s.

Lauren Hartlage, Noora Komulainen, Lee-Anne Pace and Patricia Schmidt tied for sixth with 70’s that put them in this week’s field.

A sudden death play-off of 12 players saw Jodi Ewart Shadoff, Stephanie Meadow and Ursula Wikstrom prevail.

Crail?  Where have I heard that name before....

Should you notice any loss of focus at this juncture, it may be because we've hit 7:00 and coverage from St. Andrews has begun on USA.  The winds are whipping, but the sun is out as well.

We should give this nice youngish lady a call-out:

Scotland’s Matthew Playing Her Final Open

In other news, next week’s Curtis Cup captain Catriona Matthew announced Wednesday that

she’s playing her final Women’s Open.

“It just felt that being in St Andrews in Scotland, the home of golf, what better place to play my last one," Matthew said. “In a way it's a mixture of relief, knowing it's my last one, I'll be a little sad not to be in the event, it's so big now, there is such a buzz when you come to these events to play in them."

The 55-year-old Matthew won the AIG Women’s Open in 2009 only 11 weeks after giving birth to her second child. She recorded six top 10’s in 23 starts. The North Berwick resident tees off Thursday at 7:33 a.m. with Karrie Webb and Stacy Lewis.

A Muirfield Open might have been more on point, but this is pretty special as well...

Shack includes a lengthy selection of quotes from the ladies.... care to sample a few?

Defending champion Lilia Vu on links golf: “I think as we're able to narrow it down to the shot in front of you, you zone in and just play one shot at a time and not get too far ahead of yourself. Everyone is going to make mistakes. It's just whoever makes the least mistakes out here.”

Vu on the Old Course. “You just don't ever get over that feeling of other past players being there and so much golf has been played here.”

Well, only since c1400.... 

Korda on links golf: “You can prepare all you want. You can play Monday through Wednesday

but then, you know, it's all about the weather and taking it a shot at a time, being very present. And it's also fun because it's a different creative side to golf where you have to work the ball sometimes more than you're used to when you're hitting different shots, bump-and-runs. It's just a little bit more creative and for me that's fun to do.”

Nelly Korda on the Old Course. “I love the history of the golf course. So far I've really enjoyed playing every single day and I don't have anything bad to say about it.”

Oh, you will before the week is through....  

Lydia Ko on returning to St Andrews. “When I came here in 2013 I remember I visited the

castle and did all the touristy things. I’ve got family here this week so we’ve been ticking off all the restaurants with high reviews and you’ve got to have fish and chips as well. A lot of things off the course revolve around food for me, it really excites me. I want to enjoy the little things.”

Ko on links golf. “Muirfield was a time where I stepped off after the Women’s Open and thought I really enjoyed that and it’s been more and more fun since. Before, I got more frustrated that it was windy and rainy. I love how you have to be creative when you play links golf, numbers are sometimes very irrelevant.”

Do we think that Mark W. sent her his St. Andrews restaurant list?  I do hope she had an evening at a window table at Seafood Ristorante. 

And a final grab bag:

Stacy Lewis on the weather. “There's a lot of people when they get off the plane and they see the weather, it's not going to fit them. But I get excited about it. I see the weather. I see the forecast. I'm ready. I'm excited.”

Lewis on how the Old Course is playing. “The biggest difference is in the golf course itself and how much softer it's playing than 2013. I look back at the old yardage book and the pictures and it was much more brown. The ball was running a whole lot more. The golf course plays very different when it's wet like this. So, you take as much local knowledge as you can.”

Charley Hull on playing the Old Course. “I teed it up on the back nine yesterday morning and as you walk down 17 and 18 you get goosebumps. It's pretty cool.”

Scotland’s Gemma Dryburgh on playing the Women’s Open in her home country. “It's what dreams are made of, really, playing in Scotland and at the Home of Golf. It's a place where I've come to a lot as a kid and it's a pretty special place for anyone.”

Three-time champion Karrie Webb on links golf: “It takes me out of my technical mind and gets me being more creative and hitting shots that you don't normally hit. And I don't think judging the wind is as precise as it can be on the other golf courses. I think just here it's all feel and visualizing different shots.”

Yanno, they make this links golf thing sound so enticing that perhaps I shoud give it a go?

Lastly, om a more substantive note:

Martin Slumbers on the field’s Old Course experience. “We take for granted that the men have played here since they were young boys playing in international events. Nelly has never

played a competitive round around here. I think I'm right in saying that 30 of the top 50 have never played a competitive round around here. I'm excited to see them. This is the Home of Golf. It is arguably the most important golf course in the world. I think we're going to enjoy watching them play.”

Slumbers on a Women’s Open rota taking shape. “We have historically gone with the men's game to St Andrews more often, and I think you'll see us come back [to St Andrews] more often, as well, with the women's game…you're going to increasingly see us use exactly the same venues as we use for The Open, with one exception that we will probably want to have periodically a championship in the London area, for reasons -- it's primarily linked to one of the byproducts of this is trying to grow young people to play -- more women to play golf, and there are more women golfers down in the south of England than in Scotland, so we'll take advantage of that to lean into.”

Well, Sunningdale doesn't suck....

 I'll just leave you with this great photo from Geoff:

Why I Hate These Guys, Part CCXXVI - Yanno, if I were the agent for one of these guys, the strongest advice I'd give is to NEVER talk about money.  Because they keep telling us it's not about the money, but the frequency and intensity of how they speak about money leads this observer to the inevitable conclusion...

Xander Schauffele went down this dangerous path, and sycophantic writers are crediting him for being some kind of truth-teller, even while ignoring the massive whoppers.  Think I'm kidding?

“What, am I early?” he asked. “I usually wait for most of you guys to clear out.”

It was a fitting line from Schauffele. The assembled group of reporters laughed; the World No. 2 is low-key funny. But he was also telling the truth; the World No. 2 tends not to lie, even when he is poking fun. After all, he does tend to schedule his press conferences for 3 or 4 or 5 p.m., by which time other players have spoken and other news has broken and the occupants of media centers have grown otherwise occupied.

Really, then why are they so disingenuous when the M-word arises?  This is that very same Xander Schauffele perpetuating the Big Lie:

By most objective measures, earning over $40 million in a calendar year qualifies as a pretty

good thing, and Schauffele certainly isn’t arguing that point. In fact, by the PGA Tour’s standards, it would qualify as the most money earned in a single season ever. That’s comparable to a mid-tier starting quarterback in the NFL — pretty good for a sport with one-tenth of the NFL’s annual TV revenue.

But during an unusually expansive press availability on Wednesday at the BMW, Schauffele seemed confused by it all. Golf’s money has exploded, he argued, but it’s still nowhere near its pro sports counterparts.

“You look at the top-10 quarterbacks,” Schauffele said. “Scottie [Scheffler] has won seven times, I think that’s including Olympic gold. And he’s made significantly more than everyone else.”

“You look at the No. 1 quarterback, he’s getting $60 million and then the No. 10 quarterback is getting 52, and then No. 15 is getting 39 or 40.”

Schauffele’s point rings true, but he seemed to be hinting at a bigger hypocrisy. Why is chasing cash in golf considered greedy when the NFL hands out considerably more?

Well, Xander, the first answer is that, if you're so pure, why are you deliberately obscuring your comparison?  How much did that tenth ranked quarterback get paid for the logos on his uniform?  How much did he get paid for the football he plays?

Touring professionals have always made more money off the course than on, yet those numbers are never included when they talk money, hence it's the BIG LIE™.  Golf has always had this bifurcated compensation structure reflecting the difference between golf and other sports, whereby the economic value derives from the 25 million souls losing golf balls.  But, when they compare themselves to other sports, those tens of millions of dollars are never included.

Sportico has the ultimate rebuttal, the list of all-time compensation of athletes.  Check out Nos. 11 and 15, and consider how that correlates with their seething anger:

Do golfers seem underpaid?  It's laughable....

I'll also re4mind you that Xander was prepared to skip the Ryder Cup over Netflix or some such nonsense, so maybe some enterprising reporter would show him that list above.

As an addendum, I ran across Sportico's compensation list for 2023, on which Tiger Woods was the 14th highest paid athlete of the year.  Considering that his on-course winnings were about zero, does that tell you how big a lie is being shoved down out throats?

Also remember who Xander's best friend on Tour is, the man who's Ryder Cup was defined by whining about not being paid for his hat logo.  So, Xander, I'm confused.  Apparently there off-course revenue sources matter, except when they don't?  

Back to Xander, and we now he['s lying because his lips are moving:

But during an unusually expansive press availability on Wednesday at the BMW, Schauffele seemed confused by it all. Golf’s money has exploded, he argued, but it’s still nowhere near its pro sports counterparts.

Looks pretty damn comparable to me, especially when you consider the disparity in viewership.  And it seems like it always has been generous, judging from Arnie and Jack's presence on that list.  But maybe the best part is this, in which one of the biggest money-grubbers on Tour takes time out from counting his shekels to explain whose fault it really is:

“The media has been an interesting thing to me the last two or three years,” Schauffele said, asked about the increasingly hot topic of money in pro golf. “The news that I do read, it’s funny, it’s really negative. It’s painted really negatively in golf, which is fine. I think people like to hate on anything these days.

Yeah, Xander, that's the ticket!   There's a reason I'll be watching the ladies this week, and what happens at Castle Pines is of no interest to me.  But I totally believe you that it's not about the money.....because Patrick and you are truth-tellers.

Have a great weekend, everyone, and we'll pick things up next week.

Weekend Wrap - Memphis In August Edition

 April seems so awfully far away.... At least there was that one event this week that actually mattered.

Spain Ascendant - Given the profound legacy of Spanish golf, it's shocking to note that no Spaniard had ever even reached a U.S. Amateur final.  Yet that all-Spaniard semi-final led this man (on the day he assumed adulthood) to achieve that which Seve, Jose Maria, Sergio and Rahmbo did not:

Josele Ballester is like many Spanish golfers who have grown up idolizing the greats from their country.

On Sunday, Ballester did something none of those before him have been able to accomplish: win the U.S. Amateur.

Ballester, the rising senior at Arizona State, dominated throughout the day then held on late against Noah Kent to capture the Havemeyer Trophy at Hazeltine National Golf Club. Ballester led 4 up with six holes to play, but by the time he was on the 17th tee, his lead was down to 1. However, Ballester found a way to clinch his biggest victory yet, and it’s one that has given him a title no Spanish golfer has ever been able to achieve.

“I think I’m still not conscious of what just happened today,” Ballester said. “Super thankful to have the opportunity to live this moment. We have many great Spaniards, many great legends, and being able to add my name into that history, it’s pretty sweet.”

I saw him get his 4-up lead back on the 11th hole (I was visiting a golfie friend and just happened to leave at that juncture, picking it up on tape later), and thought it was well and truly over.  But Noah Kent didn't get the memo, and it went all the way to the 26th hole.

A big day for the kid man:

As a cherry on top, Ballester’s 21st birthday was Sunday. The Havemeyer Trophy, and everything that comes with winning the biggest amateur event in the world, makes for a good present.

He’s the fourth winner of the U.S. Amateur from Arizona State, joining Billy Mayfair (1987), Phil Mickelson (1990) and Jeff Quinney (2000).

Given how insufferable the Sun Devil Nation can be, would you have ever guessed it was only the four?  And that only one of their Am Champs would be considered historically significant.

I don't know, I try hard not to get swept up in the current zeitgeist, but doe3sn't this have to be a wee bit racist?

When Arizona State coach Matt Thurmond was recruiting the talented youngster, he and Washington coach Alan Murray were watching him when the latter quipped, “It’s just a man amongst boys. He’s just a big silverback gorilla, and all these are little cubs around him.”

It’s a phrase that has stuck with Ballester his entire career at Arizona State. Often overlooked on a talented roster, Ballester has always been the gorilla, an alpha who’s consistency shines through, even if the results didn’t show.

How exactly his consistency  shines through in the absence of, yanno, results will be left for another time.

The Tour Confidential writers did eventually get around to this event:

Jose Luis Ballester won the 2024 U.S. Amateur on Sunday at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Minnesota, besting Noah Kent 2 up. What did you like about Ballester’s game, and has the professional success of last year’s champ, Nick Dunlap, proven some of these top-level amateurs are ready to win on Tour right away?

Colgan: Golf’s talent is not going away. The most interesting battlefield for LIV/PGA Tour relations is in the amateur game, and good for Ballester in boosting his bottom line.

Wall: It most definitely confirms the top-level amateurs no longer need a long runway to get acclimated to the pro game. Just look at the heater Luke Clanton has been on. Ballester is another uber-talented amateur who could very well win on Tour right now. The ASU pipeline continues.

Sens: It’s hard keeping up with the torrent of young talent in golf these days. Whether they are all ready to win immediately is another matter. Not just anyone can. But Ballester sure looked like a world beater this week. The guy’s wedge play and short game were Seve-worthy. If he keeps that up, we will see him lift more trophies before long.

he may have boosted his bottom line, but he's headed back to ASU, so he'll have to limit his appetites to what NIL money can cover.

Of course it's a funky match play event, so beware the recency bias.  No doubt some of these guys might be ready to win on Tour, but it's far more likely to be the Luke Clantons and Gordon Sargents who do so, guys that were taken out in the first couple of match play sessions.  It's golf, so go figure.

Collar, Tightened - Early in the day we were flipping between the Amateur and Memphis, but Hideki seemed to have matters well in hand.  At least until they pulled a DJ on him:

It had been a week filled with adversity for Matsuyama outside the ropes, but no matter. Matsuyama seemed just fine inside the ropes. That’s where he appeared to be cruising to his

second PGA Tour title of the season.

It didn’t go so smoothly.

As Matsuyama headed to 12, a rules official approached.

They talked. The NBC broadcasters were confused.

Eventually, PGA Tour Lead TV Rules and Video Analyst Mark Dusbabek came on to explain that Matsuyama wasn’t going to be penalized. Five holes earlier, at the 7th, Matsuyama had stepped on a pitch mark that was off the green. But it was determined, after the conversation, that it was far enough away from his intended line of play, so no penalty.

PGA Tour rules official Gary Young told Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis the Tour later found supporting video evidence that the pitch mark was about three feet off his line of play.

Matsuyama also told Lewis later the conversation didn’t bother him.

Then why were you effing with his head?  

“If I was worried that I had done something wrong and was going to be penalized, that would have rattled me,” Matsuyama said through his interpreter. “But it was really a non-issue so it was fine.”

It didn’t look that way.

He then pulled his tee shot at the 12th and made bogey. No worries, he was still up four shots.

He then pushed his tee shot on 13 into the bunker. No worries, he made par and was still up four.

He then blocked his approach at 14 into the water. No worries, he got up and down for bogey and was still up two.

He then blasted his approach at 15 over the green and flubbed his pitch short of the green and made double. No worries, he had a par-5 remaining.

He then left his third shot short of the green and missed the putt for birdie. Big worry. His once-five-shot lead was gone and he had two brutal par-4s at TPC Southwind left to play.

Fortunately, Hideki got back on script:

That’s when Matsuyama flipped the script. After finally finding the green in regulation on 17, Matsuyama buried a birdie putt from 26 feet to take the lead by one over Xander Schuaffele and Viktor Hovland, who had a birdie putt from nine feet on the 18th. But Hovland missed and Matsuyama stuffed his approach at Southwind’s hardest hole to six feet, making the putt to secure a two-shot victory at 16 under in the first FedEx Cup Playoff event of the season.

Here's a thought.  Maybe we should allow these things to be determined by their clubs?  I know, an idea so crazy it might just work...

The TC gang riffed on Scottie Scheffler dissing the playoff format:

Scottie Scheffler, the season-long points leader of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, said the format of said playoffs is, well, silly: “Hypothetically, we get to East Lake and my neck flares up

and it doesn’t heal the way it did at The Players, I finish 30th in the FedExCup because I had to withdraw from the last tournament? Is that really the season-long race? No.” Do you agree? But more importantly, what’s the fix?

James Colgan: There IS a fix, and it’s utterly obvious: A massive match-play event seeded and played like the NCAA Tournament! Host the event over three weeks at a handful of tournament sites (so as to stagger tee times to maximize TV view-ability). Bake-in 1-, 2- and 3-up advantages to start opening round matches for FedEx top 10 finishers and everyone else plays straight up. Host the elite eight through the finals in one long weekend (two 36-hole days.) To the winner go the spoils!

Jonathan Wall: Personally, I’ve been out on the existing playoff format for a while. I miss the days of the Tour Championship closing out the season without the manufactured buildup of extra events no one seems to care about, save for the few guys at the top. I’d torpedo the current three-event format and go back to the old season-ending event. Lose the different starting scores and just see what happens when everyone starts on a level playing field. I don’t think golf fans need or care for the gimmicks. Match play is another option, but to Scottie’s point, the unpredictability means a guy who grinded for the No. 1 spot might get bounced by someone having a day.

Josh Sens: I like Colgan’s idea, though I don’t think you’d need to start with scoring advantages. The seeding itself is designed to give the top players an easier path. After that, shut it down for a long offseason. There are too many events in professional golf already. Go dark for a few months. Give fans a chance to miss you.

 It's the same muddled thinking that got us the current hot mess.  You have to choose between a season-long competition (which may be decided before East Lake) or a high-stakes shootout, but you can only choose one....  Well, you can refuse to choose as per the current system, and enjoy folks making fun of your staggered start.

The writers are opting mostly for the latter, with which I agree although, as much as match play could be epic, FedEx and the Tour will never sign off on it.

And this enabling nonsense:

The top 50 for the BMW Championship is now set, which means those players are guaranteed spots into the uber-lucrative Signature Events for 2025. With how important these events have become — for money and FedEx Cup points — are you OK with that many players getting reserved spots? The Tour still has pathways for players to earn starts in them, but is this too generous to the top players while making life more difficult for the rest of the Tour?

Colgan: I think it comes down to our perception of fair. The PGA Tour did the best it could to be fair to players as far as earning entrance into the Signature Events, but the system is inherently favorable to the stars. The good news is that a system built around the stars makes the PGA Tour more like the remaining leagues in pro sports, which makes it a fairer product for the fans. I think the turnover is good. Good enough, at least. But I’m sure there’s somebody out there who disagrees.

Wall: I’m in agreement with Mr. Colgan: Turnover is good, but you still need the stars in the field. That’s who everyone is paying to see. Don’t like the system? Play better and become one of those top stars.

Sens: Making life too difficult for the other guys? They are competing for the right to play golf for multi-million dollar payouts. It’s supposed to be difficult. I have a hard time feeling like anyone out there is getting a raw deal.

James thinks it's good for golf to be like team sports, except that golf isn't like those sports, as their outcomes are far more predictable.   And the point isn't that it's too difficulty for the other guys, it's that absent a full field of elite players, you're conducting exhibitions.  We had two decades of WGC's, which absolutely sucked, yet nobody can explain how these will be different.  Except for the only metric tat matters, to wit, that Patrick gets paid.

And one question for the TC gang.... Who exactly do they imagine cares about this?

Jordan Spieth tied for 68th at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, meaning he’ll miss the BMW Championship and won’t get automatic spots into those aforementioned Signature Events. He also will soon undergo surgery to repair a tendon in his left wrist. Spieth had just three top 10s this year and hasn’t won since the 2022 RBC Heritage. Do you see better days ahead for him? Or has his form proven that’s not so certain?

Colgan: Seven years is a really long time to go between relevant stretches of golf, and it’s been seven years since Jordan Spieth’s golf game was relevant for being good. I hope the surgery — and subsequent time away from golf — gives him the reset he’s needed since 2018. Right now, it’s hard to say that’s a given.

Wall: I’d argue no one is more electric than Spieth when he’s scrambling from all over the course and finding a way to contend. The problem is we’ve seen more scrambling than moments in contention. It’s clear he’s not right and has needed a reset for some time. The Tour could really use a healthy Spieth. Here’s hoping surgery brings a return to form.

Sens: I’m sure the surgery will help. But recoveries like this aren’t just physical. Spieth is going to need to regain that magic pixie dust he used to have around him. And that will mean regaining his confidence. Doing that, I suspect, will be the toughest part of all.

Don't worry, Jordan, the cool kids still like you.  Is it too early to rant about the sponsors' exemptions he'll get into those Signature Events?  And did you note how the writers avoided that touchy topic?  They take care of their own, and the rank and file can whine all they want, but Patrick must get paid to save our democracy.

Wither Pro Golf - Very little actual news, but the TC gang picked up on the PGA Tour's 2-25 schedule drop:

The 2025 PGA Tour schedule dropped last week with few changes but one important revelation. When asked if the new schedule is an indication that there’s not going to be anything happening with LIV “at least through next year or ’26 or ’27,” commissioner Jay Monahan said, “I think that’s fair.” Is this bad news for the Tour? And what does it mean for golf’s future? Could things actually get worse?

Colgan: If by “is this bad news for the Tour?” you mean “is this undermining pro golf’s relevance in a way that makes the average sports fan care less about the sport?” … then, yes, it is bad news for the Tour. The good news is that the fault lines are so clearly defined (and LIV’s business is so obviously and totally unprofitable) that waiting things out might actually help the PGA Tour. (An observation: I know the Tour made the decision to merge interests with the Saudis, but I hate how every conversation is framed around the Tour’s incumbency. LIV’s product appealing to literally anyone would go a long way in motivating unity in pro golf, and yet they continue to be watched by audiences smaller than Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation without substantive competitive critique. Both sides are at fault!)

Wall: It’s bad news for pro golf, not just the PGA Tour. Spreading the talent across two tours waters down the product and makes it difficult for fans to get excited about anything other than the majors. Neither Tour has any juice, and it’s highly frustrating. The future doesn’t look rosey, let’s put it that way.

Sens: Wall said it well. The Masters can’t come soon enough.

I'm not saying it isn't a problem, but there's really only 2-3 guys whose absence could possibly matter, and the nature of golf renders their absence almost undiscernible.

I'll also admit I have little idea what Colgan's point is about that "incumbency".  Does he think the discussions frame the PGA Tour as at fault?  I thought Scheffler said it best, that if you want blame somebody for the rupture in the game, why wouldn't you start with those that, yanno, ruptured it?  Though does James connect the unprofitability with the unwatchability?  And, most importantly, is he concerned that the move to make the PGA Tour more like LIV will render it unwatchable as well?

Eamon Lynch has some thoughts:

Lynch: When LIV’s cash advantage is spent — which might be soon — what leverage does it have left?

Spent?  Soon?  Do tell.  He frames his piece using one of those 2-3 guys to whom I alluded:

The pithy ‘3 R’s’ rubric has been used to summarize fundamentals in many areas, from the New Deal (Relief, Recovery, Reform), to early learning (Relationships, Repetition, Routines), to the

environment (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle). The same formula can illuminate what matters most in golf these days: Reward, Reputation, Relevance.

The economics that have warped the men’s professional game ensure ample reward, but for some that has come at the cost of both reputation and relevance, none moreso than Jon Rahm. Golf Digest’s Jaime Diaz reports that the Spaniard regrets his December move to LIV Golf, and while Rahm himself is unlikely to ever confirm such a sentiment, Diaz is a fastidious reporter and his account squares with what many others in the game have heard. Even in his (at times bizarre) public comments, Rahm sounds more notes of poignant yearning for the tour he left than of fierce advocacy for the one he joined.

He was rewarded though, even if the oft-cited contract amount ($500 million) is wholly unsourced and — according to someone close to Rahm — wildly exaggerated. Whatever the figure, it was sufficient for a man who emphatically pledged fealty to the PGA Tour to don a LIV letterman jacket and stand next to Greg Norman. Rahm’s isn’t the only reputation bruised after a volte-face, and at least he didn’t explicitly express his willingness to overlook murder and human rights abuses if doing so gave him leverage over the PGA Tour, that being the putrid pyre on which Phil Mickelson’s legacy was incinerated.

Obviously that doesn't pay off those header promises, but the public regret of their highest-profile get isn't helpful.

I do agree that this space bears watching:

Yet a day is nearing when Saudi subsidies cease to provide a dominant advantage when it comes to player rewards, because LIV’s irrational economy faces a retraction. A few player contracts expire in 2024, more in ’25. Some of the league’s stars have been told they won’t see renewals on the scale that lured them to LIV, so those who extend will be doing so for less. Assuming extensions are even offered. Perhaps they will be, but if no deal is reached between the Public Investment Fund and the PGA Tour, then the Saudi government has a call to make: throw good money after bad with another round of contracts for an execrable product with zero market traction, or cut loose. And they have been known to favor chopping those deemed inconvenient.

 Yanno, who doesn't enjoy a good bonecutter jibe?

I would still caution that they have the available resources, and that folks tend to be slow to acknowledge their major mistakes, so hold the triumphalism.  But, as Eamon hints at, the whole model is a substantial failure, but is Yasir ready to won up to that F-up?

Of course, the Tour has it's own issues:

Across town, it’s a bull market, for now. Scottie Scheffler has earned more than $28 million in prize money this season on the PGA Tour. Throw in his Comcast bonus ($8 million), two lucrative events this week and next (each paying $3.6 million to the winner) and the eye-watering FedEx Cup bonuses disbursed later this month at East Lake (top payout: $25 million), and Scheffler could clear well north of $60 million. And that excludes endorsements, the value of the equity grant he received in PGA Tour Enterprises, and a pension scheme that would make Congressional grifters feel shortchanged.

But how sustainable is that model? Strategic Sports Group injected $1.5 billion into the Tour with the promise of the same again, but that’s not intended to be debited directly into players’ pockets as purses. An accounting will come in Ponte Vedra as surely as it will in Riyadh. “Sustainability is living on nature’s income rather than living on its capital,” wrote the late physicist, Murray Gell-Mann. His aphorism has currency when applied to the golf economy, regardless of which tour one looks at.

Excuse me, Eamon, but that's exactly the intended use of the $1.5 billion large.  In fact, it was mostly supposed to go into the one guy's pocket, yanno that pluperfect phallus.

That said, one tour has attracted investors who see the potential for significant returns. The other survives on the whims of a solitary banker, and he works for a mercurial authoritarian. That’s a shaky foundation for long-term sustainability. The popular narrative has the PGA Tour unable to withstand more poaching, having its product strength bled out, seeing its sponsors and fans fleeing. There are very minor elements of truth in those assertions, but the Saudis are even more incentivized to seek a face-saving deal. The PGA Tour is looking less like LIV’s rival and more like its life raft.

For some guys who cashed out with LIV, most of what happens next won’t matter. They got theirs. But not everyone who went to LIV lacked the weaponry or the stomach for the fight at the elite level. Certainly not Rahm. He was by far the most competitive player to jump, and while he hasn’t performed well since—at least outside the 54-hole exhibition ecosystem—it’s too limited a data sample to say LIV has diminished him as a force. But it’s not too early to say LIV has made him less relevant.

I don't think the header was justified by the facts on the ground, but I do think Eamon is correctly judging the current relative leverage, mostly because LIV itself just isn't viable.

I can't tell you how long that $1.5 billion lasts or whether the jock-sniffers would release the second half of the promised sum, so Jay should be perceived as being on the clock, methinks.  But I don't see further defections to LIV (the low-hanging fruit is gone and Rahm's misery is quite public), so over to you, Yasir.

My last glance yesterday had Rahm ahead at The Greenbrier, and I'm guessing that Yasir would have preferred a different outcome:

Brooks Koepka wins at LIV Golf Greenbrier in playoff over Jon Rahm, becomes first five-time winner

Yeah, nothing like a battle between your two biggest names, leaving us to speculate at which of the two is more miserable on LIV.  

That's it for today.  Blogging will be on a "feel like" basis going forward, not that I even know what that means.