Midweek Musings

Houston, we have a problem.... Wait, why are we still going to Houston?  I get it, since it's part of the Fall series, not a soul will notice....

Just a few bits to amuse and, more importantly, close browser tabs, then I'll leave you to your own devices.  As an aside, have you ever wondered about that quaint expression, given that today's generation never takes its collective nose out of there.  We're covering the important stuff for you:

To leave someone “to their own devices” is a fairly recent idiom, dating to the late 19th century (“What would you do, if left to your own devices?” 1870), and the original sense of “devices” in the phrase was simply “wishes” or “preferences.” But over time “device” in the phrase has drifted in the direction of the sense of “scheme, plan, plot or trick,” and today the implication of “to leave someone to their own devices” is that, if given the chance, the person will probably do something at least mildly sneaky.

1870 is "fairly recently"?  Seems at least a lifetime ago to this observer....

Tour Doings - It's not your Grandfather's PGA Tour for sure, much to our regret.  I think we should wait until all the mail-in ballots are scanned, but it seems the fix was in:

Eight weeks remain in 2022, which theoretically means the race for the PGA Tour’s Player Impact Program is still open. But according to forecasters—specifically, Rory McIlroy—the race has already been called.

Speaking to Doug Ferguson of the Associated Press, McIlroy relayed that Woods has repeated as PIP champ.

“Hey, I gave him a pretty good run,” McIlroy told the AP.

So, Tiger isn't just the GOAT, he's also the PIP....  

Little doubt that Tiger was a significant player this season, though perhaps "player" could be misinterpreted.  For instance, which of these strikes you as the more significant?

Woods played just nine rounds in 2022, although his return at the Masters and possible goodbye to St. Andrews at the Open were among the stories of the year. Woods was also instrumental in leading a group of players that enacted sweeping reforms to the tour in response to the ongoing threat from LIV Golf.

This Golf.com item has the better spin on the cognitive dissonance:

It should be noted that Tiger’s victory will give him two more PIP titles (2) than PGA Tour starts (0) since the beginning of 2021 — a point that underscores the strange nature of the PIP, a bonus pool conceived primarily as a popularity contest and birthed by the growing threat of LIV Golf. McIlroy reportedly finished second in the tally, collecting some $12 million amid a season that has seen him reascend to the No. 1 World Ranking and become one of the sport’s most important figureheads.

Because they're co-sanctioned, those majors do technically count as PGA Tour starts, but the point is relevant.... 

But here's what's a little strange, as this was the header:

What Tiger Woods’ latest PIP payday is really worth

We're told that Rory got $12 million, and this was to be found higher up in the piece:

On Tuesday, a report from the Associated Press‘s Doug Ferguson named Tiger the winner of the PGA Tour’s Player Impact Program for the second consecutive year, edging out Rory McIlroy to win the PGA Tour’s controversial new bonus pool. As winner, Woods will take home a plurality of the PIP’s $100 million fund, which will reportedly be split between some 23 players.

My eyes, like everything else, aren't what they used to be, but none of those three (including the linked Doug Ferguson item), but no one seems to have what that header promised, the number for Tiger.

Of course, that original 2021 installment worked just as contemplated, right?

The PIP bonus pool was instituted in 2021 to reward players who boosted engagement and publicity for the tour. Ostensibly a response to some of the lucrative deals rumored to be coming from the then-Premier Golf League, the inaugural program somewhat backfired; five of the 10 winners in 2021—Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Bubba Watson—ultimately left the tour for LIV Golf. However, improvements to the PIP were announced at this year’s Tour Championship to broaden its scope.

I've had my quibbles with Tiger over the years, but at least the man stays bought.  Or has up until now....

Some of those five think they've been treated badly:

Bryson DeChambeau and Bubba Watson say they haven’t received the second half of their Player

Impact Program bonus money from the PGA Tour, and the two LIV Golf defectors aren’t happy about it. DeChambeau, for one, called it “childish.”

In an interview Thursday ahead of the LIV Golf Team Championship at Trump Doral in Miami, DeChambeau told ESPN he decided to stay as a plaintiff in LIV Golf’s federal antitrust lawsuit against the Tour because he hasn’t been paid $1.75 million of his $3.5 million in bonus money from finishing fifth in the PIP standings in 2021.

“It’s not about the money; it’s about the principle,” DeChambeau said. “It’s the way you deal with situations.”

Oh, it's how you deal with situations.  So, when you threw a hissy fit in Detroit, refusing to speak with the media at your sponsor's (Rocket Mortgage) event, that's what you mean by how you deal with a situation.  Because you were having a sad....

But care for a primer on the entitled mind?  Really, it's a master class:

According to the interview with ESPN, DeChambeau claims he received the first payment in February. But there were two requirements for receiving the second payment: Compete in a Tour event he hadn’t played in during the previous four seasons (designed to help field strength at an event that had lacked the individual’s star power) and make an appearance at a charity event.

DeChambeau, who won eight times on Tour including the 2020 U.S. Open, played in the Valero Texas Open to fulfill the first requirement. He told ESPN he tried to check off the second box by participating at a charity event for First Tee in Dallas next month. DeChambeau said he was told by the Tour the appearance wouldn’t fulfill the requirement because he is no longer a Tour member “in good standing.”

“They said because you’re not in good standing, we’re not allowing you to do something to help out junior golf and junior golfers,” DeChambeau said. “To me, that’s childish. It just shows where they stand emotionally. I respect and understand it, but when you’ve completed something and provided entertainment for them last year, that’s the reason I’m in the lawsuit.”

Hmmm, did the Tour really not allow him to help the kids?  Yeah, hard to see that in this fact pattern.  What seems apparent is that Bryson had no interest in that appearance unless the cash register went ka-ching!  Noted, Bryson, but without the slightest sense of surprise.

One would assume that, given that PIP was created last year in reaction to the LIV threat, that it also had a requirement that the player remain a member in good standing to receive that second installment.  If not, it's malpractice on the part of Jay's staff.  But, trust me Bryson, you haven't been entertaining....well, checking notes, ever.

The Tour is also making some other small-ball moves.  This one seems on point, but likely insufficient, at least for the Jon Rahms of the world:

Top players have been granted some flexibility in the PGA Tour’s plan to mandate participation in elevated events next year, according to a directive sent to tour members last week. The

Associated Press was first to report the news.

The tour announced in August that players would be eligible for their portion of the $100-million bonus in the Player Impact Program only if they competed in the 13 elevated events plus three more of their choosing in the 2023 portion of the current schedule.

But the directive, a portion of which was read to Golf Digest, stated that the PGA Tour Policy Board has voted to allow players to skip one elevated event “for personal or professional reasons only.” Furthermore, the board determined that a fall event could count as one of the three optional starts.

That last bit is just perfect, given that Jay has provided no details on what is to become of the Fall.  So, gentlemen, make your schedules, but don't be asking any hard questions.

And this as a sop to those Euros:

Still to be determined—and it’s not clear if it will be discussed at the upcoming board meeting on Nov. 14 in Sea Island, Ga.—is whether players who hold membership on the DP World Tour would be allowed to designate an event on the European circuit as one of their three electives. The PGA Tour and DP World Tour forged a strategic alliance in 2020 and strengthened their merger last June with the onset of the rival LIV Golf series.

A reminder that the Scottish Open, co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour, is not one of those elevated events.

How would this work is Tiger were just a little healthier and wanted to play a limited, Jack-like schedule?  Or, probably, the schedule he actually played before the auto accident.  he was pushing for this, though, apparently quite certain he'd never have to play that much golf.

Color me skeptical that they're accomplishing much here.  All they had to do was jack the purses and the guys would show, without the strong-arm tactics.  Those tactics probably appease those that are putting up the scratch for the enhanced purses, but there's a whole bunch of other sponsors that have just been sent to sit at the children's table.  I'm sure they're like it there...

The final bit here is in an area that we've explored frequently over the years, how the PGA Tour's policies have negatively affected the amateur game, most notably the U.S. Amateur.  The most significant step here was the abolition of Big Tour Q-School, which consigned most of the top amateurs to a year of indentured servitude on the Corn Fairy Tour.  Now comes word that they'd like to hedge their bets, after seeing a couple of college kids jump directly to LIV:

In an update that was sent to its membership this week, the PGA Tour said that it is considering two proposals for providing better access for college players transitioning to the pro ranks

beginning after the 2022-23 D-I season. The ideas were first discussed during a Players Advisory Council meeting in early October at the Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas. Both proposals seemingly have a strong chance for approval at the PAC meeting scheduled for Nov. 14 during the RSM Classic in St. Simons Island, Ga.

In the first scenario, the No. 1 player in the final PGA Tour University Ranking, which identifies the top seniors in each class, would be eligible, following the NCAA Championship in June, to receive membership on the PGA Tour. He would be placed at the end of the Korn Ferry Tour category and be subject to reshuffle. The memo said the “benefits would commence this season with the class of 2023 with access for 2024 and beyond to be evaluated with the PAC and Player Directors.”

In the second proposal, which seeks to “ensure that a unique talent has an accelerated pathway to the PGA Tour,” top underclassmen could advance by achieving key benchmarks in the college, amateur and professional ranks. Points would be accumulated based on top collegiate awards, amateur wins, career-best World Amateur Golf Rankings position, and performance in PGA Tour events, including majors.

 But, lest you think this is a serious undertaking, there was this:

To provide context in its memo, the tour said that, since 2010, three underclassmen would have qualified via the second pathway. The tour did not identify the three golfers.

Eugenio Chacarra?  Just a wild guess....

They've given the Euro Tour ten PGA Tour cards to keep them from taking Saudi money, but in this instance they're simply not serious.

Predictions Are Hard... - You know the rest but, in his Monday Finish column, Dylan Dethier takes us through the rumor mill, especially important for those upset about the recent Cantlay-Schauffele rumors:

But there are several aspects to reporting on LIV defections that make it tricky business. For one thing, players and businesspeople connected to LIV are heavily incentivized to make it seem like top players are close to joining when, in fact, they aren’t. And unlike team sports, where there are regulated schedules and predictable points of media access, golf’s access to players can be sporadic and, if they choose, practically nonexistent. That makes it easy for rumors to swirl, and swirl they have; it was just a few months ago that the rumor mill forced pros like Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa to issue statements clarifying their intentions to remain on the PGA Tour.

This was Jordan's: 

pic.twitter.com/VrzLW75Nkd

— Jordan Spieth (@JordanSpieth) July 8, 2022

Dylan takes us through some of the recent history:

Even with a statement, though, it’s impossible to completely disprove a rumor. Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau released statements in February ensuring their commitment to the PGA Tour, only to become two of LIV’s earliest signees. Henrik Stenson knew that his commitment to become the European Ryder Cup captain meant he was bound to the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, but he soon walked that back, too. Brooks Koepka gave a strange denial at the U.S. Open just days before he committed to LIV. Even when players have addressed the issue specifically, their word hasn’t been foolproof.

LIV is also not a now-or-never decision, which makes it even harder to fully deny leaving. Joining is a concrete action. But not joining still leaves the option, at some later date, to reverse course. Someone can write that X player is “considering” LIV and they’re probably not wrong, because every player has considered LIV. And saying that a player is “going to join LIV” is a bit like someone saying Player Y is “going to win a major.” Even if it doesn’t happen, it’s impossible to truly prove that person wrong until Player Y’s career ends.

Gee, Patrick Reed's word turned out to be less than foolrpoof?  really, who besides Nostradamus coulda seen that one coming?

Which leads to this optimistic take on those two guys:

Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay have been popular names tossed about in recent weeks; the Guardian went so far as to cite their names in connection with “speculation in Miami” — though the report provided little additional details. (People ran with it anyway.) But I’ve spoken with both Schauffele (here) and Cantlay (here) about this exact topic in recent weeks. To date, everything I know suggests these are just rumors. Neither has sworn off LIV forever, but they’ve also been transparent about the process. I don’t believe either is on the brink of LIV defection.

I kind of assume that, if they wanted the money, they'd have gone already.... Still, the Saudi's subscribe to my theory of life, which is that the greatest aphrodisiacs\ known to man is the word "No," so the offers keep increasing.   

Lastly from Dylan, we've all heard about Seve's place going to the dark side, but apparently last week at Mayakoba was, well the last week at Mayakoba:

On the other end of the spectrum, a startup golf blog called Handicap 54 reported that this week’s PGA Tour host at Mayakoba is likely to become a LIV host next year. That same blog was all over the departure of Valderrama from the DP World Tour schedule, which seems all but confirmed with the release of the tour’s latest schedule. That was indicative of the fact that there’s fresh terrain for reporting and fresh faces to do the reporting. While I write for a “traditional” golf media outlet and have dipped my toes in this year’s breaking-news thing, news (and rumors) have come from all over the media world. When the info is right, that’s a cool thing.

Glad that you think it a cool thing, because it seems to this observer to confirm that your employer and you aren't very good at your job.  But a pity to lose Mayakoba, just because the guys seem to like it and it's a perfect spot this time of year.

Why perfect?  I guess mangrove trees don't lose leaves, so https://golf.com/lifestyle/genius-golf-course-amenity-solves-biggest-nuisance/they don't need these:

Well, at least a few courses — including one major venue — have gotten creative, adding to their greenside offerings a suburban garage staple: leaf blowers. Clever, right? A few sweeps with the handheld machine and your line, if not the whole putting surface, is clean and green.

At a recent round at Hazeltine National, TikToker Katie Kelby posted a video that showed a battery-powered Milwaukee leaf blower parked by a green next to a sign that reads: “This blower is to assist you in cleaning debris from the putting line.”

“One of my favorite parts about this golf course,” Kelby says of the U.S. Open, PGA Championship and Ryder Cup site.

 But wait, it gets worse:

Thought I’d seen it all after 33 years working in golf. Playing in the medal today with his own leaf blower 😂😂#imfindingmyball #noleavesonmyline pic.twitter.com/BcnmPPVc8W

— Stuart Bottrill (@StuartBottrill) October 30, 2022

Just.  Say.  No!

That will have to sate you, but we'll find more time as the week unfolds.

Weekend Wrap

I can't imagine you watched much golf this weekend, so perhaps you're in need of our wrappage services....  Of curse, your humble blogger didn't watch any more golf than you did.

The Bataan Death March Winds Down - What, you thought the orphaned wraparound season finale was going to be received with great fanfare?  At least Mayakoba pampers the players sufficiently that some of known brands come for the facials.  Rumor has it that this player, previously best known for being confused with Brandt Snedeker, played like a superhero:

Russell Henley slays 54-hole demons, collects fourth PGA Tour victory in stress-free fashion

Who even knew that Henley had previous 54-hole leads?

Winning on the PGA Tour is a satisfying feeling, but the manner in which it is achieved matters, too. And the way Russell Henley won the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba on Sunday in Riviera Maya, Mexico sure felt fulfilling to the Georgia native.

Henley secured his fourth career PGA Tour title with a four-stroke victory over Brian Harman by overcoming nerves and demons and loads of past disappointment while holding a 54-hole lead. But with six shots in hand beginning the final round, Henley didn’t need the fireworks he supplied the first three rounds as much as he needed to douse any hopes of his pursuers by limiting errors.

So it happened that a one-under 70 at El Camaleón Golf Course was more than adequate for Henley to win for the first time in five years and pick up a check for $1.476 million. Just as importantly, he converted for the second time in seven tries with a 54-hole lead, the other coming in his first tour title at the 2013 Sony Open in Hawaii.

“I just tried to learn from my past and my screw ups,” Henley said with a chuckle after posting 23-under 261, tying Viktor Hovland for the lowest score in tournament history. “That’s kind of what I took from the last two events from this season, and ‘what am I doing wrong and how can I get better with it?’ All those events I didn’t close on, they hurt. And you don’t know if you’ll ever get to win another one. It’s so hard out here. To come down 18 with a four-shot lead, it was just really cool. I don’t know what to say.”

Of far greater import than the results, it appears to my trained eye that we have a worthy new entrant into that competition for the world's weirdest golf trophy.  I mean, I have a few questions.... is that a sombrero they were going for?  If so, I see little connection to the sponsor but isn't it, yanno, racist?  Asking for a friend....

I've come up empty in my search for anything interesting or relevant from the week, except perhaps for the immediate Henley family.  The Tour now heads to Houston, which I can't imagine would draw much of a filed, then finishes at Sea Island, where at least Kooch can be expected.  

Then we wait to see what Jay comes up with for Fall 2023, something perhaps only the sponsors care much about.

Other Golf - I can't muster up any interest in their tour, but will this guy ever go gently into that good night?

Bernhard Langer is running out of senior circuit records to shatter, but he’s now got a biggie

clearly in his sights. With a spectacular weekend in which he shot 63-66, the 65-year-old German stormed to a six-shot win on Sunday in the TimberTech Championship to eclipse his own mark that he set in February as the PGA Tour Champions’ oldest winner.

Langer’s third win in the TimberTech at Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club in his home area of Boca Raton, Fla., puts him only one victory shy of Hale Irwin’s Champions Tour record of 45.

Langer has been playing on the tour since 2007 and notched at least one victory in each of his 15 seasons. He’s captured five tournaments or more in a year on three occasions, with a high of seven in 2017. He won 42 times on the European Tour (second all-time), with three PGA Tour victories, including two Masters.

Winning by a touchdown at age 65?  Shouldn't he be shopping Medicare Advantage plans?

It always surprises me when a player whose name I've never heard wins on any of the top tours, and we had one in Japan:

Gemma Dryburgh continued a trend of a first-time winners on the LPGA in 2022. The 29-year-old Scottish pro shot her second consecutive 7-under 65 to capture the Toto Japan Classic by four strokes at Seta Golf Course.

“I was in Korea last week with friends and I said to them ‘I’ll mention you in my speech’ as a joke,” said Dryburgh. “But it’s overwhelming to be honest. This has been a dream of mine for a long time. A lot of hard work has gone into this, so it means so much.”

Dryburgh, who has one additional top 10 this season, finished at 20-under 268 for the tournament, shattering her previous record, a 276 from the 2019 Pure Silk Championship. She’s the 11th Rolex First-Time Winner of the season, tying the tour record for most Rolex first-time winners in a single year, which last occurred in 1995.

Only one other top ten all season, but she's now got a "W" on her C.V.   Ironically, while the Scots gave us this crazy game, in the modern era they haven't been all that successful at it themselves:

A former Tulane standout, Dryburgh becomes the fourth Scot to win on the LPGA and the first since Catriona Matthew at the 2011 Lorena Ochoa Invitational. Prior to this, she won the 2017 Oatlands Ladies Pro Am on the ALPG and three events on the Rose Ladies Series, which began during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Matthew is the only one I could have named....

The Match That Will Not Die -  Wassup with The Match™?  No doubt you saw the recent news, which we'll get to in a sec, but who owns this baby?  I had thought this was something Tiger and Phil were doing as partners, though subsequent events make them. at best, awkward partners.... The kind that don't have much to say to each other.

Have heard from multiple sources that the next Match plans to include Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth. It's tentatively scheduled for 12/10 at Pelican Golf Club outside of Tampa under the lights.

— The Fried Egg (@the_fried_egg) November 2, 2022

It's been, well curious, watching this evolve.  I had come to two important conclusions related to this franchise, both of which argue against this installment:

1.  Tiger is a fairly boring individual, and doesn't add much to these hit-and-giggle events, and;
2. It's actually far more interesting watching the amateurs play.

The Tour Confidential panel had similar thoughts:

1. According to multiple reports, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas will star in the next edition of The Match, which is tentatively scheduled for Dec. 10

in the Tampa, Fla., area. This will be the first of the seven editions of The Match that will feature four pro golfers instead of a head-to-head battle or star from a different sport. Do you like the idea of getting back to the basics, or would you rather see another famous athlete who you don’t get to watch on the golf course every week?

Josh Sens: Better to mix it up. With most of these made-for-TV confections, the personality matters more than the profession. Tiger is an exception. Most of us want to see him in almost any setting, even if he rarely says anything interesting on mic. Otherwise, though, I’ll take good chemistry and engaging banter, and the relatable experience of watching a non-Tour pro struggle. The worst versions of these events feature Tour pros making lame jokes and forced conversation along with their birdies. Like that torturous Bryson-Brooks event. Elite ball-striking? The regular season already offers plenty of that. These one-offs should be more about offbeat entertainment, and you’re less likely to get that if you stick strictly to Tour pros.

Dylan Dethier: The timing of this event is pretty ideal and the personnel is, too. While Phil Mickelson’s personality carried the first several iterations of this event, Tiger Woods might be more comfortable with this crew, and we’re all eager to see him mix it up. Sens is right that offbeat is better — I loved the QB-only showdown this summer — but if we’re going back to all PGA Tour players, this is about as intriguing a matchup as it gets. These guys aren’t exactly playing for their legacies, but that’s fine. Looking forward to it!

James Colgan: I dig it! The format was growing unquestionably stale, and in a weird way, ditching Phil’s clearly made-for-TV antics might help in the long run.

That's probably as attractive a pairing as they could come up with among Tour alpha dogs, and I'll add this reminder:

Despite Thomas never playing in a Match, he did moonlight as an on-course reporter for the second one, which was Woods and Manning vs. Mickelson and Brady in May 2020. He received rave reviews, but now he gets to pick up the clubs. Luckily he’s pretty good in that department, too.

So, who besides JT will entertain us?  Jordan to me is a maybe, but those two old guys are pretty boring....Then again, what else is there to watch in December?

Given our recent history, this might be the most surprising bit:

The Match might also be the first of two-straight weeks Woods, who played in only three official events in 2022, plays golf on TV. The week after is the PNC Championship, which Woods has played the last two years with his son, Charlie. He’s yet to officially commit to it for this year, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Tiger and Charlie team up once again.

Obviously these will both be cart golf for Tiger...  But old habits die hard, as Tiger won't even tell us which silly season events he'll play in.

USGA Doings - I can be a tad critical of our governing bodies, so let's celebrate that which they get right.  I'm a big believer that venues matter, and I especially love when they use their smaller footprint events to take us to interesting places:

Chicago Golf Club is one of the most storied courses in the United States, and soon, it will add two new chapters to its illustrious history.

The USGA announced on Tuesday that Chicago GC will host two USGA championships over the next decade-plus as the U.S. Women’s Open and Walker Cup will be played at the renowned club. The U.S. Women’s Open will visit Chicago in 2033 while the Walker Cup will follow in 2036.

“The history of the USGA and American golf can’t be told without Chicago GC, and just over 125 years after hosting its first USGA championship, we’re thrilled to announce our return for two additional significant events,” said John Bodenhamer, USGA chief championships officer. “With the tremendous support of its members and a world-class venue, we’re confident that Chicago GC will deliver memorable moments and an opportunity for golf fans around the world to see one of the country’s finest golf venues.”

Chicago GC is located in the western suburbs of the city and was founded in 1892 by C.B. Macdonald. It debuted the first 18-hole course in America the following year and was one of five founding member clubs of the USGA when the governing body was established in 1894.

It doesn't get much better than this, great design and comparable historical import.

And let's not forget that the next two Walker Cups will be held at the Old Course and Cypress Point.  Be still my foolish heart....

Although the strangest part of this welcome news is that the Fried Egg posted this strange architectural credit:

Huge news! Chicago Golf Club is set to host the 2033 @uswomensopen and the 2036 @walkercup.

The Seth Raynor design and its brilliant greens will provide a great test for competitors. This will be the club’s first U.S. Women’s Open and the third Walker Cup. pic.twitter.com/prCPcMeigc

— The Fried Egg (@the_fried_egg) November 1, 2022

OK, I have no problem citing the work that Seth Raynor did there in the 1920's, but how can you post that without crediting that Macdonald guy?

Did someone mention Cypress Point?  Because this has been making the rounds:

SMU freshman golfer Christian Clark, a Highland Park alum, had a hole in one on 16 at Cypress Point in Pebble Beach, Calif.

Casual 230-yard Par 3 over water on the signature hole.

Tom Brady commented “amazing!” on the Instagram post.pic.twitter.com/kIpfFuda93

— Joseph Hoyt (@JoeJHoyt) November 4, 2022

Won't be any fun watching them play this hole in the Walker Cup, will it?  Not sure you could pick a better hole to ace, at least if you're going for a high degree-of-difficulty score.

Just one last USGA marker:

Golf distance debate: What you need to know as USGA, R&A close in on major announcements

 Do they have it in them to take this on?

Sunday marked the end of the first LIV Golf season, and whether you are a fan of the upstart tour or not, there’s no denying player defections, the massive payouts that LIV golfers have received and Greg Norman’s squabbles with the Official World Golf Ranking system were big storylines in 2022. Looking ahead, the continuing saga of LIV Golf will assuredly be a huge part of the golf narrative in 2023, too, but it might be eclipsed early in the season by news coming from Far Hills, New Jersey, and St. Andrews, Scotland.

I guess Dave Dusek didn't get the memo that Far Hills is now Liberty Corner...

He's got a pretty good summary of where things stand, but he's got an announcement date in mind:

There is an unwritten rule among the game’s organizations that you don’t make an announcement or drop a news item around the time of another organization’s event. For instance, it would be very surprising for the Augusta National Golf Club to make an announcement regarding the Masters Tournament a week before the Ryder Cup, which is a PGA of America event, and the USGA would prefer not to drop a big news item on the Monday after the Players Championship, the crown jewel of the PGA Tour. For that reason, as well as other internal reasons, the USGA has typically made announcements with regard to distance findings in February, a month when other golf organizations are typically quiet.

That means if history is a guide, in about three months we could get an announcement about how the USGA and its partner, the R&A, intend to change equipment standards and rules to battle distance.

Think they'll drop it during a LIV event?

Does LIV complicate this story.  You know how tight Phil has always been with the USGA.....

Man's Inhumanity To Man -  Apparently Aaron Judge's pending free agency takes a back seat to these player moves:

Following the conclusion of LIV Golf’s inaugural first season, many questions remain about the controversial Saudi-backed league, including just how different it is from what currently exists in

professional golf. But one way it promises to distinguish itself from the PGA Tour is with its team/franchise model, where LIV members play on four-man squads with the ability for team captains to sign and trade players like in other professional sports leagues. In turn, that creates a wrinkle that hasn’t been seen previously in pro golf—the creation of player free agency and a transaction market. And apparently, no time is being wasted with this first “offseason” for big moves to be made.

Just two days after LIV Golf’s season finale at Doral, ESPN reported a pretty shakeup with the newly crowned team champions. That's right, the juggernaut 4 Aces are already breaking up. Say it ain't so!

According to ESPN, Peter Uihlein will be joining Dustin Johnson's squad, while Talor Gooch is going to Bubba Watson's team. Or, rather, he's leaving for a team to be named later, because Bubba's franchise is planning on changing its name from Niblicks GC. That's great news if you're a Niblicks fan, but bad news if you own a Niblicks jersey.

OK, so it's not exactly LeBron's "THE DECISION." That being said, Uihlein is a bit of an unexpected commodity after finishing third on the regular season points list in LIV’s debut year to earn a $4 million bonus, which matched his career PGA Tour earnings in over a decade as a pro.

My God, they're breaking up the 4 Aces?  Shouldn't they get a Last Dance opportunity? 

2. Just days after LIV Golf finished its inaugural season, ESPN reported Peter Uihlein will join Dustin Johnson’s squad, with Talor Gooch moving to Bubba Watson’s team. Sure, a minor move for a league trying to gain traction, but is LIV’s ability to swap players like this via free agency a major feather in its cap to grow interest going forward, or just another minor detail?

You're seriously asking about Talor Gooch and Peter Uihlein?   

Sens: Reminds me of that time in the late-70s when the Red Sox traded the crafty left-handed pitcher Bill Lee for the light-hitting infielder Stan Papi. You remember that, don’t you? Of course you don’t. Maybe there will come a day when this whole team thing will make sense to me — the odd names, the over-the-top payouts that we’re somehow supposed to be excited about, the trades. But for now, it all strikes me as something that interests only the tiniest number of fans, and I’m not among them.

Dethier: In theory, both the team concept and the free agency bit could both be intriguing. Free agency is undeniably interesting; in the NBA it drives as much discussion as the actual season, arguably more. But it’s tough to build teams and allegiances out of nothing. If the 4 Aces all moved to Buffalo, N.Y., for example, and took on a Wegman’s sponsorship, their franchise might attract some loyal followers. For now it’s not clear what’s at stake for fans.

Colgan: LOL, Sens. Your point is well taken. Until we learn a little bit more about the financial and competitive implications of a free agent/transfer market, it’s not worth the ground it stands on.

Look, the team concept is the one aspect of the whole LIV initiative that might ultimately have some appeal, although they certainly haven't figured it out yet.  

Amusingly, Gooch is my candidate for most annoying LIVster, because his gargantuan sense of entitlement seemed so manifestly out of proportion to his actual accomplishments in our game.  And, apparently, Captain DJ agrees....

I shall discharge you here, and we'll visit again as the week unfolds.

Thursday Themes

I wasn't fully committed to blogging this morning, so is it too much to ask that you grade me on the curve?

Patrick is back in the news, which always assures that the C-word will come into use.  I'm especially discouraged today because of the confluence of cheating scandals in all the major sports.  First chess:

A conspiracy theory about a player using vibrating anal beads to cheat has rocked the world of professional chess players for weeks — but the serious allegations are just as eyebrow-raising.

In a shock upset, 19-year-old Hans Niemann from the US defeated 31-year-old world champion Magnus Carlsen from Norway on Sept. 4 in the Sinquefield Cup, a $350,000 tournament in St. Louis. Carlsen withdrew from the tournament the following day — the first time he has ever dropped out of a competition — and tweeted a video of Portuguese soccer manager José Mourinho saying, “If I speak, I am in big trouble.”

I'm just hoping that no one has told Patrick....

As if that's not bad enough, we have this shocking news:

Irish dancing rocked by major allegations of competition fixing involving dance teachers and judges

 Employee No. 2 was unavailable for comment....

Now, perhaps you consider those fringe sports, or perhaps you're the kind of guy that doesn't want to consider vibrating anal beads with your morning croissant, but this one will rock you to the core:

It’s the biggest professional sports scandal you’ve never heard of.

Professional cornhole has been rocked by controversy after the top-ranked team was accused of using illegal bean bags at the 2022 American Cornhole League World Championships in August.

Dubbed “BagGate,” the now-infamous incident began when player Devon Harbaugh complained that rival opponents Mark Richards and Philip Lopez were using bags that were smaller than regulation during the finals, which were broadcasted live on ESPN from Rock Hill, South Carolina.

“I thought the bags were too thin,” Harbaugh told The Wall Street Journal — and he was right.

For a guy not inclined towards cynicism, I don't think I've been this disillusioned since I learned that Stacey Abrams isn't actually the governor of Georgia.  I haven't been able to confirm that Patrick is working on his cornhole toss, although cornhole draws substantially more viewers than LIV events.

Stay Tuned -This rumor has been making the rounds:

Speculation in Miami has linked Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Mito Pereira and Thomas Pieters with LIV. The loss of Cantlay and Schauffele would serve as a blow to the PGA Tour. Only a 72nd-hole disaster cost Pereira this year’s US PGA Championship. Pieters would ordinarily be in the mix for a place in Europe’s 2023 Ryder Cup team, a scenario that would be undermined by any switch to the Saudi Arabia-backed tour. LIV refuse to comment on individual discussions with players

Can you see now why I need that amusing bit above?  I mean, how would Jay withstand the loss of Mito?  There have been so many Mito rumors since February that to me it constitutes news that he hadn't turned yet...

It has seemed to me that either no one else significant goes, or that they all go.  And if these two cash the checks, Jay might well be reviewing architectural renderings to convert the Global Home into an assisted living facility.

I'll once again ask that depressing rhetorical question, how sure are we that we'll have a Ryder Cup this September?  That said, many of the recent rumors, can you say Rickie and Rahm, haven't panned out, at least not yet.

You're Gonna Need A Bigger Blog - So a while back we had this from Sergio:

Sergio Garcia says he has no regrets joining LIV Golf at the expense of the Ryder Cup

Now, you might assume that he did it for the money, but why the hate?  It turns out that he's just taking one for the team:

Sergio Garcia says he knew his decision to leave the PGA Tour and DP World Tour to join LIV Golf would likely impact his future in the Ryder Cup, where he had become a hero in 10

appearances. But with the tensions that have brewed between LIV golfers and players who have stayed on the traditional circuits, Europe’s all-time leading points scorer said Thursday he is comfortable stepping away from the team if it gives Europe a better chance of victory in Italy next September.

Garcia is no longer in a position to make the squad. The former Masters winner is set to lose his membership on the DP World Tour in 2023 after failing to play in enough events during the 2022 season. Without tour membership, he is ineligible to earn qualifying points or be one of captain Luke Donald’s six picks.

Finally, Sergio, we've found common ground.  You  have no regrets about squandering your reputation for thirty pieces of silver, and I have no regrets about you burying yourself on YouTube.

You'll not be surprised that this Gary Van Cynical item caught my eye:

Ranking Sergio Garcia’s Wild Tantrums, Epic Meltdowns and Controversial Moments

Let me put on a fresh pot of coffee, as we could be her for a while.  But while he professes his love for his former tour, this is actually a reminder of how he's treated them:

10. Garcia was a controversial participant in the 2022 BMW PGA Championship, as were 17 other LIV Golf players. Queen Elizabeth’s death postponed the second round so Garcia, who’d shot 76, withdrew without explanation and was next seen posing for photos at the Alabama-Texas football game across the ocean in Austin. Garcia thus wasted a spot that could’ve gone to first-alternate Alfredo Garcia-Heredia, a rising young player battling to keep his tour status and who is a close friend of Garcia’s favorite Ryder Cup partner, Jon Rahm. Too bad, Alfredo. Roll Tide …

I thought I was a bit of an expert on the Sergio oeuvre, but Gary has a couple I don't remember:

9. When his 7-iron shot came up short of the 3rd green in the 2012 U.S. Open at Olympic Club, Garcia swung the club in anger so hard at the ground that it chopped an ESPN tee-box microphone in half and, according to GolfCentralDaily, sent a blast measuring 225 decibels through the headphones of sound man Marty Bunkum, who was listening in the broadcast truck. Sergio bogeyed the hole. (“Speak up! My ears are still ringing! What’d you say C-3PO was doing with a pole?”)

8. After slipping on a tee shot at the 1999 World MatchPlay Championship at Wentworth, Garcia removed the offending shoe and angrily fired it against the tournament sponsor’s sign. His manager, Jose Marquina, dutifully retrieved it. Garcia then kicked the shoe, which just missed hitting the match referee in the face. Well, Sergio never was worth a damn on corner kicks …

To your humble blogger, one of the interesting subtexts to the LIV story is revisiting the extent to which both tours have covered for these a*****es, trying to convince us that they're great humanitarians.  They didn't fool me, but I suspect many folks are seeing these guys in a completely new light.

But the issue of the day is quite obvious, how do you decide which gest the gold among these two worthy entrants:

2. A writer for ESPN.com called it “gag-inducing” when Garcia spit into the cup at Doral’s 13th hole after missing a par putt during the 2007 CA Championship. Besides being disgusting and unhygienic, Garcia showed an utter lack of respect for his fellow pros the gallery, television viewers and golf. In a matter surely unrelated, Tiger Woods stretched his lead to four shots during that round en route to victory. Hereby dubbed The Clobber By The Slobber …

1. Garcia was disqualified from the 2019 Saudi International’s second round because of “serious misconduct” in which he intentionally damaged five greens with his clubs, badly scuffing five of them (marks equivalent to deer or camel tracks, a tournament official said) and taking a divot out of another. Just one day earlier, Garcia suffered a meltdown after a bad bunker shot, taking multiple manic swipes in the sand. Garcia, who’d received a large appearance fee to play, apologized for vandalizing the greens and said he accepted his disqualification. Yeah, as if you had a choice in the matter.

I think Gary misses the tip-in on both those.

In spitgate, the sine qua non of that disgusting act was his "nothing but net" excuse, to wit, his loogie was perfectly centered on the cup and therefore no other player risked contact with his bodily fluids.  No, seriously:

What, you thought I could make that up?

At the time of that Saudi incident, Sergio was whining about the quality of the greens.  Of course, you'll note that damaging them (and do take a moment to dwell on the fact that he did so to five greens, no heat of the moment reaction) rarely improves them.  But where is the one place Sergio will have to play having cashed that LIV check?  Yup, he'll have a chance to damage those greens on an annual basis, the best part being that no one will be watching.

Well, Bubba - This bit about the best players being underpaid has long rankled me, because of things like this Bubba disclosure:

Bubba Watson, like all players that made the move, received heavy criticism for taking money

from the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund when he left the PGA Tour behind for the Greg Norman-led LIV Golf Series.

The Telegraph reported the two-time Masters champion signed a $50-million contract with the upstart circuit.

Well, Watson has told ESPN that LIV isn’t the first golf league to offer him guaranteed money.

“It makes me laugh because on the PGA Tour, I got paid behind closed doors to show up at tournaments, many tournaments,” he said. “And if Bubba Watson’s not the best, that means the best were getting paid better than me and more than me. And so it’s guaranteed money. I miss the cut, I still make money. I make the cut, I make extra money.”

So I guess the issue is that they didn't pay you enough to miss the cut?  I think this is what he's talking about:

On Wednesday, ESPN reported it received a memo from the PGA Tour claiming it “prohibits the payment of appearance money to players as an inducement to play in a particular tournament.”

Later in the memo, the ESPN states that the Tour says it’s aware “certain tournament sponsors may contract with a player to perform a sponsor-related activity during tournament week for which they receive nominal compensation,” and that action is “permissible under our guidelines.”

The funny thing is that Bubba is very open about his faith, though he shows little interest in how Muslims view Christians (or, more specifically, how the Saudis treat their Christian minorities).  In fact, I'd love some enterprising reporter to ask if he's familiar with the concept of jizya. 

Day Of The... -  I promised you a Patrick item, but it might be getting just a tad personal:

Just over a month after Patrick Reed’s attorneys refiled a $750 million defamation lawsuit — adding Golf Channel’s Damon Hack, Shane Bacon, as well as Golfweek, columnist Eamon

Lynch and its parent company, Gannett — a new $250 million suit has been filed against a number of other prominent golf media members and organizations.

According to a release from Reed’s attorney, Larry Klayman, the new suit includes author Shane Ryan, Hachette, the New York Post and Fox Sports, as well as Associated Press golf writer Doug Ferguson and the organization for whom he works. Golfweek confirmed with the Middle District Court of Florida’s Jacksonville Division that the suit was filed this week.

Is it me, or has the rest of the world gone bat guano crazy?  As a public figure, you simply can't win a defamation suit, so I see no purpose herein.  

A while back we had the disclosure of a draft LIV contract, which had some surprising limitations on the players conduct:

The report continues by saying that players are asked not to give interviews related to an “event or league activity” without approval from LIV management. They also must help in the recruiting of other golfers to join LIV. The language in the contract specifies that players agree to “where requested, assist the League Operator in seeking to persuade players to enter into multiyear player participation agreements with the League Operator.”

The contract is structured so that players are defined as independent contractors, but it does state that the players must participate in all of LIV events, without the option to pick and choose an individual schedule. The contract also limited players' media rights, an interesting fact given that one of Mickelson’s chief complaints with the PGA Tour and one of the reasons he’d cited for considering joining LIV Golf was because of the tour’s restrictions on players’ media rights.

So, let me see if I have this right....  You're so worried about PR the guys need approval to speak to a reporter, but you have no problem with one of your players suing the entire golf media?  That's gonna garner all sorts of favorable ink, no?

But that's not the funny bit.... This statement from attorney Larry Klayman, who comes with enough baggage to fil the storage hold on the QEII) issued this statement that comes with a spit take warning:

“Mr. Reed, on behalf of himself, his family, and colleagues, simply will not take it anymore and he is fighting back in the courts to not just redeem his rightful reputation for honesty and superior golf achievements and successes, but also to protect his loved ones from the likes of Shane Ryan, Doug Ferguson and the rest of the jackals who make their sorry and pathetic living spreading lies and false information about him. These types of journalists, publishers and networks give the good ones a bad name, by publishing and broadcasting false information to the masses for their own financial gain to generate readers, viewership, clicks, and for no other reason than to use Mr. Reed callously and cruelly as a tool to make money, no matter how harmful it has been or will be to his career, his family, colleagues and his life.

“Let it be known that anyone who emulates Shane Ryan and the other defendants in these two lawsuits, in order to make a cheap profit and harm Mr. Reed, his family, and colleagues, will be held accountable under the letter of the law.”

I confess that the boldfacing is my own, but I simply can't stop laughing at the concept of PReed and Larry Klayman finding moral failings in others.... I can only assume that a similar lawsuit is in the works on Sergio's behalf.

More importantly, let's get discovery under way, shall we?  I really look forward to blogging the release of Patrick's PGA Tour disciplinary file, wherein we'll see who the real jackal may be.

That's it for today, kids.  Not bad, methinks, for a day on which I hadn't planned to blog....

Tuesday Trifles

Really, I'd like to ignore LIV for a day, but that would entail not blogging....  Unless you stopped by for a Mayakoba preview....

I Saw It On TV - I left a couple of thoughts hanging, but let's use this exhaustive ESPN piece to dive back in, first with their use of last weeks team event to frame LIV's status:

The light-hearted banter seemed like a lot of fun, but it also was a microcosm of one of the biggest criticisms of LIV Golf during its inaugural season. While golf has indeed been (much) louder on the

tour being funded by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, with music blaring from speakers on the driving range and musical acts like Nelly, Snoop Dogg and The Chainsmokers entertaining fans at tournaments, how serious are LIV Golf's (very) highly paid players about the actual golf?

With $50 million, the largest purse in professional golf history, on the line at the inaugural team championship, the players displayed a jarring dose of levity during the news conference. Three years ago, while Koepka was trying to win a third straight PGA Championship or U.S. Open, his intensity might have burned holes through reporters who asked about his chances of winning. He once said other PGA Tour players didn't like him because of his confidence.

Louder?  Well, perhaps on site, but for something so loud, not many seem to be hearing it:

A recent survey of golf fans by Golf Datatech, which provides market research to the golf

industry, found that only 12% of respondents watched the LIV Golf event outside Chicago on Sept. 16-18. The poll found that 80% of the respondents, which included 641 "serious golfers" who averaged 70 rounds per year, hadn't watched any of the LIV events. The poll was conducted Sept. 20-25.

According to data obtained by ESPN, the LIV Golf tournament outside Boston in early September averaged 114,000 concurrent viewers on YouTube in the final round. The average dropped to 20,000 concurrent viewers for the final round of the Bangkok event and 26,000 for the tournament in Saudi Arabia. By comparison, the final round of PGA Tour events this past season, excluding the majors, averaged about 2.6 million viewers on network TV.

About 72,000 people were watching on YouTube when Johnson made a short putt to win the team championship Sunday.

I can't hear you....

So, where do things stand on that front... Well, they're talking to folks:

Various published reports have noted that LIV Golf was unable to secure a media rights deal with multiple TV networks and popular sports streaming platforms such as ESPN+, Apple TV+ or Peacock. The TV networks that have traditionally broadcast professional men's golf -- ESPN, CBS Sports and NBC Sports -- struck a nine-year, $6.1 billion deal with the PGA Tour in March 2020.

On Sept. 27, Golfweek reported LIV Golf was close to finalizing a deal with Fox Sports 1 to purchase airtime to broadcast its events in the U.S. Two weeks earlier, Norman told an ESPN radio station in Chicago that the circuit was still talking to four different networks. In a statement, LIV Golf called the Golfweek report "incomplete and inaccurate."

At the CAA World Congress of Sports in New York on Oct. 11, Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks told Sports Business Journal reporter John Ourand that there was "not a lot of heat" around a potential media rights deal with LIV Golf.

I've done a Google search and the words "heat" and golf" do not appear anywhere in proximity on the World Wide Web, which fact the Saudis might have learned had they done any basic due diligence.

But there's lots more on this subject, none of which leads this observer to think there's a pot of gold to be had:

Sources told ESPN that purchasing airtime on a cable sports network to broadcast a golf tournament on the weekend might cost as much as $900,000 per hour. That doesn't include production costs, which are considered some of the most expensive in sports because of the number of cameras and personnel required to broadcast 18 holes. Sorour, the Golf Saudi CEO, suggested to the New Yorker that LIV Golf would create its own network if it couldn't find a partner in the U.S.

"If it was up to me, I'd make it in-house," Sorour said.

Khosla told ESPN that LIV Golf was still having conversations with linear and non-linear TV and streaming outlets in the U.S., and that the process would play itself out over the next few months. DeChambeau said LIV Golf didn't yet have a broadcast partner because of "strategic reasons," but didn't detail why.

"By next year, I wholeheartedly believe we will have a television partner," DeChambeau said.

Don't ya love that non-linear bit?  But perhaps now we understand the importance of the shotgun start, because shortening that broadcast window saves them $900,000 an hour.   But if loud is their M.O., this will generate suitably loud guffaws:

"There's entities out there in the U.S. that had to pay for their broadcasting at first, and then it's grown into something," Watson said. "We can sit here and name the entities that have done that and we all know who they are. [LIV Golf] is broadcast in many countries; people are loving it. I think we'll get there."

In the past, there have been examples of brokered programming in sports, in which leagues paid a TV network for airtime, including Major League Soccer, various iterations of professional football leagues not named the NFL, auto racing and professional wrestling. But none of them were paying the exorbitant salaries LIV Golf is doling out -- or the enormous purses. During next year's 14-tournament schedule, LIV golfers will compete for $405 million, $150 million more than they did this season.

These guys are a riot.... To be fair, they are putting their money where their mouth is, following that USFL playbook faithfully.  Fortunately, they seem poised to win their antitrust lawsuit around, checking notes, 2034, whereupon they can collect their $1 in damages.... And really, who doesn't love that USFL call-out with Herschel Walker back in the news?

Sponsor This - Obviously, the world's most prestigious companies are lining up to have their names linked to the bonecutters:

As far as sponsorships, Khosla said LIV Golf has entertained various potential partners at its events. Up until this point, the circuit had just one presenting sponsor: ROSHN, Saudi Arabia's leading real estate developer, which is also largely funded by the Public Investment Fund. As part of the Saudi Vision 2030 campaign, which seeks to reduce the country's dependence on oil and diversify its economy, ROSHN hopes to bring home ownership to 70% of the population by 2030.

"It takes time to convince people that this is here to stay, which I believe we have done," Khosla said. "We are launching the league next year with 12 teams. Those are all fundamentals that we have to establish. And then I think brands come on board because they see what the product is."

Gee, the product is, checking notes, golf.  Strike that, the product is meaningless, exhibition golf, so the sky is the limit...

Econ 101 - They are spreading it around with alarming haste:

MONEY HAS BEEN flowing on the LIV Golf circuit this year. Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, which reportedly manages $620 billion in assets, was prepared to dump at least $784 million into its new sporting venture in its inaugural season, according to an LIV Golf news release earlier this year.

But LIV Golf president and COO Atul Khosla, a former executive with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, told ESPN that total expenditures have actually been much more than that. The $784 million total includes employee salaries, build-outs at tournaments and production costs for broadcasting LIV events on social media and its official website.

Haven't they spent more than that on just their broadcast team?  I mean, you think Feherty comes cheaply?

But the commitments dwarf that paltry sum:

That total does not include the guaranteed, multiyear contracts for players, which might be at least one-third of that. Along with DeChambeau's whopping contract, the PIF has reportedly bankrolled as much as $200 million for six-time major champion Phil Mickelson, at least $150 million for Johnson and at least $100 million for reigning Open Championship winner Cameron Smith. LIV Golf officials declined to provide details of the players' contracts.

Aside from the headliners, enough money was offered to lure former major championship winners Sergio Garcia, Reed and Louis Oosthuizen away from the PGA Tour. Chile's Joaquin Niemann and Mexico's Abraham Ancer were ranked among the top 25 players in the Official World Golf Ranking when they defected to LIV Golf.

Spending so much to lure players away from the PGA Tour was the cost of doing business, Khosla said.

"I'm not sure if everyone has sort of understood that when you have a startup, when you disrupt a space, it's no different than I would imagine, you know, decades ago, Amazon coming in and disrupting the book industry at that point in time, or Uber coming in and disrupting something else," Khosla said. "There is capital required. There's a burn rate required. There's a tenacity that's required to work through the first couple of years. That's what we are, that's what we're doing."

But this is all just business, right?

Khosla insists LIV Golf isn't some sort of college football NIL collective wildly spending millions of dollars for players with no financial concern. Majed Al Sorour, CEO of the Saudi Golf Federation and a high school friend of Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, told The New Yorker that the PIF had funding for LIV Golf through 2025. At some point, Khosla knows, the Saudis will expect a return on their investment.

"We report into a board, and that's the expectation," Khosla said.

Yeah, and how do they ever see that?  

Obviously the reason there's little network or sponsor interest is that there's no return to be realized, a huge caution flag the Saudis are ignoring.  Although, before getting to their yield expectations, they actually go here:

Will the Saudis play with their new toy for a couple of years, lose interest and move on?

"I don't believe that at all," Khosla said. "You know, they are prudent investors. They've made investments all over the world, many in the United States, with great American companies. We are clearly viewed in that lens."

Oh yeah, even more amusing than their fever dream is that the ESPN reporter added this little nugget:

Just in August, the Public Investment Fund spent another $7.6 billion on shares in U.S. companies like Amazon, Home Depot, Microsoft and Zoom.

Oh, I get it, LIV is just like Amazon.  

The Payoff -  The financial delusions are laugh-out-loud funny, as back here on Planet Earth we deal with economic reality as we find it.  I don't think you need my financial acumen to instinctively realize that you can't pay a 50-something year old Phil Mickelson $200 million large and generate a return on that investment.  Maybe if he was producing porn, but certainly nothing that involves a golf club in his hands will accomplish that.

So, what financial alchemy do they contemplate?

LIV GOLF'S VISION for 2023 and beyond is as bold as Saudi Arabia's. LIV Golf will transform into a league next year and play a 14-tournament schedule. The league will be built on a franchise model, in which top players will own 25% of their teams and the league will keep 75%. It will be the captain's responsibility to sell sponsorships for his team, while LIV Golf will also be seeking leaguewide partnerships with advertisers and sponsors of its own. Starting next season, LIV's teams will operate as independent entities, with LIV Golf providing some support for their operations, but teams will be responsible for their travel, lodging, physical trainers, coaches and other expenses. Teams can also generate revenue through their own merchandise sales and apparel deals.

Watson said he plans to build his team like a franchise in any other sport. He'll have a president, general manager and support team in place. Watson already plans to change the name of his team, which is currently being called the Niblicks, after the early golf clubs that were the equivalent of modern-day wedges or 9-irons.

The author is named Mark Schlaback, unknown to your humble blogger, but seems actually to be on the Saudi's payroll with that lede above.  Because that bold Saudi vision seems to still include mass beheadings and a deepening alliance with the Russinas.

But maybe I'm selling these guys short, because this is clearly some next-gen thinking from a noted visionary:

"We're gonna just start making a team," Watson said. "We're gonna start having our own logo, like the Yankees [and] the Lakers, all the teams that we're used to seeing with that logo. That's what we're trying to do. We're trying to create a league just like the NBA, just like Major League Baseball, just like the NFL."

Watson, 43, also envisions a day when he'll step away from his franchise, sell his stakes and turn it over to another golfer.

OMG!  A logo?  Well, that changes everything....

And not just that visionary is on board:

DeChambeau has an even bigger vision for his franchise, which is currently called Crushers GC. His long-term plans include junior golf academies, fitness and sports complexes, and maybe even his own golf course. He believes having Anirban Lahiri on his team will open opportunities in India that he otherwise wouldn't have.

"One of the reasons why I picked Anirban is he's a huge player in the Indian market, and we want to help go over there and grow golf-build driving ranges, maybe even golf courses," DeChambeau said. "The real estate over there is very difficult to acquire because of how jampacked it is. There's opportunities to not only take certain players but utilize them in a positive way in their area of the globe."

I see no downside to Bryson fully committing to that Indian golf market, because no one ever thought of that.

Settling Scores - Everything old is new again, but it's always helpful to remind ourselves of who these guys are.  I'm simply going to excerpt this story from 1994:

It's not the first time the 67-year-old Australian, widely known as the "Shark," has attempted to convince golfers to break away from the PGA Tour. Before the Shark Shootout at Sherwood

Country Club in Thousand Oaks, California, in November 1994, Norman invited the tour's top players to a closed-door meeting to hear his plans for an eight-tournament circuit that would begin play the next year. Fox Network had signed a 10-year deal with a management company to stage eight tournaments, in which 30 to 40 players would compete for $3 million purses.

Jacobsen, a seven-time winner on the PGA Tour, was among what he believes were 15 to 18 players in the meeting that day.

"My partner was Arnold Palmer," Jacobsen said.

"When we got up there, [Norman] presented us with a schedule of events around the world. Tournaments in places like Singapore and Hong Kong and Montreal and Johannesburg, places all around the world. He was talking about this series of tournaments and how we were all invited to play."

Jacobsen remembers someone -- but doesn't remember who, nearly 28 years later -- asking Norman how they were going to secure releases from the PGA Tour to play.

"Maybe you misunderstand, we're going to renounce our PGA Tour membership and join this tour," Norman told the players in the room, according to Jacobsen.

"The temperature in the room dropped by around 15 degrees," Jacobsen said.

Palmer, who won 62 times on tour, including seven majors, was the next person to speak up.

"How many times do you think we were offered the opportunity to leave the tour and create our own?" Palmer asked Norman.

"Probably quite a few times," Norman replied.

"And do you know why we didn't?" Palmer asked him. "It's bad for golf, bad for the players and I don't want anything to do with it."

According to Jacobsen, Palmer got up and walked out.

The obvious difference this time being the Saudi's willingness to fund all that guaranteed money.  Funny thing is that that same Peter Jacobson had this astute observation earlier in the piece:

"The world of golf is way overreacting to this LIV thing," said former PGA Tour player Peter Jacobsen, now a commentator for NBC Sports and Golf Channel.

"It's not a threat to the PGA Tour. It's a threat to the players' careers that are leaving. It's almost like they're retiring from golf. They're highly paid and highly skilled -- and the outcome is of no consequence."

Well, it's a bit of a threat to the ecosystem, though I agree with his competitive assessment.

Predictions Are Hard - Really, only the ones about the future.... So, whither LIV?

This guys isn't exactly an impartial observer:

When former U.S. President Donald Trump walked off the 18th green during Thursday's LIV Golf Pro-Am at a golf course he owned, he complimented the Saudis for what they're doing in men's professional golf.

"It's big time and it's big-time money," Trump said. "It's unlimited money."

Trump also suggested LIV Golf wasn't done luring away top PGA Tour players. He hosted LIV Golf's third event at his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey. There's also speculation another one of his courses, Trump National outside Washington, D.C., will join the LIV Golf schedule next season.

"A lot of other people are coming over," Trump said. "Big names, they're coming over. The star system is very important in sports. If you don't have the star system, you're not going to be successful."

I understand it's going to be YUUUGE!  But, are a lot of folks heading that way?  If the money is truly unlimited they just might, though there's a bit of a logjam, no?  

Even if true, and the rumor mill has bene fairly quiet, their best case scenario seems problematic for a few reasons:

• A few more $100 million contracts just pushes that return on investment further down the road;
• Can you say "relegation"?  I thought you could, but that 48 player cap gets awkward as well.

What I think we'll find is that certain players, can you hear me Phil, will have contracts that preclude relegation, and that will further undermine any sense of competitive relevance to their events.  There's all sorts of happy talk about relegation and transfer windows and the like, but just give me enough notice to have the corn popped when Sergio gets relegated....

Eamon Lynch has his own predictions, and Nostradamus' reputation isn't theratened:

Lynch: As LIV Golf's season winds down, the propaganda war is just getting started

You're way out on that limb here, Eamon.  He has some easy fun with the hostage videos:

Friday brought a deluge of social media posts by players declaring their happiness, excitement,

gratitude and amazement at LIV’s growth and game-changing impact. Their dispatches bore all the spontaneity and authenticity of hostage tapes, albeit from willing and well-compensated captives.

“What an amazing year it’s been. Game-changing,” wrote Sergio Garcia.

“Incredible to see LIV grow the sport,” added Louis Oosthuizen.

“This was an amazing year and can’t wait for the next years to come. I’m super honored to be part of Fireballs.” That from Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra. Fireballs refers to his team and not to the missiles his employer has been raining upon Yemeni civilians since the Spaniard was 14 years old.

I'm old enough to remember when this was one of the good guys out there:

“Making the jump into a start up product like LIV and seeing it grow so much, so quickly has been exciting and rewarding to be part of,” wrote Graeme McDowell. His followers seemed unconvinced. “Are they literally standing over you with the sabre when ‘you’ write this crap?” one replied.

 No, that's the great thing, seeing how easily these guys can be bought.  

Anyway, Eamon keeps dishing:

The worldwide viewing audience for LIV events is often comparable to the number of Super Bowl viewers who might die of natural causes before the halftime show, and that in turn is a multiple of the number of spectators on site. Tickets to the game-changing event that’s growing the sport this weekend in Miami were being sold—or, more accurately, were available—for $4 on the secondary market. There’s no TV deal, despite LIV negotiating to buy time on Fox Sports for its product, and no major sponsors eager to don a hazmat suit and climb aboard the Good Ship Shark. Those touting LIV as a rousing success are paid by LIV, or aspire to be. Beyond that congregation, believers are harder to come by.

A day may arrive when LIV becomes the success that its paid endorsers and would-be bootlickers claim it already is. But for now, the only storyline it has is money. That grants LIV staying power—so long as it suits the whims of its isolated, mercurial benefactor—but sports fans tend not to grant allegiance to cash-centric enterprises (Jay Monahan would be advised to note that this is as true of FedEx Cup payouts as it is of LIV purses).

I think Eamon actually tripped himself up there.   The FedEx Cup is a hot mess and deserving of Eamon's vitriol, but the target really is the guaranteed money.  As incoherent and silly as the FedEx is (and LIV's events as well), at least it's actually earned on the golf course.

But one could almost get the sense that Eamon isn't a fan of the Wahabis:

This weekend’s conclusion of the LIV season won’t herald an interval in the accompanying theatrics. Expect rumors of fresh defections, more threats of litigation, increased bluster, more frequent claims of conspiracies. But there will also be a steady drumbeat for a deal to end the rancor. It won’t emanate only from those with no stomach for a fight and who want an exit ramp to easy street, but also from industry figures who sense an opportunity to suction Saudi money and who need to first position their avarice as an act of conciliation for the good of the sport.

Beware the approaching troupe of ethical acrobats who try to convince us that long-term commerce can’t be hostage to short-term concerns, like bonesaw murders and rights abuses. They represent the final push of Saudi propaganda, outwardly respectable moral ciphers whose aim is to exhaust doubters and critics to a point where accommodations can be reached and checks cashed. A long winter lies ahead.

And what happens when they tire of their new toy?  has anyone asked Phil?

LIV/Not LIV - An awkward segue to a non-LIV item, though of course it's LIV-influenced:

PGA Tour is looking at quicker routes for elite college players to reach the big leagues

I won't have time to do it justice, but one of the long-term grievances I have with Ponte Vedra Beach is the negative effect the Tour has had on the amateur game.  Most notably, the elimination of PGA Tour Q-School (what I've called indentured servitude on the Korn Ferry Tour), has pushed young players to turn professional earlier in the year, severely diminishing the U.S. Amateur most notably.

The reality doesn't quite live up to the header, because they're structuring this to have only the most limited impact:

In the first scenario, the No. 1 player in the final PGA Tour University Ranking, which identifies the top seniors in each class, would be eligible, following the NCAA Championship in June, to receive membership on the PGA Tour. He would be placed at the end of the Korn Ferry Tour category and be subject to reshuffle. The memo said the “benefits would commence this season with the class of 2023 with access for 2024 and beyond to be evaluated with the PAC and Player Directors.”

In the second proposal, which seeks to “ensure that a unique talent has an accelerated pathway to the PGA Tour,” top underclassmen could advance by achieving key benchmarks in the college, amateur and professional ranks. Points would be accumulated based on top collegiate awards, amateur wins, career-best World Amateur Golf Rankings position, and performance in PGA Tour events, including majors.

To provide context in its memo, the tour said that, since 2010, three underclassmen would have qualified via the second pathway. The tour did not identify the three golfers.

Sheesh!  Given that they just offered ten Tour cards to keep Keith Pelley's ragtag crew in the fold, this seems quite chintzy.

Splitsville -  No, not a Tom and Giselle story, but I thought those days were behind her:

Lydia Ko parted ways last month with instructor Sean Foley. The former world No. 1 took to Instagram to make the announcement, noting that they decided to go their own ways as a coach

and player for “logistical reasons,” but that Foley will always remain a close friend and mentor.

“When I first met Sean, I was in a place where I didn’t have a lot of confidence in myself and in my game,” Ko wrote. “Over the past two years he has helped me evolve as a better player and person. Our time together was full of so much learning, laughter.”

Ko, 25, recently won at the BMW Ladies Championship in South Korea for her 18th career title, calling this her most consistent year yet. A two-time winner this season, Ko leads the LPGA in scoring, and she leads the Rolex Player of the Year race with 11 top-5 finishes in 20 starts.

Currently No. 3 in the world, Ko was ranked outside the top 50 when she began working with Foley during the summer of 2020.

Weird timing, eh?  She went through that period of firing everybody, though that seemed to be when things weren't going well.  But why now, and what the heck does "logistical reasons' mean?

So, just a brief history of her swing instructors:

Now, with a chance to become No. 1 again for the first time since 2017, she continues a new chapter with only a handful of events left in the season. Ko’s sister and manager Sura told Golfweek that Ko has been casually working with instructor Ted Oh again, but nothing is yet full time. Ko first started working with Oh ahead of the 2018 season.

Ko worked with Jorge Parada prior to Foley. Her list of former instructors also includes David Whelan, Gary Gilchrist and David Leadbetter. As an amateur, she worked with New Zealand’s Guy Wilson.

Perhaps it would have been easier to list those with whom she hasn't worked?  To be hired by Lydia merely starts the clock ticking towards your dismissal, but that seems to go for caddies, managers and pretty much everyone in Lydia's life.

So, perhaps I'm too cynical, but there was this news a few months back:

Speculation has swirled for about a month, but Lydia Ko has finally confirmed that she had gotten engaged. Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols saw that Ko spoke about her engagement during a press conference at a Ladies Asian Tour event in Indonesia.

The 25-year-old from New Zealand is set to marry Chung Jun, according to The Korean Herald. His father is vice chairman of Hyundai Card, a major credit-card company.

Mr. Jun, you should consider the position temporary.....

I'll catch you later in the week, although I'm not exactly sure when.  To be safe, check back early and often...