Match-Play Mania - Frenetic Friday Edition

Anyone know a proofreader who works cheap?  A little embarrassed, but my Wednesday post header referred to it as a Match Play Addition.  Meh, you say addition, I say edition.... Yeah, let's call the whole thing off.

We've got other stuff as well, so without further self-flagellation.

Who Ya Got? - Well, not him for sure:

"Billy, what would your Ryder Cup record be if you were European?"

"It would be winning, I'll say that."

That exchange came after Horschel's relatively stress-free 3-and-2 win over Tom Hoge on Thursday at the WGC-Dell Match Play, his seventh in a row at this event following last year's title run. It was easy enough to believe him. The irony in the question is that despite his match play success—he's now 10-4-1 lifetime in this event—he's never played in a single Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup. Even Kevin Kisner, America's other star-crossed match-play genius, got a Presidents Cup spot. But a combination of bad luck and poor play at the wrong time and sheer American depth has left Horschel on the outside looking in every time. But if he were, say, English instead of American? He might be the next Ian Poulter.

See, we put together a task force and they miss Billy Horchel....  I blame Phil.

To be clear, he's beaten Min Woo Lee and Tom Hoge, so by all means add him to a Ryder Cup team.  But why stop there, we suddenly have an opening for a captain in 2025.

 I went a CBS Sports page to review Wednesday results, which had this helpful tip:

1. Good match play golfers stay hot: Three names on this list stick out. Last year's finalists, Scottie Scheffler and Billy Horschel, both played strong golf on Wednesday and started 1-0 in their respective pools. Horschel won it all last year and is a menace in this format, and Scheffler has now defeated Jon Rahm and Ian Poulter twice each in his last six individual match play matches (including last year's event and the 2020 Ryder Cup last September where he downed Rahm). The other golfer that shined was Alex Noren, who ran his match play record at Austin Country Club to 13-3-0 (!!) with his 1 up win over Louis Oosthuizen.

My experience is slight more nuanced, in which they sat hot until they're not.

For instance, this is from Wednesday:

Group 14: Maverick McNealy 8 and 6 over Joaquin Niemann

And Thursday:

KEVIN NA (1-0-1) tied MAVERICK MCNEALY (1-0-1)

Wednesday:

Group 5: Scottie Scheffler 2 and 1 over Ian Poulter

And Thursday:

TOMMY FLEETWOOD (1-1-0) def. SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER (1-1-0), 2 and 1

Sorry about the differing type faces, but CBS appears not to have posted Thursday results.  perhaps they were too distraught over their trend line vaporizing.

My intention was to post here a list of all 32 matches, but our golfing press can't be bothered provided needed information.  I checked the listings at golf.com, Golf Digest and Goilfweek, each of which had a listing but none of which included won-lost records.  So, yeah, they pretty much suck at their jobs.  Same goes for PGATour.com.

So, that leaves us with this Golfweek item on the five best matches, which you'll agree starts with a barn-burner:

Corey Conners vs. Alex Noren, 2:44 p.m. ET

The only clash on Friday featuring a pair of 2-0 players (thanks to Paul Casey’s back problems). With Casey out of the mix and Oosthuizen with one lone win (Casey’s concession), this is a simple win-and-your-in scenario for Conners and Noren. Conners has yet to advance to the knockout stage while Noren advanced to the quarters in 2017 and finished third in 2018.

Yeah, that's quite the busted group, but so is Bryson's.  This is a huge weakness in the pool play format, which seems to have overly affected this year's event.

Billy Horschel vs. Thomas Pieters, 10:20 a.m. ET

The defending champion is 2-0 entering the final round of pool play and has his fate in his hands. Beat Thomas Pieters and he’s just a few more matches away from being the only player other than Tiger Woods to defend a WGC event (Woods accomplished that feat seven different times).

A loss would mean a playoff with at least Pieters and potentially Min Woo Lee if he’s able to defeat Tom Hoge, who’s 0-2 this week.

Don't even know why they're playing this match... Billy Ho owns this event.

Of course, asture redaers will note that this match will be mostly over before Golf Channel comes on at 2:00.  So, thanks, Jay.

This one starts to tickle my fancy, although again it's embargoed for the ESPN+ saps:

Scottie Scheffler vs. Matt Fitzpatrick, 10:42 a.m. ET

Scheffler, last year’s runner-up to Horschel, also needs to win to set up a playoff with the undefeated Fitzpatrick. Tommy Fleetwood could join that party, as well, if he’s victorious against fellow countryman and match-play maven Ian Poulter.

Matthew Fitzpatrick is a guy that could be a Poulter....

Speaking of Poulter wannabees...

Justin Thomas vs. Kevin Kisner, 1:38 p.m. ET

Kisner is going to be on this list until he loses, simple as that. The 38-year-old is undefeated this week, won here in 2019 and finished runner-up in 2018. After defeating Luke List, 1 up, Kisner has now won a record 18 matches since the WGC-Match Play moved to Austin Country Club in 2016. I said it yesterday and I’ll say it again: If there’s a player to watch dissect the Pete Dye design this week, it’s Kisner.

Using my fingers, I come up with four matches, whereas I was specifically promised five.

Groups 9, 11 and 15 are chaos

The scenarios are endless. In those three groups, there isn’t a player with two wins or two loses, meaning each are more than up for grabs. We’ve all heard the adage that “anything can happen in match play,” especially at a course designed by Pete Dye.

 Because you can't be bothered to explain the possibilities?

Remember 30 seconds ago when I was trashing the golf publications?  It's even worse than I realized at first, because I went back to that linked PGATour.com page to look up those three chaos groups.  Not only can the Tour not be bothered providing won-lost records, but they don't even break the tee times into group numbers.  I guess each individual match is two of God's children equally worthy of your attention...

Somewhere in that miasma there's a Jon Rahm - Shane Lowry match that looked kinda interesting, but no need to effectively promote your event, Jay.  as I've observed, the only contribution to our game made by Jay was to encourage heavy drinking and gambling at Tour events, though he's pushing me more towards the former.

Friday should be their big day but, while I'll watch if not on the golf course myself, I've lost interest for the time being.

Nelly, Interruptus - Sad news from the tour that can't shoot straight:

Nelly Korda will not compete in the year’s first major. The field for the Chevron Championship

closed on Tuesday at 5 p.m., and a tournament official confirmed that the No. 2-ranked player had not filed an entry.

Korda, 23, announced on social media on March 13 that she’d been diagnosed with a blood clot in her arm and that she was at home resting. She’s also not in the field for this week’s JTBC Classic in Carlsbad, California.

This marks the final year the Chevron Championship will be contested over the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California. The event has been held there every year since 1972.

This is simply tragic in the sense that the LPGA has suddenly become a two-woman game, so it's crushing to lose the one.  The odds that Nelly and JY Ko would have both been in contention on Sunday is remote, that's our game love it or hate it, but the anticipation would have been delightful, especially for a tour that needs it so desperately.

But let's focus for a second on the other bit in the excerpt, the awkward sounding bit about the Last Dance of the Chevron.  Let me suggest that the LPGA losing their ties to Dinah Shore is all the fault of the misogynists at Augusta National Golf Club.  In a world in which we're overly concerned about race and gender, where is the hate for how they destroyed the most important week on the LPGA Tour?

Because while sponsors come and go, it's my guess that they lost ANA and were unable to find a replacement for that venue/week, because their finish competes with both the PGA Tour and the Augusta National Women's Amateur, a conflict I've been harping on since the ANWA was announced.  The date chosen was guaranteed to hurt this event, requiring the top-tier amateurs to choose between one round at ANGC and playing in a major, but more substantively crushing their meager TV ratings.

The good news?  I hear that Lia Thompson is taking up golf....

Today In Saudi Shenanigans - The gift that keeps on giving.  We'll lead with a curious Golfweek piece, that actually is bylined form an unknown writer at the Palm Beach Post.  I give you that because it seems rather suspiciously sourced:

Phil Mickelson won't play in the Masters, but it wasn't his choice

Do tell:

Mickelson did not as much withdraw from the Masters. Augusta National officials either told him or strongly encouraged him not to come, according to multiple sources. The last thing they want is Mickelson to drive down Magnolia Lane knowing the circus that was coming with him.

Multiple sources?  I'm not a national security expert, but this bears the distinctive markers of Russian disinformation, no?  That certainly could have happened, but notice that those "multiple sources" are not qualified in any manner, so Russian bots seems a logical guess.

But those mysterious sources are everywhere:

Moreover, the PGA Tour will never admit this, but according to those same sources, Mickelson has been suspended from the Tour for his “obnoxious greed” comments and for admitting he helped a rival tour gain traction. Why else would he miss the Players Championship, an event with the largest purse for a U.S. golf tournament?

If your sources are so knowledgeable, why do you need to justify your assertion by challenging the reader to otherwise explain his absence from Sawgrass?

All of that may well be true, but I just had to turn off my BS detector, as the constant buzzing was giving me a headache.  I've been taking the Tour to the woodshed over refusing to release details of disciplinary actions since 2014, so I can only assume that Phil isn't playing because of an unfortunate jet-ski accident.

having read Phil's fauxpology, I'm not exactly certain that Phil actually wants to come back to the PGA Tour.  And there I have great news for our hero:

They're now accepting applications, Phil.  All golf course are over-booked, so I wouldn't dawdle...

We have a couple of amusing cases of folks trying to hack out a path back for Phil, beginning with Joel Beall tapping some crisis management experts (for the record, this is a February item that was reposted earlier this week).  Yeah, should be good fun, no?

Phil Mickelson can survive his latest controversy, crisis management experts say. Here's how

Yeah, should be good fun, no?  Saving me work, they start with quite the impressive C.V.:

Mickelson has made a career of escaping the inescapable, and we’re not referring to punch shots through Augusta National’s pines. Be it an insider trading scandal or purposefully hitting a moving ball or gambling ties to a mobster, Mickelson has managed to endure as one of golf’s most popular figures—a status seemingly permanently ensconced last May with his PGA Championship triumph at Kiawah Island. But that status, thanks to incendiary comments and a reported insurgency against the PGA Tour, feels very much in doubt.

Don't forget insider trading, Joel.  Not to mention dissing two Ryder Cup captains....  Shall I go on?

We've just endured two years of so-called experts beclowning themselves, so why not some more:

Denise White is the CEO of EAG Sports Management and the go-to authority on athlete crisis management. Her work is so renowned that Netflix is working on a show about White’s life.

Lacking as Mickelson’s answer may seem, White thinks it’s a start.

Speaking Wednesday about Mickelson’s effort to explain himself, White said, “For the most part it's a good statement. He needed to apologize and take accountability, although he tries to explain too much and his accountability is a little lackluster. But he gets his point across. He contradicts himself a couple of times, but I'm not gonna hold that against him. If I had been counseling him I would've made that statement much shorter, to the point, take accountability a bit more and apologize.

The apology has been sent to a crime lab, which was unable to detect even trace levels of accountability.  Though they did find an actual apology contained therein, though awkwardly it was to the Saudis....  Of course, if I had called them scary MoFo's, I too would be apologizing.

Ideally, this time would be one of reflection for Mickelson, and not just for PR’s sake. When athletes find themselves in trouble, there’s a tendency for the figure in question to be defensive. To some level they acknowledge they made a mistake, yet there’s also a belief they are being treated unfairly or the situation is being blown out of proportion. This can be destructive as it lays the brick to go down a similar path in the future.

Ya think?

But now comes the laugh-out-loud part:

To an extent, Reisinger says there is a simple solution. “The greatest PR move he could make is to win tournaments,” Reisinger says. “Because when you start to play well in sports, it does wonders for your PR. When you play bad, the play is attributed to what you said.” But for Mickelson, who turns 52 this summer and has only one top-10 finish (the PGA win) in his last 27 starts, it may not be the most feasible option, and whatever window exists is closing fast.

Which leads to Mickelson’s road back. The best thing he can do is return to competition when the time is right. To be back in his comfort zone, inside the ropes.

Yeah, that's looking a tad problematic right this minute.  That alleged apology, which one expert liked, kind of screwed the pooch for his return, which runs directly through Jay.

Unless, of course, he's planning on going full Wahabi and is playing in London in June.

Here's an even funnier take on the Phil comeback tour:

How Phil Mickelson could use the Masters to begin mending his public image

You're not gonna believe this:

Here’s a thought: What if Mickelson could still make his presence felt at this Masters?

Not as a player. As an analyst.

Here’s the pitch: a Masters PhilCast, a distinct feed from CBS’s in which Mickelson would offer his commentary for a couple of hours each round. We’d suggest a complimentary feed to CBS’s — a la ESPN’s highly entertaining Monday Night Football ManningCast — but with the heat surrounding Phil, there’s no chance that CBS and/or Augusta National would bite.

So PhilCast would need to be carried by another network or streaming service. That’s admittedly limiting in that viewers would see only Phil and not the telecast, but there’d still be a considerable second-screen audience for his musings, especially in the early rounds. Simply mute the CBS broadcast and listen to Mickelson on your phone or laptop.

Yeah, that's the ticket!  At least is if you want Phil unwelcome at Augusta National in perpetuity....

Because the control freaks at ANGC, the guys that have kept CBS on one-year contracts forever, would embrace an alternative feed.  has anyone checked Gary McCord's availability?

But now let's circle back to that curious Golfweek/Palm Beach item, which did have one note of interest to me.  We're all well aware of the unauthorized Shipnuck biography dropping in May, but there's another book that's of interest, especially if you're thinking that perhaps Phil has been treated harshly:

Mickelson is the subject of two upcoming books, one a biography by Shipnuck that will come out in May. The other book, perhaps more revealingly, is co-written by former friend and legendary gambler Billy Walters, who was sentenced in 2017 to five years in jail for making more than $43 million from trades of Dean Foods through inside information.

At Walters’ urging, Mickelson made more than $931,000 trading Dean Foods stocks in 2012. The SEC named Mickelson a “relief defendant,” meaning the agency believed he profited from insider trading in Dean Foods, even if he didn’t engage in it himself. Mickelson agreed to surrender his trading profits, plus interest of more than $100,000, without admitting or denying the allegations.

Walters is co-writing his book with respected investigative journalist Armen Keteyian. The book, which is expected to be available in December, is not specifically about Mickelson, but will surely include information about their relationship. Mickelson once owed Walters almost $2 million in gambling losses.

One aspect of Phil's life that I've long wanted to see get more attention is his reluctance to pay his gambling debts.  December is a long way off, whereas Alan's book is timed to drop just as Phil should be taking a victory lap at Southern Hills.

I'm not going to do a deep dive on it, but my exit will be this Bob Harig column on player reactions to the latest LIV announcements.  They're hitting on a point I've made:

Pat Perez was more blunt.

“There’s going to be the wrong guy winning $4 million and some of these guys out here will go what the f--- is happening?’’ Perez said. “Who was that guy? And what if he wins again? Now he’s made $8 million in two events and most of the top guys out here aren’t even halfway there. They have to beat everybody and those guys over there don’t have to beat anybody, right? It’s going to be interesting.’’

The league has so far been set up so that players do not have join it, as was the original plan. For now, the events have been scheduled – the first is outside of London, June 9-11 – so that players can elect to play as few as one or as many as eight.

I'd hold off on that victory lap for now, Jay.  But will they hold the event without at least some plausibly top-tier players?  Will they pay some rando Asian Tour member $4 million large?

Stay tuned.

Have a great weekend and we'll wrap the Dell on Monday. 

Midweek Musings - Match Play Addition

We've got Wednesday golf for you, an Ask Alan and the latest edition of What Will Phil Do Next?  I don't know what you guys pay for this blog but, due to the increasing cost of raw materials, you should be budgeting and increase.

Match Play Madness - It's the upside-down tournament, where the best part is early (technically

Friday, though under the old format it was Wednesday) and from there it drags appreciably.  More golf than a human can watch, but also more golf than a human can play.

Here are your brackets:

Group 1: Jon Rahm, Patrick Reed, Cameron Young, Sebastian Munoz

Group 2: Collin Morikawa, Jason Kokrak, Sergio Garcia, Robert Macintyre

Group 3: Viktor Hovland, Will Zalatoris, Cameron Tringale, Sepp Straka

Group 4: Patrick Cantlay, Sungjae Im, Seamus Power, Keith Mitchell

Group 5: Scottie Scheffler, Matt Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood, Ian Poulter

Group 6: Justin Thomas, Kevin Kisner, Marc Leishman, Luke List

Group 7: Xander Schauffele, Tony Finau, Lucas Herbert, Takumi Kanaya

Group 8: Dustin Johnson, Max Homa, Matthew Wolff, Mackenzie Hughes

Group 9: Bryson DeChambeau, Talor Gooch, Lee Westwood, Richard Bland

Group 10: Louis Oosthuizen, Paul Casey, Corey Conners, Alex Noren

Group 11: Jordan Spieth, Adam Scott, Justin Rose, Keegan Bradley

Group 12: Billy Horschel, Thomas Pieters, Tom Hoge, Min Woo Lee

Group 13: Tyrrell Hatton, Daniel Berger, Si Woo Kim, Christiaan Bezuidenhout

Group 14: Joaquin Niemann, Kevin Na, Russell Henley, Mverick McNealy

Group 15: Abraham Ancer, Webb Simpson, Brian Harman, Bubba Watson

Group 16: Brooks Koepka, Shane Lowry, Harold Varner III, Erik van Rooyen

Reactions?  I'm having a spot of difficulty seeing much of anything in them.... 

Scottie Scheffler vs. England is mildly curious, mitigated only by there being two Englishmen in another bracket.  I've heard analysts drooling over Group 11 being composed entirely of major champions, but those were in a galaxy far, far away.

For weakest bracket I'd nominate Group 9, where the alpha dog hasn't played since the Carter Administration (and didn't play all that well), and how the hell is Richard Bland even in this field?

Shall we see if we can find anything of interest in today's matches?

10:20 a.m. – Jordan Spieth vs. Keegan Bradley

10:31 a.m. – Adam Scott vs. Justin Rose

10:42 a.m. – Justin Thomas vs. Luke List

10:53 a.m. – Kevin Kisner vs. Marc Leishman

11:04 a.m. – Joaquin Niemann vs. Maverick McNealy

11:15 a.m. – Kevin Na vs. Russell Henley

11:26 a.m. – Viktor Hovland vs. Sepp Straka

11:37 a.m. – Will Zalatoris vs. Cameron Tringale

11:48 a.m. – Louis Oosthuizen vs. Alex Noren

11:59 a.m. – Paul Casey vs. Corey Conners

12:10 p.m. – Xander Schauffele vs. Takumi Kanaya

12:21 p.m. – Tony Finau vs. Lucas Herbert

12:32 p.m. – Abraham Ancer vs. Bubba Watson

12:43 p.m. – Webb Simpson vs. Brian Harman

12:54 p.m. – Collin Morikawa vs. Robert MacIntyre

1:05 p.m. – Jason Kokrak vs. Sergio Garcia

1:16 p.m. – Billy Horschel vs. Min Woo Lee

1:27 p.m. – Thomas Pieters vs. Tom Hoge

1:38 p.m. – Scottie Scheffler vs. Ian Poulter

1:49 p.m. – Matthew Fitzpatrick vs. Tommy Fleetwood

2:00 p.m. – Tyrrell Hatton vs. Christiaan Bezuidenhout

2:11 p.m. – Daniel Berger vs. Si Woo Kim

2:22 p.m. – Patrick Cantlay vs. Keith Mitchell

2:33 p.m. – Sungjae Im vs. Seamus Power

2:44 p.m. – Bryson DeChambeau vs. Richard Bland

2:55 p.m. – Talor Gooch vs. Lee Westwood

3:06 p.m. – Dustin Johnson vs. Mackenzie Hughes

3:17 p.m. – Max Homa vs. Matthew Wolff

3:28 p.m. – Brooks Koepka vs. Erik van Rooyen

3:39 p.m. – Shane Lowry vs. Harold Varner III

3:50 p.m. – Jon Rahm vs. Sebastian Muñoz

4:01 p.m. – Patrick Reed vs. Cameron Young

These are all No. 1's vs. No. 4's, and 2's vs. 3's .  Adam Scott Vs. Justin Rose is quite the match-up, assuming this is 2013.  I'm amused by that 3:28 p.m. match, only because it's the worst dye job on Tour vs. the best moustache.  For what it's worth, in the twenty minutes of Golf Channel commentary that I watched they spoke of the most over-rated top seeds with, ironically, last year's combatants Bryson and Brooksie splitting the vote.

It's a fun event but leaves many disappointed.  It's not team match play, a distinction that many folks don't appreciate...at least until Saturday.

Miss Otis Regrets - The most interesting bit is perhaps how the story broke:

Phil Mickelson will not play in this year’s Masters.

The embattled three-time winner of the event, and six-time major winner overall, notified the

club of his decision to withdraw, Augusta National confirmed to GOLF.com on Monday. As first reported by the Morning Read’s Bob Harig, Mickelson was listed on the Masters website on Monday under the “past champions not playing” for the tournament.

Augusta National directed further questions to Mickelson’s team.

Mickelson has not played since the Saudi International during the first week of February. A few weeks later, he put out a statement on his social media channels, saying he would be “taking some time away” following controversial comments on the new, Saudi Arabia-funded golf league.

The last competitive golf he played was at the Saudi Invitational, which seems appropriate.

Like most, I had assumed that Augusta would serve as his highly controlled return to the fold, but now we're left to wonder about his defense of that PGA Championship.  We're also left to wonder about whether he's allowed to play, to wit, whether he's been suspended and whether Fred is honoring said disciplinary action.

I'm also left to wonder about Jay's comments when asked whether he had spoken to Phil.  Is it conceivable that Phil was suspended indefinitely, told to give us a call when you want to come back?  I'm not even clear what the basis for such a suspension might be, but my first follow-up question would be whether it came before or after the fauxpology?  Because he really did violate the first rule of holes with that.... Making everything harder on him.

Geoff devotes a full Quadrilateral to this subject, oddly identifying winners and losers:

😁 The Masters - Mickelson would have been enormous distraction even if he showed decent judgement by getting the return-from-seclusion spectacle over with at the Valero. Mickelson’s erratic presence in Augusta would have thrown a wet blanket over the many positives heading into this Masters.

🥳 Fred Ridley - The Chairman now only has to prepare for a question or two about whether Mickelson was asked to stay away, or if the club was honoring a PGA Tour suspension. No sweat.

🍻 CBS, ESPN and Masters.com Announcers - Already on edge for fear of using the wrong surfing metaphor to describe green speeds, they would have been tap-dancing around Mickelson’s pre-tournament drama. Not now!

🎉 Playing partners - Whoever was grouped with Mickelson would have been subjected to heaps of unwarranted affection and several sides of “cancel culture”. Augusta National’s already tough enough to play without that nonsense.

OK, this feels like small ball to your humble blogger.  It's all true enough, but the Masters is the petri dish of golf tournaments, in which everything is tightly controlled.  He has to return somewhere, no? 

But I didn't think much about his hat and bag, though:

🤗 Former Sponsors - Since Callaway is in the “paused” category they could not have been excited about Mickelson showing up with a logo-free carry bag. But even free of him, KPMG and Workday must be thrilled Phil won’t be resurfacing in plain Mizzen+Main’s at the most-watched tournament of the year.

Speaking of Mizzen+Main, do you know what those terms mean?  I didn't, but in the aftermath of the recent news item on the subject(Shackleton, not Mickelson), this was my most recent completed book:

As they set sail from Tierra del Fuego, the book speaks of the mizzen, main and foresails all being set (is that the right term), and your humble blogger slaps his forehead while exclaiming, "So that's what it means"!  

For those of you who are readers, highly recommended.  An amazing story of survival and leadership.

Back to Phil...care for some losers?

😡 Tim Mickelson - He gave up taking a cut as Jon Rahm agent to caddie for big brother. I’ve heard of worse career moves. They’re just not coming to mind right now.

🤬 Steve Loy - Mickelson’s longtime agent will have a hard time pretending to be important while standing under the Big Oak. What a shame.

😋 Tiger Woods - Batman’s dreams of mentioning his PIP win along with any number of pithy Champions Dinner greetings now must wait until 2023.

😎 Vijay Singh - Phil’s old sparring partner must have been looking forward to the Champions Dinner and saying, “Hey Phillip, how’s your year going? Still wearing spikes?”

OK, I hadn't given a moment's thought to poor old Tim....  Though Tiger would probably think he's in the wrong column.

As noted above, we're blessed with a Shipnuck mailbag, so let's dispense with the bonesaw questions here:

At this point – to some extent based on his apology – everyone assumes Phil will re-appear at some point contrite and somewhat hat in hand to the PGA Tour. What chance is there he goes the other way? What, if any, obligation to the Tour does he actually have? @BriansullyMD

Well, the Tour was a platform for Phil to achieve fame and fortune, but he gave plenty back in return: endlessly entertaining golf; hundreds of thousands autographs; tens of millions of dollars to charity. So I’m not sure he owes the Tour anything. But after all he’s been through of late, I do think it will be a p.r. fiasco if he pledges fealty to the Saudis. He rightly called them scary mofos while callously acknowledging their atrocities, so to now get in bed with the Saudis would be a very bad look, opening up Mickelson to lots of criticism and burning up much of the goodwill he has banked through the years. But he’s always a wildcard so we shall see which way he goes.

Per my musing above, that's what continues to perplex me about that damn apology.  I don't know that Phil has obligations to the Tour, I actually was focused elsewhere.  If I look at Phil's recent past, that PGA Championship was obviously quite the accomplishment that perhaps makes us think that he's more competitive with the big boys than is likely the case.  But I w3as struck by how much he seemed to enjoy beating up on the round bellies, though perhaps he's unaware that those events are run by the same "obnoxiously greedy" folks.

On another tack:

Now that the details are beginning to take shape, what do you think of the SGL? @Kevinp613

I’m not overwhelmed, or underwhelmed. I guess I am whelmed. At least now we have an actual tournament slate to discuss after a year of guesswork. The SGL has very cleverly focused on U.S. markets that are underserved by the PGA Tour: Portland, Chicago, Boston (which, with the withering of the Deutsche Bank Championship, faces an uncertain future as a host town). None of the courses dazzle me, and Bangkok is a non-sequitur, but hey, you gotta start somewhere. It’s disappointing that a field list wasn’t announced and we will have to suffer more months of speculation about who is or is not playing. But the most interesting aspect of the announcement was that players don’t have to commit to all of the Saudi events and can instead just blow into town whenever they feel like it. If I’m a professional golfer—who, by definition, plays golf for money—would I rather languish in the Quad Cities competing for a $7.1 million purse or enjoy cosmopolitan Portland and play for $25 million? In a vacuum, this seems like a very easy decision, and no doubt some PGA Tour veterans will take the bait. It will fascinating to see how this plays out in the court of public opinion, and in various court cases.

Alan, if the answer is Portland, it's safe to assume you're asking the wrong question.... Remind me how that LPGA event went?

One last one:

I know their current situations are quite a bit different, and Phil has gotten justifiably fried over his miscalculated Saudi gambit. But, shouldn’t we be reserving our worst judgement for Greg Norman? Is his name not mud, or worse, in some circles? Talk about making your bed! @AriSlater1978

It’s amazing that even as he approaches 70 the Shark remains so polarizing. I have stated my objections to the Saudis many times, but I actually give Norman more of a pass here than Mickelson because Shark has been pushing for a world tour for 30+ years… he just finally found someone to buy in to his vision. Is Norman getting paid? Obviously. But I think for him it’s mostly about sticking to the Tour after decades of festering grievances, which I respect more than pure avarice.

Wow!  I mean, it's not exactly a Euclidian vision there, Alan.

But more to the point, Phil is guilty of using the Saudis for leverage (objectionable for sure).  Norman has put his good name (OK, strike that, he's put his name) behind the morality of the Saudis, that he's personally seen the profound changes and warrants that they're real.  You make the call, which is more effed up? 

We have an embarrassment of riches this morning, as we also have an Eamon Lynch column on this subject.  I'm not sure he ever adjudicates the legal issues, but he simply takes no prisoners (you'll understand that metaphor in the context of his cold open):

The true scale of a huckster’s toxicity is never apparent in the cost to his reputation—by definition, he has little to defend—but rather in how easily he imperils the honor of anyone who

associates with him. After two years of speculation and rumor-mongering, the day is near when we’ll finally learn who among the world’s best golfers is willing to sacrifice his standing on Greg Norman’s amoral altar.

Since he is clearly bereft of shame, let’s assume it was out of respect that Norman waited three days after Saudi Arabia executed 81 men for such crimes as “deviant beliefs” to unveil a schedule for LIV Golf Invitational, a tournament series financed by that same regime solely for the purpose of sportswashing things like summary mass executions at home and war crimes abroad.

And when I call it a cold open...well, you get it.

Imagine a housekeeper cleaning a hotel room that resembles a slaughterhouse without concern for how it reached that state. Norman may think heads rolling in the squares of Riyadh or a consulate in Istanbul are above his pay grade, but the stain of his association is undeniable and indelible. And he’s eager for other prominent players to assume the same mark.

June 9-11 in London will see the first event in the LIV Golf Invitational (decide for yourself if the name is a Roman numerical reference to its 54-hole formats or a ghoulish joke about what the regime doesn’t permit critics to do). The second tournament is planned for July 1-3 at Oregon’s Pumpkin Ridge, whose members were simultaneously hit with a dues increase to upgrade facilities and news that they’ve been conscripted into a sportswashing exercise.

That's not a key bit, but does make one wonder about how that decision was reached.

Here's just a taste of Eamon's legal reasoning:

In antitrust, public language matters. This is why Norman’s March 15 letter to players announcing the series and inviting their participation likely wasn’t authored by Norman. The intemperate screed he sent Monahan last month displayed an intellect so shallow it ought to have been scrawled in crayon. This letter was carefully crafted, stating that LIV Golf would complement the existing ecosystem while offering fans an enhanced product. The wording is noteworthy.

Antitrust law centers on what is best for the consumer, with three lynchpins of greater options, higher quality and lower costs. It’s easy to laugh off the letter describing the Saudi venture as a “start-up,” as though it’s a scrappy enterprise aiming for a conventional return on investment, but that framing is intended to suggest a fledgling outfit being stymied by Monahan’s monolith.

This highlights an issue I've been trying to emphasize for months now, that the Tour is profoundly fortunate that the threat comes backed by Saudi money.  I'm not an antitrust lawyer nor do I play one on TV, but it raises a fascinating issue that will be in play.  The money on offer dwarfs the underlying economic value of the game (don't believe me, here's Shack's latest ratings post), so I'm wondering whether the underlying objectives of the Saudis, sportswashing for lack of a better term, can be used to undermine their case.  Of course, this could take decades to play out in court....

But, who will show in London or Portland?  OK, besides Phil and Jason Kokrak?  

As hesitant as players must be to become the public faces of a Saudi hijacking of professional golf, there are office buildings full of lawyers salivating at the billable years ahead. Any player who does step up to demand the right to play with the Saudis and the PGA Tour simultaneously faces a long and lonely road as public sentiment, sponsors and peers turn against them, as Phil Mickelson can attest. PGA Tour pros often peddle a sentimental cliché that how they play the game reflects their integrity. There’s something to that. But in this particular time, it’s no less testimony to a man’s character for whom he plays the game.

That's why Jay looks so smug.

One last bit before moving on, this Bill Pennington Pravda item on the current youth movement in golf.  You might have heard crowing about the top five all being 25 or younger, and here's Kubla Jay taking a victory lap:

“It’s a reflection of the system at work,” said Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour commissioner. “The athleticism, the youth, the preparedness, the system is working. You can talk about the top five, but you can extend it past the top five and into the top 30.”

I have been seriously disappointed by Manahan, whose vision for the game of golf is truly effed up (it seems to consist of little besides drunk fans betting the rent money), and who failed his first stress test at that 2020 Players.

But I've also been trying to make an important point, that the PGL/SGL framework for the game is contrary to the nature of our sport and quite the horrible way to go forward.  Except for some offhand comments, such as Brooks noting that "Golf is about more than the top 48 players, it's not to be found in the golf press.  While Norman and the Brits have talked about cherry-picking the top 48 players or so and making them fabulously wealthy, there's never bene any indication of how in their model new talent rises.  

The PGA Tour I can be criticized in this area, I've long felt that in certain ways it's a closed shop that protects the entrenched players.  But my arguments are that it takes top players too long to make it but, as I understand Greg Norman's vision, it's Phil, Henrik and lee for now and forever.

All Alan, All The Time - We'll riff on Alan's silliness as we eye that exit sign:

In a fun hypothetical, if you combined superpowers of Viktor’s tee-to-green prowess and Cam’s short-game wizardry, how close is that player to Tiger circa 2000? #AskAlan@opinionsvary328

Don’t forget Collin Morikawa’s iron game, too. That would pretty much add up to peak Tiger. Even then I would take the actual Woods over the theoretical composite because the real thing had more dog in him than these three aforementioned players combined.

To me, the bigger difference is Tiger's consistency, that cut streak being the prime example.  But this is the modern game, where they play for a few good weeks a year.  But is Alan suggesting that there's a dog shortage in Collin?  Strange given this next one...

Top 5 Masters favorites right now? Thanks. @mstang1970

Rahm, Morikawa, DJ, Spieth, Na.

Alan, are you sure you answered the right question.  To me, that the answer to, "name five great players off their feed".  Seriously, have any of them shown any decent form lately (I know DJ played well on Sunday at Sawgrass when he was irrelevant, but still).

Is the Players Championship trophy the saddest on tour? Cam Smith looked almost

embarrassed holding that dweeby thing for photos. It’s so ugly that you don’t even see Cam’s scraggly mullet. @MichaelSmyth

I love unusual architecture and modern art and all manner of unconventional thinking…but when it comes to trophies I’m pretty old-school. I understand each tournament wants their trophy to be different and unique but so many are groaners. I don’t hate the Players bauble but it looks rather undersized, which may be part of what is bothering you. They can’t all be the Wannamaker but if I’m designing a trophy it’s going to be big and grand and old-fashioned.

 Heh!  the only thing worse than that trophy is this:

Yeah, this has been an open tab for a while, but a couple of Cam Smith items:

Did Cam Smith push that shot on 17? Yes or definitely yes? @jeffvalois

Of course he did! But that’s part of the rub of the green – if you’re gonna win a tournament sometimes your mediocre swings turn out great.

How good of a putter is Cameron Smith?@ESPN_SwingCoach

Here I will cede the floor to one Muhammed Ali: “I done wrestled with an alligator, I done tussled with a whale; handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail. Only last week, I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick…I’m so mean I make medicine sick.”

On the first, he admitted that he pushed, but credit him for a sensible line that allowed him to push it and stay dry.  On the second, ten putts on the back nine?  Though I'll concede that Alan said it better...

This is a far bigger issue than it appears:

If you had God powers to summon any particular weather on any particular course at any particular time, what are your choices? @SNESdrunk

Cold, windy, 25 mile per hour gales at this year’s Open at the Old Course; the tomfoolery at the Players was just a taste of how fun that could be. Or, cut the wind in half for Saturday of the 2002 Open at Muirfield and give Tiger Woods a chance to keep chasing the Grand Slam.

We all understand Sawgrass' quirkiness, so think what you will about that Saturday.  But St. Andrews 2022 has profound issues for our game, and I don't know what to hope for.  If the wind is down and the track is soft, I simply can't imagine how low these guys can go.  Part of me wants to protect the Old Girl with heavy winds, but another part of me thinks a 58 would go a long way in our distance debate.

Team Berger or Team Hovland? @raydonovan613

I actually think both handled the situation well. Where a ball crosses a hazard 600 feet away, whilst traveling at 150 miles per hour, is rather subjective, and it can look very different depending on which side of the tee box you’re standing. Hovland and Berger had a difference in opinion, they talked it out like reasonable adults, and Berger took ownership of the decision, as the situation demanded. No harm, no foul?

As we've discussed, it fells like all parties did their job (including the rules official, unlike the Kang v. Dahmen cage match.  But I do hope there are genuinely no hard feelings, because there should be more like this.

What percentage of Tour players would take the guaranteed payday of winning the FedEx Cup over winning a major and the much smaller paycheck but additional prestige, exemptions, endorsement opportunities, etc. that come with that? #askalan @tombagjr

I’m gonna say 70% of players would take the FedEx Cup. Actually, probably 80%. It’s true that winning a major can lead to additional bonanzas but that’s hardly a sure thing; plenty of one-off major winners failed to build on the victory and their careers quickly petered out. The fact is, most guys on Tour play for money and only the most ambitious play for trophies.

I could have put this one up above:

Was the quality of the leaderboard indicative of Sawgrass’ shortcomings and penchant for randomness? No disrespect to Lahiri and Ghim, but does this finally settle the “fifth major” debate? #AskAlan @opinionsvary328

Sawgrass is a quirky, fiddly course with some very awkward shots. Power is always an advantage but less so there, which means everyone in the field has a chance. Ergo, what you call randomness. Some might consider that the greatness of the design. I could go either way but it produces golf that is undeniably entertaining.

He's ignoring one possible aggravating circumstance, my concern that the highest ranked players were unusually bunched together because of the longer TV window.

But you know what Sawgrass really is?  It's a course that's perfect for match play, where the impact of the quirkiness is mitigated by the format.  I'm over the moon at seeing match play on the Old Course, but how about a Ryder Cup at Sawgrass?  OK, that'll never happen because PGA vs. PGA of America, then how about that as a way to breathe some life into the Prez Cup?  Genius, right?

Lastly, this amusing twofer to go out on:

Sergio clearly dying his beard to ridiculously obvious lengths. Where do you stand on this very important golf issue? Consider this on the record and clearance as the jumping-off

point of your next bestseller. #AskAlan @RDeCards

Phil dyes? We want to know. @Chambersjscott

I love that these questions came in independent of each other. I agree Garcia’s beard is suspiciously dark and luscious. Various Twitter sleuths have pulled up photos of Mickelson from a decade ago and his hair was indeed much grayer then. He’d probably say the coffee has had a restorative effect. I don’t want to give away too many goodies from the book but I will say this topic is covered in those pages and in my reporting I discovered that some folks in Phil’s orbit refer to him as “Black Cherry” because that is the name of a certain hair dye.

Busted!  And amusingly so....

That's it for today.  Enjoy the golf and I'll likely see you on Friday. 

Weekend Wrap

A sweet scene at Casa Unplayable Lies this early morn.  Tate was in your humble blogger's lap for his post-breaky nap, a habit revived over the weekend.  The Emperor, by contrast, was sitting amid a pile of papers next to my computer monitor as if to remind me that readers are waiting....I feel strongly both ways.

The Snake Charmer - That Snake Pit seems to have lost its fangs, as did the entire course, at least until Sunday.  Turns out it was quite the SEC reunion:

Matthew NeSmith, 28-year-old South Carolina native who went to South Carolina;

Justin Thomas, also 28, a son of Louisville who went to Alabama;

Davis Riley, 25, born and raised in Hattiesburg, Miss., and an Alabama golfer a few years after Thomas;

Sam Burns, also 25, a Shreveport native who played college golf at LSU.

OK, though you have to ignore hoser Adam Hadwin to make that point.

From a more conventional game story:

Sam Burns is starting to like the 16th hole at Innisbrook Resort.

The 463-yard par-4 at the Copperhead Course is known as the start of the Snake Pit, a lethal three-hole stretch, and it was the site of Burns slithering in a 33-foot birdie putt that caught the left corner and circled the cup on the second playoff to beat rookie Davis Riley and successfully defend his title at the Valspar Championship.

Burns posted a final-round 2-under 69 and matched his winning 72-hole total of a year ago at 17-under 267. 

“A lot of times on Sunday if you can plot your way around, make a bunch of pars, throw in a few birdies here and there a lot of times it works well,” said Burns, who is expected to move to a career-best No. 10 in the world.

The parallels to Viktor Hovland are quite apparent, three early victories and a quick ascent up the world rankings, in this case to No. 10.  But the wins have been of a second-tier variety, and I say that as very much a fan of this venue.  But, of course, I was rooting for Davis Riley because, unless I'm predisposed to one or the other, I invariably pull for the guy that needs it moere.

I wouldn't have been the only one pulling for the youngster:

‘It was just kind of a cluster:’ The triple-bogey 8 that cost Davis Riley his first PGA Tour title

Clearly the kid has a talent for understatement, as there was no "kind of" about it, it was a full-frontal cluster, reminding your humble blogger of one specific incident of his own.  But we don't need to go there...

Somehow they always look harsher on ShotLink:

Riley recovered nicely and had a putt to win it all on the 72nd hole, which narrowly missed.  While he needed it more to ensure status, the second place swag will help, and I can't believe that we won't be seeing more of the young man (he and Burns are the same age and have been competing against each other since they were eleven).

I'll admit, I have no clue as to what to think about this guy as we begin our descent into Augusta:

Now, however, patience has to be the 15th club in his bag.

The 14-time PGA Tour winner and 2017 PGA champion fell short once again Sunday, when he

finished one shot shy of a playoff between Sam Burns and Davis Riley, a fellow Alabama golf alum, in the Valspar Championship on the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor, Florida.

While Burns won on the second hole of the playoff, Thomas left the grounds with his fifth top-10 finish in eight starts this season. But he still hasn’t won since the 2021 Players Championship.

“It’s coming,” Thomas said of an expected upcoming victory. “I’ve just got to be patient and be in the right frame of mind because you can’t force anything in this game. As soon as I start doing that you get down some rabbit holes.

“I’m doing a lot of really, really good things. I just need to keep putting myself there and it will start happening. I didn’t really do anything at all today and I very easily could have won the tournament. A lot to build on a, lot of positives, and we got a big stretch coming up, so I’m excited for it.”

Yeah, I'd be saying the same thing if I were in his shoes, but I'm unsure whether I'd really believe it.   The biggest issue on doubt is the putter, where he seems to be giving the strokes back to the field by the bushelful.  But when I see his airmailing greens with wedges I can't help but think there's more going on here than we realize.

Mostly, though, I wonder how Bones sees it.....

The Match-Play - I love me some Match Play, but it's a mature rational love that appreciates it despite it's faults.  It's a fun week, but I've long called it the upside-down tournament, because its best days are early in the week, form which it becomes less and less interesting as it segues into the weekend.  I much preferred the earlier Darwinian format, with its win-or-go-home primal simplicity.

The round-robin format isn't the worst compromise imaginable, and it's found a reasonably good venue in Austin Country Club (though Dove Mountain certainly deserves to be in the running for worst PGA Tour venue ever).  But now the bigger problem is that it's just in an awkward slot on the schedule, two weeks before Augusta, when the lucky players can end up playing very little golf or far too much.  Yeah, Goldilocks need not apply...

You might reasonably thank that two weeks is enough to get over whatever happens, but you're not a Tour pro.  These guys crave certainty and predictability, and that's a scarce resource this week.  So, have you seen the field?  There's a couple of curious notes:

Rory McIlroy and new Players Championship winner Cameron Smith have both elected to skip the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, while Bryson DeChambeau has been named in the provisional field.

Let's deal with the last one first.  Nursing back and wrist injuries and needing reps before the Masters, what a crazy week for Bryson's return.  It would seem to your humble blogger that he couldn't pick a worse week to return, one that could see him playing seven rounds of golf in five days, finishing with back-to-back 36-hole days (actually there's no limiting factor in the weekend matches, so there's no theoretical limit to how much golf he could end up playing).  Of course, based on last year's event, we know that if he loses Sunday morning he will default the consolation match, which is its own issue.

My prediction is that he will withdraw before the event begins, though presumably before their bracket show.  Because withdrawing after would incur the wrath of Kubla Jay, no?

But what about Rors and Cam?

McIlroy is taking two weeks instead and will play the Valero Texas Open the following week ahead of The Masters, while Smith is taking the week off to spend time with his family after his victory at TPC Sawgrass.

Oh, and this guy as well:

The other notable absentee is Phil Mickelson, who remains on his break from competitive golf after the fall-out around his comments about the PGA Tour and the proposed Saudi-backed golf league.

Why, is anything up with Phil?

Today in Roman Numerals -  We've got more news on the Bonesaw Gang, lots more if we include the Tour Confidential gang (who, amusingly didn't have time for a question about the Valspar).  I'll start with them because it's easy blogging:

1. The Saudi-funded golf league in-the-making, which will go by the name LIV Golf International Series, revealed more of its plans this week. Kicking off in June, the tour will play eight events, including four in the U.S., and pay out $255 million in purse money. While no players were announced, among other details are the incorporation of team play, a weekly draft, shotgun starts, 54-hole events and no cuts. What, if anything, most surprised you about the announcement?

Dylan Dethier: Besides the Pacific Northwest getting involved? I’m not sure there were any wild revelations except that Tour pros are about to have to make some intriguing decisions. It’s about to get real. Finally. I think.

James Colgan: It surprised me that I’d thought about this potential league for dozens of hours over the last 12 months without realizing that “LIV” stood for the Roman numeral for “54” — or the number of holes in each event on the schedule.

James, you're not very bright....  I like that in a man.  Quick, can anyone identify that reference?  But keeps this in mind, as James wrote a very silly column I hope to get to below. 

Michael Bamberger: The unabashed confidence of it. The LIV people have been dealt some body blows. They seem unfazed.

People?  Who besides the Shark is involves, Mike?  And a reminder that we had a Shark item a while back in which he bloviated that he would have beaten Tiger, because he beat everyone else.  Which, of course he did, except for Faldo, Tway, Mize, Gamez, Azinger, Nicklaus and, well, shall I go on?  So, confidence or delusion, you make the call. 

Alan Bastable: I was a bit surprised by how fleshed out the schedule was and quite surprised that half the events are Stateside. (Also Norman claiming that he received a positive response from top-10 ranked players is totally at odds with what we’ve heard — thus far — from said top-10 players.) I’m also keen to learn more about how that site recruitment process worked. Presumably, LIV approached dozens of clubs before landing on the four that committed. Curious how LIV identified their short list. If there’s any detectable trend, they smartly seemed to veer away from towns with established Tour stops.

Fleshed out?  Oh completely, except for the trivial matters of field and TV coverage....

So, there's a fun cross-current evolving, one in which Geoff Shackelford is accusing the staff at golf.com (Golf Magazine) of being in the tank for the Bonesaw Gang.  There was this bit last week:

Greg Norman says there are no requirements to play a set number of the eight events on the “beta” “start-up” tour. The venues announced are all second rate, but the dirty purse money is enormous. Norman said many other lame things in a podcast where the hosts seemed to really like his ideas and not have a single qualm about the money source. It’s linked below in the Listens department. The Fried Egg team analyzed the rollout in a far more rational manner.

And this second bit of shad at his blog:

Unlike the bubbly bro massage he received on Golf.com’s Subpar podcast, LIV Golf Commish Greg Norman faced real questions on Gary Williams’ Five Clubs podcast where he was pressed about that beheading-prone guy controlling the purse strings of Norman’s 8-event schedule.

Sitting in front of the Sydney Opera House minus his ears, Norman made one bit of news while producing pathetic answers on funding front.

Now, you might be wondering about that last bit, but you'll quickly see what he means about those missing ears:

Interesting, because those answers above do seem to uncritically accept the blather than emits from the Shark's pie hole, plus here's that James Colgan column that I noted above:

How the Ryder Cup helped inspire vision for new Saudi-backed golf league

I blew up this nonsense-on-stilts last week, but it's rather alarming to see a major golf publication accept it at face value without pointing out a single damning detail:

So, what is it about the Ryder Cup that Norman is hoping to capture?

“They’re looking for that connectivity, that something different, that vibrance, that excitement, that entertainment,” he said. “If I hadn’t seen that and I hadn’t been there, maybe my perception would be a little bit different, because the Presidents Cup, yeah it’s a team event, but it’s nowhere near the magnitude, the energy and the velocity of what the Ryder Cup is.”

This is actually even worse than that which I defenestrated last week, because Norman himself points out the differences between a Ryder Cup and a Prez Cup.

And yet, writing for a major golf magazine, James Colgan plays stenographer and makes no further contribution to the reader's understanding than to uncritically transcribe Norman's delusional word salad.

Back to the steno pool:

2. Greg Norman, the league’s commissioner, said he emailed 250 players on Tuesday, and received this response: “…The amount of response [has been] unbelievably positive. I’m talking about single-digit ranked players in the world, emailing me first thing this morning, just so excited to hear about what we have to say and what we’ve got.” This comes on the heels of multiple star players pledging to the PGA Tour following controversial comments on the tour from Phil Mickelson, and the PGA Tour threatening to ban players who would play in the startup league. Do you believe that active PGA Tour players will come around?

Dethier: Yes, I believe some active PGA Tour pros will jump ship. There’s too much money for them not to. I also think we can probably take “unbelievably positive” with a grain of salt, considering the source. There’s nothing simple about this issue nor the murky morality of it all and the only certainty is that this will continue to be a thorny, evolving situation that will force Tour pros to continually take a side. It’s not as simple as choosing the PGA Tour and staying there, because Norman is leaving the door open, and open, and open.

Colgan: Do I believe that Tour players will sign up for a league in which the *minimum* tournament payout is $5 million more than the largest purse in PGA Tour history? Yes, yes I do believe that.

Bamberger: Absolutely. They’re professional golfers. They’re drawn to money.

Bastable: Not just money, life-changing money! If you parse press-conference comments and tweets from the last three months, I think you could safely identify a handful of players who seemed primed to be teeing up in Pumpkin Ridge in June. Also, look for a strong turnout from the Euro contingent. I would guess LIV’s top priority is getting 12 notables who can serve as team captains. The remaining 36 players are less crucial in terms of Q-rating. The Saudis are playing the long game here; they can afford to be patient, in more ways than one.

Is it me or is that just an incomprehensibly lame set of answers?  

Let me see if I have this right?  Four weeks ago in LA every significant PGA Tour play passed on life-changing money and instead swore fealty to the PGA Tour.  Greg Norman suddenly announces eight prospective dates and venues and suddenly they're all going to go?  And you don't feel compelled to explain what's changed?

Are they in the bag for the bonecutters?  I mean, WTF!  This doesn't get much better:

3. What caliber of players need to participate for this to be a viable television or streaming enterprise?

Dethier: That depends. In some ways I’d prefer we randomly select 48 golfers from your local muni and have them play for $25 million rather than selecting a group of middling professionals from in-between stages in their careers. But the question of TV rights is among the most fascinating to come out of this. Will a broadcast partner step up?

Colgan: I have always believed the ONLY way in which a rival tour could gain a foothold is if it signed a critical mass of young, ascending talent (your Will Zalatorises, Matthew Wolffs and Joaquin Niemanns). Sure, landing half of the World Top 10 would help, too, but it feels more reasonable to believe the youngsters would jump ship than a bunch of dudes who are on-track to be hundred-millionaires through the current PGA Tour system.

Bamberger: You need name players, and young talent. I could see elite amateurs from all over the world making the LIV Tour their first stop.

You may see elite amateurs as their ticket, but their traction was with those looking for properties in the Villages, names like Mickelson, Stenson, Poulter and Westwood.  A journalist might want to explain that issue, although I'm guessing that it's not just Phil cashing their checks. 

Bastable: I’m not convinced Nielsen ratings are a top priority for LIV at this juncture — getting the league up and running is. Sure, Norman and Co. want to get eyeballs on their tournaments as part of the wider effort to rehabilitate Saudi Arabia’s public image, but job 1, I’d guess, is executing a beta season and showing players that this thing can work. Baby steps, building blocks, etc.

Former Golf Channel personality Gary Williams did ask Norman some actual questions, though he didn't receive any actual answers:

Appearing on Gary Williams’ Five Clubs Podcast, Norman, the CEO of LIV Golf Investments, fielded several tough questions about the Saudi-backed golf league, including names of players who had committed or signed contracts, when the first tournament field would be announced, Phil Mickelson’s controversial comments and if Norman was concerned at all about where the investment money was coming from.

And Norman didn’t really answer any of them, instead falling back on statements like “I’m not a politician” and “I’m focused on growing the game of golf.” He did add that the league was still “a reality,” despite players such as Rory McIlroy declaring it “dead in the water.”

“We are here for the long term,” Norman said. “We aren’t just in and out.”

Yeah, we'll see about that "in" part, as I'm far from convinced that these events will actually take place.  Unless, of course, you're expecting the Saudis to pay a first place check of $4 million dollars to a guy currently 22nd on the Asian Tour money list.  And there's curious news on that front as well, per Shack:

Asian Tour Loses Its London Stop Before It Was Ever Played

Reader R pointed out that the Asian Tour schedule no longer features the previously June stop near London because that event is now on the LIV Invitational circuit’s 2022 schedule.

The Asian Tour announcement for the new “international series” was on February 1 and the London stop was the centerpiece for growing the tour along with an additional $100 million from the Saudi sugar fund.

"We are on the threshold of a new era for Asian golf," said Cho Minn Thant, Asian Tour commissioner and CEO.

"The International Series is a new upper-tier of elite events, the likes of which the region has not seen before, that will mark the start of a phenomenal period of growth for the Asian Tour.

"It also signifies the beginning of our relationship with our new strategic partner LIV Golf Investments and its CEO Greg Norman."

Indeed it did.

OK, this is actual news and quite interesting.  The Asian Tour umbrella was designed to ensure that world ranking points are available, yet they seem to be abandoning it.  I'm sure the golf.com gang will be all over this development, assuming they can take time away from taking dictation from the Shark.

Geoff has great fun with Norman's repetitive use of the "Grow the game" mantra, and I eagerly await the obvious follow-up questions to Norman of how paying off Phil actually grows the game, but that will await the golf.com writers growing a pair.  But Geoff also has one other newsy bit:

“There are contracts, but I’m not going to give out any names on that,” Norman said when pressed on commitments to the league. He later said that invitations would be going out “very shortly.”

That's both inconsistent with his own prior statements that players can pick and choose from their beta schedule, but it's also something that Jay and Keith Pelley might be interested to sort through.  

Things get curiouser and curiouser, though I am unfortunately flat out of time.  To be continued....