LIV free 5th Major

[Tim Martin]

I heard a reference recently to the “Bad Kids Table” at this years Masters Champions dinner.

[David Harshbarger]

It’s not a lock that any more excitement would have been injected into the tournament by letting the LIV guys in. I’ll give Sheffler his due for separating himself from the field but the tournament couldn’t have been any more boring. The lack of drama and the non-existent personality of Sheffler made it a snorefest.

So you're agreeing with Harry Higgs that LIV stealing all the assholes is going to ruin pro golf?


The fact that you find Scotty Scheffler any more boring than most of the other clones currently on Tour is interesting. FWIW, I think Scheffler's personality is just fine, being a nice guy isn't a bad thing.

I have come around on Scottie. The guy seems like a genuinely good guy who is earnestly entrusting the future in his faith in the Lord. I see a guy whose lack of edge is of a piece with his lived faith. That’s hard to do in our modern world and I commend him for living a goodly life as well as for letting his faith help bring his mind to a point of not overly caring about results. That’s incredibly freeing and stress lowering on the course.


His talent is phenomenal and I am glad he is part of the professional golf scene.

[Ken Moum]

I have come around on Scottie. The guy seems like a genuinely good guy who is earnestly entrusting the future in his faith in the Lord. I see a guy whose lack of edge is of a piece with his lived faith. That’s hard to do in our modern world and I commend him for living a goodly life as well as for letting his faith help bring his mind to a point of not overly caring about results. That’s incredibly freeing and stress lowering on the course.


His talent is phenomenal and I am glad he is part of the professional golf scene.

I was his walking scorer at Karsten Creek in the fall of 2011 at the AJGA invitational. He was 15 years old, about 5'5" and a short-hitting wizard around the greens.


I remember him for being especially nice, because his dad asked me to give him a couple of Tylenol for his back. I didn't know who he was, other than being a really nice kid.  Later, I saw Rick Smith quote him in an article about bunker play, not often 15-year-olds get quoted about golf technique.


The next time I saw him he was on  TV winning the US Am. and he was almost a foot taller.


Like a lot of the other players I have walked with, he attracts my attention when he's playing well.  {the latest being Akshay Bahtia)

[David Harshbarger]

I have come around on Scottie. The guy seems like a genuinely good guy who is earnestly entrusting the future in his faith in the Lord. I see a guy whose lack of edge is of a piece with his lived faith. That’s hard to do in our modern world and I commend him for living a goodly life as well as for letting his faith help bring his mind to a point of not overly caring about results. That’s incredibly freeing and stress lowering on the course.


His talent is phenomenal and I am glad he is part of the professional golf scene.

I was his walking scorer at Karsten Creek in the fall of 2011 at the AJGA invitational. He was 15 years old, about 5'5" and a short-hitting wizard around the greens.


I remember him for being especially nice, because his dad asked me to give him a couple of Tylenol for his back. I didn't know who he was, other than being a really nice kid.  Later, I saw Rick Smith quote him in an article about bunker play, not often 15-year-olds get quoted about golf technique.


The next time I saw him he was on  TV winning the US Am. and he was almost a foot taller.


Like a lot of the other players I have walked with, he attracts my attention when he's playing well.  {the latest being Akshay Bahtia)

That’s a nice story. Thanks for sharing. The Scottie anecdote I replay is where he’s on the range as a kid and a couple of club pros there are trying to hit a pole about 100 yards out. Scottie asks them what the my are doing then while they watch proceeds to put one shot a little off and the next one “doink” hits the pole.


The guy’s got a gift and much like with Tiger I’m here for it.


(If there is anyone who I could see make a half decent run at Tigers records it’s Scottie. Don’t know if he’ll ever demoralize the competition the way Tiger appeared to, but you can see him winning in bunches year after year after year.)

[Kalen Braley]

Scottie did finish 6th on the PIP list for 2022.

Unfortunate he's taking criticism for being a nice guy as opposed to the petulant whining on the course from players like JT and Spieth.  And his game speaks for itself, consistently hits phenomenal shots under pressure.

[JohnVDB]

The next time I saw him he was on  TV winning the US Am. and he was almost a foot taller.

Scottie won the US Junior, not the Amateur.


He beat Davis Riley in the finals when Riley, needing to tie the 34th to keep the match going, called a penalty on himself for causing his ball to move when it wasn’t visible to anyone else. I’ve seen the video of that dozens of times and I’ve never seen the ball move, but he did. Riley has been a favorite of mine since then.


I like Scottie because he seems like a classy guy in the spirit of a Byron Nelson, calmly going about his work with a minimum of fuss.

[Ken Moum]

The next time I saw him he was on  TV winning the US Am. and he was almost a foot taller.

Scottie won the US Junior, not the Amateur.


He beat Davis Riley in the finals when Riley, needing to tie the 34th to keep the match going, called a penalty on himself for causing his ball to move when it wasn’t visible to anyone else. I’ve seen the video of that dozens of times and I’ve never seen the ball move, but he did. Riley has been a favorite of mine since then.


I like Scottie because he seems like a classy guy in the spirit of a Byron Nelson, calmly going about his work with a minimum of fuss.

Thanks, he must have been just playing in the Amateur.

[Sean_A]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the idea is that DJ or whomever is going to be taking a spot from an unknown who's trying to qualify, so make some extra spots for those unknowns who would have had a chance. That said, I don't think it works that way, the number should just be the number.

Right but I don't think the USGA or R&A should be stepping in to smooth out bumps in the road that were created by LIV and the PGA Tour. DJ and the rest of the LIV golfers willfully left the PGA Tour for an alternative that would leave them fewer ways to qualify for the majors. It's not as if the rug was pulled from under their feet. If they're still among the world's best then getting through qualifying shouldn't be a huge hurdle.


I think more qualifying spots for open events is a good thing, but not as a way to remedy the LIV/PGA bifurcation.

The USGA didn't ask for this.  Their job is to try to identify the world's best (granted, during that singular week) on an extremely difficult course.  They don't have to smooth anything for anyone but rather hold the best possible event.  That could include recognizing the potential for more slots. 


This concept has already been applied when the USGA began holding qualifiers in foreign countries with the rationale of trying to make sure the best players were part of the tournament.

If this were true wouldn't the USGA go straight down the list of world rankings and ignore qualifying? The USGA rides middle ground on the matter. About half qualify and the others are exempt based on previous tour(s) and major results.

The USPGA Tour has no obligation to allow non members to play in their events.

Yes, world rankings should include players from all tours. Its their job to figure how to do this. They will need to do so for the new elevated events so a model should be readily available.

Ciao

[Sean_A]

Scottie did finish 6th on the PIP list for 2022.

Unfortunate he's taking criticism for being a nice guy as opposed to the petulant whining on the course from players like JT and Spieth.  And his game speaks for itself, consistently hits phenomenal shots under pressure.

Nice guy? Aren't people criticising SS because he is a boring golf personality? Shows little emotion? I don't watch him enough to know, but that's what I read.

Ciao

[Craig Sweet]

Did Phil really have a chunk of his LIV money in SVB?

[John Kavanaugh]

Did Phil really have a chunk of his LIV money in SVB?

If he did our government protected his deposits.

[Ken Moum]

Scottie did finish 6th on the PIP list for 2022.

Unfortunate he's taking criticism for being a nice guy as opposed to the petulant whining on the course from players like JT and Spieth.  And his game speaks for itself, consistently hits phenomenal shots under pressure.

Nice guy? Aren't people criticising SS because he is a boring golf personality? Shows little emotion? I don't watch him enough to know, but that's what I read.

Ciao

Quiet, Godly, calm...boring.


Like I said, some people like a villain or three around.

[Tim Martin]

https://twitter.com/NotProfMcCarthy/status/1637199918258606080




 

[Max Prokopy]

The USGA didn't ask for this.  Their job is to try to identify the world's best (granted, during that singular week) on an extremely difficult course.  They don't have to smooth anything for anyone but rather hold the best possible event.  That could include recognizing the potential for more slots. 


This concept has already been applied when the USGA began holding qualifiers in foreign countries with the rationale of trying to make sure the best players were part of the tournament.

If this were true wouldn't the USGA go straight down the list of world rankings and ignore qualifying? The USGA rides middle ground on the matter. About half qualify and the others are exempt based on previous tour(s) and major results.

The USPGA Tour has no obligation to allow non members to play in their events.

Yes, world rankings should include players from all tours. Its their job to figure how to do this. They will need to do so for the new elevated events so a model should be readily available.

Ciao

I'm unclear where I made a suggestion that the PGA Tour has an obligation to LIV.  LIV players are obviously not eligible for elevated events, so I'm not sure where that figures into assessing LIV's players. 


The USGA is a completely different story and, as I noted, didn't ask for this. 


I don't like LIV and don't watch it but they obviously have several capable players, players who should be exempt into the majors.  In the interest of crowning the best possible champion, either the governing bodies will have to depart from the OWGR or consider opening up more qualifying spots. 

[MCirba]

https://twitter.com/NotProfMcCarthy/status/1637199918258606080




 

LIV-ing it up with the murderous Saudis on the trump Trainwreck Tour.

[John Kavanaugh]

Our own Zac Blair got a top 10 on the real tour and not a peep. Is all professional golf the enemy?


Congrats Zac.

[JLahrman]

LIV TV ratings are getting even worse. I confess, I wouldn't have known they were playing an event this week except for seeing stories about Sergio pissing in the cactus.


This brings to mind a great joke Bob Newhart made while roasting Don Rickles back on Dean Martin's show. "Don hasn't done that well in television. One of his shows got a -4 Nielsen rating. This means that not only was nobody watching, but that several people who don't own TV sets had heard about the show and they said if they owned a television set they wouldn't watch the show either".


https://www.thebiglead.com/posts/liv-golf-tv-ratings-cw-tucson-low-01gvxzztws4n

[John Kavanaugh]

How does who watches matter?

[Charlie Goerges]

That was Sergio? Noice

[Pete_Pittock]

That was Sergio? Noice

He could have stood a little closer.

[JLahrman]

How does who watches matter?

It doesn't. I just like that old Bob Newhart joke.

[Tim Leahy]

That was Sergio? Noice

Didn't Sergio piss his career away when he left the PGA tour?
JK, that's how Pro golf works if no one watches or buys tickets it ceases to exist.

[Rob Marshall]

That was Sergio? Noice

Didn't Sergio piss his career away when he left the PGA tour?
JK, that's how Pro golf works if no one watches or buys tickets it ceases to exist.

Sergio is an idiot. He was always a spoiled brat.

[John Kavanaugh]

That was Sergio? Noice

JK, that's how Pro golf works if no one watches or buys tickets it ceases to exist.

I was a member of a course where we held a Korn Ferry tournament. No one watched, no one bought tickets. It existed solely because a single individual who had the money wished it too.


To say something related to golf is going away because it provides no logical monetary return doesn’t fit with my personal experience.

[MCirba]

However, it's undeniable that people are voting with their television remotes and even passionate golf fans are looking askance.


https://nypost.com/2023/03/19/liv-golfs-tv-ratings-somehow-get-worse-with-tucson-event/amp/

From the article;

"Kevin Van Valkenburg of the golf-centric No Laying Up reports that LIV Golf scored a 0.14 rating in the key 18-49 demographic across 33 markets from their Arizona-based showcase on Saturday. It’s a worse performance than just three weeks prior. Just last month, LIV Golf had their TV debut for its first 2023 event in Mexico, and the ratings were disastrous."