Monday, February 14, 2022

Weekend Wrap

It's Monday, so golf first and BS after....  Quite the shame, 'cause I'm itching for my own piece of Charley, not that the vultures haven't already picked that carcass clean.

Clean-Up On Aisle 16 - I've always taken a "Let Phoenix Be Phoenix" position, though it seems to have been more Phoenix than ever this year, so I do hope that the name change hasn't deterred the locals from calling it The Wasted.  Your winner:

The wait is over for Scottie Scheffler.

The 25-year-old Texan sank a 26-foot birdie putt on the third extra hole to defeat Patrick Cantlay at the WM Phoenix Open and claim his first PGA Tour victory.

“I think the first one is probably always the hardest and I definitely made it pretty difficult on myself today,” Scheffler said.

To hear former Tour pro turned CBS broadcaster Colt Knost tell it, he always knew Scheffler was destined for greatness. He remembers when the rangy Scheffler was knee-high to him, a kid who couldn’t get enough of practicing at Royal Oaks Golf Club in Dallas, where Tour winners such as Justin Leonard, Hunter Mahan and Harrison Frazar were regulars.

“He just followed us all around like a little puppy dog,” Knost recalled.

For us as well, the wait that is... Kind of a perfect PGA Tour leaderboard, two kids (though the winner is hardly a newbie) looking for their first surrounded by wall-to-wall studs.  That linked item has all sorts of background on Scheffler's precocious talent, not that any who saw him dismember Jon Rahm at Whistling Straits needs the 411.

This Golf Digest item gets it about right:


Sahith Theegala’s eyes bulged as he trailed his ball screaming through the thin desert air. He’d
escaped the cauldron of adrenaline and beer-throwing at TPC Scottsdale’s madhouse 16th hole with a dry shirt and a par, his focus now solely on winning a truly hectic golf tournament.

The drivable par-4 17th has a habit of deciding the WM Phoenix Open—Brooks Koepka’s chip-in eagle last year catapulted him to the title—and Theegala thought he’d struck the decisive blow. His flushed hybrid was peeling left-to-right toward the slim runway up the center of the green. A perfect line. It would run up the center, he’d two-putt for birdie, par the last, win his first PGA Tour event in front of his parents, five uncles, six aunts and four cousins.

“I thought I hit a great shot,” he said. “It was cutting.”


Until, that is, that damn ball did the one thing it couldn’t do: It kicked left. Hard left, and trickled into the water hazard lurking left of the green. A cruel reminder that golf is played on imperfect surfaces.

“I still have no idea what that bounce was,” his caddie, Carl Smith, said with a shell-shocked expression on his face.

You did and it was cutting, it's just that kind of hole.... 

Theegala, a distinctly un-jaded 24-year-old rookie with an easy smile and a hall-of-fame strut, failed to get up and down and failed to get himself into a playoff with Scottie Scheffler and Patrick Cantlay. He succeeded, however, in capturing the adoration of the 800,000-ish fans who made their way to party this week and the millions more watching on television. (At least until the playoff bled into the Super Bowl.) He slept on the lead three nights in a row and refused to cede his place on a star-studded leader board, even holding a three-shot lead for a brief period on the front nine.

Here's the real reason you should root for the kid.  After serving as the lynchpin of the Pepperdine Golf Team for several years, they won a national championship the year after he graduated.  I feel like he's owed one...

But your humble blogger is old enough to remember when the PGA Tour was sufficiently astute to avoid direct competition with the NFL juggernaut, so I have a modest proposal.  Given that this event is timed to conclude just as a coin is airborne, can we agree to settle any ties via a match of cards?   

Our typical Monday visit with the Tour Confidential panel begins at Query No. 5, so you know it's that kind of week:

5. We’re told there was also golf played at TPC Scottsdale, with Scottie Scheffler winning in a playoff over Patrick Cantlay. Putting the revelry aside, what other storyline most captured your attention at the WMPO?

Sens: We’d seen glimpses already, but this week felt like the full-blown coming out party for Sahith Theegala, free-swinging, expressive, humble and brimming with game. Someone to root for.

Piastowski: Agree, Josh. And speaking of coming-out parties, Scheffler has finally cracked through and won. He wins again this year. And let’s have fun and say he wins the U.S. Open.

Dethier: These guys are right. I’ll just add this: Xander Schauffele came damn close to another win. And he came up just short. His PGA Tour drought grows, even as his sparkling ball-striking continues to dazzle.

Bamberger: I would only add to that there are a bunch of players coming up that are ready, or close to ready, to giving Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Rory McIlroy a run for their money. PIP money, too — for those who care about it.

Ummm, Mike, a little pro tip for you.  Those guys you listed we know, your job is actually to identify those you think will break through... I'd especially be interested in that second category, those close to being ready.

So, anything interesting happen on No. 16 this week?  As you know, I've maintained a strict laissez-faire attitude to the event and The Loudest Hole in Golf™, happy to let them have their frat party, a reasonably good fit for a weekend when eyes are necessarily elsewhere.  But the Saturday ace by Sam Ryder was a shock, seeing as how anyone in that zip code would be smelling of beer for the remainder of the day.

Then, this was the scene after Carlos Ortiz jarred it:

OK, fortunately the sponsor is in the waste hauling business.... though most of that seemingly goes with the recycling.

Actually, the crowd is due accolades for their improved behavior, because this was the comparable scene after the Ryder ace:

Ryder's was a bit later in the day and Saturday is actually peak insanity, so I hope Carlos wasn't too terribly let down.

But if there's a scene on No. 16 that I'd like to un-see, it's a different one.  Yanno how I've been trashing that PIP program?  Nothing to see here....

Which in these PIPilicious times inevitably leads to this:


Harry, you're a genuinely funny guy, one that can actually make us laugh with your shirt on.  he was building to this all week, I just can't see why.... Then again, I always tell you I'm deep into the "get off my lawn" stage of life, which seems entirely appropriate for such circumstance.

4. Just when you thought the 16th hole at the WM Phoenix Open couldn’t get any wilder, a couple of aces — one by Sam Ryder on Saturday followed by another by Carloz Ortiz on Sunday — resulted in beer-throwing pandemonium unlike the game has never seen. Also on Sunday, we got a strip tease at 16, with playing partners Harry Higgs and Joel Dahmen baring their chests on the green. It’s a perennial question, but given the exceptionally wild atmosphere at 16 this year and the attention it generated, one that needs to be asked again: Should the Tour strive to create more stadium experiences?

No.  Actually, upon further review, Hell No!

Dethier: I think we can celebrate the spectacular atmosphere of TPC Scottsdale without wishing that more Tour events were exactly this way. So yes to stadium atmospheres, meh to constant beer showers. To put it another way: It was spectacular to see Harry Higgs in all his majesty on Sunday, but if he and Joel Dahmen started getting shirtless week in, week out, the bit might get old quickly.

Sens: You know how our scientific capability to clone a lot of things creeps some people out? Cloning the 16th would be scarier than anything taking place in a lab. Cool setting. One is plenty.

Piastowski: Agreed! Overkill wouldn’t make it unique anymore. It’s something to look forward to.

Bamberger: One is all right. One is plenty.

On the one hand, it's an obvious answer if you know and care about golf.   On the other hand, how else can one interpret the Tour's seemingly abandoned Live Under Par™ campaign as anything other than an attempt to Phoenixize the rest of the Tour.  Dodged that bullet, at least I think we did, but I shouldn't get cocky.

Before moving on, did you catch how Ortiz followed up his ace?  Is there a PEFU or PAFU?  Not yesterday:

But then Ortiz’s round got even better. He stepped up to the drivable par-4 17th and ripped driver 336, leaving himself with a 13-footer for eagle. He buried it.

He went 1-2, which very rarely hurts you....

One last item and then we'll go full-Charley.  Remember last week we had that bit about Jon Rahm being unable to wear his Pat Tillman jersey because of his clothing sponsor?  JT was rocking some kind of Alabama jersey, though he may actually still be without a clothing sponsor ever since Faggot-gate.  But then there's Max Homa paying off a baseball bet:

Being forced to wear the jersey of the sports team your buddy roots for that took down your favorite sports team has become a cliché tried-and-true bet among PGA Tour pros. For as often as it happens, there remains a level of amusement to the whole proceeding that keeps us looking regardless.

The latest example played out Friday at the WM Phoenix Open: Max Homa (die-hard Los Angeles Dodgers fan) and J.T. Poston (die-hard Atlanta Braves fan) had a wager still to be settled after the Braves beat the Dodgers in the National League Championship series last October. It was decided that it would happen in a very public place: the 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale.

 Poston did have some fun with it:

I like that #famous vs. #play better bit, but unbelievably the Tour did just what he asked.  That about wraps up the portion of our programming in which PGA Tour players act in ways that make us like and want to watch them.  Yup, buckle in, it's Charley time.

Charley Hustle - How do you feel about Charley Hoffman?  For me, he's never been good enough to make me care much, but there have been a couple of curious swipes at the USGA where he seemed to be a bit of a jerk.  Most recently on the subject of distance, in which he rejected any further governance but without, yanno, bothering to think through where it all heads.  That doesn't make him different than most Tour pros, though for reasons we'll get into below, he does actually bear some responsibility.

Does everyone know what actually happened? Basically, the same thing that happened to Rickie a few years back at this same event:

Hoffman’s frustrations stemmed from a double bogey he carded on the par-5 13th hole earlier in the day. On the hole, Hoffman hit his ball into the water off the tee, took a penalty stroke and placed his ball back in play. However, after the ball was deemed in play, it rolled back into the water, forcing Hoffman to take another penalty stroke.

Let's agree that that sucks, and yet I know that Rickie handled it much better, because he's Rickie and Charlie is Charlie.

FWIW, a PGA Tour rules official explains:

On Saturday, the PGA Tour explained the ruling and defended themselves against Hoffman’s criticisms.

“Because the ball was at rest after he placed it, the ball was in play,” said PGA Tour Chief Referee Ken Tackett in an interview with Golf Channel. “It was moved by natural forces, therefore, it was a new situation and he had to proceed under the penalty rule again.”

The rule Tackett alluded to was Rule 17, which covers penalty areas. Tackett noted that Hoffman had options after his ball entered the penalty area, including relief within two club-lengths of where the ball entered the penalty area, back-on-the-line relief and stroke-and-distance relief. However, Hoffman elected to take relief within two clubs-lengths of where the ball entered the penalty area, which led to the drama.

There's no shortage of folks that think this is wrong, as it obviously feels unjust.  That said, I'm not sure what the actual solution might be, since once the ball is live, what happens happens.

I haven't yet seen any video, but Geoff seems to think he had options for the drop:

Just to be clear, Hoffman had more than one option, chose to drop in the difficult location and is now whining because his ball moved after he placed it. The rules were there to help him in multiple ways, as were the first and second opinions he called in. (The rules staff responded as detailed here.)

So, Charley was pissed, and Charley, as you're well aware, is special and has no need to just sit there and absorb the indignity, so here's his unexpurgated contribution to humanity:

Your humble blogger is hardly the appropriate social media tour guide, but notice that he actually tagged the Saudis in his post.   

When last Charley crossed my path, he was also playing that tune about the pros being ruled by amateurs, which is just a really curious whine.  The PGA Tour is under no obligation to play under the USGAs rules, they do so for their own benefit.  You know who should be aware of that?  Anyone serving on the Player's Advisory Counsel, as Charley himself does.

You'll also notice that he's unfamiliar with the actual rule involved, always a good look for a professional.  Admittedly, it doesn't matter all that much unless you're a successful professional, so no worries, Charley.

But isn't the bigger issue his left breast (who says we don't tackle the big issues here?)?


Charley is not only sponsored by Waste Management, he was playing this week on a sponsor's exemption.  Well played, Charley, you just pissed on your Tour, your Commish and your sponsor.  Quite the trifecta...

You don't need me to point out the entitlement of which this reeks, but Geoff got off a good rant (at least the tease before the paywall):

When we look back on the Tour Wars of 2022, Charley Hoffman’s post-round tirade will either,

(A) mark the day when the PGA Tour realized they’d let the lunatics run the asylum, or,

(B) Allowed a fatal grievance-culture mindset to define the image of professional golf, or,

(C) Both of the above.

The “athletes”, as the brass call them down at the Global Home, have come to believe they are bigger than the game. Some players are still grounded in reality, but plenty more let their negotiating leverage and years of sweet perks go to their heads. A disturbing number of PGA Tour golfers seem to believe they brought on the Saudi opportunity because of their sheer amazingness. It couldn’t have anything to do with Tiger Woods or an evil entity needing to refresh its image via sports sponsorship. Nope!

Today’s super-humans play courses manicured in almost unfathomably idyllic ways and live in a time when they can walk up to their ball, mash the grass down behind, and do something we might have called cheating just a decade or so ago. No one tells them to stop it.

Throw in gobs of money, a ball that flies super straight and “the product” believes it is entitled to whatever they want. This, even though at least 50% of today’s top 125 will be off the tour in five years and all but a handful of logo-clads could walk down most city streets, never to be recognized.

So it should be no surprise to read Charley Hoffman’s embarrassing post-round Instagram meltdown even when he’s serving as a “brand ambassador” for sponsor Waste Management. Irrational post-round whining is nothing new for Hoffman, long a proponent of the Tour making rules free from the USGA and R&A. But he’s also blissfully unaware of things you never hear at a PGA Tour event:
  • What hole is Charley Hoffman on?
  • What time does Charley Hoffman tee off?
  • Have you seen that Charley Hoffman? Goosebumps!

I would argue that the clean-up had just as many howlers as the Instagram malfunction:

Q. Things often get sort of lost on social media, so I just wanted to ask what you really meant with the Instagram last night.

CHARLEY HOFFMAN: What I meant and what I said, I mean I think I explained it fairly well, but obviously not a huge fan of the USGA and how they govern us all the time.

We pointed oubt above that the PGA plays under USGA rules at their pleasure, obviously happy to hide behind another authority.   But Charley, as you helpfully pointed out, we saw this with Rickie?  How come there no Tour local rule in play?  I know you've been busy playing yourself out of professional golf, but you're taking up space on that PAC.

I was under the, or, under the impression that the rule had changed. And I was frustrated when the rule hadn't changed, why it hadn't changed and I think there's some sort of -- I mean obviously we have a PGA TOUR liaison that helps with the USGA and helps in figuring out what the rules should and shouldn't be.

Charley's such a class act.  having received mondo pushback after throwing the USGA and Jay under the bus, he reacts by throwing Jason Gore under the bus.  Not sure what the busses ground clerarance is, so Charley himself might not actually fit...

And it just, it didn't make any sense at that point in time why that rule hadn't changed, especially this exact tournament when it happened to Rickie Fowler, he ended up winning the golf tournament, but it could have cost him the golf tournament.

But as -- and as I told the rules officials last night it's like, everybody says, We're going to change it for the better, we're going to do this and that, we're close or whatever but nothing seems to get done.

Really?  If only you knew someone in a position of authority...

Q. You wrote that you wonder why guys are looking to join another tour. Do you feel like a lack of accountability or a rules issue are why guys --

CHARLEY HOFFMAN: I think it's a whole, a whole -- everything. You got to look at yourself as a policy board member and look at your self in the face, as I said, what can I do better as a player director, what can the executive committee do, executive directors do better to make sure that we are the best tour in the world.

And if it's -- the PGA TOUR's rewarding us by using social media in their platforms now, but they don't like it when you don't say something that may not be up to their standard. But you're rewarded on it.

Charley, I don't recommend looking yourself in the face.  we've done just that, and it's not a pretty picture.  But those that can and should do better are somehow always in the third person...  But you'll appreciate this clarification:

I'm by no means trying to win the Player Impact Program, but I wanted to get my point across that there's rules out there in the game of golf that should be changed.

Yeah, big guy, I'm not losing any sleep over the thought of you winning anything... But, it wasn't important to change this rule when it was happening to other players, so I think we understand you.

How do we think this portion of the damage control is playing?

Q. And Jay Monahan's name too?

CHARLEY HOFFMAN: And Jay, yeah, it was "Sorry, Jay", that I was doing this, because I have a great relationship with Jay and I have nothing for admiration about what Jay does for this TOUR and how hard he works.

So it was a "Sorry, Jay" because I know he's going -- this isn't an easy time for the PGA TOUR. So that's why that "Sorry, Jay" that that's why I said we need to do better, we as player directors, as executive directors, commissioners, everybody, we need to do better to make sure we keep everybody here in the U.S.

 I'm sure that's exactly how he took it...

So, why bring up the Saudis?  Well, yeah:

Q. You're one of the few players on the policy board. Is the system in place not working?

CHARLEY HOFFMAN: I think it works really good, but we have, we have a threat. I mean, that's real. I mean, you can't hide under a rock and say it's not.

And I, there's no way that I, it's ever crossed my mind to go over and play for a competitor and -- ever -- and it was never -- if it came across in that Instagram post that I have been reached by them, I have not been reached by them, it came across wrong. I added that so the media would catch it, so I would prove my point on the rules side.

Not just overly entitled, but also not very bright.  The man just literally shat all over his sponsor's event.  And he's not very good at the golf thing, so hopefully he will get a juicy offer from the Saudis...

We'll give last word to this gent:

Hoping he's wrong about the early part....

Gonna leave you hear and prepare for my day.  Have a great week and we'll have Riviera to discuss later in the week.  Did you catch all those references to the best drivable Par-4?  I'm guessing there will be more of that this week....

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Friday, February 11, 2022

Late-Week Lethargy

Don't worry my pretty, we'll get to the Saudi stuff in a bit.  As you'll have guessed, Phil won't look any better after the rebuttal but, then again, no one will come out looking very good.  But, as therapy, how about we talk about the actual golf.

By The Time I Get to WM - Stupid is as stupid does, though of course that could be applied to this blog as well.  But your humble bloggers' first reaction was, "What have they done to the Wasted?"  Because they're now calling it the WM, which most certainly did no favors to my ears:

The Waste Management Phoenix Open is now officially the WM Phoenix Open after title sponsor Waste Management rebrands to WM to reflect the company's focus on continuous innovation and sustainable solutions for the company and its customers.

THUD!  It's just not an aurally-pleasing sound and, perhaps more importantly, doesn't mean anything to the listener.  GE was always GE (I mean, before they trashed the company) and IBM was always IBM, but Waste Management was always, yanno, Waste Management.   

A few things caught my eye, including this guy that we've been waiting on:

Sahith Theegala leads

Only darkness could slow Theegala, his round stopped on the 8th hole (he started on the back nine) due to a lack of daylight. Before that, he birdied his first hole, birdied 13-16 and added two more on the front nine for a seven-under total and a one-stroke lead. K.H. Lee was in second after a six-under 65, and four golfers, including defending champion Brooks Koepka, shot 66s.

“Obviously really good day,” Theegala said. “I got off to a pretty hot start. I had a couple — it was nice to see one go in on the first hole — that always kind of sets the tone for the day. But the big key for me like always in my game is just putting my driver in the fairway, and I was able to do that early and often. I think the wind kind of laid down for us a little bit at the end there. So was able to take advantage of some opportunities, and, yeah, super happy with the way I started.

“Obviously I got a little chippy at the end — I started hitting my driver a little squirrely at the end — so this is a welcome stop, honestly.”

We occasionally have cause to criticize sponsor's exemptions, but this seems to be what they're meant for, regardless of how the next 72-hours plays out.

Though, with perfect weather, it's a little strange that they couldn't get the field through the full eighteen.  Not a big deal, as he'll turn right around and start his second round.  The issue is more what it might do to any leaders who don't finish their second rounds, not to mention guys that might have to stick around if the cut line isn't finalized.

I had quite a bit of fun watching this guy:

A pretty good lede as well:

The left breast of a PGA Tour player’s shirt is prime real estate for sponsors. Not quite as pricey
as the hat, but the good players are all TV all the time, which means their chests are on TV all the time. Rickie Fowler has Puma’s logo on his. Jon Rahm has Blue Yonder. The third member of their threesome at the WM Phoenix Open on Thursday had Calusa Pines on his.

Calusa Pines is not a brand at all. It’s a highly exclusive club on the gulf coast of Florida, ranked No. 74 on Golf Digest’s latest 100 Greatest. The club is not paying Hayden Buckley to wear its logo. He’s not a member there. But he loves the course, and he had a clothing deal fall through in December, so why not?

Buckley, as his shirt will tell you, looked a bit out of place at TPC Scottsdale alongside the World No. 1 and the man known around these parts as Big (You Know What) Rick. It makes sense, then, that he was never supposed to be there.

As I'm copying-and-pasting, I'm relieved that Colin Montgomerie is long retired now we apparently speak of professional golfers' breasts....   Coulda gone with Phil as well, as Employee No. 2 remains convinced that he's had reduction surgery... though that's not important now.

But then that last 'graph jumped out at me.  Hadn't heard that one, though apparently the man embraces it (or at least is amusing about it):

By statue I'm required to state that he'll be here all week, folks, though with Rickie these days that's not to be taken for granted. 

Back to the deer caught in thee headlights, who had a tough day as expected, but finished strong.  First, at you-know-where:

The course was blocked off all Wednesday for the pro-am, which Buckley wasn’t in, which meant he was flying blind on the front. He managed an even-par 35 but played his next six holes in three over before stepping into the 16th-hole cauldron. Rahm played first. Buckley was next. He nearly hooped it and hearted the six-footer for birdie. A dream debut.

Rickie stepped over to offer his knuckles after the kid's tee ball on No. 16, which I think bears mentioning.   But this is journalistic malpractice:

Buckley bogeyed the 17th but finished with a delicious wedge from 126 yards to two feet. As the Arizona sun set rapidly—play was halted at 6:23 local time, with leader Sahith Theegala still on the course with two holes to finish—Buckley couldn’t stop smiling despite a +2 by his name on the leaderboard. (Rahm scored a four-under 67 and Fowler shot 71.)

Egad, that  "wedge" was the shot of the day.  His ball just trickled into the bunker, leaving him on severe downslope.  His shot landed well right of the pin, but somehow took a 90 degree turn right and fed to the pin, and the Golf Channel cameras caught a delightfully sheepish reaction shot, easily the best moment of the broadcast.

Back to Rickie, who had quite the adventurous day:

TPC Scottsdale has been good to Rickie Fowler, yielding the most recent of his five career PGA Tour titles in 2019. But on Thursday, the desert track treated him like an unwanted stranger. Perhaps, because, well, he couldn't keep out of the desert.

Rickie's rough front nine to begin the 2022 Waste Management Phoenix Open had a bit of everything. A bit of everything bad, that is. There was a penalty, a left-handed swing, and some missed short putts, which all added up to a three-over 38 as he put himself well behind the early pace.

Let's start with the penalty, which came on the par-4 fifth hole when Fowler tried to clear some rocks near a cactus and accidentally moved his ball. Fowler called a rules official over and was assessed a one-shot penalty.

Rickie did hang in and mafe a fun eagle on Number 17.  Oh, what the heck, worth an embed:

I'm unaware of anyone out there that doesn't like the man, so it's hard to watch.  But the Blogger's Guild has strict requirements of its members, so please understand that I am merely complying with the relevant statutes.  But are those folks still calling him Big D**k Rick aware of shrinkage?

Phoenix Redux - Let me pair a couple of short items that may or may not belong together.  It just seems to this observer that we're trying to ruin everything enjoyable in this world, and this is but an itty bitty example.

Mike Purkey has an item up at First Read of five gimmicks he wants immediately banned from golf, and this is your gold medalist:

1. 16th at TPC Scottsdale

The Thunderbirds, the civic organization that runs the Waste Management Phoenix Open, have spent the last 30-plus years trying much too hard to convince us the spectacle at the par-3 16th is
as important to the game as Amen Corner, a notion that divides golf almost as much as red vs. blue splits the nation.

It started as some rowdy fun for students at nearby Arizona State University, particularly during Saturday’s third round. Fueled by free-flowing beer and the desert sun, the young people sang players’ college fight songs when they reached the tee, chanted insults and treated tee shots with a chorus of cheers for a good one and boos for missing the green. Tiger Woods made an ace in 1997 and it rained plastic cups for a good couple of minutes.

Then someone had an idea crowned with dollar signs and the first 11 skyboxes were built at the 16th in 1992. Now the hole has been enclosed like a stadium and there are 278 skyboxes and suites that hold most of the 17,000 well-heeled fans who visit the 16th. (Only 3,700 general admission seats are available.)

As a result, the atmosphere is much more subdued at the 16th because the kids who created it have been largely shut out of seats in favor of the skyboxers. What was a novelty devolved into a nuisance and now it’s just another boring corporate hospitality tent.

Money has ruined many a novel concept and the 16th is another victim. Besides, it’s become as outdated as a BlackBerry. Time to trade it in for an upgrade.

Is that first 'graph world class journalistic projection, or what?  And you though I was a curmudgeon?

It's not my favorite week of the year, but Purkey's reaction is passing strange in the context of the looming Saudi threat.   The PGA Tour is vulnerable mostly because it has promoted an endless schedule of dreary events, becoming the "If This is Tuesday, It Must Be Belgium" of the sports world.

This event is an obvious exception, with actual enthusiasm and off-the-charts attendance (even if the crowd number estimate rival the Steel Dossier for accuracy), and they've done that on Super Bowl weekend.  So, sure this event has to die, right?

My only concern with this event was that others would try to copy it, which mercifully doesn't seem to have happened.  But we can't have people having fun can we?  So, here's just one little way in which we just can't leave things alone (for the record, I noticed this yesterday and figured he was just saving it for Saturday:

Jon Rahm, a proud Arizona State alum, has worn a No. 42 Pat Tillman jersey on the 16th hole a few times in the past during the third round of the WM Phoenix Open.

Thursday, when asked about doing it again this week, he said no then adjusted his answer to “probably not.”

“Probably not going to come out in a long time,” he said after his opening-round 4-under 67. “Not for lack of enthusiasm or willingness, more for sponsor conflict than anything else. Last time I checked, Travis Mathew doesn’t make football jerseys, right? So can’t really be endorsing somebody else.”

Can we just shoot everyone?

I think this is ridiculously short-sighted on the Travis/Callaway folks' part, as this is the kind of little gesture that roots the event in a specific place.  But they can't make up a jersey with a logo?  Or is the real issue that they don't want us honoring Pat Tillman?  

God forbid anyone have a fun moment.... But remind me to pass on that Travis Matthews clothing, so well played guys (and I'll add the Cally equipment, though those Mack Daddy wedges aren't going anywhere).

Phil, The Rebuttal - It's got its own issues, but the Evil Empire has responded to Phil's whining:

Mickelson’s remarks were fodder for a week’s worth of chatter about Tour policies, player rights and Mickelson’s rumored interest in the Saudi-backed, Greg Norman-led Super League. They marked his most direct criticism of the Tour yet, lobbed conveniently from the would-be rival tour’s home turf.

One other talking point has also surfaced: the accuracy, or lack thereof, of Mickelson’s gripes.

In conversations with GOLF.com, PGA Tour executives painted a far different picture of the economics of golf’s largest professional tour, characterizing it as a highly successful, multi-billion-dollar business model built around its media-rights deals — and with constituents who’ve largely been content with that structure.

Phil doesn't do accuracy.  I still remember his bold-faced lie at Gleneagles about not having any input into Watson's decisions, whereas it all went pear-shaped for the very reason that he got his way... But, in addition to accuracy, he also doesn't do responsibility...

Phil had some comments on a Gary Williams podcast that you may not have seen, as I hadn't:

There undoubtedly is a lot of money in the Tour’s coffers that goes directly to players: more than
$800 million per year, according to a memo shared by the Tour. That figure, according to the same records, represents 55 percent of the Tour’s more than $1.5 billion in revenues — a percentage that is on par with other professional sports leagues, and much more than the figure Mickelson referenced on Gary Williams’ “5 Clubs” podcast in September.

“It’s a difficult situation on the PGA Tour relative to other sports, because in football, baseball, basketball, they have roughly 55 percent of their revenues going to the players,” Mickelson told Williams. “They have great representation, and when they have aggrievements, they go to a certain person. On the PGA Tour, we have 26 percent of the revenue going to the players, and when we have aggrievements, we go to the commissioner, who says, ‘Ah, I don’t really want to pay you anymore, I’m good.'”

While there’s room to quibble with the Tour’s calculations — more than $100 million in player earnings are credited to endorsement deals through the Tour’s official marketing partners, in which the Tour’s direct involvement is hard to ascertain — it’s unclear from where Mickelson derived his 26 percent figure.

Phil's relationship with the truth is best understood as transactional.  Phil couldn't give a phig what percentage goes to the players, it's all about what goes to Phil.

I have no use for the Tour's morbidly obese bureaucracy, which is absolutely fair game for critics.  But this man just wants to get paid, so I've basically tuned out his frequency.

Of course, this was always the biggest, or at least the most obvious, whopper Phil told:

Tour critics have also honed in on exclusivity. Tour players are independent contractors and not employees of the organization, as is the case in most other sports leagues. As such, they are required to sign a waiver each year granting their exclusive, individual rights to the Tour and its media partners. As Mickelson rightfully pointed out at the Saudi International, the Tour charges a fee for those who wish to stage a golf telecast outside of the Tour’s media partners, as was the case with The Match. But, the Tour confirmed, Turner Sports paid the $1 million rights fee, not Mickelson himself, as he alleged. It’s even possible Mickelson profited from that rights fee, a Tour source said, because more than half of such fees are added to the revenue pool that the Tour redistributes to players. The same would be true for the Tour’s new Netflix series or any other media-rights deal.

Yeah, he just couldn't resist inferring that the million came from his joint account with Amy, whereas we all know that Phil doesn't go into pocket, apparently even to pay his own gambling debts.

I don't think the Tour's PR flacks acquitted themselves well with this response:

All of this leads, naturally, to the $20 billion question: Is there any way the Tour’s media assets are worth as much as Mickelson estimated?

“I wish they were,” a Tour executive said with a laugh. “No, they aren’t. That’s just not accurate.”

Tour sources weren’t even sure where Mickelson came up with the $20 billion number, or which “assets” he meant. If he was referring to the Tour’s media archives, one source said, it’s true that some money is generated from licensing, but “that number certainly doesn’t start with a ‘B’.”

Mickelson might not like it, but these are the terms of doing business with the Tour, as they have been for the quarter-century over which he has pocketed $94.5 million in Tour earnings. But, hey, if he has any ideas on turning media rights into a $20 billion business, the Tour is all ears.

“Whatever gets generated goes to the players, the same way all other media rights do,” the executive said. “If we could make $20 billion on it, we would, believe me. But no one’s figured out how to do that exactly just yet.”

It seems to me they've taken the bait from this old joke:

Man In Bar: Would you sleep with me for $1 million?

Woman: Sure.

Man: Would you go upstairs with me for $100?

Woman: What do you think I am?

Man: We've established that.  Now we're just haggling over the price.

The point isn't, or shouldn't be, what they're worth.  The obvious rebuttal are that every sport is so organized and that any revenue generated goes to the players.

 There's one obvious rebuttal point screaming to be made, and Geoff has it for us:

Golf.com’s James Colgan spoke to multiple PGA Tour executives who took issue with Phil Mickelson’s “obnoxious greed” remarks from that liberal democracy, Saudi Arabia. But at least he signed his name to his opinions even if they suggest he’s only about the money at this point.

A rebuttal was surely warranted given some obvious fibs and exaggerations by Mickelson. Yet not finding one Tour executive willingly going on the record highlights how much the organization is all bluff and no backbone.

Just like giving players waivers to play in Saudi Arabia with almost no meaningful strings, rebutting anonymously only says to the world: Phil was wrong but not wrong enough to sign our names to it.

Yeah, we noticed the profiles in courage.  I have a modicum of sympathy, as no one wants their name attached to calling  a Tour member a congenital liar.  But, it's much more powerful if they're openly rebutting Phil's deceits, unless there's a reason they prefer not to do so.... which triggers its own doubts.

On a different track, John Hawkins thinks Jay has no worries, supported by this unflattering comparison:

The media, meanwhile, has deftly played the role of Chicken Little in reporting what very little news there is, as if the sky will be falling any day now. For all the innuendo, there’s no sign of a

crescendo. One thing we do know: almost 40 years have passed since an upstart faction attempted to stage an upheaval of a professional sports empire.

Remember the USFL? Summer football lasted three seasons (1983-85) before vanishing into the thick August air. Desperate for attention and survival, it sued the NFL on antitrust charges and was awarded $1 in damages. One dollar, as in 20 nickels, not nearly enough to buy the padlock and chain that would shut down the league’s New York headquarters.

The similarities between the two coups are striking. Like the USFL, which had Donald Trump as its marquee mouthpiece, the Saudis latched on to Greg Norman, whose responsibilities as the new Asian Tour commissioner are somewhat obvious — put the SGL on the map and make it stick. Both enterprises took on a rather daunting task: topple a monolithic American institution that was operating at the height of its powers.

Amusing, if only because Hershel Walker is in the news these days.  otherwise, the relevance of a team sport with its athletes under contracts, especially the all-powerful NFL, seems tenuous.

John has a lengthy analysis that doesn't seem to go anywhere, notwithstanding that I basically agree with his conclusion:

With all that in mind, it’s extremely difficult to envision even a modest exodus from a Tour carried to prominence by the brilliance of former commissioner Deane Beman, then ushered to the land of colossal paydays by Tiger Woods, then maintained to great effect under the watch of Monahan. The players owe it to themselves to listen to any lucrative offer. Many of them surely are intrigued by such staggering numbers and the idea of getting paid to shoot a meaningless pile of 75s.

The Super Golf League amounts to little more than leverage for an exclusive group of men already blessed with pocketfuls of fortune and fame, and sooner rather than later, that will become indisputably clear. As for the few rebels who might decide to take the risk? Good luck, fellas. You’re going to need it.

Have you told Phil?  No need, he's probably just in it for the leverage anyway....

Have a great weekend and we'll pick up these threads on Monday.

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Wednesday, February 9, 2022

Midweek Musings - Wasted Edition

We've got your Pebble leftovers, your Saudi intrigues and even a couple of Phoenix bits for you today.  But, more importantly, does anyone know when the Winter Olympics begin?  What?  Really?  Has anyone told NBC?

Pebble Beach - Cliff Notes Edition - Dylan Dethier's Monday Finish column is a regular read, offering personal observations and other insights from Tour events with the benefit of 24-hours of reflection.  You might ne laboring under the impression that everything worth noting about Jordan v. Cliff was said by Saturday evening, but Dylan has five substantive aspects to address:


1. The run

The best way I can make sense of The Cliff Shot is that Jordan Spieth’s instincts are optimized to make the lowest golf score possible; that acts as an override even when something like “his life”
is under threat. I think that’s why, post-impact, Spieth’s survival instincts finally kicked back in. Re-watch the video and you’ll see that after contact he literally runs away from the edge of the cliff.

Either Spieth snapped suddenly back to reality of he feared the entire cliff might collapse under the magical strike of his 7-iron, like Gandalf taking out the bridge (and the giant fire-monster Balrog) in Lord of the Rings. Makes sense; Spieth’s 7-iron is about as close to a wizard’s staff as you’ll get on Tour. I hope that reference lands with even 10% of you. Either way, let’s move on quickly.

Or, yanno, the Porta-potties  were back towards the tee....

I didn't catch this bit, but to me it's evidence of the declining standards of the day:

2. The twirl

Speaking of instincts: As he ran to safety, Spieth couldn’t help but give that iron a little twirl, sliding it down his hands even as he retreated. The twirl is just in his DNA at this point.

The shot went long left, hardly of the qualify requires for the cocky club twirl.  I guess Jordan wants to be the Hideki of the club twirl.  

But there's another shot I noted on Monday, noting its eerie resemblance to one of Xander's:

For those with short memories, the X-man is still insisting that he "flushed" his tee shot at No. 16 at The Masters, the one that easily got within 25-yards of carrying the water...

But this always amuses me because, as you may have noticed, Messrs.. Spieth and Greller are a tad deliberative in pulling clubs. So, you discuss the curvature of the earth and sun-spot activity and their effects on relative humidity, then pull the wrong damn club. Unlike Xander, though, Jordan at least seems to have gotten within one of the correct club.

Hey, Sean Zak, you could have at least linked to my post:


Think back to Masters Sunday and Xander Schauffele’s ill-fated tee shot at the 16th. With just
three holes left, Schaeffele faced 181 yards to the hole, and probably about a 165-yard carry. It was a 184-yard shot, in Schauffele’s mind. He thought the wind was down and off the left and so he pulled 8-iron, just like Spieth. And just like Spieth, Schauffele’s shot struck the ground one yard shy of the putting surface.

The result? Schauffele’s tee shot rolled into the water, and his tournament chances sunk with it. He walked off the 16th with a triple-bogey 6.

While there’s no arguing the situations were different, the shots were mirror images. Even Schauffele’s response afterward was particularly Spiethian.

“I hit it perfect,” he said immediately to caddie Austin Kaiser, which he repeated again to reporters after the round. “I hit a perfect 8-iron.”

This is about as funny as anything I've seen in golf lately, mostly because Xander's shot wasn't remotely close to the target, especially when you remember the Sunday pin on No. 16.  Yanno, the one that you don't have to shoot at because the slope to the right will feed it to the pin.  he was 20-25yards short of where he needed it to be, notwithstanding the "flushiness" of the shot.

But I have a suggestion for Sean's next investigative piece, one that might familiarize him with the psychology of the Touring professional.  How about a deep dive into the tendency to tamp down imaginary spike marks after missing short putts, notwithstanding that precious few players still wear metal spikes and for the last three years they've been allowed to tamp down spike marks before they putt.  That inability to admit mistake was certainly what I was going for, how about you, Sean?

Dylan has another interesting bit about Pebble's underrated sixth hole, which the boys have been playing their own way for some time now:

No. 6 at Pebble Beach is an awe-inspiring par-5 with plenty of risk down the right-hand side off the tee. But much of that risk can be avoided by merely aiming left of everything and taking your chances near the cart path that runs down the left side of the hole, as shown in the screenshot below. If you’re particularly lucky you might even scamper down the path itself for a few bonus yards, leaving just a mid-iron approach from an appealing angle. Brandon Hagy, the furthest red dot, had just 184 yards left, while Pat Perez had just 190.

The clear takeaway from the red dots (birdies) blue dots (pars) and black dots (bogeys) is that you want no part of those fairway bunkers. If you’re going left, go left! You just might get rewarded.


For the record, this is not a Bryson story, as he was off cashing an appearance fee check drawn on the First National Bank of Jihad.  But I presume that the fans around that furthest red dot were yelling "Let's Go Brandon!", just because.

One last bit on Jordan, whose mouth never stops moving.  I totally get that folks tire of the drama, myself sometimes included.  Dylan Dethier in the item linked above takes us back to the last time Jordan opened his pie hole on the 8th hole at Pebble and it wasn't pretty.  But the best part is that when Jordan saw the video, he himself was his own harshest critic.

Shack links to this interview with something called ASAP Sports with which I'm unfamiliar.  There's much that's worth your time, including his thoughts on Tom Hoge, the guy that whipped him.  Geoff excerpts this, which I quite agree is worth reading:

Q. You spoke on Tuesday in your opening press conference about loving this course loving this tournament. Can you just reflect on the week a little bit and how it went for you?

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I mean, I can't tell you how many times maybe had half a dozen times I got to tell Jake, Hey, we didn't even have to pay to play Pebble Beach this weekend. And the weather we had, I mean it's just, you don't want to leave. Like we we've been here since Saturday and as excited as I am for the next couple events, I mean I could stay here for months and just play this golf course, it's just -- all three of them were so much fun this week. They were in such great condition, they were firmer, faster, weather permitted. So it's always amazing it's one of our favorite places in the world on the Monterey Peninsula.

I totally get that this is their profession and their livelihood, so it's hard to not be deadly serious about it all.  But it's almost never that we get to hear players speak of the game and the places they get to play as anything but the ultimate grind.  There's a bit of joy in Jordan, as if he actually understands how lucky a bastard he is, and that's why I continue to like the guy.

Saudi Stuff - Look, I'm only human, but the confluence of Phil, the noxious Saudis and the Shirtless Shark is comedy gold.  Those folks should start a band or something....

Mike Bamberger focuses his considerable analytical skills on our hero with this:

That's easy, the same thing he always overlooks... the other 7.9 billion souls on the planet.

Oddly, Mike starts the column with Spieth's and then segues to this guy:

And then, in the far corner of the ring, there was the Saudi International, the Asian Tour’s equivalent of the Players Championship, played at the Royal Greens Golf and Country Club, in the King Abdullah Economic City, in Saudi Arabia. HV3 made a bomb on the last to beat Bubba Watson by a shot. That made for great TV (on Golf Channel, in the U.S.), and it was wonderful for Varner, who has not won yet on the PGA Tour. Varner is popular wherever he goes.

But his win was bad news, in the corporate sense, for the PGA Tour and its commissioner, Jay Monahan. The Saudi event is, in effect, a Greg Norman event. Norman is the CEO of a group called LIV Golf and the likely future commissioner of a planned global golf league that will seek to compete with the PGA Tour. For now, what’s good for Norman is bad for Monahan. Maybe in time that will change.

Among the players who have never been close to making a Ryder Cup team, Varner is probably the most popular right now — with fans, with reporters and with his fellow players. He’s unpretentious, he’s loose in his conversation, he’s one of the few Black players on Tour, and he knows what it’s all about, to play golf for money. If he comes home and says the Saudis treated him well and he can’t wait to go back — for more lucrative golfing fun — that will carry a lot of weight with his brethren.

Is that right?  I don't actually see that as moving the needle one way or the other unless, of course, Varner vocally supports or signs with the Saudis. 

It seems to me that Mike has missed the larger point, one that I seem to be a lone voice on.  Prior to the Saudi event, Harold Three-Sticks and Bubba Watson were the 99th and 105th ranked players in the world, destined to be excluded from the Super League concept (FWIW, they've moved up to 44th and 60th, respectively, based upon those results).  However improbable, it turns out that Brooks has an actual point, that golf isn't just about 48 guys.

It's easy to miss this in the body of the piece, but he seems to understand his subject:

Mickelson, at 51, talks better than he ever has, and that’s saying something. He’s a plus-5 talker, or better. He wants what millions of people want: more money, more status, more power.

In 2014, after a U.S. Ryder Cup defeat in Scotland, he single-handedly spearheaded a movement that took Ryder Cup power away from the PGA of America and gave it to the game’s star players, including former Ryder Cup captains. He clearly thinks that the PGA Tour “takes” too much and that the players, the star players, in particular, don’t get enough. He refers to the PGA Tour as “they.”

I'm going a bit long with the excerpts, but Mike is always interesting, even when he's wrong.  Here he gets at the capture issue:

You could say it’s misguided, because the PGA Tour, bloated bureaucracy and all, is the sum total of the interests of the Tour’s players. Its managers are paid to weigh various constituencies, but in the end the Tour exists to serve the players, and to keep its tax-exempt status while doing so. You need some high-paid talent to do that.

This is the irony of the moment. The golfers look like conformists, in how they dress and what they say, but for the most part they are cowboys playing an individual sport. Nobody, really, tells a Tour player what to do, except to play by the rules.

The fellas playing MLB, in the NFL and in the NBA, have an appealing level of individuality, but they are union workers playing team sports. They have, really, a completely different mentality.

But those guys don't get to sell their hats and shirts....  By the way, while Phil thinks he deserves a piece of that $20 billion vault of NFTs, am I safe in assuming that he'll be prepared to kick all his endorsement money back into the kitty?

But see if you can get through this without laughing:

If Mickelson really wants to affect change the most effective thing he could do is get 150 or so Tour players to stage a sit-down strike on the eve of, say, the Waste Management Phoenix Open.
Then get that group to agree on media rights, purse distribution, governance structure and a million other things.

Good luck with that.

There has been some talk about Phil getting Tony Romo money to talk golf on TV. He’d be good at that, but it would bore him. It’s easier to imagine him as the commissioner of a golf league. Which one is hard to say just now.

Actually, Mike, Commish of a golf league is the last place I can imagine the guy, because that would involve responsibilities as the cost for assuming power.  Phil doesn't do accountability...

Shane Ryan has a cautionary tail for us all, though there's a couple of face-plants within.  but, first the fun bits:

Let's start with a question: Can you name the current men's world heavyweight boxing champion?

The best answer I could muster was Wladimir Klitschko, a man who retired from the sport five
years ago. Turns out, there are several correct answers. The WBA recognizes Oleksandr Usyk as a "super champion" and Trevor Bryan as a "regular champion." The WBC lists Tyson Fury, with Dillian Whyte as "interim champion." The IBF and WBO recognize Usyk. And Ring Magazine goes for Fury. Usyk and Fury are both undefeated, but depending on the satisfaction of various clauses, delays caused by mandatory defenses and the outcome of difficult negotiations, they may never even fight (and if it does happen, it may happen long after everyone stopped caring). More recently, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao were the two best boxers on the planet for many years, and due to the split divisions in boxing and disagreements between the two camps, they never fought until it was about seven years too late, and Pacquiao's star had already faded.

The truth is that a schism in any major sport is a nightmarish scenario for that sport's popularity.

Fortunately boxing never had to deal with "obnoxious greed"....

On that last topic, it's not much of a debate. Boxing and Indy-Car racing show what can happen when a sport is divided against itself. In fact, golf itself proves the theory in the opposite manner—the game is stronger than ever now because unlike at certain points in the recent past, we get to see the world's best players, be they from the U.S., Europe, Asia and beyond, compete against each other on a regular basis, even outside the majors. We never have to wonder, for instance, how Ernie Els might have fared against Tiger Woods, or how Rory McIlroy would stack up against Brooks Koepka. But imagine a scenario in which 10 of the 20 best golfers in the world join the Super Golf League. Imagine then that a union of the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, Augusta National, the USGA, the R&A and the PGA of America limits—if no prohibits—them from playing in the majors, or undoubtedly the Players Championship and the BMW PGA Championship. What would happen to the prestige of those events? The answer is it would dive precipitously; there is far less value of winning a major championship when 10 of the best players in the world can't compete, and fans understand that.

For sure, but under that scenario the Saudis will have paid hundreds of millions of dollars for ten players.  For what?

 But this is where he really jumps the rails:

Say what you will about the World Golf Championships, but they did bring together top players in a more consistent way than happened before their creation in the late 1990s. Same with the FedEx Cup.

Well, I will say what I will, and I will not require your permission...

But have any of those WGCs and FedEx Cups actually been remotely interesting?  Have they added to the game?  The key phrase is that "Say what you will", which tacitly admits they've been dreadful and a profound bore.  

Shane doesn't have much in the way of answers, but he does get our blood boiling:

A divide introduces fragility. It inhibits the development of superstars, diminishes the status of top-tier events and costs money through decreased viewership and ad revenue. The situation in golf is particularly perilous, because unlike other failed schisms—see the USFL in football or the ABA in basketball—the backers behind the Super Golf League don't seem particularly concerned with a return on investment, if their initial offers to players are any indication. This may be a classic example of "sportswashing"—running a sports enterprise to improve the image of a government—and if the people behind are content to blow millions of dollars for whatever PR boost they think it gives them, then they may be just as content to hand out hundreds of millions of dollars with no return. In other words, it might not collapse when it should.

What happens then? Does golf become like F1 racing, with only a limited number of players able to compete at the highest levels? Does American domestic golf become a glorified minor league? Does money drain out of development systems and tours, such that the growth of the last few decades sputters into stagnancy, like American men's tennis? We don't know, exactly, but the point is that everything is on the table. History tells us that schisms in sports are disastrous, and while we can't plot out what it would do to golf, it's not hard to predict the general trajectory. Ask boxing or ask Indy-Car: These are dangerous times, and no sport is so strong that a schism can't knock it out cold.

We understand, Shane.  But the problems of golf don't amount to a hill of beans when the larger issue is simply that Phil needs to get paid.

Doug Ferguson actually calls Phil's bluff:

Phil Mickelson decided to chastise the PGA Tour for not paying him what he deserves by accusing the league that made him rich and famous of “obnoxious greed.”

There’s a better way to go about it. For a six-time major champion who for 30 years has amazed his audience with a golf club, his biggest bravado now involves a pen.

Just be the first player to enlist.

The Saudi-backed “Super Golf League” remains more rumor than reality. Greg Norman is in charge, and while his C-suite is filling up, he still hasn’t announced a roster of players to take part in what the Shark has referred to only as “additive new opportunities.”

But is that what Mickelson really wants?

Phil just wants, make that needs, to be paid.... 

“The tour only understands leverage,” Mickelson told Digest. “And now the players are getting some of that. So things are changing and will continue to change. I just hope the leverage doesn’t go away. If it does, we’ll be back to the status quo.”

A number of players privately have portrayed Mickelson as a chief recruiter. The unknown is whether he wants them to join the league and disrupt the tour, or if he needs as many of them as possible to increase leverage.

Even the players who have indicated no interest in Norman or the Saudis — and it’s a larger, more notable group than those who are tempted — have suggested competition is healthy and the players ultimately will benefit from it.

Haven’t they already?

Yes, although the change is really in how they get paid, which I think is a recipe for disaster.  New rights contracts have created a enhanced pool of money, it's just now a slush fund for Jay to ensure loyalty, as opposed to enhancing purses.

Mickelson is misguided in his argument of owning his media rights. The tour structure is similar to other major sports leagues. Networks would have no reason to invest so heavily if they had to compete with star athletes using footage at will for commercial gain.

Lefty also hit on the idea that leverage would allow players to “get in a more equitable position” with other major sports. That’s a great idea except that golf isn’t like other sports. The NBA starts with training camp in October and goes for seven months without any weeks off.

Mickelson is not at the Phoenix Open this week. He was headed to Montana to ski. Setting a schedule is what golf affords, not to mention the ability to compete at a high level for 25 years — or in his case, win a major championship at age 50 — all while accruing an enormous pension.

Wrong about everything, but never in doubt, that's our Phil.  But it doesn't mean that the rest of us need to believe his self-interested BS.

Cancel Culture Comes To Golf (Yet Again) - Hank Haney, call your office:

Mark Lye, a former PGA Tour winner turned golf commentator, said Sunday he was fired from
his role as a SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio host over comments he made a day earlier about the WNBA.

Lye’s comments came on Saturday’s episode of The Scorecard, during a discussion of the LPGA. A Twitter user captured and shared 59 seconds of the conversation:

“You know, the LPGA Tour to me is a completely different tour than it was 10 years ago,” Lye said. “… You couldn’t pay me to watch. You really couldn’t. Because I just, I couldn’t relate at all. It’s kind of like, you know, if you’re a basketball player — and I’m not trashing anybody; please, don’t take it the wrong way — but I saw some highlights of ladies’ basketball. Man, is there a gun in the house? I’ll shoot myself than watch that.

Lye tried to walk it back and apologize within seconds, but good luck luck with that.

The story amuses and angers me in equal parts.  It amuses me for a couple of reasons, the first being that I can sort of follow his synapses misfiring, in which he realizes that criticizing the LPGA is a death sentence and his panic leads him into dangerous territory in which he clings to a life preserver, not sensing his peril (or ta least unable to find a truly safe harbor).

The second reason it amuses me?  Well, let me tell you a story....  A few years ago we were given N.Y. Liberty tickets and attended a game and... well, your humble blogger found it unwatchable.  As you'll know, I watch women's golf and have been known to watch the distaff version of tennis, as well as certain Olympic sports.  But basketball is a sport known for the athleticism of its players, and that was sorely missing from the women's game.  But, as with Hank Haney, truth is not going to be an affirmative defense with the wok mob, is it?

But we're now at a pint where any Karen can get you fired, so what's the percentage in saying anything interesting?  That's the anger part, in case you didn't guess.  Not enough to criticize something stupid that's said, we have to prove our woke bona fides by getting the man sent to a reeducation camp.

But there is a silver lining....  They're going to destroy women's sports in short order through their woke crusade to include transgender athletes so, while it's a minefield, it won't be a subject we have to discuss for much longer.

On that cheerful note I'll kiss you goodbye and catch you down the road.


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