PGA/LPGA Golf Discussion Thread • Page 27

Damn sucks about getting COVID but I really want to go there so badly. It looks incredible.

 

It really is.

And among the stateside Mecca destinations (Pinehurst, Pebble, etc) it’s the least expensive! $240/round is a lot, for certain. But Pebble is $650 and every round at Pinehurst is $4XX+. Further, that’s just the cost for the first round. It’s half price ($120) for the second round of the day - and the third and beyond are FREE.

We played 54, at minimum, every day for four days. On our longest day, we did 54, plus the Preserve 13 hole par 3 over a late lunch, eating sandwiches and drinking transfusions, and then ended the night with a 9 hole, 2 man, 4 club scramble on Pacific Dunes playing in 75 minutes per team. That was 76 holes and 24.3 miles over 13 hours, and not a single minute was wasted.

When you factor in the overall cost vs what you get out of it, it’s not THAT much worse than a muni on a weekend, in some off the best setting for golf you could ever let your mind conceive of.

Save $20/week. After 2 years, which is about how long you would have to wait to get a tee time, you’ll have enough cash for the trip. Life is too short not to go.

 

Played 18 yesterday, played 27 today. My shoulders are filing a complaint. What a weekend.

 

Dustin Johnson is playing for the Saudi league. They must have really upped their offer recently because DJ said two weeks ago that though he was excited by what LIV could be doing for golf but he would only be watching from afar.

I'm shocked by Taylor Gooch joining the league but not gonna miss him if only for not having to hear fans yell his name after every shot.

 

No Laying Up podcast have a good intel that DJ got 150 million.

I want to believe on my moral high horse I wouldn’t take that money from that place. But it’s impossible to know until the check is in front of you.

 

I agree 100%. Obviously it's easy for us to take the moral route, not because it's easy but it's the right thing to do. However, $150M? That's insane, life altering money for DJ and essentially everyone in his family.

I still don't agree that it's the right thing to do, but I can agree and see how that is very hard for someone to turn down. Especially if that $150M is true.

 

They were wrong on 150, but not THAT far off:

 

no person on earth no matter how wealthy is turning down $125m, principled or not.

 

I wanna say I wouldn’t take it either but my family is not well off, I just imagine setting up everyone in my family for life plus their children. I can’t imagine I wouldn’t do the same thing.

 

The golf world is buzzing this week with Phil returning, DJ resigning and LIV holding its first tournament. Kind of a bummer about DJ, but we will most likely still see him at most of the majors unless the PGA can establish an alliance that sets forth a severe punishment on players abandoning the tour.

Overall, LIV's field is so weak right now that it is hard to take it seriously, but I'm wondering how many players are waiting in the wings to see how players like DJ and Taylor Gooch are being treated. It seems like LIV is playing the long game so it's still too early to predict how this affects the PGA, but I'm also not that confident the PGA knows what sweeping changes to implement to satiate the top players.

Anyway, I will be tuning in this weekend to see how the first tournament unfolds. I'm expecting it to be a bit of a shit show just based on how the rollout has been so far this week.

 

to me this seems like the XFL, or the AAF (maybe with stronger financial backing for now). I honestly don't see it lasting but it will be around to cause drama and headlines for a few years.

 

I'm not really upset at anyone's decision to join it, if i can still watch Phil and DJ play majors, I am fine with whatever they decide to do with their careers.

 

If this is anything like the WWE I won't be surprised if Jack Nicklaus is next. LIV Crown Jewel tournament.

 

Supposedly Fowler and Varner III are waiting in the wings as well. It doesn't sound like these guys--unlike Kevin Na and Dustin Johnson-- are resigning from the PGA Tour so the next momentous thing will be the PGA's decision on what to do with those guys. An announcement should be coming on Thursday as they are just waiting to mete out the punishment once the leagues has officially began.

 

Anyone can not like the PGA Tour. But rooting for LIV to succeed at all is hoping golf turns into boxing. All fractured, non-linear competition based on money and declining audiences.

That the Tour hasn’t already come out strongly, publicly and clearly on the consequences for anyone hitting a tee shot a few hours from now doesn’t fill me with hope. Their legal case must be thinner than they want to let on.

And if the majors won’t gatekeep the defectors once they lose status via OWGR points, allowing them to compete based on a fake money list or points earned from these no cut events, then I see more players going, and soon. Good to great players. Because as much as we want to believe playing the Memorial or Bay Hill or whatever moves the needle for these guys, most are motivated by cold, hard cash.

 

Koepka's brother is on the LIV tour, wonder what that may mean for him.

 

That boxing comparison is quite apt, unfortunately. I would hate to see the sport devolve into that but see it as a realistic path. It will all depend on how PGA leadership reacts to this. We could see this as the turning point in which PGA takes the opportunity to launch and remake how the tour conducts its business, but I have yet to even hear a whisper on any groundbreaking ideas.

What they have going for them is that they have a strong backing currently of relevant stars in JT, Rory, Scottie and Spieth who are staying. Now that could change based on who else leaves and they could say they just changed their minds because the competition level has diminished. Rory would get some flack initially, but it would die down after some time.

The quandary the PGA faces is that the solutions to retaining the top players and garnering greater fan interest may conflict with each other. PGA is going to have pump more money to the top players which means more sponsorships, creating even more commercials for broadcasts that already inundated with enough of them.

 

No sponsors exemptions is huge - and a great pull. Glad the Tour is putting it all out there.

The saddest thing is that the LIV guys have a point: broadcast TV sucks! It’s such spotty coverage of actual golf and so much they need to do to cover sponsors, it’s almost unwatchable. As much as I love the Masters, that experience isn’t probably possible week to week. If it were, and I had to sit through DJ’s same RBC commercial every 30 minutes, I would do so gladly.

A pivot was needed. I’m just sad this is the lever that forces their hand, and I also lack confidence in the tour to create a solution that makes the fan experience better. Giving players more money =\= giving fans a better viewing experience to drive ratings which increases money, I’m afraid.

 

having to use 10 different streaming services to watch thursday & friday golf is so infuriating. there is literally a golf channel, and whenever there are events on, golf channel is playing like, replay from the 1994 masters when you need to stream the tournament on fuckin peacock or something.

i remember being so mad when golf came back in 2020, it was the ONLY sport people could watch, and still it was behind like 3 paywalls until Sunday afternoon on CBS.

 

Totally agree about the frustration of finding these tournaments every single week is a chore..

The boxing comparison was good but scary so I hate it haha

 

If you're looking for something to watch these next few hours, you should check out the Canadian Open right now with the final group of Finau, JT and Rory. Some phenomenal golf being played right now, though Rory may be on the verge of running away with it. Don't think the PGA could have asked for a better retort to LIV's first week.

Watched LIV a little bit but could not get into it due to the weak field. Shotgun start and scoreboard were cool parts, but the crowds were lethargic, in part probably due to the mediocre play. The team competition seemed like an afterthought and very little intrigue in the end which is not uncommon with some PGA events. Overall, a very meh viewing.