Weekend Wrap - Long, Strange Trip Edition

Well, this has certainly been fun....  Employee No. 2 and I were both whacked pretty hard by the Covid thing (she uses a scatological reference to describe her reaction), but I'm hoping that we're at long last coming out of it.

But I'm unclear as to its effect on my blogging.... For instance, did I hear that a college sophomore won a PGA Tour event, or is that just some bizarre Wuhan Flu fever dream?

The Kids Are All Right - Amusingly, this had folks curious and/or upset earlier in the week:

The American Express golf tournament rarely gives one of its coveted sponsor exemptions to an amateur, but Nick Dunlap is a rare amateur.

Dunlap, a 20-year-old sophomore at the University of Alabama, won the U.S. Amateur last year in Denver and two years after he won the U.S. Junior Amateur at Pinehurst in 2021. Only one other golfer has pulled off the U.S. Junior Amateur-U.S. Amateur double: A guy named Tiger Woods.

This week’s PGA event, which begins Thursday in La Quinta, California, will be the fourth professional event Dunlap has played in. He’s played in the last two U.S. Opens and the 2023 Butterfield Bermuda Championship. So even though he’s performed on the sport’s biggest stage, he’s still thrilled to get the invite to The American Express.

I'm easy, as I can live with just about any sponsor's exemptions not named John Daly..... 

But how had those prior experiences gone?

Tournament executive director Pat McCabe said giving Dunlap one of the event’s eight sponsor’s exemptions was a pretty easy call.

“I just think it’s important to give these decorated young players opportunities like this,” McCabe said. “It will be fun to see him out there playing with the pros at a PGA event. We’re excited to have him here.”

Dunlap did not make the cut in his other three pro tournaments, so that’s a streak he’d like to see end this week. He feels like his game suits the three courses used in the event, and his secret weapon on the bag is former assistant coach Hunter Hamrick.

As long as the kid knows his place and is gone by Sunday.....What?  The ingrate!

Having seen a bit of his U.S. Amateur win, I pretty much knew the kid was gonnna be a stud.  What I didn't fully understand is that, at age 20, he already is.... Now I didn't see all that much of his day, though the break between those NFL games (gee, kids, are we over the Bills?) allowed me to see him finish.  Unfortunately, it also allowed me to see Sam Burns finish, who might actually be the Josh Allen of professional golf.  

I didn't see his double-bogey on No. 7, but I did catch the bounce-back birdie on No. 8, which told me he wasn't going away.  For most of the remainder of the round it felt like he would come up just short, and maybe that helped him manage his way around PGA West?  

Shall we dive into the Tour Confidential panel?

1. Nick Dunlap, a 20-year-old amateur making his fourth career PGA Tour start, made history at the American Express. He shot 60 on Saturday (tying the lowest round by an amateur in PGA Tour history) and then closed with a 70 on Sunday to win by one and become the first amateur to win on Tour since Phil Mickelson in 1991. How in the world did he do it?

By posting the low number?  Just spitballin' here.... 

James Colgan: He did it by being — by a relatively wide margin — the best player in the field this week. All weekend long he displayed the mix of shotmaking skill and ice-cold putting that have turned golfers into very wealthy golfers for as long as time. And, considering his name now sits alongside those like Mickelson and Woods, I think it’s fair to suggest Dunlap could be a very wealthy golfer very soon.

The Tiger shout-out is odd, given that that connection relates to them being the only men to win both a Junior and an Amateur, which is both a mere oddity and also has nothing to do with the events of this week.  As one commentator noted, the odd thing about Tiger's unprecedented amateur career is how poorly he played when teeing it up in professional events.  Odd, given that once he started cashing checks, it took an hour-and-a-half for him to own them. 

Josh Sens: So much comes down to the mental game. Dunlap said he thought of the pressure as a

privilege. That’s easy to say. But he played like he believed it.

Alan Bastable: It was another reminder that today’s top college players are unafraid to embrace big moments at the pro level. I was so impressed not only by Dunlap’s game but also by his maturity. In his post-round pressers, he sounded like he’d been there before. And as Josh said, he oozed self-belief. As Dunlap himself said Sunday evening, “I felt the script today was already written.” Pretty cool. One thing that really surprised me, though: Dunlap’s admission that he thought he had a two-shot lead as he played the 72nd hole. How he could have been misinformed on such critical information felt like a strategic gaffe that could have come back to bite him.

Misinformed?  Does Alan not understand how golf tournaments are conducted?  He's hitting on an interesting moment,  but he can't be bothered listening to the broadcast?  His colleague James Colgan provides the explanation:

As Golf Channel broadcaster Steve Burkowski and analyst Brandel Chamblee watched the 20-year-old think through his crucial 72nd hole, they seemed terrified to address the truth: Dunlap was about to hit the biggest shot of his entire life with less knowledge about the current

competitive situation than any fan with a stable internet connection standing within 10 feet of him.

“He doesn’t know the score,” Chamblee said. “He can’t.”

Eventually, he settled on a club and smoked an iron well right, striking a fan and miraculously dribbling past the greenside bunker. The strategy, he said later, was simple: “just don’t hit it in the water.”

It wasn’t until after he cleared the fairway that word finally reached Dunlap himself: his lead was only one. Those of us watching at home let out audible yelps of relief when Dunlap’s approach came to rest in a collection area just off the back side of the green. He had managed to avoid the doomsday scenario dreaded by every golfer since the beginning of time: losing a game of leaderboard bingo.

Your humble blogger has two reactions, the first is to note how recent this concept of always knowing where you stand is in the history of our game.   If you read accounts of Bobby Jones or Ben Hogan you will quickly realize that the players had little understanding of what other players had done.

Perhaps the most famous example of this is Sam Snead coming to his final hole in the 1939 U.S. Open believing he needed a birdie to win.  He played the hole aggressively, found two bunkers, and made a triple-bogey.  Not only would a bogey have won it, but Snead never won an Open. But this was professional golf for its first 100 years until the age of television.

But the second point to make is that sometimes it doesn't matter.  In this case, he really only could play the shot the way he did (he got a bit lucky in how it bounced), both because of the water and to ensure that a playoff would be his worst possible outcome.

Gee, here's a tough question:

2. Dunlap had an impressive resume prior to this week, as just last summer he became the second golfer ever (joining Tiger Woods) to win both the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Junior Am. Now, with this win under his belt, is he the frontrunner to be the game’s next star?

Colgan: Yep. There’s been an awesome youth movement in the pro game over the last several years, but no one has entered the sport with more momentum than Dunlap. Hovland, Wolff, Morikawa, and Scheffler all entered with huge hype, but nobody’s quite done anything like this. We’re witnessing something seriously rare.

Sens: Agreed. It’s a fickle game and nothing is guaranteed. But as spectacular as this was, there was also nothing fluky about it. No reason to think there won’t be more if the same to come.

Bastable: Lol, he’s already a PGA Tour winner — who you gonna put ahead of him?! Speaking of Tiger, I loved what Dunlap said about how chasing Tiger’s records will motivate him: “I know that’s an extremely high bar, and I don’t know if that comes off really cocky or not, but for me that’s something.” Nobody’s expecting Dunlap to put up Woodsian numbers but you have to appreciate him setting the bar high for himself. Going to be very fun to track his development.

Any dolt answering in the negative would lose his journalism license, though the guy that should is the one that wrote the question.  First, we'll stipulate that the kid is a stud, but our TC panel can't bothered with the most pressing issue.... Anyone remember the final scene of the movie, The Candidate?

The American Express champion Nick Dunlap has a big decision to make – to turn pro or not to turn pro.

The first amateur to win on the PGA Tour since Phil Mickelson in 1991 is exempt on the PGA Tour through the 2026 season, so technically there’s no rush. But if he turns pro, he’s also exempt into the remaining seven signature events this season, several of which are limited field, no-cut events with purses of at least $20 million (as well as The Sentry in 2025). It’s a no-brainer for the Alabama sophomore, right?

And you probably thought you didn't need another reason to hate Tiger and Rory's money grab?  But you were misinformed...

But nothing is simple in this golf world right now..... who was the last amateur to win on Tour?  Anyone know where that guy is playing these days?

There is, of course, a wild card to be considered in all of this. There’s no doubt that LIV Golf will circle with a lucrative offer that will make him think twice about whether he wants to try to win a ring or have a bank account with Saudi-funded generational wealth.

During a virtual press conference I asked Dunlap if he or his representatives have been contacted by LIV, and if so, does he have any interest in competing in the league?

“As of right now I have no idea, I really don’t,” he said.

He shared that he is represented by GSE and agent Kevin Canning, who Dunlap said worked a deal for Jason Kokrak to go to LIV. GSE also represents Bryson DeChambeau and numerous of their clientele jumped to LIV for big bucks.

Another fine mess you've gotten us into, Jay!

Two last bits before we move on from Coachella.  First, the TC panel had this on the latest audition:

4. NBC’s lead analyst “tryout” continued at the American Express, this time with Brandel Chamblee getting his spot in the chair. What did you think of Brandel in that role? And was he different — for better or for worse — than the studio-analyst version golf fans are used to?

Colgan: I expanded on this further in the Hot Mic newsletter, but I was seriously impressed with

Brandel’s work. Made me feel smarter for watching, and rose to the moment following Dunlap’s win. I think he should be a serious consideration for the lead analyst chair.

Sens: Chamblee is better known for deep-dive pre and post-round analyses. But he was especially good at being Johnny-on-the-spot this week. His commentary was clear, concise and insightful throughout. You could say he benefited from being handed a great story. But, as they say of clutch golfers, he also met the moment. I say hire the man for the hot-seat role.

Bastable: Full disclosure: I was able to watch only on Sunday afternoon, but during that stretch Chamblee sounded prepared and at ease. I didn’t hear any vintage Chamblee analysis or candor that might make for Monday-morning blog-post fodder, but no doubt those nuggets would come if he gets tapped for the job.

I'm more than a little surprised that Brandel wants the gig.... Were I him, I think I'd would bitterly cling to the cushy studio and Live From gig.   Not sure I watched enough to trust my opinion, but he was fine.  He's a little prone to hyperbola, not least when he declared that a massive drive by DJ at Kapalua to be the best drive ever in a significant professional event.  Did I mention that it was at Kapalua?  One of these days I'll stop laughing....

A million dollar putt is almost a cliché for these entitle brats, but in this case it comes with a heck of a twist:

Christiaan Bezuidenout drains million-dollar putt on 72nd hole, claims first-place money for second-place finish

Are we at the point where we have to collectively agree on how to pronounce the guy's name?

Other Results -  The TC panel came up with quite the way of dissing the rest of the golf world, combining these two events into one meager question:

3. Who had the other most impressive, or important, finish on Sunday: Rory McIlroy, who won the Dubai Desert Classic after letting a different tournament title slip through the cracks a week earlier? Lydia Ko, who was winless on the LPGA Tour last year but won the season-opener on Sunday? Or Justin Thomas, who finished T3 at the AmEx, after he had just two top 5s all of last season?

Have our expectations for JT been so reduced that we're celebrating him coming within two strokes of a 20-year old kid that hasn't started shaving yet?  If I'm JT, I am royally pissed at that question...

Colgan: Rory! Who quickly flipped the narrative after last week’s struggles in Dubai into a conversation about how he’s had two top-2 finishes in two starts this year. But to your point, seeing both JT and Rory card some strong early-season finishes fuels some major optimism for the year ahead. I’m giddy.

Rory winning a meaningless event on a soft desert course flips your script?  Are you sure you're in the right line of work?  After the back-door top ten at the masters, this is Rory's signature move.

Sens: Call me biased, as Ko is my favorite golfer on any tour. But she had such a perplexingly poor 2023, coupled with caddie and swing coach changes. I’d argue that her return to the

winner’s circle is more striking than either Rory or JT’s play — Rory has long been hot and cold from one event to the next. And Thomas was showing signs of revival before this week.

Bastable: Yeah, a January win in the Middle East for Rory doesn’t exactly get my motor running. I’m with Sens. Ko is a huge asset for the women’s game, both on and off the course (she’s always elite in the press room), so her return to form is a big deal for the women’s game. Here’s hoping this week portends more success to come in ‘24.     

Of course it has to be Lydia, because of her potentially outsized importance to the LPGA (and the LPGA's greater need for visibility).  Plus, I still kinda have that thing for her, though I remain convinced that losing the glasses is when it all went bad for her.

The Road Ahead - Anyone have a clue as to what comes next?  Because we are in quite the weird interregnum, no?

Not gonna push myself too hard here, but the big news is the allegations that surfaced last week against the man of the hour, Yasir al-Rumayyan.  Eamon Lynch does with it what Eamon Lynch does:

During whatever passes for his quiet moments these days, Jay Monahan must yearn for the time when his news consumption was principally focused on the sports and business pages, those

being the areas most consequential to his remit as commissioner of the PGA Tour. Nowadays, he must also turn to international affairs, one assumes with a knot in his gut at what might await.

This week, one dispatch was downright ulcerative.

A lawsuit accused the Tour’s soon-to-be partner, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, of taking part in a malicious campaign to punish a dissident defector whose children have been imprisoned for four years without due process. Allegations leveled in lawsuits are often hyperbolic, of course. Many colorful claims evaporate when oaths are administered or are dismissed with something approximating derision by a court, at least in the case of one chap who seems to think that both jurisprudence and the rules of golf are matters of personal interpretation.

Why, is this a problem?  certainly I see a fit with Patrick Reed and Pat Perez..... as for Phil, by now they're soul mates.

Eamon actually provide more background on the participants:

On paper, Al-Rumayyan’s latest entanglement could be viewed as a squabble between stooges for a despotic government. His accuser is Dr Saad Aljabri, the former chief of Saudi intelligence. Aljabri claims that companies under Al-Rumayyan’s control have been used to apply pressure on his family, and it’s not the first time an asset in the PIF portfolio has been implicated in nefarious activity. A charter jet company seized by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and transferred to Al-Rumayyan’s fund was later alleged to have been used in the murder of Washington Post writer Jamal Khashoggi. There has been no suggestion that Al-Rumayyan was involved in that gruesome act, but there’s still reason for his business associates to be apprehensive.

Al-Rumayyan enjoys a reputation as a sophisticated, savvy dealmaker (his bankrolling of Greg Norman’s ego notwithstanding) but he’s like everyone else in Saudi Arabia’s state apparatus: a factotum for MBS. These are not people likely to demur if called upon to act on a matter close to the Crown Prince’s heart. There’s evidence of what MBS has been known to ask of loyalists — particularly those who have demonstrated proficiency with a bonesaw — so anyone who is in business with the Saudi fund can’t delay scanning the international news section until after they’re done with the funnies.

How lucky for them that no one is too despicable for the Patrick Cantlays of the world to cash their checks....

 I'm just going to keep copying-and-pasting Eamon's rant:

Whatever troublesome relationships the Tour has encountered in the past — say, a sponsoring bank that defrauds customers (Wells Fargo) or an occasional Ponzi schemer (Allen Stanford) — the wrongdoing wasn’t known in advance of contracts being signed. No blissful ignorance defense exists when it comes to the sovereign wealth fund of a government with a lousy human rights record. Nor does this situation mirror Saudi involvement in other sports, like F1 or cricket. There’s an enormous difference between sponsorship and ownership, and if agreement is reached with PIF, the U.S. and European tours — and the private investors of Strategic Sports Group — risk having to ‘own’ more than mere equity. Harvard Business School can’t teach one how to predict the perils of a direct relationship with an autocratic regime headed by a capricious prince who doesn’t take well to criticism. But then, it shouldn’t have to.

A blueprint exists in how to handle proximity to abuses, though. It has been furnished by the LIV golfers who slavishly refer to Al-Rumayyan as His Excellency, often shortened to “H.E.” in a hollow attempt to suggest familiarity that elevates them above serf status. The strategy is to brazen it out, prevaricate if questioned, insist the association is strictly commercial, and repeatedly point to other entities that also take Saudi investment. It works. The past few years have proven that revenue is exculpatory in the minds of many, based on the wretched assumption that everyone would overlook cruelties for cash if presented the option.

If a day arrives when Monahan is forced to explain his organization’s adjacency to another Saudi outrage, it shouldn’t be overlooked that this partnership wasn’t brought about by the imperial ambitions of executives in Ponte Vedra or Wentworth. It’s happening because the best players in the world feel entitled to compensation beyond their worth in any rational market. By presenting a ransom demand that only the Saudis will pay, golfers on the PGA Tour are forcing a deal that absolves them of individual decision-making responsibility. And if there’s a reputational price to be paid for that later, well, it’s like bad yardages or swing slumps. Someone else will take the fall.

But Eamon, you're forgetting the best part.  They're jumping into bed with the bonecutters after Tiger and Rory used the threat to carve the rank and file out of the vast riches.  Between the PIP program and the limited fields in the ultra-rich Signature Events, approximately twenty players have stake a preemptive claim on the Saudi riches, to fend off a threat that allegedly doesn't exist any longer.  So, why aren't we unwinding those arrangements?

That sound you hear is Rahm Emanuel asking, "Why didn't I think of this?"

Yanno that part above where Eamon says the players feel entitled to riches above and beyond their value?  here's their value:

No golf telecasts were in the top 100 sports broadcasts in 2023.

With 12.1 million viewers (golf's most-watched event), the final round of the Masters was the 131st-most-viewed sporting event: https://t.co/akRTR7xhPR

— Josh Carpenter (@JoshACarpenter) January 5, 2024

That's the Masters, which dwarfs all other golf broadcasts.  I only wish we had been provided with the largest audience for an actual PGA Tour event, which might well not have been in the top 200.

Patrick and his wingmen simply refuse to be bound by economic reality..... and Jay isn't gonna let that get in the way of a deal.

Along these lines is this piece from Ewan Murray in the Guardian, the most interesting bits being the Saudi's investment in a Premiere League club:

In Newcastle, discourse surrounds whether Eddie Howe can retain his job or whether an injury crisis and the demands associated with Champions League football mean the manager has legitimately extenuating circumstances for a Premier League position of 10th. Just as well for Howe he isn’t dealing with ruthless overlords. Newcastle’s followers are audibly frustrated that financial fair play rules prevent the club from throwing even more money at players. Not even the Saudis can circumvent that.

The Premier League insisted it had “legally binding assurances” the kingdom of Saudi Arabia would not control Newcastle. Before peace broke out in golf, the Saudis argued Rumayyan and the fund he controls should be spared the giving of evidence during legal wrangling on the basis of sovereign immunity. Eyebrows were raised among some Premier League clubs but, in keeping to form, the matter basically disappeared. Let’s focus on VAR.

Remind you of anything?  Remember Jay's assurances that he would control everything?  The Saudis are, if he's to be believed, prepared to invest billons and not have any control..... Yanno, I was born in the morning, just not THIS morning.

That's it for today's' rant.  We'll have more as the week proceeds, though I'll make up the schedule as we go along.

Midweek Musings - Homebound Edition

With only 2" of fresh snow this morning, time to get the heck out of Dodge.....  heading home tomorrow and I'll see from the other side, most likely on Monday.

Keyword Search - The key word, as you'll quickly discover, is "global":

‘Going global’ continues to be all the rage among players looking at pro golf’s future

Fire up the flux capacitor Dr. Brown, we're apparently headed back to the 1990's.... Seriously, for those of us of a certain age, this takes us right back to Nurse Ratched's creation of the World Golf Championships.  The signature moment related hereto was the decision to hold the WGC Match Play at iconic Royal Melbourne, only to have all of the foreign players elect to stay home.  Whatya know, they live in Orlando just like the Yanks do.

Rory kinds kicked this push off late last year, with these comments:

"If we can create a perfect golf calendar, what would it look like? And I don’t think it would look like it looks right now," McIlroy said at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, where he is

competing in this week’s final event of the season. "I think there would be changes made.

"Look at what Max Homa and Justin Thomas did last week, going down to South Africa (where Homa won and Thomas finished fourth at the Nedbank Challenge). They had a really good time. They played in a different part of the world where they had never played before. If more of that sort of stuff could happen, I think it would be really good for golf."

It's not that he's wrong, it's just so naive that it sounds to this observer like John Lennon imagining no countries.... You may say Rory's a dreamer....

There's a world full of golf-mad countries that can and will support events, and we'd all like to see that demand tapped.  That said, events held outside the U.S. have mostly fallen flat on their faces over the years, so some acknowledgement of that might be nice.... Or, yanno, we can just put our hands together and sing Kumbaya, and pretend that we've accomplished something.

But the utopianism aside, there isn't much there there:

Quizzed on what he feels would be the ideal scenario coming out of the high-profile talks currently taking place, Scott had seen McIlroy’s suggestion that a “world tour” emphasizing the historic national Opens around the world is the way to go. That, he felt, would be “ideal,” but maybe “not realistic” in a game where changing American attitudes is “one of the biggest hurdles going forward.” Although, in mitigation of that point, the former Masters and Players champion did paint a more optimistic picture when speculating that the next generation of American players are likely to be more open to using their passports than some others have been in the past.

I'm sure that Latvian Open is going to rock them, but the European Tour has been pretty much maxing out their National Open card, and we see how well that's going.

The bigger issue and the reason for that over-interpreted JT-Max Homa trip has little to do with LIV/PIF, it's the change in the Tour's treatment of the Fall ass-end of their schedule.  With no FedEx points on offer, the guys can go play some new events, though we should note that not too many have taken the opportunity.  But the problem historically has been as much about getting the foreign players to travel, as about the xenophobic Americans.

Keith Pelley has submitted an unconvincing audition tape for visionary status:

The complexities of McIlroy’s “dream” didn’t get litigated during that press conference, but they were illustrated at an intimate gathering Tuesday between outgoing DP World Tour chief Keith

Pelley and a gaggle of reporters. Pelley is bound for Toronto, where he hails from, to become the CEO of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, but not before April 2, and certainly not before the next couple of months provide a clearer picture of how the game’s leading tours chart a future either with or without billions of dollars from the Saudi Public Investment Fund. Asked simply about what he would like to see moving forward, Pelley was prescriptive.

“I think the growth of the game is global. I think that’s where the focus needs to be,” he said. “I think with the emergence of [Fenway Sports Group], which owns Liverpool, you know, they understand the importance of global. PIF certainly understands the importance of being global. This is a global game. Every business now that is growing wants to be global. You see that here in Dubai. You saw that last week with the Dubai Invitational. I think for me, what I would like to see is the game becoming unified with a global strategy.”

Global, global, global. Pelley used that terminology relentlessly during the 40-minute sitdown — 18 times in total — but an interesting turn came from the immediate follow-up question.

Does the PGA Tour view it that way, too?

“I think the PGA Tour is coming to the realization that globality is the key for growth,” he said. “They have heard me say it once or twice.”

Oh yeah, that Dubai International is the ticket, a sixty-player field including a guy from Michael Jordan's club that finished 72 strokes behind the winner....  

The calendar is a cruel mistress, and this utopianism doesn't seem to accommodate any of these harsh realities.  You have maybe a forty week year (because even LIV doesn't want to compete against the LIV juggernaut and the top players will peg it maybe twenty times a year.  Do the math!

Strange Bedfellows - I have been reliably informed that golf is a game for gentlemen, and certainly I haven't seen any evidence to the contrary.  And like me you've probably taken to the cut of Yasir's jib, so perhaps a reminder of who these folks are?

Report: Head of LIV Golf accused of campaign involving 'wrongful kidnapping and detention'

Wrongful is a very subjective term.....

Yasir Al-Rumayyan, head of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and the de facto head of LIV Golf, has been accused of “having carried out the instructions” of Saudi Arabian Crown Prince

Mohammed bin Salman with “malicious intent” according to a lawsuit filed in Canada. The story was first reported by the Athletic.

Dr. Saad Aljabri, a former intelligence officer with the country who fled and has since defected to Canada, is attempting to bring the suit regarding the treatment of his family. Two of his children were arrested in 2020 for “security reasons” before both were scheduled to continue their education in the United States. Aljabri’s son, Omar, received a nine-year sentence while Aljabri’s daughter, Sarah, is serving a sentence of just under seven years; neither had the chance to be present for their trial or to cross-examine witnesses. The family has had no contact with their children since their imprisonment.

Somewhere in the dark recesses of my brain I remember somebody referring to these guys as scary mofos.... anyone remember who that was?

According to the suit, Aljabri accuses Al-Rumayyan of direct involvement in a number of allegations. “These include taking steps to orchestrate an alleged campaign which include ‘wrongful kidnapping and detention,’ ‘misappropriation of property’ and the ‘expropriation’ of companies worth hundreds of millions of dollars into PIF hands,” according to The Athletic. The outlet also reports that Al-Rumayyan took steps to bring the criminal proceedings against the Aljabri children as punishment for Dr. Aljabri’s defection.

Or, maybe like Hillary, they just think it takes a village....

The article concludes with a review of that sovereign immunity dust-up from the antitrust litigation, which seems of limited relevance given that this seems both a criminal allegation as well as being in the judicial system of a different country.  That said, this concluding 'graph caught my eye:

News of the lawsuit comes as the PGA Tour and PIF attempt to finish a deal before April. Though the PGA Tour maintains it controls LIV Golf’s destiny as part of the proposed deal, Al-Rumayyan has asserted to LIV Golf members and staff that the league will continue, and documents released by Congress contain language in the framework agreement that may give Al-Rumayyan final say over the matter. Al-Rumayyan is also expected to be the chairman of the new for-profit entity created by PIF, the PGA Tour and DP World Tour.

The highlighting is my own, but I thought the entire Framework Agreement had been publicly released, and contained nothing binding besides the withdrawal of the lawsuit and that famous non-disparagement clause.  To the extent that bold section is accurate, it would appear to be just another instance in which Jay has looked us in the eyes and told us things that just aren't true.....  I know, it's so disillusioning...

But the Framework Agreement only precluded disparagement from the Tour.... fortunately Yasir and the Saudis remain free to self-disparage, which seems to happen every time a rock is turned over.

The Murray Moment - I still think the game of golf teaches us valuable lessons, though the time for lectures from golf's leadership is long past.  Joel Beall is venturing into a strange spot with this, methinks:

On forgiving, but not forgetting, Grayson Murray and his controversial past

OK, Joel, but who's on the jury?

A discussion on extending grace is complicated when the subject has displayed a conspicuous

absence of it.

For almost his entire professional existence, Grayson Murray is a man who has existed as a knucklehead, whose massive talent was always outweighed by trouble. He picked fights with his fellow players, exhibited uncouth behavior on the course, had a caddie part midway through a round, spewed hate and conspiracy theories on Twitter and was caught making an inappropriate comment towards an underage woman. There were certainly times where Murray seemed sympathetic, such as when he was involved in a serious scooter crash, the reveal that two family members had been murdered and his very public cry for help regarding substance abuse and his mental health. Yet whatever empathy was there tended to be muted due to the aforementioned foibles and a lack of penitence. His story was also never fully unpacked, because ultimately golf is a sport where one is judged by the score next to your name, and for the past five years the numbers next to Murray usually translated to the letters “MC.” Because Murray lived on the fringes of the sport, his plight could often be ignored.

I tried to deal with this issue on Monday, and have no problem with Joel reciting Murray's tortured history.  I did it a few times myself.... I don't view it as forgiveness, just more like acceptance, because he's tried to change that trajectory.

I wonder how Joel responded to Phil's famous fauxpology two years ago, because to me this more what an apology looks like:

“It took me a long time to get to this point,” Murray said on Sunday evening. “I'm a different man now. I would not be in this position right now today if I didn't put that drink down eight months ago.”

Murray said he’s been sober for eight months. His alcohol abuse stemmed from anxiety and depression. “I struggle with comparing myself to others, self-esteem,” Murray said. “There's a lot of issues that—I call them issues. I think they're common issues that we all endure. I got tired of trying to fight it alone, and I asked for help one day, and that's when my life changed.” He found a woman that helped him see the light, and they are now engaged. Murray also asserted he’s been more in touch with his faith.

But do we really need Joel's guidance here?

In a vacuum, it has the makings of a redemption narrative. Addiction issues are a beast so many battle in the shadows, and to do it on a public stage—and to come out the other side—is not only admirable but inspirational. Quick as sports fans are to judge, they are also happy to forgive, especially those who are contrite. Couple these serious affairs with the notion that golf loves its players who are able to return from a stay in the wilderness, Murray has all the makings of a tale worth rooting for.

In that same breath, it’s fair to wonder if Murray truly is a changed man. Did he find religion, did he find stability … or is he simply off social media, his abrasive, divisive and conspiratorial thoughts no longer amplified? It’s also easy to seem at peace after victory; will he still be the same guy we saw in Hawaii if he begins to miss cuts?

I think we all get that people trying to change what's wrong in their lives sometimes backslide, and it's fine to acknowledge that it's still early days for the guy.

That said, he showed quite a lot of poise and acceptance out there on Sunday, when it mostly looked like he would come up short.  What Joel is saying is time will tell, which is both true and unworthy of a Golf Digest byline.

The other interesting aspect of the Murray Moment is that Shane Ryan picks up on one of your humble blogger's threads:

Rory vs. Grayson: A nearly forgotten exchange takes on new meaning—and turns golf on its head

 I certainly never forgot about it, as you know if you here Monday.

Shane seems most interested in the Karmic Convergence of their Sundays:

Regardless, the McIlroy-Murray spat seemed a flash-in-the-pan story, juicy but with no real legs and destined to be forgotten as the drama in professional golf only became more pronounced with summer turning to fall. But it was brought back to mind this past Sunday, when in the kind of happenstance that would seem too strange for fiction, both men found themselves in contention to win a tournament, albeit thousands of miles apart.

At the DP World Tour’s Dubai Invitational, McIlroy lived out a nightmare, with a three-putt from two feet on the 14th hole and a tee shot on 18 that hooked into the water. What looked like a win became a collapse, and Tommy Fleetwood stole the victory. Meanwhile, at the PGA Tour’s Sony Open in Hawaii, Murray made the right shots at the opportune moments, and buried a stunning 38-footer on the first playoff hole to win his first Tour event since 2017. ("Play better," indeed.)

Here's where Shane takes his shot at the bigger picture:

Beyond his personal foibles, and his personal redemption, Murray is a stand-in for the PGA Tour everyman, insofar as you can use that word to describe people playing a sport for millions of dollars. The 30-year-old from North Carolina is the quintessential "mule," the low impact player who feels he has been left behind as the tour combats LIV Golf by giving more and more to its top players. Even as purses have grown, the move toward smaller fields with no cuts in certain events has led players such as Murray to feel that opportunities have dried up and that they're being treated by their own organization as afterthoughts. (Murray is among a group of 20 tour members who signed a letter in December seeking more information about the investment proposals that the tour was reviewing.) When he told McIlroy to "f*** off," it probably resonated on a gut level for those like him who feel ignored as professional golf races for the dizzying heights.

Shane is being overly kind here.  Rory and Tiger sold out these mules, and confronted with one of the victims, couldn't justify his actions with anything more substantive than, "go away son, you're bothering me."

What Rory and these top twenty or so players have told us is that they only way to save the Tour is pay them more.  Sorry, Shane, but some of us beg to differ:

And McIlroy, who was positioned perhaps incorrectly as the martyr carrying the tour's cross before being betrayed, has made out well for himself. His profile and his talent ensured that while the 34-year-old from Northern Ireland very much put himself out on a limb and likely subjected himself to stress that hurt his game, he wasn't about to emerge from the chaos with nothing. He still belonged to a class of athlete far beyond the Grayson Murrays of the world. The larger purses, the signature events, the surge in PIP money (in which McIlroy took first place), and the general flow of cash upward all benefited him, and along with leaders like Tiger, he had a major hand in creating them. (On the extreme side of the spectrum, there are emphatic quotes from current LIV players, including a former Ryder Cup teammate, essentially saying that Rory was out for himself just like they were, but that his money "came from the other side.") His defense of the tour, sincere as it was, came with opportunities even as he seems to be entering a reconciliation phrase, essentially saying that he's finished fighting the tide (having stepped down from the PGA Tour Policy Board), and positioning himself for whatever comes next.

Yeah, exactly.  I don't even think that Rory was in it for himself, I just think he's so clueless that he happily played the useful idiot role.  But, when confronted, he reverted to default a*****e mode...

The goods is that Rory has resigned from the Pac and can now dedicate himself to his core activities, such as three-putting from two feet.

One last bit from Shane:

That is what any intelligent person of his stature would do; there was real morality in the stance he took publicly while others were content to remain behind the camera, but there's an undeniable practicality, too. And it's a kind of practicality that isn't quite available to people like Grayson Murray, the forever outsiders, limited to shouting at men like Monahan, cursing at the upper crust, but increasingly without voice in the big fight of our time and ultimately dependent on the tour's mercies to secure their futures.

That's the realpolitik of the world as it exists in professional golf, and a reflection of forces that have seemed, for years now, inevitable. But what makes sport so fascinating is not the opaque business side, or class divisions, but the uncertainty of the game itself, and the meritocracy of the simple win and loss.

The tour's mercies an interesting concept, though it's more they're at the mercy of Patrick Cantlay right now.  Or Yasir, and it's not clear which is worse.

Meanwhile, In the Trenches -  PGA Tour sponsors seem to be emulating an Agatha Christie movie:

Farmers Insurance, title sponsor for the PGA Tour stop at Torrey Pines in San Diego since 2010, does not plan to renew its contract when it expires in 2026, according to a report from Sports Business Journal. The news comes three weeks ahead of the 2024 edition of the event will be played on Torrey Pines' North and South courses.

Farmers is the second company to decide to drop its title sponsorship with the tour in as many months. Wells Fargo announced in December that it would step away from its role as title sponsor of the tour event at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte after 2024.

Those two events seem similarly situated, having enjoyed some moments in the sun previously, but now without a chair as the music stops.  What's going on?

Title sponsorship costs for a regular full-field PGA Tour event have increased to between $13 million and $15 million. The PGA Tour has brought on two new title sponsors for events starting in 2024: Cognizant for the tournament at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and Texas Children's Hospital for the Houston Open. The tour also brought in CJ Group to take over the title sponsorship of the Byron Nelson event in Dallas.

That's a lot of spinach when, due to the bifurcation of the Tour's events, you've got zero chance of attracting any kind of meaningful filed.  It's even worse for Farmer's, which because it's NFL conference championship week, has bene forced to finish on Saturday.

This piece on the Sony Open is an interesting take on life as a PGA Mule (tournament version):

Sony Open in Hawaii tournament director Ray Stosik has spearheaded the biggest sports charity fundraiser on any of the Hawaiian Islands since 1998 and seeing the impact the tournament makes in the community never gets old.

But the task of matching that figure, let alone growing its charitable contribution, may be challenging beginning in 2025 when the Tour is expected to implement a new formula for determining tournament fees and revenue sharing. As first reported by the Sports Business Daily, events were told in December that they would be asked to pay an additional:

$125,000 (FedEx Cup Fall)

$250,000 (full-field)

$500,000 (signature events)

Those numbers will increase in 2026 to:

$250,000 (FedEx Cup Fall)

$500,000 (full-field)

$1 million (signature events)

How these amounts fit into that $13-15 million cited above is unclear, but the arrow is pointing in a very clear direction.

It seems pretty clear that the charities will take a hit:

Asked if the Sony Open is sustainable under the proposed changes the Tour shared with the

tournament sponsors during its annual meeting in Palm Springs, California, in December, Stosik said, “I would say between the Tour, Friends of Hawaii Charities, the state of Hawaii, we plan to make it work.”

But when pressed how he envisions doing so, he’s a bit more realistic.

“If all the charitable giving in the future rests on the host organizations without some PGA Tour subsidies in certain areas to help assist us with charity, then yeah, it could definitely have an impact on charities.”

Obviously.... Now you know I sometimes focus on idiosyncratic tangents, so no surprise this jumped out at me:

Stosik said most of his brethren expressed concern about the beefed up payments and whether the new for-profit commercial entity known as PGA Tour Enterprises will absorb the tournaments into the for-profit side of the business. If so, what will that shift from nonprofit to for-profit mean?

“That may affect the charities on how much is raised at each event,” Stosik said.

I've been slight abashed to admit to my readers that I have no clue as to whether the new for-profit entity is expected to include the actual tournaments.  I'm certainly relieved to know that an actual event director is similarly clueless.... Can't anybody here play this game?

That's it for now, kids.  I'll see from home next week.

Weekend Wrap - Branch Covidian Edition

Remember that snow forecast I posted?  The numbers have exceeded those forecasted, with these being the reported totals at Park City the last four days:

Friday: 5"

Saturday: 16"

Sunday: 18"

Today: 13"

Thursday Lee and I had even taken our first shots through the woods, and the continued build-up of fresh snow had visions of my favorite tree lines running through my mind.

But then a different kind of line intervened:

I can't complain about my number finally coming up in the great Covid lottery, but man that timing is quite the bitch.  No fun at all to be cooped up alone here, but to have to watch it chucking snow is just gratuitous cruelty.

I was able to get a Paxlovid prescription and really only had one bad day with an elevated fever, just bored and stir crazy.  It'll be up to you to see if it affects my blogging....  But I do get credit for playing hurt, no?

Chicks Dig The Bad Boys - The man comes with steamer trunks worth of baggage, but I actually found myself rooting for him.  I'll explain why, but first this on that baggage:

In the wake of his first PGA Tour victory since the Barbasol Championship in 2017, Grayson Murray's words to Golf Channel's Todd Lewis made it clear just how low he had been in the difficult intervening years.

"It's not easy," he said, his voice quivering with emotion. "I wanted to give up a lot of times. Give up on myself. Give up on the game of golf. Give up on life, at times."

Murray has been open about his battles with demons ranging from anxiety to depression to alcoholism, and how they contributed to a six-year drought in which he admitted to putting his loved ones "through hell and back." His big breakthrough came last year, with two victories on the Korn Ferry Tour, and now, after draining an improbable 38-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole at the Sony Open, he can add a PGA Tour win to his remarkable comeback story.

Never a good enough player to draw our focus, but what little I saw of him he was always in stupid little spats, seemingly at every stage of his golf career.  But he's obviously changed his life to address it, and who doesn't like a second act?

This will have certain folks clutching their pearls, but so be it:

"When you get tired of fighting, let someone else fight for you," Murray told Lewis. He gave credit to Jesus and his fiancee for changing his life, and despite knowing how important the victory was for his path in golf, he kept it in perspective. "I hope everyone at home watching can get a little inspiration from it. If I can just help one person, that's all it takes ... I knew today was not going to change my life, but it did change my career, and I'm excited."

A very improbable win, as Jack Hirsh did a good job of capturing:

More than two years ago, when Grayson Murray took time away from the PGA Tour, few could have envisioned him winning the 2024 Sony Open.

On Sunday, after Murray’s wayward tee shot on the 72nd hole — and with his playing partner looking to make birdie for the win — few could have envisioned Grayson Murray winning the 2024 Sony Open.

After another wayward Murray tee shot on the first playoff hole, one that clipped a tree and wasn’t even picked up by ShotLink, few could have envisioned Grayson Murray winning the 2024 Sony Open.

But with 106 yards to the flag for his third shot on that hole — and both his opponents, Keegan Bradley and Ben An, in trouble around the green — Murray’s caddie, Jay Green, pressed his man for some motivation.

“Show me something,” Green said to Murray. It took another shot for Murray to follow through, but, boy, did he deliver.

After pulling his wedge approach some 39 feet left of the hole, Murray drained the ensuing birdie putt and then watched as both Bradley and An missed their shorter putts to match, giving Murray the Sony Open title.

It just never looked like it was gonna happen for him, but he doesn't even mention the pin-seeking missile on No. 18 to get into the playoff.

 I did find this piece from last fall with more on his issues:

Among the most agitated players in the room was Grayson Murray, a 29-year-old one-time Tour winner with a history of colorful antics and controversial opinions. In 2017, his rookie season on Tour, Murray invited a Playboy model to caddie for him at the Masters Par-3 Contest (Murray failed to qualify for the Masters so the stunt never had a chance to materialize); fired a caddie mid-round; and apologized for an inappropriate tweet he sent to a high school girl. In the final round of the 2022 U.S. Open, Murray flung his putter into the fescue and snapped an iron over his knee en route to a 10-over 80; four months later he crashed a scooter in Bermuda, leaving him unconscious, in need of 50 stitches and with a serious knee injury. Last year, Murray called out Kevin Na’s pace of play on social media, which, according to Murray, led to Na confronting Murray on the range at the Mexico Open.

LIV is welcome to Kevin Na's pace of play, which I'm quite certain will alone grow the game of golf, but Murray was obviously a guy to avoid in the locker room.  But he began reclaiming his reputation with your humble blogger with that which I think should have been the 2023 golf quote of the year:

At the June players meeting in Toronto, Murray, according to multiple reports, came in with a head of steam and berated Monahan for betraying and lying to the Tour membership. A player in attendance told Golf Channel, “I forget exactly what led to this, but Rory [McIlroy] goes, ‘Just play better, Grayson,’ and that got a bad response from the crowd.”

According to the report, Murray told McIlroy to, “F— off.”

Now's the time to relitigate Rory's involvement, but if Willie Sutton were still alive, he'd be impressed with the Rory-led money grab.  Look, I think Rory is a nice man who's not all that bright.  But after leading a coup by the elites, to tell a Tour rabbit to "just play better" is really an asshole's remark.

Speaking Of Rory... - It's way early in the season, but am I the only one that noticed that Rory is in midseason form?

Watch Rory McIlroy three-putt from two feet(!) late on Sunday during all-time brutal loss

 No thanks, I've seen that movie before.... Oh, and he wasn't done:

McIlroy, in particular, was all over the map, his closing 67 dotted with seven birdies and three dropped shots. Throw in the quadruple-bogey 7 at the par-3 eighth hole on Day 2, the three-putt he came up with from two-and-a-half feet on the 14th green in the final round and the fact that he led the tournament by a shot with one hole to play—then drove into water—and it would be easy to imagine McIlroy leaving the premises filled only with regrets.

Gee, I don't Rory, maybe you should....how did you put it, play better?

The Tour Confidential panel had some thoughts on Rors:

3. On Sunday, Tommy Fleetwood won the Dubai Invitational, but Rory McIlroy’s “sloppy” performance — his word — drew headlines. McIlroy three-putted from two feet on the 14th hole, then hooked a drive into the water on the 18th to lose by one. Considering it was his first start in two months, we won’t spend too much time focusing on the rust, but the echoes of years’ past give us the chance to ask an important question: What’s at stake for Rory in 2024?

Hirsh: He’s retreated from his role as the defacto PGA Tour spokesperson, he’s even softened his position on LIV Golf. Going into 2024, I think there’s just one thing on McIlroy’s mind and it’s the same thing that’s been on his mind since 2015: Completing the Career Grand Slam by winning the Masters. The circumstances surrounding McIlroy this year are completely different than 12 months ago and I think that can only help him. Obviously we’ll over-analyze his three-putt or his hook on the 72nd and chalk it up to rustiness, but the fact of the matter is only one thing should matter to him anymore in golf and hopefully for him, he’ll enter the Masters with a clear focus on that objective.

As opposed to every year since 2011 when he's come down Magnolia Lane thinking of nothing but winning that event, and has flamed out spectacularly, typically on Thursday.   Hirsh seems to think the enhanced focus will be helpful.... color me skeptical.

Colgan: I think 2024 is a glorious opportunity for Rory to rewrite the second act of his playing career, which to date has been much more about his role as an ombudsman than as a player. With the LIV stuff mostly off his plate, there’s never been a better time for the major breakthrough. At 34, he’s not getting any younger.

Yeah, especially since he looks rather foolish right now, thanks to his good buddy Jay. 

Dethier: McIlroy doesn’t actually need to win the Masters — but he does need to win a major. Is that a fair expectation? Probably not. It’s a brutally high bar. But McIlroy has spent the last decade contending in majors and winning just about everything else but still hasn’t gotten across the line for No. 5. Maybe he’ll do that at Augusta. I’m sure he’d be delighted by one of the other three, though.

Dylan is usually an astute observer, but not sure what he's trying to cram down our throat's here.  Is Dylan trying to negate the value of a career slam?  But, more to the point, Augusta has become Rory's demon, and, if he succumbs yet again in April, why would we like his chances at those later majors?

Rory has struggled at Augusta because it exposes the flaws in his game, which he has been unable or unwilling to address.  The childhood best friend on the bag has always been a proxy to me, perhaps over-interpreted, but Rory seems unwilling to pay the price these days.

This event was only a 60-player field, but we have another example of the misuse of sponsor's exemptions:

4. Florida club pro Ken Weyland found himself in a spot of controversy this weekend. Weyland, the pro at Michael Jordan’s Grove XXIII, played under a sponsor’s exemption at the Dubai Invitational and … it didn’t go well. After four rounds in the 80s and only two birdies all week, Weyland finished 72 shots behind Fleetwood’s score. Handwringing over sponsor’s invites is nothing new but finishing 72 off the pace takes the debate to a new level. Was Weyland’s invite a step too far?

Hirsh: Sponsor’s invites were as good as gold to last year’s WM Phoenix Open and that was a 136-man event. Giving ceremonial sponsor’s invites to a limited-field event with just 60 opportunities is borderline criminal. I would understand it more if it was a young, up-and-coming pro or amateur trying to make a splash, but Weyland had never made a start in a worldwide event before in his life. At 54, he probably isn’t looking for some-sort of career renaissance. If you try to compare this situation to Michael Block, don’t, because Block earned a spot reserved for club pros in the PGA at the PGA Professional Championship. This is totally different. I have to agree with Eddie Pepperell’s take, it really didn’t matter who Weyland was (or was friend’s with), he didn’t deserve his spot.

Colgan: Epic move from our King Ken, whose performance this week is a brilliant glimpse into the “what would a 10-handicapper shoot?” allegory. Should he have said no? Maybe! But I sure wouldn’t have if I’d gotten invited.

Dethier: Look, it’s not great. It’s perhaps even a little bit stinky. It probably takes away slightly from the legitimacy of the bottom of the limited-field Dubai Invitational. But then again, nobody was calling this the fifth major. It’s tough for me to summon much outrage but easy for me to get some joy out of those scorecard screenshots. Shoutout to Ken for jumping in the arena. And credit to him for finishing all four rounds!

Did he win low net?  How do rationalize this?  This isn't even a John Daly situation, bad as those are, because nobody knows who this guy is.  It is a good link into Euro-stuff, not even taxing my legendary effortless segue skills....

EuroDistress - Mayday!  Mayday!  Europe is leaderless, shall we start with the TC panel's take?

2. On Wednesday, two of the most powerful executives in professional golf — R&A CEO Martin Slumbers and DP World Tour CEO Keith Pelley — announced their plans to step down from their current roles. What do you make of the conspicuous timing of their exit?

Hirsh: It sure seems like Slumbers and Pelley are experiencing the same thing many other golf fans are: fatigue. For Slumbers, the past year of dealing with feedback on the proposed golf ball rollback had to be exhausting, not to mention the years of research and discussions that preceded it. For Pelley, he’s probably sick of being the subject of ire, along with PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan, related to the ongoing negotiations with Saudi PIF. The timing of these two announcements isn’t really conspicuous, it’s understandable.

Gee, that's about as compelling as them wanting to spend more time with their families.... 

Colgan: It sure seems like a strange coincidence that both men — each intimately involved in the conversations surrounding the future of pro golf — would announce on the same day that they are leaving their posts. But, assuming it is a coincidence, it’s still interesting to think about how the two men will be remembered. Slumbers will go down as a visionary leader at a time the R&A badly needed one; but Pelley’s legacy is less clear. He stewarded the DPWT into a partnership with the PGA Tour that shored up its Covid finances but has had dubious effects on the league’s talent pool and standing in the golf world. Pelley’s efforts at leaving his league better than he found it, presumably via a deal with the PIF, will be crucial.

A visionary leader?  I'm sorry, James, but what exactly is that vision?  Except, yanno, for taking the business interruption insurance payment over actually holding the words oldest professional championship in 2020....

Dethier: Well said, James. I guess their departure has me wondering one thing: who’s next? Golf’s leadership is in flux. PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has an uncertain future, but who would take over for him?! Yasir Al-Rumayyan is likely to be a figure in the pro game’s future, but in what role?! What’s next for Greg Norman? Who will lord over this new PGA Tour Enterprises? The extent of golf’s leadership upheaval is still a relative unknown…

Greg Norman?  Guys I'll need a moment before I can stop laughing.... Dylan, you been into the gummies today?

I'm actually more interested in Pelley right now, because he's being trashed by a certain covey of Euro players.  

But that hasn’t held Matt Fitzpatrick back from detailing the state in which Pelley has left the game on this side of the Atlantic

In conversation with Golfweek, the Englishman was asked what he considered Pelley’s legacy to be.

“Probably giving away the 10 best players for Europe to the PGA Tour. I would say so, yeah,” replied Fitzpatrick.

To the nine-time DP World Tour winner’s disappointment, Pelley introduced the ‘ten cards initiative’ under his leadership of the formerly known European Tour.

It means the top ten finishers on the Race to Dubai will earn PGA Tour cards for the following season.

And this lesser player as well:

Count Spaniard Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, a seven-time winner on the DP World Tour, among

those who wish Pelley well but aren’t necessarily sad to see him go.

“I believe KP’s departure might be a good thing for the tour as some of the membership have lost confidence on his guidance over the last couple of months,” Fernandez-Castano said in an email. “To be honest I wouldn’t have liked to be on his shoes over the last few years, when he had to deal with the pandemic and with very a poor financial situation, mostly created by poor management (oversized structure of the tour and promoting and financing most of their own tournaments).”

“I wish him the best in this new endeavor back in Canada but I will not be missing him,” Fernandez-Castano said. “I’m afraid he leaves the Tour on a worse place than where he got it and I’m really looking forward to seeing what Guy Kinnings and his new management team brings to the European Tour in the coming years.”

It's all very fascinating, though I think a lot of wishful thinking on (the most interesting thing, though, is a counter-factual, which I'll get to in a moment).  But take that Matt Fitzpatrick comment about "giving" ten players to the PGA Tour....  Matt, where do you play your golf?  Where does Rory play?  Where does Tommy play?  They're all very good at keeping their Euro Tour memberships current, but Matt doesn't seem to understand that those ten guys were gone anyway...

There was a comment from another Euro player to the effect that Euro Tour should remain a competitor of the PGA Tour, as if that horse hadn't left the paddock years ago.  It's a nice sentiment, but to me Pelley faced a much harsher reality....  His tour had already fallen into feeder tour status, the real question was whether it was a feeder tour for the Korn Ferry Tour, or for the big tour.  You can see the choice Pelley made, and it's fair to criticize, though I'm not sure it's actually fair for Matt to make that argument from America.  It's like he doesn't want the guys behind him to make the same choice....

Earlier in our process, Pelley was being criticized for a very different decision, the alliance with the PGA Tour.  Many of the guys that went to LIV (and others who stayed) thought Pelley should have met with and considered allowing LIV to invest in the Euro Tour.  Jay has been criticized for not meeting with the Saudis, but I've not piled on there, as there really was no reason for him do so at that time.

Back in the day when Saudi money was tainted, and wasn't that a time, Europe was Jay's weakest link.  Cash-starved before the pandemic and LIV incursions, they've been brain dead for quite some time.  Propping them up at the time seemed to make sense, as no one wanted to give the Saudis any kind of opening.  But I think you'll agree that things look different after June 6th, and perhaps letting Europe fall to the Saudis would have worked out better.  hard to know, but quite the interesting counter-factual at this juncture.

In terms of where things stand, I'm just going to embed this weird update:

. @jcorrigangolf says Jay Monahan and Yasir Al-Rumayyan recently had a lengthy phone conversation, their first since June 6, and that it has pushed negotiations forward "substantially": https://t.co/yjCTraTG9b

— Josh Carpenter (@JoshACarpenter) January 12, 2024

What was all that nonsense back in December about a meeting?   Apparently nothing has been done since June.... No hurry, but can you blame Jon Rahm?

Exit Strategy - Just a couple of last bits that don't require more than a copy-and-paste from your humble blogger.  First, what's really up with Dylan Dethier today?

5. Phil Mickelson said he’s too “divisive” to be the next U.S. Ryder Cup captain when the event visits Bethpage in 2025. Assuming Mickelson is right, which would-be skipper is best suited to unite the Americans and wrest the Cup back from Europe?

Hirsh: It’s Tiger, what more do we need to talk about?

Colgan: Bring back Strick!!! (Or make Tiger captain emeritus, granting him the freedom to lead until he chooses not to. I’d probably do that.)

Dethier: Boo Weekley seems like a fella who could draw support from both sides of the aisle. If not him, then yeah — it’s Tiger.

Dylan, I hope you brought enough of those gummies to share with the class.  Respect, Boo is a pretty damn funny answer, I'm just not 100% sure he was kidding.

Lastly, on the Nike thing:

1. The famous sponsorship in professional golf history is no more. On Monday, Tiger Woods announced the long-rumored end of his partnership with Nike after 27 years. What does the end of the agreement mean for Nike’s involvement in golf? And which brand could you see Tiger landing with next?

Jack Hirsh: Boy, this is going to be weird when we see the Big Cat next. While Nike has limited stable of athletes compared to some of the other apparel brands out there, it’s still among golf’s most popular brands simply because of brand recognition and affordability. That probably won’t change much going forward because Nike is still one of the most recognizable sportswear brands in the world.

Did Tiger play a role in that? For sure. Will he make much of a different in their sales moving forward? Probably not. Would anyone? Also probably not. I think it’s likely we’ve seen the company sign its last professional golfers. They’ll probably let their deals with Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka, Nelly Korda, Scottie Scheffler and co. expire just like they did with Woods and make a quiet exit from the sponsorship space. Interesting, considering they just added Korda and Tom Kim last year. As for Tiger’s next brand? I’m sure he wants to go into business with himself. He’s got all the rights to his TW logo, might as well just add a clothing company to the TGR Ventures portfolio.

Dylan Dethier: Are we short-changing Arnold Palmer’s canned beverage with this “most famous sponsorship” chatter? Anyway, the point stands — the end of TW and the swoosh is a big, big deal. What does it mean for Nike Golf? I’m with Jack. There are deals in place, and when those deals expire, maybe the whole operation will fizzle out, too. Nike will still make golf shirts; they just won’t pay too many golfers to wear ‘em on Sundays. From what I understand the TW brand will live on, though I’m unclear on whether it’ll be the umbrella of an existing apparel company. My biggest question: will World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler keep wearing TW post-Nike?

James Colgan: I always thought they named Arnie after the drink … But yes, in all seriousness, I think the end of the Tiger era at Nike — combined with the company’s stated plans to cut some $2 billion in costs over the next few years — means the time of Nike Golf as a legit power-player is coming to a close. Sad, considering the legacy, but this opens a world of opportunity for luxury athleticwear companies like Lululemon, Rhone (and perhaps even On?) to enter the space.

Sure, James, but don't you think they'd be better off just burning the money....Yanno, for the heat.

I do hope Tiger sticks with a clean presentation.  I don't even love the man, but I'd hate for him to show looking like a Nascar driver....

That's it for today, kids.  No idea about the schedule, so we'll just play things by the seat of our pants.