Weekend Wrap - Christmukah Doldrums Edition

Shall I begin by introducing myself?  It's been a while, though I've needed the break and there hasn't been any real news....

I have just a few bits for you today, then head back to Western HQ on Wednesday.  Blogging will likely resume later in the week, as the boys will hit Kapalua.  The good news is that it's been snowing out West, hopefully catching up after an extremely slow start to the season.  Your humble blogger feels on the clock as I try to get this old body in ski shape for as February adventure that I'll speak of as we approach.

Have a safe New Years Eve and a happy and healthy 2025.  Speaking of those whose health has taken a detour....

Man Men Down - This is as close to actual news as we'll get:

Scottie Scheffler out of The Sentry with hand injury suffered on Christmas

Can you say, "Opportunity Cost"?  I thought you could...

Scottie Scheffler’s PGA Tour brethren could hardly stop him in 2024, but the start of his 2025 campaign is going to be delayed by an off-the-course accident that involved preparing Christmas dinner.

The PGA Tour announced on Friday that Scheffler, the 2024 PGA Tour Player of the Year who won seven events in the season, has had to withdraw from next week’s season-opening The Sentry in Maui. According to a statement by Scheffler’s manager, Blake Smith, the World No. 1 suffered a puncture wound to his right hand, and small pieces of glass in his palm needed to be removed with surgery.

Smith relayed that Scheffler, 28, has been told it will take three to four weeks for the hand to heal, with Scheffler’s next start scheduled for The American Express in the California desert that will be played Jan. 16-19.

This is about the only way the Amex gets a name-brand player, so maybe it all works out in the end.  Not that Kapalua gets all that great a field, despite all the zeros in the purse:

The full field of The Sentry was finalized on Friday evening. With Scheffler out, the top-ranked player is World No. 2 Xander Schauffele, winner of the PGA Championship and Open Championship last year. No. 3 Rory McIlroy will again skip The Sentry, with his only start in the event having come in 2019.

No details on how the accident happened, although if his footwork with a paring knife mirrors that with a driver, one would it expect more such incidents....

And it's not just Scottie they'll do without:

Viktor Hovland suffers freak holiday injury

The Ryder Cup star is supposed to play in the PGA Tour’s season-opening Sentry event in Maui this week, and as of writing is still listed in the field. According to Eurosport, Hovland is hoping that painkillers and tape will be enough to get him through the competition, although Kapalua’s Plantation course is one of the harder walks on the tour thanks to its mountainous topography.

Hovland, 27, captured the FedEx Cup in 2023, but is coming off a somewhat rocky campaign with just two top-10 finishes in 16 starts following a series of swing changes. The Norwegian is still ranked inside the top 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking and earned an invite to Maui thanks to finishing 12th in the FedEx Cup, a standing helped by a third-place finish at the PGA Championship and T-2 at the playoff-opening event in Memphis.

Hmmm...two young stars suffer weird unexplained injuries simultaneously?  Coincidence?   We here at Unplayable Lies don't believe in coincidences.....

The Year That Was - The Tour Confidential panel took a half-hearted swipe at the end of 2024, and you'll wonder why they bothered:

In 2024 we saw unpredictable comebacks, insane winning streaks and some stars finally cash in after some lengthy major droughts. But who, or what, won 2024?

Sean Zak: I tried really hard to come up with another answer, but there is no other answer. Who won 2024? The man who won everything. Scott Scheffler. For my money, it was the greatest season since Tiger Woods’ 2000. We’re bound to remember Scheffler’s 2024 as an all-timer … so long as he doesn’t follow it up with something even greater.

Josh Sens: If we are sticking with who, no doubt it was Scheffler. On the what front, I’d say recreational golf. Participation is up. More women and kids are playing. As the Tour/LIV divide dragged on and TV ratings dropped, this year underscored what feels more true than ever: the best part of golf is not the pro game. It’s the game most of us play.

Josh Berhow: Good calls on both. Can’t disagree with Scheffler, who somehow had a better season than Nelly Korda did on the LPGA Tour. And any golfer in a well-populated area can vouch for the continued rise of recreational golf, as the struggle for last-minute tee times is as real as ever.

Wow, way out on a limb there, guys.  Though I do wonder whether history will reassess Scotties year as compared to Xander's, the latter who at least won two full-field events to Scottie's one.

Alas, it doesn't get better:

So if Scheffler won the year, then who would you hand out silver and bronze medals to for what they accomplished in 2024?

Zak: Silver medal for Nelly Korda, whose brilliance was just as great as Scheffler for much of the year. Bronze medal goes to Bryson DeChambeau, who helped create the greatest finish of the year. (All due respect to Lydia Ko and Xander Schauffele, of course.)

Sens: I’ll put Korda and Ko (the latter ending her major drought and punching a ticket to the Hall of Fame) on the bronze podium together and give the silver to Schauffele, who finally got off the snide by winning a major and then won a second for good measure. That’s rarefied stuff. Let’s not forget that a small swing change preceded his big breakthrough. Should be fun to watch what he does next.

Berhow: I was sold on handing out the silver to Nelly and bronze to Xander, but Sean has a point — it’s hard to argue against what Bryson did in the past year. Not only winning the U.S. Open but completely changing the narrative around him, winning back fans and becoming one of the most popular golfers on the planet. That said, here’s why I lean Xander for bronze: would Scottie or Bryson rather have his season? It’s all about major titles, and Xander won two of ’em.

Yeah, Bryson had a very good year, though they're better at citing the names than constructing actual arguments, as I'm sure you've noticed.

 Before we move on from 2024, I had last week's TC still open, and hadn't grabbed this bit:

We’ll spend next week’s Tour Confidential looking ahead to 2025, but first let’s take one last look back at 2024. What was your favorite golf moment of the past year?

Melton: I always get a kick out of covering the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, and this year was no different. Lottie Woad’s back-nine charge was epic — and it was a lot of fun to witness in person. We’re still only half a decade into ANWA’s history, but the event is a total hit in my opinion. Here’s to many more iconic moments from the ladies at Augusta.

Bastable: I will always associate 2024 with the Scheffler arrest. Was it my favorite moment? I don’t know. But for those of us in the golf-news business, it was the kind of moment that makes this job a blast. Still gobsmacked that it even happened.

Hirsh: Yeah, it’s Scheffler’s arrest for me too. That was just one of those moments that transcended sports and will make people remember “where were you when.” For me, it was the seven phone calls from my dad telling me to turn on SportsCenter at 7 a.m. Let’s also not forget, the dude shot 66 that day. Like come on man, don’t let us know how easy it is for you!

It's not every day that the best player in the world is gets to put his stamp on the mugshot genre, but Scottie?  The nicest guy on the planet in leg irons?  Not something we see every day....

Before any looks forward (and we'll not go too deep with those), Eamon Lynch has his own wistful take on the kidney stone year of 2024.  Buckle up:

At last, 374 years after Dutch settlers played the New World's first recorded “kolf” in upstate New York, the sport can no longer be airily dismissed as unrepresentative of America. Forget those old familiar sideswipes about being too monochromatic, too elitist, too cloistered. In 2024, golf is the game that most reflects the state of the nation — with immense power concentrated in the hands of a wealthy few and wielded for largely selfish ends.

It's been a year in which players have been busy exercising the control they snatched back in the bitter aftermath of the June 2023 Framework Agreement with the Saudis, on which they were not consulted. They secured ownership equity grants, increased purses and Ryder Cup pay, with no commensurate increase in obligations. In the boardroom, they constructed a super majority, ousted independent directors, took on private investors to further slake their financial thirst, limited the number of snouts with whom they must share the trough, and announced a new CEO role that will clearly diminish the authority of their commissioner.

In an era when every year seems to bring seismic change, ’24 ought to be remembered as the most transformative in the Tour’s history. *

* 2025 pending, of course.

But a rising tide lifts all boats, right Eamon?

Obviously, those flexes have been by and for elite stars. The rest of the membership has learned how little leverage it possesses. No wonder that even corners of the locker room prone to fretting about Newsmax being too liberal are starting to sound more like a Bernie Sanders rally.

As power plays go, it has been brutally effective. Compare it to Jon Rahm’s move a year ago, when he jumped to LIV Golf in the pompous belief that he’d be a catalyst, that his shocked peers would hasten to the negotiating table to secure his return to a unified game. Instead, it delayed any resolution by hardening sentiment against providing a path back for those who left to line their pockets. Regardless of the guff Phil Mickelson peddles, the PGA Tour was reshaped by those who remained, not those who left to launch a comically worthless enterprise that will need to be salvaged under duress by their former colleagues.

For all the public and private politicking by players, the most significant day of 2024 came early. On Jan. 31, the Tour announced Strategic Sports Group had invested $1.5 billion into a new for-profit vehicle, PGA Tour Enterprises, with the promise of another billion-five to follow. Whether intended as a hedge against the Saudi threat or to dilute an eventual cash infusion from the Kingdom, it marked a fundamental shift in how the Tour operates, and for whom. Only now are we beginning to see how the impact of that investment will manifest — in budget efficiencies at headquarters, in executive exits, in the elimination of tournaments, in the narrowing of player eligibility, in ambitious acquisitions, in a more global presence. All for something the Tour had never previously concerned itself with: a return on investment.

I'm reasonably OK with the ROI, it's the money-grabs to keep Patrick sated that have me so repulsed.

It seems ordained that we’ll eventually reach a moment when we’ll see who flexes a more powerful bicep, the players or their investors.

Against this backdrop, ’24 made clear that consumers of professional golf have been drifting away, weary of being so obviously treated as an afterthought. Broadcast ratings were consistently down, even on Masters Sunday, the once unbreachable fortress of golf television. The recent Showdown in Las Vegas drew viewership that was enormous for the LIV guys who participated but Lilliputian compared to what their opponents are accustomed to. It was evidence that meaningless, manufactured competition won’t cut it. Too many players and executives are relying on the notion that fans alienated by the entitled money-grubbing will flock back when the entitled money-grubbers are gathered under one roof again. That is looking dangerously close to a convenient delusion. The damage might be long-term, if not permanent. Golf’s most powerful constituency remains its consumer fanbase, and 2025 will go some way toward showing if they’ll keep voting ‘No’ with their remote controls.

As this year staggers to a welcome close, we can at least draw comfort from the example of Scottie Scheffler, who showed what’s possible when a golfer focuses on his job rather than on politics, posturing or pay. And from the tragic lesson of Grayson Murray, who proved that golf isn’t life, that money doesn’t matter, that wins are ephemeral, and that what we think we see isn’t always so. As we enter ’25, normalcy seems as distant as it did a year ago and the power plays are far from exhausted. Fans had best get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

It's not that I'm uncomfortable, it's that I'm bored.  It's actually very simple, seventy player fields are glorified exhibition matches, so the Brave New World envisioned by Tiger and Rory is one in which the PGA Tour is in the business of conducting exhibition matches.  ZIs Gene Sarazan available to provide commentary?

I promised a pivot to 2025:

Xander, Amy Yang and Ayaka Furue won their first majors in 2024. Which major-less pro finally gets theirs in 2025?

Zak: Jeeno Thitikul gets it done on the women’s side (and perhaps twice!). For the men, I’ll hang my hat on Viktor Hovland returning to the peak of his powers.

Sens: Charley Hull wins at Royal Porthcawl and lights a cigar(ette) in celebration. On the men’s side, it’s got to be Ludvig Aberg, although in his case it’s not fair to say finally. His career is far too young.

Berhow: Sam Burns has won five times on Tour but was winless last year, although he did finish in the top 10 eight times. He does just about everything well and is consistent enough to always give himself a chance. I think he takes the next step and wins a big one in 2025. How about the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow? For the women, it’s Rose Zhang. Three top 10s in majors in 2023 but none in 2024. That’s going to change in 2025, and she’s bound to win a handful before her career is over.

I'm wondering about Ludvig, though probably the issue there is that folks were out over their skis too early.  Also Rose, just because she's a pretty short hitter, and that's a hard way to compete.

And one more bit:

And the player to break out in 2025 is…

Zak: Thomas Detry. Played fantastic golf throughout most of the summer in 2024. Put himself in the running for the 2023 Ryder Cup. Seems right on the cusp of becoming a top 30 player in the world.

Sens: Michael Thorbjornsen. Fresh out of Stanford. Stellar amateur career. Top graduate of the PGA Tour University. All the makings of a star.

Berhow: Max Greyserman. Three runner-up finishes as a rookie last year. One of the best putters on Tour. More good things to come.

Thomas Detry?   That's at least one I didn't see coming....

But I lied, there were actually two bits more:

What’s your boldest prediction for next year?

Zak: LIV golfers win more majors than non-LIV players. And if you want me to get extra bold, the LIV slam takes place. All four, starting with Jon Rahm at the Masters. My colleague James Colgan has dubbed it the Llam.

Sens: Rory McIlroy exorcizes the demons and wins the Masters – and the career grand slam with it.

Berhow: Nelly Korda’s 2025 will be better than her 2024.

Sorry, Josh, I think Thomas Detry has a better chance to win the Masters than Rory....  Come to think of it, so does Rose Zhang.

And on that droll observation, we will declare 2024 to be wrapped.  I'll see you on the other side early in 2025.  Have a great New Years.

Weekend Wrap - Auld Langer Syne Edition

I know I promised this wrappage to you on Monday and, dammit, I'm delivering on said promise.  It's not my fault that you failed to ask what time on Monday.  The fault lies in the stars or, closer to home, a feline that missed his father and simply refused to curtail his early morning lap time.  Now if his brother would only get with the program!  

Fathers & Sons - It was great, though there seems to have been some eighteen superfluous teams there, some of which got virtually no air time at all.... Didn't see much of Sir Nick, which is quite the good thing indeed.

By now you know the results:

Team Bernhard Langer beats Team Tiger Woods for 6th PNC Championship title

Six?  

The Woods family broke a long drought Sunday at the PNC Championship, but the most famous family in golf is still searching for the winner’s circle.

On the par-3 hole at Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, Charlie Woods smoothed a 7-iron from 176 yards that took one hop and rolled right into the cup for an ace.

The golf world went wild as the younger Woods accomplished something his 15-time major-winning father, Tiger Woods, hadn’t done in competition in 26 years, during his third year on the PGA Tour. It was Charlie’s first hole-in-one in his entire golf career at the same event where he made his first career eagle four years ago in 2020.

Team Woods kept rolling after that. The first-round co-leaders after a 59 Saturday, kept making birdies. They finished with a 57 Sunday and a record-setting 36-hole score of 28 under, but in the end it wasn’t enough. Team Bernhard and Jason Langer also finished at the same score and Bernhard, the last to putt in the first playoff hole, just curled in an eagle putt to beat the Woods’ and win their second straight PNC Championship.

It was really cool, yet the ace was to me only the second most memorable shot of the day, and I'm not referring to that other ace....

The Woods’ playing partners Sunday and defending champions, the Langers pulled into shares of

the lead three times on Sunday, but could never take the outright lead away from team Woods. The pairs kept matching each other shot for shot, matching birdies on the same hole nine times, and answering Charlie’s hole-in-one on No. 4 with an eagle on the par-5 5th.

Both teams parred the 17th hole and birdied the 18th hole after the Langers missed an eagle putt from just off the green.

That sent them back to the 18th where Charlie Woods and Bernhard Langer, hit it nearly in the same position as regulation. Tiger Woods hit their approach just right of the green while Jason Langer — playing from 20 yards closer thanks to dad Bernhard playing nearly 50 yards farther up than Charlie — hit his approach 20 feet left of the hole in the center of the green.

Team Langer has now won a record six PNC Championships with Jason now having won four times while brother Stefan — who caddied for Jason — has won twice.

The shot that most wowed me?  It so happens it wowed another guy with perhaps higher standards than my own:

Tiger Woods says Bernhard Langer hit one of the greatest shots he’s seen at the PNC Championship

They made eight birdies on the back nine on Sunday to book themselves a place in the play-off. And one of the highlights came on the par five 14th where they managed to make a four.

The two-time Masters champion took advantage of the scramble rules to give himself a perfect lie in the sand, and hit a sumptuous driver. And following their victory, both members of Team Woods were full of praise for how good the veteran remains.

“It was awesome,” Charlie Woods said about Langer’s performance.

Tiger Woods replied: “It’s incredible, right?

“Speechless. He didn’t miss a shot out there,” Charlie added.

I certainly didn't have a 67-year old man hitting driver out of a fairway bunker on my PNC bingo card....

Is it too early to overreact?  Trick question... You'll know where the TC panel wants to go with it all:

Tiger Woods teamed with his son, Charlie, at the PNC Championship, making the 36-hole scramble his first start since the Open Championship in July (and his latest back surgery). Sunday had it all: Charlie’s first-ever hole-in-one, an impressive driver off the deck from Tiger and, ultimately, the Langers beating Team Woods in a playoff. What were your thoughts on Tiger and Charlie’s weekend in Florida?

Zephyr Melton: It was a lot of fun — especially so because they were in contention coming down the stretch. It’s also nice to see Tiger smiling (rather than grimacing) on the

golf course. The tournament didn’t give any meaningful insights into Tiger’s future competitive chances (this course is a bunny slope while majors are played on black diamonds) but that’s OK. Just seeing Tiger and Charlie having fun out there is a treat in itself.

Alan Bastable: Fun, sure. But also competitive. You could feel both teams burning to win in that playoff. Also, not to get all sentimental, but you must tip your hat to the game at large on this December Sunday! What other sport allows participants of such varying ages and abilities to compete equitably against one another in such a charged environment? To be more specific, you had arguably the best golfer ever and his 15-year-old kid squaring off against a 67-year-old who won his last major 34 years ago and his investment banker son — and it made for a riveting watch. By the way, what a pleasure to see Tiger hitting pressure-filled shots just three months removed from his sixth back surgery and in the wake of what was otherwise a mostly grim season for him. For Tiger optimists, 2025 is undoubtedly looking brighter than it did a week ago.

Jack Hirsh: I think you guys covered any meaningful takeaways from Tiger’s week, but how about Chuck to make the ace and then come up with some pretty clutch shots the rest of the way, especially putts! I too made my first hole-in-one at 15 in a tournament and barely kept my next swing on the golf course (I finished that round double-birdie-triple). Again, we have to temper our expectations for Charlie as he is just a 15-year-old kid playing with a completely unfair amount of pressure, but it was certainly fun to see the mannerism comparisons once again and the whole Woods family having fun.

Yeah, those PEFU's can be a bitch.....

But it was fun, a perfect match-up of skills and personalities.  What amused me was the thought that Bernhard's Investment Banker son probably plays no more golf than the Big Cat himself, though we could argue over who showed more rust.

This is a fun event, though we should also realize that Tiger is likely ruining it, because no one will have much interest in watching the OMearas or Lehmans after Charlie moves on.

But you know where they'll go with this (hence the "overreaction" comment):

Analyst Peter Jacobsen raved about Tiger’s week, saying he was “overwhelmed and excited for the world of golf and for Tiger to see how well he responded [physically] and how well he played.” Do you agree?

Melton: Not really. This is a silly-season event played on a benign and flat Florida course. Suggesting this event points to future success is foolish.

Bastable: Who let the Grinch into this roundtable?! No doubt Ritz-Carlton Golf Club ain’t Oakmont, but c’mon, Z, our guy walked 55 holes in three days! Not sure anyone saw that coming. I will say his game left something to be desired. There were some highlights — that driver off the deck to 30 feet comes to mind — but when the heat was on in the playoff, Tiger’s iron play and putting was not sharp. By his own admission, he’s rusty. Question is, can he play enough meaningful golf in ’25 to shake that rust off? At 49 and with his body still requiring much more rejuvenation, that feels like a mighty ask.

Hirsh: Who woulda thought Basty would be the conductor of the hype train? Slow down there, Speed Racer! He’s Tiger-Freaking-Woods, of course he’s going to hit amazing shots like that all the time when it doesn’t matter. He’s the greatest to ever live and continues to defy expectations, but it’s time to accept that we just might not see that in the heat of PGA Tour or major championship competition. That’s not to say he can’t handle the pressure, but pressure manifests itself physically just as much as mentally and his body has been through more than most 49-year-olds. Let’s see if he even ends up playing at Genesis first.

I'll go in two different directions here.  First, he did look like he was walking more freely, and he didn't even take a cart for any of the three days.  So, that's really great.

But, just a reminder that we've seen this movie before, many times in fact.  As Tiger, himself, said, at this point he's a useful scramble partner, so he's got that going for him.

We won't hear or see anything from him until Riviera, so cool your excitement.

One last bit, just in case you found those tees a bit sketchy, is this deep dive on the tee boxes employed.  No doubt you saw Tiger dump two tee balls from the 18th tee into a fairway bunker, one that Langer carried easily both timers.  Here's why, the tees Tiger played from being on top:

Hole 18: 557-yard par-5

Hole 18: 475-yard par-5

Charlie and Jason Langer played a box between those two, but Bernhard played almost 1,100 yards less golf course than Tiger....  Obviously they need to play different tees (not to mention the ladies playing), but it did feel like the yardage difference was too heavily weighted to Bernhard on that one hole, which as they finished was the only hole that mattered.  

The other truly weird note was the one-hour gap in coverage between Golf Channel and NBC.  Given the absence of any meaningful golf (and December DP World Tour events won't qualify), it's mind-boggling that they go dark for an hour.  How lucky were they that Charlie didn't make his ace while they were on break....

The Slowdown - The TC panel weighed in:

The much-hyped Crypto Showdown — the PGA Tour vs. LIV match featuring Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler vs. Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka — drew just 625,000 viewers, according to Sports Business Journal’s Josh Carpenter. While this wasn’t a part of “The Match” franchise, it would have ranked as the second-lowest viewership total ever. What gives? And are we starting to see a scary trend for made-for-TV matches?

Melton: Ratings are down across the sport, and this event was no different. It’s tough to get hyped for events that have so little on the line — and I think the lackluster ratings illustrate that. With so much else on the docket this week (CFB playoffs, NFL games, NBA and NHL early season, etc.) sports fans only have so much bandwidth. A meaningless event with cryptocurrency on the line is obviously low on the list of viewing priorities for the average sports watcher.

Bastable: I actually thought the crypto purse was one of the more compelling angles! Cash is so 2023. But yeah, it’s no secret that pro golf is oversaturated and about to get even more so when TGL comes online next month. That means any exhibition that doesn’t feature Tiger and Charlie will be a tough sell regardless of how it’s marketed. The PGA Tour-vs.-LIV tension might have been a good hook a couple of years ago — trouble is, much of that angst has since dissipated.

Hirsh: I wasn’t one of those viewers, but not because I didn’t want to watch it. I think Z is spot on that ratings are down, and while pitting LIV vs. the PGA Tour is a good sell, that happens at the majors too and those ratings are down as well. People aren’t going to tune back into golf until there’s less talk about politics, backroom dealings and division and more talk about golf and just golf.

Tiger and Charlie?  I was reliably informed by Rory that the only impediment to growth in the game is folks not knowing when Rory is pegging it.  Well, Rors, the whole world knew you were playing, heck they were still chuckling over Bryson's sick burn that you fed him on a platter.  And yet, as one they rose up and chose to ignore it....  It's almost as if the events and venues matter, whereas they're gaslighting us that all that matters is Patrick Cantlay getting paid.

Amusingly, I had this browser tab still open on my home PC:

Unanimous? PGA Tour players don't all agree with Tiger Woods that sweeping changes are good for the game

They're not gonna suggest that Tiger is in this for himself?  Say it ain't so, Joe!

Here's a longish excerpt that captures much of the issues:

"I think the entire — I'll say the majority of the Tour felt the same way," Woods said of the changes approved in a recent board meeting last month during his Tuesday press conference ahead of the Hero World Challenge, the tournament that he serves as host and benefits his foundation. "The PAC was involved, the subcommittees on the PAC were involved and it was unanimous across the board what we need to do to present a better product and something better for our fans, for our events, our sponsors. Redefining what a Tour pro is, streamlining that."

Fellow Tour policy board member Patrick Cantlay echoed Woods' sentiment.

"We listened to the PAC really closely all year," Cantlay said. "There are 16 guys on the PAC, they're representative of each part of the membership, that's how they're selected. So I know that those changes have widespread support among a lot of members. As policy board members, it's important for us to do what the membership's telling us and listen to the PAC so that's how that decision came about."

But Woods choice of the word "unanimous" may have been a stretch. One member of the Tour's Player Advisory Council expressed his disappointment to Golfweek with the process involved, noting that he wasn't involved in the sub-committee that reshaped the pathways to the Tour.

"The changes in terms of gutting the Tour, I didn't even spend a minute of my time on the PAC discussing that," said a member of the PAC. "And then, you know, I got an email saying, thank you to the PAC for discussing these difficult topics and making the Tour change for hopefully the better. And like, my name's on it, and it was hard for me because I'm getting this email thanking me for all my hard work and I don't even know about this stuff."

This PAC member requested anonymity because he was elected by his peers and hopes to continue to make a difference for them through his role serving but wanted his experience to be known. Several other players, including current and former PAC members and some of the smartest and most thoughtful speakers on the Tour's inner workings, have commented to Golfweek and other media outlets to express their concerns about some of the changes that will be implemented. Here are some of the responses to know.

As the Democratic party has made famous in enforcing its conformity, you don't have to fall in love, but you do need to fall in line....

That anonymous Rabbit is undoubtedly not Peter Malnatti, whose vote was bought with a sponsor's exemption into Riviera.  It also not Adam Scott, whose vote was procured with sponsors' exemptions into, checking notes, every Signature Event.   Uniformity is easily obtained when you need only a handful of votes and you have coin of the realm to barter.

But here's a guy that isn't hiding behind anonymity:

Maverick McNealy already has left his mark on changes to the Tour. If you haven't read the story

on how McNealy did the math and figured out that inequity in the FedEx points this season. That will be rectified next season thanks to him crunching the numbers. Read all about it here.

When asked at the RSM Classic a few weeks ago to name what he thinks is the next step for the Tour if it were to make one more change, he replied, "I have a hard time defending Signature Event fields of 72 players if we're going to limit the number of players that have a card.

"I think 120 is a beautiful number, I think it's very competitive. I think a cut is an integral part of our sport and I think it would be really cool to play signature events at 120 players over the 72," said McNealy, a member of the PAC as of June. "With eight tournaments, that's 400 more playing opportunities. It just seems like a layup to me. There's a bunch of arguments why 72 is the number. None of them have convinced me yet, but that's my personal opinion."

120 is still too small, though obviously a massive improvement over the world created for the care and feeding of Cantlay.  But a cut, Mav?  Oh, the inhumanity....

What Could Go Wrong? - Golf Digest did a deep dive into the TGL venue, and the technology sounds interesting:

First impressions of the custom-built SoFi Center that serves as the home of TGL, the new simulator-based team golf circuit that debuts in January, is that no expense appears to have been spared. It is singularly impressive, operationally functional and groundbreaking in the technical sense for which it was created.

In other words, it’s darn cool.

Mike McCarley, co-founder of TMRW Sports with Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, on Wednesday invited about 50 members of the media for a sneak peek at the venue where TGL will stage all of its matches starting Jan. 7 with a prime-time premiere on ESPN. Reporters got a look at the almost-completed 1,500-seat stadium on the campus of Palm Beach State College, and PGA Tour players Wyndham Clark, Rickie Fowler and Billy Horschel, who represent three of the six four-man teams that will compete in the new league, gave a presentation. They marched through a tunnel onto the “field” after an introduction that included smoke, flashing lights and loud music, a glimpse of how they will enter when the cameras roll.

Smoke?  I do hope we have the requisite nubile wenches as well....

There won’t be a bad seat in the house with spectator seating horseshoed around the 250,000 square feet of playing area that features a “screen” zone and a “green” zone. The screen is monstrous, 64 feet tall by 53 feet wide. It measures five stories high and fills nearly one end of the stadium. The inaugural virtual holes were created by Nicklaus Design, Beau Welling and Agustín Pizá. To ensure that the virtual results of shots accurately reflect the actual quality of the shot struck, TGL is employing 18 Full Swing radar devices combined with eight Top Tracer optical cameras.

The green zone, meanwhile, for shots 50 yards and in, as well as putts, sits on a turntable 41 yards in diameter and features seven cup placements and an almost infinite number of contouring options with 567 hydraulic jacks underneath it.

All of which sounds fascinating.... for about fifteen minutes.

“When we started on this journey,” McCarley said, “you take a sport like golf that's got 600 years of history and tradition and everything that comes with that, the good and the bad. And we really wanted to keep one foot firmly planted in the traditional game. And there's elements of that. But with the other foot, we really wanted to be … more into the future and embracing the future technology.

“From very early conversations with Tiger and Rory, both of them shared that thesis in a way that they saw what was happening just in their daily lives and how can we bring that into golf and help bring the game, not necessarily to a more modern presentation, but just put it together in a way and showcase it in a way that there will be people who don't necessarily follow the traditional game, but will get into it because of the way we present this. And then because of that, they may become fans of the traditional game in a certain way.

“New, fun, fast technology, team sports, it all kind of goes together.”

"This is something new and innovative that is going to really help grow the game of golf," Clark said. "It will give people a new perspective of us in a different arena where it's more intimate and you kind of get to see our personalities."

I think this is the perfect day to contemplate this endeavor, specifically those Showdown ratings above.  But, Mr. McCarley, can any of that impressive technology make Tiger interesting?  Because the Showdown feature four of the best players on the planet, playing a dramatic venue (not to be confused with a good venue) under the lights, and no one could be bothered tuning in.  I'm sure this will work, right?

That will be all for today.  I'll wish all my readers a joyous Christmas, and probably see you later in the week, assuming there's something to blog. 

Thursday Threads - Snow Deprivation Edition

I know it's been some time, so perhaps I should introduce myself?

My time in Utah is winding down, as a wonderful visit from my nephew concluded yesterday.  Zack and a college friend hit town on Saturday, and it's been a whirlwind of activity since then,  The snowpack in the Wasatch is at something around 50% of average, so snow is desperately required (though not to be found in the forecast).  Notwithstanding the lack of snow and associated limited terrain openings (not to mention 50 mph wind gusts), we found enough to play in at Snowbird and Deer Valley to declare the visit a success.

At the present moment we have a warm front taking over, and Lee and I will be in our sunglasses enjoying mid-40's temperatures and the resulting spring corn.  Oh, it's not at all what they need given the thin base, but it will make for pleasant groomers for the two days of skiing I have left.  Saturday is getaway day, so I'll likely see you again on Monday, when we can wrap the Charlie Woods Show.

I have been in a bubble here, though did catch some of the festivities on tape last evening...

The Slowdown - Yeah, you know I'll not be all-in on this kind of thing:

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.....

I did love the pre-match jousting, in which our Rory demonstrated his on-brand cluelessness:

"I'd like to try and get him back for what he did to me at the U.S. Open," McIlroy said.

DeChambeau then interjected: "To be fair, you kinda did it to yourself."

That prompted roars from the gallery.

Even the aforementioned Scheffler could be seen in the background cracking a smile.

"I don't really know where to go from there," McIlroy said.

As a first take, pretty much spot-on, Bryson.  But, while we all understand that when a mic is shoved in your face what comes out might might be less than profound, I still have to ask, WTF, Rory?  The premise being that if Rory gets him in the Crypto-whatever that they'll be even?  Does that perhaps explain the last fourteen years....

A couple of the Golf.com writers take on this very question:

Was The Showdown actually a win for golf?

The first obvious question I would ask is whether anyone actually tuned in, by my Googling hasn't revealed any ratings data....

Weird!  I read the above-linked piece on my iPad with no issues, but the piece is now paywalled.  Annoying, because it seemed an even-handed take on what worked and what didn't.... I'll have to go elsewhere, first with this cryptic (cryptic, crypto, see what I did there?) take from Shack:

While we’re on the subject of stilted, awkward, chilly and talking about things no one ever needs to see again, someone gave out a lot of crypto out Tuesday night at Shadow Creek. The preferred “currency” of drug and arms dealers had never been given to golfers for winning before and may never again if the presentation is even half as dreadful as this disaster. Oh, that’s harsh. Tom Fazio’s chef d’oeuvre has never looked better. Maybe that’s because it was pitch black for most of the back nine.

This screen-capture of Bryson and his compression boot jacket captures the event’s verve.

That was such a weird look....and I say that as I write from the land of puffy jackets....

Let's see what Golfweek thinks of it all:

Rust is a thing, even in an exhibition

McIlroy and Scheffler came into The Showdown winning their last two starts: McIlroy last month at the DP World Tour Championship and Scheffler nine days ago at the Hero World Challenge. DeChambeau's last competitive reps were at the LIV Golf Team Championship in late September while Koepka's came at the Alfred Dunhill Championship in early October.

Advantage PGA Tour, and that was apparent most of the competition. The LIV pair lost three of four four-ball holes, lost in alternate shot and only won a solitary hole in singles. And while Koepka and DeChambeau had their fair share of good shots, McIlroy and Scheffler provided more entertainment with theirs.

I would say especially in an exhibition, as that U.S. Ryder Cup team discovered in Rome.  

It's actually an interesting issue, because the quality of the golf was a bit ragged.  That said, part of that was the cold and darkness, and challenging these guys with such firm conditions is one of the few ways to make these things interesting.

Here's a twofer:

Format was better

It seems the format for every past version of The Match and now The Showdown had had a slightly different format, but this one seemed to work well. Essentially, it was three six-hole matches, starting with four-ball, then foursomes then singles. One point was awarded for winning a session, and the team to 2.5 points first wins.

All in all, the four golfers ended up playing only 14 of the 18 holes at Shadow Creek, and even that took a little more than four hours, which leads into this...

It takes too long

Yes, it's a made-for-TV event with dozens of sponsors willing to fork over millions for advertising (or $10 million in crypto as the prize). There are going to be lulls in the action when commercial air or ads happen in competition, or when a fan is chosen from the crowd to hit a putt for a paid excursion to Big Cedar Lodge in Missouri (he missed the 10-footer but got a $1,000 certificate to Bass Pro Shops). But from the first tee shot to the time the event was over, it took more than four hours to play 14 holes.

Whether a golf sicko or someone tuning in casually, that's too slow, and that's a theme for the made-for-TV events. And that's not good when considering this next point.

Look, they're struggling with all the reasons no one actually watches golf.... 

I agree the format had positives (I only watched through the first hole of singles), especially alternate shot.  Fourball (and singles, I assume) just move too slowly, though the tough conditions at least made the fourball potentially interesting (I say potentially because in this one case it just wasn't competitive).

But now we get to the tragic flaw, the reason these things never really work:

Where's the banter?

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of The Showdown was the lack of banter between the four.

Sure, DeChambeau had everyone making fun of him early when he pulled out his winter coat that

looked like he was spending a weekend in the Swiss Alps, but once those jokes wore off, there was hardly any trash talk between the groups. Even the banter between the groups was limited. One of the best conversations captured of the night was about creatine (and no, it wasn't Koepka and DeChambeau).

Especially with DeChambeau's comfortability with YouTube golf and commentating on camera, he was tame by his standards, which was a massive disappointment. No jabs at McIlroy for the U.S. Open. In the heat of competition, these guys are locked in, even if it's a silly-season match for fun. But for viewers who aren't familiar with the golfers, it makes for a difficult TV product in certain spots.

If you're expecting Brooks and Scottie to carry a show with their bon mots, you'll end up disappointed....  This is always and ever the fatal flaw of these matches, and stay tuned to see whether the TGL can solve this issue....

This falls into that "necessary but insufficient" category:

Charles Barkley remains best part of broadcast

TNT should be thankful it employs Charles Barkley. He once again was the best part of the broadcast team, with his co-hosts throwing jabs at him and even McIlroy joining in on the banter at points.

Barkley even went on a rant about the LIV Golf and PGA Tour needing to merge, which, in typical Chuck fashion, got off the rails. "I can say what I want to cause I ain't worried about getting fired," he said.

He made me laugh exactly once, with his take on the guy with the unfortunate nickname "Cupcake", though that was about it....

Golf Digest also noticed this obvious miss:

Biggest whiff: The "banter," or lackthereof

That last point got me thinking how much better it would have been had Koepka actually verbalized what he was thinking to DeChambeau. Now THAT would be electric television. Smack-talking your own teammate. So, too, would smack-talking the opponent. But that just never really happens in these events. We forget these guys are professional golfers, not NBA or NHL players who study their opponents entire family trees in order to find the most cutting chirps for one another. Yes, guys like Koepka can be killers on the course, but they aren't going out there trying to show each other up. Your own golf game is hard enough to focus on as is. The best banter in these made-for-TV events comes from Charles Barkley. Without him, I'm not sure how much legitimate chatter there would be.

When the indispensable man at a sporting event is an announcer, that might serve as a red flag, no?

This was far from the worst of these made-for-TV events, but it's just naïve to think that such a flat, disjointed broadcast could appeal to non-golfers.... And even the PGA-LIV frisson didn't turn out to have any real juice, at least to this observer.

The Tiger & Charlie Show - With a crazy crowded sports calendar and Saturday being a travel day, I'm unclear as to how much of it I'll see.  That said, here's the Tour Confidential guys' take:

Tiger Woods returns to the course this week for the first time since July when he’ll team up with his son, Charlie, at the PNC Championship in Florida. Will we learn anything about Woods’ form and health this week — or should we just sit back and enjoy some family golf?

Dethier: We’ll see him swing and we’ll see him walk and we’ll even see him hit some pressure putts! Let’s not get carried away — not by Woods’ form nor by his son’s. But yeah, I think what we see this week from Woods will give us some sort of hint at what to expect from his 2025.

Sens: To borrow from Bobby Jones, there are two types of golf, tournament golf and hit-and-giggle father-and-son golf, and they are not at all alike. For one thing, Tiger will be allowed to use a cart. You can’t do that at Augusta. That’s just one of many reasons why we shouldn’t use this as a barometer of anything more than what it is.

Colgan: It’s Tiger playing in a televised golf event. Can we convince ourselves we’ve learned something? Obviously yes. We will, whether we should or not.

Give it up, we know everything we need to know about Tiger's 2025 season, to wit, he's toast.  The reason to tune in is to assess Charlie's development and potential.

PGA Tour Follies - It's a clown show for sure, not that I've been following the story at all, because who really cares about Ponte Vedra suits?  This header gives you the gist of it:

PGA Tour's second-highest paid executive retires; Jay Monahan announces search for new CEO position

This has Geoff on an epic rant, so buckle in and enjoy:

“Everything is on the table.”

It’s the new Live Under Par! But before the full campaign is approved, a new nine-figure CEO job has become available in Ponte Vedra Beach (PGA Tour) to go with openings in Frisco (PGA of America) and Daytona Beach (LPGA).

Yet only one of these outfits went public with its search and did it in totally weird fashion.

We learned this week that the lucky recipient of a newly opened/created/something CEO position will report to a PGA Tour board featuring the guy who held the job for a few months. One who is also letting it be known he will continue to have a vote on his successor’s salary while continuing as PGA Tour “Commissioner.”

Fun!

Now, this is a newsletter about the majors and best Cup events. But it’s so hard not to have a giggle or twenty at the PGA Tour’s expense after the latest weirdness. After all, this is also an organization that wants to run grow the game and they can’t even run a basic internet campaign in a world where your neighbor is probably better doing on-camera YouTube how-to’s about getting out olive oil stains (dish detergent it turns out).

The same PGA Tour lobbies against most Rules of Golf because, you know, that written code which governs the game can be so mean, cold and unfair for asking someone to hit a shot in under 40 seconds. The same Rules that became evil and in need of eradication if one player (or corporation) whines often and loudly enough.

In sharp contrast to the state of other leading organizations, the Tour appears to be a mess of boards, committees, subcommittees, subcommittees of subcommittees, and now a new CEO search committees. This after years of almost never hearing about any governance news that might distract from the “product.” Undoubtedly, there are plenty of people on this army of committees cringing at the latest scheme revealing a CEO search in public fashion instead of through a headhunter.

But for some silly reason—maybe one last holiday gift to content creators—the Tour launched a two-pronged video attack using grown men who are not good on camera to tell us everything is peachy in PVB. The sight of leadership; blatantly reading off prompters discussing the future of the PGA Tour only reinforced an ongoing authenticity black hole.

First, there was Jay Monahan’s attempt at a hostage video where the (kind of?) maybe-demoted CEO but still Commissioner hyped the upcoming season. He had to be edited for misidentifying a tournament. Media and Twitter users noticed and many asked the same question: you couldn’t do another take? Oh right. Just because one receives a $23 million package does not guarantee basic media competence.

After the tournament name slip, Monahan seemed to be testing a desperate new slogan (“everything is on the table”). And somehow it’s still better than Live Under Par! Then, Monahan buried the lede by announcing a PGA Tour search for a new CEO. That’s when you really felt like someone was off camera pointing a pistol. Because you may recall—and for the sake of your mental health I hope this detail long left your sphere—Monahan was bequeathed a CEO title in a May press release when a new board chairman was announced.

The Monahan rollout video posted at PGATour.com and YouTube was accompanied by embargoed stories attempting to explain what the new C-Suite occupant will be doing. And because fans are dying to know details of corporate governance, they learned the captivating holiday news that Monahan is taking a seat on the Policy Board to go with his other board Tour board seat.

What a merry mitzvah for the fans! Shame they didn’t tell us where he likes to sit at the meeting table and if he likes ice in his water.

Random question: if Monahan’ll be working under the new person as the Commissioner, won’t the CEO atop the whole operation need a salary higher than Monahan’s recently reported $23 million package?

I digress.

“We’re bringing new perspectives onto our team to realize the incredible opportunities ahead for our sport,” Monahan said as he held up a copy of today’s St. Augustine Record. “We can learn so much from the world of sport and entertainment, and I’m excited to meet candidates for this important new role.”

In memo sent to players, Monahan expanded on the news: “The CEO will report directly to the PGA Tour policy board & the Tour Enterprises board of directors. In addition to my role as a director of the Tour Enterprises board, I will join the Tour policy board & serve [on] the search committee.”

What a relief.

Meanwhile, the Tour’s new Chief Marketing Officer Matt Weitz, made a couple of genuinely awful appearances on CNBC and Golf Channel. The apparent goal was to excite tiny business and golf audiences with news of a CEO search committee headed by Arthur Blank. One hitch: the CMO said all of this as his pupils appeared to move back and forth like he was reading off a teleprompter. Or he needs to see his optometrist ASAP.

The whole State TV thing has been coming and it’s as pitiful as feared. There was a time not long ago when all parties involved would never have resorted to such ungainliness. Still, the shabby rollout left grizzled cynics of the Tour aghast at the amateur hour vibes as YouTube and Twitter commenters pounced.

Was that a long enough excerpt for you?  Just remember that Jay  was paid $23 million to orchestrate this mess.... 

The Year That Was - The inevitable year-end wrap pieces are out there, but I'll just sample a couple of bits from this take:

The 13 funniest screenshots of the year in golf, ranked by recognizability and meme usage

Never mind.  I'm struggling with embedding Twitter memes, and just don't have the time and inclination to work through the issues.  Give it a scan, including the honorable mentions.

Other year-end summaries can be found here:

2024 Newsmakers of the Year

And here:

55 things that happened to Scottie Scheffler in 2024

I shall leave you here and prepare for my ski day.  As noted above, we'll meet again early next week from Unplayable Lies World HQ.  Have a great weekend.

Thursday Themes - Wasatch Front Edition

I'm very happen to have provided that bonus weekend post, given how things went to hell-in-a-handbasket when I arrived in Utah.  Nothing too serious in the long term, just the same nobody can do their day job stuff we see all around us these days.

Fortunately it didn't affect the ski schedule, only the blogging..... But, and stop me if you've heard this before, we need snow.

Tiger Scat - So, this is the man to lead us out of the wilderness?  If you say so, but did you catch his awkward booth appearance from the Hero World Challenge?  

Tiger Woods says 'we'll see' when asked whether he, Charlie will play 2024 PNC Championship

Tiger Woods didn't tee it up this week in the 2024 Hero World Challenge, saying in his pre-tournament news conference he wasn't tournament sharp yet.

On Sunday, he was asked about whether his next time teeing it up could be in two weeks at the 2024 PNC Championship, where he and son Charlie have played the last four years in the season-ending event at the Ritz-Carlton in Orlando, Florida.

"We'll see," Woods told NBC's Dan Hicks during the final round coverage.

This is an interview that took place on December 8th about an event to be held on December 21st to 22nd, for an event in which "tournament sharpness" isn't required....  Do we think he really didn't know his plans?  Because, not much time has elapsed until this:

Tiger Woods commits to play next week’s PNC Championship with son, Charlie

In 2030 Tiger will expect Comcast/NBC to up their rights fee payments, but will anyone remember him unnecessarily being a Dick to Dan Hicks?  I found him insufferably smug during that interview, not that I ever find him engaging when he deigns to duck questions.

Might as well excerpt the Tour Confidential panel's take on this State-of-the-Big-Cat update:

Tiger Woods spoke to the media at his Hero World Challenge, calling last season a wash and still unsure about how healthy he’ll be to play consistently in 2025. What was your biggest takeaway from Tiger’s time with the media, and how much longer do you think he’ll approach each season hoping but unsure if he’ll play a few majors before he decides to hang it up for good? Are we close to that?

Josh Berhow: It’s like deja vu at this press conference every year. Tiger seems to always be

frustrated with his health and unsure of what he’ll be able to do the coming season. When he said he hoped to play once a month it turned out that wasn’t even close. But none of this is surprising at this point; it’s just reality. The guy’s body has been through a lot. That said, I think this will be the status quo going forward. He’s still competitive and is going to play as much as he can and I don’t think a full-fledged retirement is coming soon unless things get substantially worse. But I’m also curious how much (if at all) he’ll play on the Champions Tour when he gets to cruise around in a cart. That day is approaching quickly.

Josh Sens: Agreed, Josh. Tiger famously plays things close to the vest. But for a long while now, I don’t think he’s known much more about his plans than the rest of us have, and those plans have been to play as many majors as possible, along with a tiny handful of other events. All of the majors are available to him for pretty much as long as he’s willing to hold out hope. And I don’t expect him to give up on them entirely anytime soon. But as Red Sox second baseman Jerry Remy said when he became a broadcaster: we’re all day to day, even GOATs.

Zephyr Melton: Tiger is always going to say he’s hoping to play the majors (and a few other select tournaments), but the reality is his body isn’t going to allow that. The day his car veered off the road in 2021, his career effectively ended. It remains to be seen how long it will take him to accept that fact.

 Isn't the bigger issue when the writers at Golf Magazine will accept that fact?

Which might not matter if we hadn't put all our hopes and dreams in his hands.....

Status Update - Via Geoff, an update on where things stand:

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is nearing a deal to acquire a minority stake in PGA Tour Enterprises, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The sovereign wealth fund is in advanced talks about taking a roughly 6% stake in the PGA Tour’s commercial arm, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. An agreement, if reached, would come after months of negotiations, and follow a deal inked earlier this year with Strategic Sports Group, which can invest as much as $3 billion in PGA Tour Enterprises.

Only 6%?  Obviously missing from this accounting is the extent of their investment, but we've seen a billion dollar number from other sources.  Of course what I'd most like to know is how much of SSG's initial $1.5 billion large has been burned through....

Enjoy the howlers in this 'graph:

A fear among those involved in the deal is that the Saudis walk away, refocusing on growing LIV and luring more PGA players. The fracturing of golf, which used to see the top names tee off against other, has helped cause a drop in viewership for flagship events on the PGA Tour, while LIV has failed to consistently attract large scale audiences.

Obviously, you'll have done a spit take at that last bit.... I mean, it's technically true as presented, since they've failed to attract large scale audiences everywhere (with the exception perhaps of Western Australia).  But maybe the more significant obfuscation is that causality subtly implied above.  Are we not watching PGA Tour Signature Events because Bryson and Brooks aren't there?  Or is there perhaps a deeper cause... Because they pretty much sucked, just like the WGCs sucker and LIV events suck, so of course the idea of turning the Tour's premiere events into LIV/WGC events is nothing short of strategic brilliance.

Shack has this reax:

Depending on how you feel about giving the Big Bodychopper His Ownself a 6% stake, these latest details from a credible outfit seem (A) surprisingly minimalist after all this time, or, (B) like one last lethal injection into the Tour’s inconsistent response to an existential threat. If the Bloomberg report turns out to be accurate, a 6% stake and continuing independence of PIF’s LIV feels galaxies away from the original “framework agreement.” Especially if the same Bloomberg crew’s report of a possible LIV-DP World Tour partnership pans out.

The original “framework agreement” looks like the Declaration of Independence compared to the details in the latest report. You may recall that the FA’s parameters were ironed out by Jimmy Dunne and friends with an eye on returning non-major championship control of pro golf to the PGA Tour, and, as a byproduct, likely adding His Excellency to membership rolls at places he’d otherwise spend centuries hoping to join.

Ah, those were the days.

So how does this continued existence and independence of LIV cause the best players to compete against each other more often?  Although perhaps reminder of this thread:

LIV is also considering a potential tie-up with Europe’s DP World Tour, Bloomberg News reported last month. The talks with DP World Tour are separate from the investment discussions between the PGA Tour and the Saudi wealth fund, the people have said.

The PGA Tour and DP World have a strategic alliance which guarantees prize money growth to events run by the latter, and some reciprocal memberships.

Geoff ties it into the event next week:

The struggle to merge massive egos ignorant of cratering viewership numbers became even more clear when grounded golfers named Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, Brooks Koepka, and Bryson DeChambeau gathered for a conference call to plug next Tuesday’s crypto-funded match at Shadow Creek. The made-for-TNT showdown will pair the PGA Tour’s Team McSheffler against LIV defectors Team DeKoepka. The call revealed that McScheffler eventually got a release to play from the event after Global Home groveling—according to McIlroy—and overall, the PGA Tour is staying as far from the thing as possible without getting their usual $1 million-plus vig. This unusual distancing from Ponte Vedra could be a result of how the crypto match came together and might even be a wise move at staying clear of the promoter’s shady past. And I’m not referring to his paling around with Phil Mickelson.

“The showdown is a great showcase for bringing the two tours a bit together,” DeChambeau claimed.

A bit.

Bryson continued, “And I think what we’re doing to do next year, all of us aligned, is bringing something a little bigger and badder, so we can have a couple of times—at least one more time—where we can see most of the best players on both sides competing.”

At least we have those weeks called The Masters, the PGA, the U.S. Open and The Open.

The Vegas quadrilateral of major winners acknowledged the sad state of seeing the best get together only four times a year. Yet as long as LIV keeps hiring and trying to grow, a split-status quo seems set. That might be fine for PGA Tour locked into a solid media deal while LIV searches for its CW replacement in hopes of drawing over 100,000 average final round viewers in 2025.

The PGA does have those good media deals, but can't meet the demands of its alpha dogs with investors willing to fund such losses, so they kind of need each other.  But hard to make any real sense of how this unites the game (not that I miss any of those guys that left).  But Geoff doesn't seem high on letting the bonecutters combine two moribund, failing tours:

A more disastrous scenario sees the Public Investment Fund taking some NEOM slush fund money to buy the DP World Tour with hopes of creating a world-versus-the-U.S.A. scenario. This seems likely to set up a Ryder Cup-alternative floated by Koepka this week.

“Let’s be real — wouldn’t you want to see a LIV versus PGA Tour Ryder Cup-style thing?” he asked. “That is what it is. This is growing into a big thing. That’s what will draw the fans.”

Down boy, down!

Okay, maybe the moribund Presidents Cup becomes LIV vs. the USA. Anything will be better than another blitzing of the International squad. But it’s hard to see the PGA Tour going very far to support what will still be a competitor even after getting $700 million to buy Pebble Beach or whatever the for-profit does with the blood money.

It’s remarkable to think that these four players are the ones left attempting to broker increased competition. The bizarre state of affairs, combined with shrinking fields and eliminating cuts in big events, speaks to how much the PGA Tour has lost the plot. Because it’s still all about the competition and who puts out a “product” of integrity. Not some watered-down mess or something built around what the CMO-du-jour thinks is campaign-worthy.

Even more remarkable is that Rory,  a man whose made a hot mess every time he's opened his mouth, is one of those four.  But Geoff, we really can't credit them with promoting greater competition when they're limiting those money grabs to 70 players with no cut.  You're not pro-competition when you're excluding half the competitors at each event....

The good news?  They haven't figured out how to destroy the four majors....  Yah, I know, Tiger is still working on it.

It's Kiz - Color me lukewarm, I like the guy but think he'd do better in Smylie's role.  in fact, has anyone actually seen Smylie Kaufman and Kevin Kisner in the same room?  because they seem very much the same guy:

Behind the scenes of NBC Sports’ Kevin Kisner hire

Yeah, not sure I need to deep a dive, but the issue seems to be that Kiz still wants to play, despite the obvious shortcomings in said game.

Flood, Cordella and Roy arrived in Aiken in the fall to find Kisner feeling open-minded. The

clock was ticking on the 40-year-old pro, who now had just one year remaining of PGA Tour eligibility courtesy of a lifetime top-50 earners exemption. He would get into a dozen or so Tour events in 2025, but would be mostly relegated to weaker-field events. If his play improved — unlikely for a player of Kisner’s age (40) and length (181st on Tour in 2024) — his playing schedule might fill, but that was uncertain. On the other hand, if his play kept with its recent trajectory, he would be available for most weeks of NBC’s PGA Tour coverage in 2025, and his playing career would be over in 2026.

In other words, if NBC was willing to work with him on the details, Kisner was open to taking the gig.

“I have a great relationship with Sam Flood. I like the way he talks about things. He’s very straight up, and that’s the way I am,” Kisner said. “My wife and I sat down with [Flood, Cordella and Roy] for three-and-a-half hours and just discussed life. We talked about the future — what we felt like was good, bad, how to make golf better, how they thought I could fit into their team.”

At the end of the conversation, the decision was made. Kisner would take on 10 events in 2025 and the permanent title of NBC Golf lead analyst while maintaining part-time PGA Tour playing privileges. If his playing career got in the way of the arrangement, NBC would be flexible, and if not, NBC would be the beneficiary.

I think I have as good a chance of playing my way into those money grabs as Kiz does, given that he hits it about 260 off the tee.  But apparently, per Geoff, this doesn't avoid the most awkward part of NBC's presentation for 2025:

Hopes have been dashed that NBC’s gabby “four-wide” experiment would be going away. It seems the cluttered format used during NBC’s 2024 golf broadcasts will be back, according to Golf.com’s James Colgan, who detailed Kevin Kisner’s hiring as “lead" analyst” on the U.S. Open, The Open, and Ryder Cup.

By the time Kisner signed his contract, the network had already decided to bring back a big broadcast experiment from 2024, the “odd-even” format, splitting play-by-play and analyst

duties between teams designated to odd and even-numbered holes. The goal of the strategy, Flood and Roy said, is to facilitate a conversation between broadcasters that fans can “eavesdrop” in on, rather than having broadcasters speak to the audience at home. NBC hopes the shift to “odd-even” will make life easier for Kisner as he switches to golf TV. It will simplify preparation, for example, and create fewer, more targeted speaking opportunities.

That the format is suggested as a way to keep Kisner from doing too much work or preparing to back a pointed take, seems like a pretty sad statement about where the once-vaunted NBC Sports has landed. For golf fans, it’s especially sad given how thoroughly Johnny Miller prepared every time he donned a headset.

I have no idea about the photo either, but that odd-even bit was beyond bizarre.

On LIVsters -  We like folks who can admit when they're wrong, though perhaps an exception should be made here:

'I was wrong': Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau open up on the evolution of their relationship ahead of The Showdown

The fun is in reliving some of the silly bits in this spat:

"I've always had respect for Brooks and what he's done, and how many majors he's won,"

DeChambeau said. "It's been quite impressive, and even the tour events he's won. Obviously, early on, we didn't really understand each other. Pretty rocky relationship."

To say the least. It was a feud so publicized that it produced its own "controversy timeline" in many online spaces including this one. It's easy to forget that the saga began back in 2019, complete with slow-play callouts, "he doesn't even have abs" callouts, fire ants jokes, etc. After they both made the jump to LIV, the rivalry began dying a slow death, understandably.

"We had our spats," DeChambeau said. "But we realized when we both went to LIV we had quite a few things in common. Kind of like stepbrothers in a sense. And we've developed a pretty solid relationship and have good respect for each other now."

 Though this comes with some buried terms and conditions, perhaps:

Of course, one could argue they are both in promotion mode before their LIV vs. PGA Tour tilt with Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy next Tuesday at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas. They have to be cordial for this shindig to work. Judging off their back and forth Tuesday, though, DeChambeau and Koepka have come a long, long way since SpikesGate at Kiawah Island in 2021.

To sum up, Brooks now says he was wrong about Bryson, but we're not so on Brooks.... As I noted above, I don't miss the LIV golfers when I watch PGA Tour events.

I always hate these defections:

The No. 1 ranked player in Korea has withdrawn from PGA Tour’s qualifying school to sign with LIV Golf.

Yubin Jang, 22, was supposed to be in the field for Q School’s final stage that starts on Thursday, Dec. 12 at TPC Sawgrass’ Dye’s Valley Course and Sawgrass Country Club., earning his spot as the top earner on the Korea Professional Golf Association’s money list. Jang won twice and had five second-place finishes the KPGA circuit while also leading the tour in scoring, grabbing Player of the Year honors in the process. He also scored the gold medal for Korea at the 2023 Asian Games.

At No. 135 in the Official World Golf Ranking, Jang was the second-highest ranked player in Q School behind Kensei Hirata, who captured the Order of Merit in Japan this year. But on Tuesday Jang dropped out of Q School, followed by LIV Golf announcing that Jang had joined Kevin Na’s Iron Heads team. There are no alternates for the final stage, meaning Jang’s exemption will not be filled. The field tops out at 170 players, with five PGA Tour cards on the line.

I've never heard of the kid, so I have no opinion on his potential.  But this can't be the way to build a golf career, and I suspect we'll never hear of him again, his golf career will be limited to cashing the one check.

And this delicious schadenfreude:

Sergio Garcia is willing to jump through countless hoops for chance to play in one more Ryder Cup

In terms of LIV, the DJ and Phil signings were the more significant.  But in terms of acting like a spoiled child and pissing on both tours, you'd be hard-pressed to find a bigger jerk than Sergio.  

But get this from the miscreant:

Amidst such outward optimism, Garcia will surely be aware that his chances of participating at Bethpage—where he finished third in the 2002 U.S. Open amidst his notorious battle with countless re-grips of the club prior to swinging—remain slim. But whatever happens, in at least one area he stands united with his fellow Europeans. Under no circumstances will he be asking for financial compensation should he make the team.

“That is unfortunate,” he says of the possibility that the American team will be paid. “It takes away everything that the Ryder Cup stands for in a way. It’s never been an issue for the European players. But the Americans seem to be making it one. And now it seems like they will be getting something. Hopefully they are happy about that. But it doesn’t help the Ryder Cup. We Europeans don’t care if we get paid or not. That’s not our priority. Our goal is to play as well as possible and for Europe to win.”

So, let me see if I have this straight.  Sergio is lecturing others on why it's wrong to excessively focus on money.... Pretty rich from a guy who's signature move is spitting in cups and destroying greens.

But I'm torn.... If he wants another Ryder Cup I instinctively want to deny it to him, for being such a jerk on his path to LIV.  But, I'm conflicted, because there's a certain appeal to the image of allowing those Bethpage crowds another go at Sergio.... Could be good fun.

That will be all for today.  The schedule will be a bit tough, as my nephew and a friend of his coming here for a few days of skiing.  That will inevitably affect blogging early next week, so please bear with me.  I'll cover any actual developments as best I can.  Have a great weekend.