Hovland takes on the commissioner

[Tommy Williamsen]

If Hovland is this vocal, then the TOUR is in real trouble.


https://www.si.com/golf/2024/03/13/viktor-hovland-pga-tour-commissioner-jay-monahan-players-championship?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=morning-read-newsletter-&hashed_email=e4e6addf32a33d9260929088ff01ee9d01f8e20b5a4f0faaf81bdada48204436&lctg=186386764&date=2024-03-14

[Tom_Doak]

Tommy:


Why do you think Hovland is pivotal?


I agree with pretty much everything he said, and my guess is a lot of other TOUR players do, too, especially the lesser names, who have to feel like nobody is watching out for them anymore, or even leveling with them about it.


But as a foreign player, Hovland seems not to have the same pull with the powers that be in PVB.  If he was upset enough to leave, the TOUR would just blame it on him being greedy like Rahm and the others before them.  Or maybe they think that because he hasn't won a major yet, he has no alternative to staying for now, so they don't have to listen to him?


Everything is a power play now.

[Joel_Stewart]

Xander has been very critical and multiple retired players such as Azinger.


I have a friend who's kinda close to the situation that said as soon as an agreement is worked out and implemented, Jay is out. 

[Tommy Williamsen]

Tommy:


Why do you think Hovland is pivotal?


I agree with pretty much everything he said, and my guess is a lot of other TOUR players do, too, especially the lesser names, who have to feel like nobody is watching out for them anymore, or even leveling with them about it.


But as a foreign player, Hovland seems not to have the same pull with the powers that be in PVB.  If he was upset enough to leave, the TOUR would just blame it on him being greedy like Rahm and the others before them.  Or maybe they think that because he hasn't won a major yet, he has no alternative to staying for now, so they don't have to listen to him?


Everything is a power play now.

I wasn't thinking that he is pivotal. As someone who is both a first and second-generation Norwegian/American, it is not very Norwegian to be outspoken like that. It took a lot for him to speak out.

[Rob Marshall]

Xander has been very critical and multiple retired players such as Azinger.


I have a friend who's kinda close to the situation that said as soon as an agreement is worked out and implemented, Jay is out.

Most of the fans are tuning out. With the number 1 player in the world playing a great round on Sunday in tough conditions the Sunday ratings were down 30% from last year. Golf fans, like the players are sick of this. Not sure if it will ever be the same.


It is surprising to hear Victor speak out. He’s always appeared to be a happy go lucky kid. Hard not to root for him.

[Craig Sweet]

I don't think people are tuning out because they are tired of this mess. I think they could care less.  IMHO the Florida swing is boring golf played on cookie cutter courses on boring NBC TV....It is far from "must see TV"


It's the players tour and they should fire Monahan's sorry ass, negotiate directly with the 54 Hole Tour players, and reach a solution that includes the charities, cuts ties with the murderous thugs, and provides solid, competitive entertainment every week.

[MKrohn]

The interview with Viktor is on youtube, goes for around 30 mins I think, I listened to it yesterday. My take on it probably wouldn't get the required "journalist" clicks, whilst he said a few things about Monahan, he spent the rest of interview indicating he played golf and didn't keep up with things as he had confidence in the PAC.


@tommywilliamsen, whilst Swedes and Norweigans aren't the same people, Greta Thunberg never has a problem voicing her opinions, perhaps the days of the quiet stoic Scandanavians are a thing of the past?

[Rob Marshall]

I don't think people are tuning out because they are tired of this mess. I think they could care less.  IMHO the Florida swing is boring golf played on cookie cutter courses on boring NBC TV....It is far from "must see TV"


It's the players tour and they should fire Monahan's sorry ass, negotiate directly with the 54 Hole Tour players, and reach a solution that includes the charities, cuts ties with the murderous thugs, and provides solid, competitive entertainment every week.

Could be true Craig, but the 30% was a decrease to the same event on the Florida swing from one year to the next.

[Kalen Braley]

Rob,

I would tend to agree.  Anecdotally many of my friends, myself included, suffer from "PGATour/LIV golf drama and infighting" fatigue.  I've watched far less golf up to this point in the year that I typically would.

Switching gears, as it concerns VHs assertions on field sizes, I would not agree.  I think the smaller sizes work better in general because it means the likelihood increases for a Sunday showdown among big names.  The Masters has proved this again and again thru the years, and its not just coincidence they have one of the most limited fields in all of golf.

Other limited events like The Memorial, Bay Hill, and even the Tour championship have done well for similar reasons...IMO.  Hell even silly season events like Tigers tourney in the Bahamas probably gets better ratings than the average run of the mill mid-season 2nd tier Tour event.

What fans want to see is the most popular names battle it out.  Full Stop. 

[Tony_Muldoon]

What fans want to see is the most popular names battle it out.  Full Stop. 

I hardly ever watch TV golf, max 3 majors and the Ryder Cup, but when I do that's exactly what I want to see.


In every other Sport, unless I have my Dog in the Game, I love an underdog (or at least an unkown to me) break through.
But NOT in Golf: I've discussed this with many times with other people and they feel the same.

[jeffwarne]

What fans want to see is the most popular names battle it out.  Full Stop. 

I hardly ever watch TV golf, max 3 majors and the Ryder Cup, but when I do that's exactly what I want to see.


In every other Sport, unless I have my Dog in the Game, I love an underdog (or at least an unkown to me) break through.
But NOT in Golf: I've discussed this with many times with other people and they feel the same.

I never understand why this doesn't also apply to golf.
If golf becomes a series of WGCs where the "alleged" top 40-50 play against each other in limited fields mostly every week, I will have minimal interest in watching.
definitely cheapens the wins when they come against small no cut fields, even if they are the top players. same as the former WGC wins.
There are FAR more than 50 players capable of winning any given week. Eliminating many of them by not granting them a spot weakens the field IMHO.


I also don't really care that much if the "best" all play together every week.
I enjoyed tremdously when there was a strong Euro tour and a PGA Tour simultaneously with occasionally overlap on both continents and in majors. Some players bounced between the two.
Many will disagree in support of a world tour-which is fine.
As a player, I would be less interested in a "world" tour-especially with a young family, but to each their own.
Australians certainly won't agree.

[Tony_Muldoon]

Jeff I don't understand why either, nor do the folk I discuss it with but it’s a thing.

I speculate:
In most Sports the top dogs dominate more than in Golf. E.G. seeding in Tennis means we see the same guys beating each other up in the Final more often than not. But in Golf a dominant multi year career like Jack or Tiger is much less common. And generally people like to follow who they know, so an unknown leading from a huge field on a Sunday is not so exciting as it happens way more often. Each time it’s a different player’s week and that’s no fun more than once or twice a season to the non committed fan like me. For Golf to be more interesting to me, perversely I want to see fewer Golfers competing for the prize.

[Michael Morandi]

Xander has been very critical and multiple retired players such as Azinger.


I have a friend who's kinda close to the situation that said as soon as an agreement is worked out and implemented, Jay is out.

Monahan should be out. Job #1 for a CEO is to identify external threats and respond accordingly. Jay failed. I hear he’s a nice guy and a “suit”.

[Charlie Goerges]

I never understand why this doesn't also apply to golf.

I enjoyed tremdously when there was a strong Euro tour and a PGA Tour simultaneously with occasionally overlap on both continents and in majors. Some players bounced between the two.

I agree with you, especially the second point above.


Also, for me, what makes sports worthwhile is the large, pyramid-like structure spreading out beneath the people at the very top. In golf, if there weren't millions of people of various skill and experience levels below the top layer, it wouldn't matter how good the very best were, I wouldn't care one whit about who won the majors (or anything else).

[Jerry Kluger]

I think that if Jay Monahan was the CEO of any publicly traded company he would have been out a long time ago.  He should have seen LIV coming and figured out a way to head it off instead he had to have Rory try to come to his aid but it was too late.  We now have some investors coming in willing to spend billions of dollars to turn it around but the commissioner should have thought of that before LIV was able to grab a foothold into golf.  I am still curious to see how those investors see a way to get a return on their investment.  I am not professing to be a business expert so where do you make the money that has not already been available to the PGA Tour?  Are you going to get advertisers to pay more for more viewers which is hard to see or is there some ancillary means of generating income - it is beyond me to even guess at that.  A guy like Hovland has not gone to LIV and where is his reward for doing so - I cannot blame him for being frustrated with the current hierarchy of the PGA Tour.

[John Connolly]

The problem is not Jay, it's not Victor, it's not the tour. The problem is human nature. There is just no way to keep billions of dollars away from people when it's free. No CEO on the planet could have prevented this mudslide. Stop being surprised, or disappointed, when gravity exerts its unrelenting pull.

[Tom_Doak]

If golf becomes a series of WGCs where the "alleged" top 40-50 play against each other in limited fields mostly every week, I will have minimal interest in watching.
definitely cheapens the wins when they come against small no cut fields, even if they are the top players. same as the former WGC wins.
There are FAR more than 50 players capable of winning any given week. Eliminating many of them by not granting them a spot weakens the field IMHO.


I also don't really care that much if the "best" all play together every week.
I enjoyed tremdously when there was a strong Euro tour and a PGA Tour simultaneously with occasionally overlap on both continents and in majors. Some players bounced between the two.
Many will disagree in support of a world tour-which is fine.
As a player, I would be less interested in a "world" tour-especially with a young family, but to each their own.
Australians certainly won't agree.

Part of the reason the majors are special - besides the venues and the history - is because they were the only events where everyone DID come together.


If they managed to unify a World Tour and tried to have 20 events per year with all of the top-ranked players, none of them would be special, and the majors would become something different . . . more like they were 100 years ago . . . they would be the event where a lesser-known player was allowed to compete on even terms and prove he was better.