LIV's Cutting Edge Talking Points: We're Here To Grow The Game

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One can only close the eyes to picture the jubilation that must have come over the LIV Golf executive team as they landed on the real mission of their scheme to get-rich off the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. Hoping to find their Think Different vision for the league and appeal to the young people who have not been wowed by modern game messaging, they brainstormed and landed on? Grow the game!

I’ve written about this virus before and its ability to keep going even as the game has grown substantially the last few years. But it’s such an elusive strain. So much so that LIV’s high-paid executives aren’t dialed in enough to know it’s a laughing stock amongst those in the coveted demo they are so hungry to sportwash on The YouTube.

You’d think a young, hip leader like Greg Norman would have known this.

Nice job by The Fried Egg to obtain and share these profound talking points which, unfortunately, were put in writing. Generally a medium not conducive to reaching the world’s leading golf professionals.

The fan stuff and how they reached their conclusions on format is, of course, extra ridiculous given that the blueprint and details for LIV Golf were stolen from the Premier Golf League concept.

Kevin Na Address His Lone Fan: I Must Resign From The PGA Tour

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In a blow to slow play and delusional entitlement, Kevin Na announced his resignation from the PGA Tour.

In a Tweet addressed “To my fan-”, Na tells his legion of one that he did not want to deal with PGA Tour sanctions for his future in the LIV Golf event and “the buzz it brings to golf.” He will not be missed. But don’t tell his fan.

In an interview with Steve DiMeglio, Na elaborated on this decision, saying he wants to play less and spend more time with his family.

"[LIV Golf is] something that doesn't represent the grind."

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Graeme McDowell explained his rationale for moving to the LIV Golf series and essentially admitted it’s an easy way out.

From Brian Keogh’s Irish Golf Desk report:

"It has been very demoralising, especially when you've got kids," the struggling world 376 told National Club Golfer of his struggles over the past 18 months.

"You look around and think, is this worth the sacrifice? It is worth the sacrifice when you're being successful and financially it's very lucrative. But when you're not successful and you're leaving your kids 35 weeks a year, you do ask yourself the question."

He added: "[LIV Golf is] something that doesn't represent the grind. The prize money is guaranteed, there are no cuts. It's new and exciting and it's given me a shot in the arm from an energy point of view. It's come at a perfect point."

The item also includes some comments from Paul McGinley. This stood out:

"There's no doubt that this will go down as a historic moment in the game. If this Saudi league does gather a head of steam and it does challenge the established two tours, considering the background and who's involved and the whole ideas of team events, it could turn golf upside down and on its head."

"Skyline Seats for a 100 foot high golf viewing experience like never before"

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Set against the self-proclaimed audacity of next week’s LIV Invitational outside London, a crane hoisting Canadian Open spectators sponsored by a betting company seems almost quaint.

Nice spot by Jay Rigdon at Awful Announcing with the details for those who’ve wanted to view golf from the drones-eye perspective.

  • The seating structure hosts 22 people, who will be harnessed into their seats.

  • The experience in the sky is 30 minutes with additional time allotted for embarking and disembarking. Food and beverage is included in the experience.

Colonial 2022: Another Rough Ratings Week On The PGA Tour

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The 2022 Charles Schwab Challenge featured World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler as the third round leader and Jordan Spieth in contention, but that was not nearly enough to help CBS’s ratings.

Eventually won by Sam Burns in a playoff over Scheffler, the final round telecast drew a 1.46/2.43 million average audience, down 2021’s 1.79/3.11 million for Jason Kokrak’s win over Jordan Spieth. All numbers courtesy of ShowBuzzDaily’s weekly sports report on a busy weekend for viewers.

Saturday’s CBS broadcast from Colonial and all Golf Channel telecasts showed declines. The LPGA’s match play event at Shadow Creek was also down across the board and did not draw a top 150 rating for Sunday’s final match.

The NCAA Women’s Championship earlier in the week on Golf Channel also failed to rate.

The same week in 2021 courtesy of Showbuzzdaily:

Darren Clarke Turns Down Lucrative LIV Broadcasting Due To Threat Of Champions Tour Sanctions

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Alex Miceli reports that former Open Champion Darren Clarke was offered a three-year deal to be lead analyst for LIV Golf’s broadcasts but chose to protect his playing career.

Miller Brady, the president of the PGA Tour Champions, delivered the bad news to Clarke in a phone call on Tuesday, stating that Clarke’s involvement in the broadcast would be a breach of regulations and would be subject to disciplinary actions.

“I really enjoy my time on the Champions tour and didn’t want to jeopardize it,” Clarke said in a call with SI.com/Morning Read from the Principal Charity Classic in Des Moines. 

Clarke would not disclose the amount of the offer but was clear that the offer was considerable.

The initial tournament in London is expected to be exclusive to YouTube barring a last-minute media rights deal.

Report: Dustin Johnson Got £100 Million Because Phil Hasn't Committed Yet

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So imagine if James Corrigan and Tom Morgan are correctly reporting that Greg Norman lured Dustin Johnson away from the PGA Tour after Phil Mickelson refused to fully commit what Phil is worth now?

After all, Johnson’s not exactly P.T. Barnum in the sales department so Mickelson must be worth double to make the LIV Golf thing go, right? A spot awaits Mickelson for next week’s event and now it seems this has been less about wishing to remain reclusive and more about Phil wanting to get the best deal.

Meanwhile, Johnson and Graeme McDowell were dropped by RBC, sponsor’s of next week’s Canadian Open they were probably contractually obligated to play.

McDowell told Steve Carroll it was a business decision for him and he managed to avoid invoking a “grow the game,” which was nice.

“It was a very difficult decision. It’s a difficult decision as a player when there’s so many unknowns. We don’t know what the reaction is going to be.

“It just boils down to the fact that I am a business and I’ve operated all over the world for 20 years. This is a compelling opportunity. It’s a fun format and there are some guarantees there.

“It wasn’t a decision I took very lightly. I realised the consequences could be far ranging. But I felt like it was the right decision for me and my family – to be able to take an opportunity like this and play on something new.

“At the end of the day, it’s another golf tour, which we’ve operated on all over the world for the last 20 years. I feel like I have the right to do that.”

Quadrilateral: Major(s) News & Notes, June 2, 2022

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Bailey Davis tees off the 10th in practice (Chris Keane/USGA)

The U.S. Women's Open is here and the Quadrilateral has your final preview.

Plus, Justin Thomas will play his way into majors, Stenson visits Rome, Open rail concerns, vital ticket news, ANGC's Par 3 gets a facelift, Valhalla sells, and many Reads.

You can learn more about The Quad and subscribe to the newsletter here.

Texas Captures Its Fourth NCAA Title With Win Over Arizona State

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The team was inspired by a young man named Sonny Santrelli, who is battling cancer and was able to be on hand to watch. Quite a moment after:

The full highlights package:

The final day also marked another sad chapter in Golf Channel and NBC Sports, as the network’s coverage was off air for around 50 minutes of the final match and viewers let them have it. Not the synergy and support the NCAA signed up for but life in the world of Comcast chintziness.

The Match Is Back With Only Superstar QB's And A Producer Who Did Time

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The latest iteration of Capital One’s The Match is back on Wednesday with quarterbacks Tom Brady, Josh Allen, Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes playing at the awful Wynn course.

While Phil Mickelson is no longer involved in the made-for-TV events as he ponders how to be a better man, The Match is again being produced by Bran Zuriff.

As noted in Alan Shipnuck’s book Phil in writing about Mickelson’s shady associations and gambling problems, Zuriff was previously sentenced to home confinement and two years probation for his role in an illegal gambling enterprise with Russian mob ties.

Zuriff spoke to Golf.com’s James Colgan about the latest edition of the PGA Tour sanctioned charity match airing on TNT and how Mickelson is doing.

BZ: No. I swear to God, people think I’m making this up — Phil is enjoying his time off the hamster wheel. He’s enjoying it. He has gone balls to the walls for 30-plus years — doing every interview shaking every hand being an incredible ambassador. He’s taking a break and he actually is enjoying it. So we will eventually see him, but he’s enjoying his time off. And he’s really happy about that. But I consider him a lifelong friend and a partner. And when he wants to come back, he’s welcome to come back.

I wouldn’t bet on it.

LIV Lands DJ For First Event Filled Out Mostly By Once-Greats, A Lot Of South Africans And Mostly People You've Never Heard Of

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The LIV field lives! It took a while but the June 9-12 event finally has a field, almost.

There’s so much to shake your head at and so much to laugh at who will play for gobs of undeserved money next week in London.

Dustin Johnson is the headliner for now and despite being a well-know RBC team member obligated to play the Canadian Open—one would think—he will likely lose his partnership based on this RBC statement obtained by Adam Stanley:

Johnson’s participation is silly on so many levels. Besides the lack of loyalty to the PGA Tour and a sponsor like RBC that puts him in ads despite being a less than eloquent pitchman, the 2020 Masters champion has been back and forth on his desire to grab the Saudi cash. In February he was out, but by May’s PGA he was looking forward to seeing how the event played out.

He’s all about the money.

The move rules out a future Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup captaincy. Ok those were not happening anyway. The Hall of Fame might be tougher now despite those two majors. Not that he cares. And definitely no Rolex billboard on Washington Road—that might actually matter to him.

From February:

What a brand!

As for others in the field, you have to wonder what’s going on in South Africa to make eight of their guys sign up, including Charl Schwartzel, Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace. The RSA’s are also wheeling out a Hennie Du Plessis and JC Ritchie who make Shaun Norris and Justin Harding seem like global superstars.

Decent PGA Tour players to make the leap include Talor Gooch, Hudson Swafford and Matt Jones. Not exactly folks anyone is paying to see.

Decent European Tour players include Sam Horsfield, Bernd Wiesberger and Pablo Larrazabal.

Aging stars like Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, Graeme McDowell and Martin Kaymer probably ended any hopes of captaining a Ryder Cup squad to take the easy money.

Randoms include former US Am Champ Andy Ogletree, whose done nothing with the perks of winning that event, and the same goes for last year’s NCAA individual champ and current world No. 706 Turk Pettit. Then there’s former Titleist CEO Wally Uihlein’s son Peter Uihlein jumping ship.

Note to Jay Monahan: Taylormade makes a great ball now and ChromeSofts are getting better! Plus, the ball goes too far and straight.

The Friends of Greg division suggests the Shirtless Shark’s Rolodex is not filled with many Aussies. That contingent is led by the recently hapless Wade Ormsby (one top 10 in the last two years), another Aussie named Jediah Morgan and one more named Blake Windred. The latter won the Australian PGA this year.

Then there are the amateurs, including one competing in the NCAA final Wednesday as part of the Arizona State squad.David Puig sounds bitter he has not received European Tour sponsor’s exemptions but still dreams of playing the PGA Tour. He’s taking an NIL deal to appear, as Ryan Lavner reports after hearing Puig’s thoughts.

Current U.S. Amateur champion James Piot is also playing in London and teeing up in this week’s Memorial. Ah the spirit of Bobby Jones…is gone.

As for Phil Mickelson? Morning Read’s Bob Harig says this is still just a field of 42 and more openings means Phil’s probably just waiting as long as possible. You know, because that grey Old Tom beard will be tough to say goodbye to.

Nicklaus On Saudi Meeting: “I did it out of courtesy to them because we're doing a golf course for them."

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Jack Nicklaus offered a perfectly reasonable counter to Howard Milstein’s claim. Now we’ll have to see what the response is from the Nicklaus Companies head suing the company namesake.

From Bob Harig’s story at Morning Read:

“They obviously called me,’’ Nicklaus said. “And we’ve had a contract on a golf course in Saudi Arabia for over a couple of years. Essentially the same group.

“So when they called Jackie — my son Jackie organized the meeting, and they came into the Bear's Club (in Florida). We met a couple of guys. John Rees and Paul Stringer from the Nicklaus companies were there because we were doing the golf course, and they proposed this thing to me.

“I did it out of courtesy to them because we're doing a golf course for them. I've got zero interest in wanting to do something like that. I don't care what kind of money they would have thrown at me. My allegiance has been to the PGA Tour. I grew up on the PGA TOUR. I helped found the PGA Tour as it is today. My allegiance is there and it’s going to stay there.’’

In an interview with Michael Bamberger, Nicklaus claimed the offer was in excess of $100 million.

It remains a curious situation given how Nicklaus and Milstein both have no qualms about doing business with Saudi Arabia, but see a line crossing when it comes to supporting a rival golf tour.

Only Steph Curry Understands How He Wants His Clubs Regripped

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Non-golfers might find it a bit odd to see Steph Curry picking his clubs at the local PGA Superstore when the NBA Finals begin Thursday.

Presuming this was a regripping, any golfer can understand how that’s a task not to be trusted to an assistant.

Freshman Wins NCAA Individual Title, NCAA Elite Eight Set

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Adam Woodward reports on a wild finish to the men’s individual title chase that ended in a four-man playoff won by Vanderbilt’s Gordon Sargent. The true freshman joins a small group to have won the title in their first year, including Ben Crenshaw and Phil Mickelson.

The final eight teams are set, with Tuesday featuring 36-holes of matches concluding with Wednesday’s final. It was a remarkable show by top ranked teams backing up their season-long efforts to reach the elite eight. Woodward previews the bracket and morning matches.

The teams and TV Times:

Looming Questions Halfway Through 2022's Major Season

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Deprived of another day wondering who might be turning up at the LIV’s first London event in a week, I sat typed out some looming questions for the second half of 2022. Holy cow there’s a lot to be resolved in the coming weeks and months.

Jack, Howard, Nelly, Tiger, Phil, Brooks, Bryson, Brookline, Congressional, St Andrews, Portmarnock, Muirfield, Winged Foot, Riviera, Distance and plenty more on the rest-of-'22 radar now at the Quadrilateral.