Fred Couples: “It’s just amazing to hear all these people who can’t even answer simple questions about LIV Golf”

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Tough love from Fred Couples to some of his Task Force disciples and player fanboys who’ve taken Saudi Arabia’s advances to play the LIV Golf events.

From Christine Brennan’s story about Wednesday’s USGA press conference and the struggles to recall the Saudi regime’s role in 9/11, or the struggle families have had with the United States government to better understand the Saudi involvement.

“It’s just amazing to hear all these people who can’t even answer simple questions about LIV Golf,” Couples told USA TODAY Sports in a phone interview Wednesday afternoon. “For these 9/11 families, it must be a crushing blow. 

“If I had an 18-year-old son who was killed by a drunk driver, I think I would fight my whole life to make sure people drinking at a bar did not get into a car. I’m sure it’s the same with the 9/11 families and Saudi Arabia. To not be able to answer these questions because they are getting $200 million or he can’t answer because he’s making $110 million or $65 million, it’s just crazy.”

Is The Tour Formerly Known As European Considering A Saudi Partnership?

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GolfDigest.com’s Dan Rapaport and John Huggan talk to multiple sources suggesting the DP World Tour is mulling a “partnership of sorts” with the Saudi Arabia backed LIV Golf.

More than a dozen sources from across the DP World Tour and PGA Tour landscape have told Golf Digest that Pelley is mulling a rather impactful decision: a partnership of sorts between his tour and LIV Golf Investments, or a further integration with the PGA Tour. A spokesman for LIV declined to comment for this story, but a source intimately familiar with discussions between the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour says both sides see potential value in aligning more closely.

“[Pelley’s] getting serious pressure from his rank-and-file members to consider the Saudis,” says one high-profile player.

According to sources, Pelley was seen at Centurion Golf Club during LIV’s inaugural event last weekend, though it is not known whether any formal discussions with LIV took place. A spokesperson for the DP World Tour declined comment when asked about any conversations with either LIV Golf or the PGA Tour.

A partnership with LIV Golf for the former European Tour could present benefits to both sides.

The DP World Tour issued a statement in response to the piece but only addressed the whereabouts of the increasingly low profile Pelley last week:

We are aware of some reports in the media that DP World Tour Chief Executive Keith Pelley attended the event at Centurion Club last week. This is categorically untrue as Keith was in Sweden attending the Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed tournament.

Rahm: "I play for the love of the game, and I want to play against the best in the world. I've always been interested in history and legacy"

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Jon Rahm at the 2022 U.S. Open, discussing the LIV Golf exodus and why he won’t be joining.

JON RAHM: I almost feel -- I feel for Jay Monahan. If you see his time as a commissioner, he had to deal with COVID and now this. I don't know if he signed up for all this or not.

I consider the PGA TOUR has done an amazing job giving us the best platform for us to perform. I do see the appeal that other people see towards the LIV Golf. I do see some of the -- I'll put this delicately -- points or arguments they can make towards why they prefer it.

To be honest, part of the format is not really appealing time. Shotgun three days to me is not a golf tournament, no cut. It's that simple. I want to play against the best in the world in a format that's
been going on for hundreds of years. That's what I want to see.

Yeah, money is great, but when Kelley and I -- this first thing happened, we started talking about it, and we're like, will our lifestyle change if I got $400 million? No, it will not change one bit.

Truth be told, I could retire right now with what I've made and live a very happy life and not play golf again. So I've never really played the game of golf for monetary reasons.

I play for the love of the game, and I want to play against the best in the world. I've always been interested in history and legacy, and right now the PGA TOUR has that.

There's meaning when you win the Memorial Championship. There's meaning when you win Arnold
Palmer's event at Bay Hill. There's a meaning when you win, LA, Torrey, some of the historic venues. That to me matters a lot.

Monahan: “Why is this group spending so much money--billions of dollars--recruiting players and chasing a concept with no possibility of a return?”

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Doug Ferguson files an AP report on PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan’s booth visit—finally!—blasting the Saudi Arabia government backed golf league. Facing questions from Jim Nantz, a severely overdue dicussion about the money source took place on national televsion.

Speaking of the folks who brought us 9/11, journalist carvings, beheadings galore and high oil prices because it’s fun for the Crown Prince—Monahan offered this:

“It’s not an issue for me, because I don’t work for the Saudi Arabian government,” Monahan said, a veiled dig at the notion of being a free agent. “But it probably is an issue for players who chose to go and take that money. I think you have to ask yourself a question: Why.

“Why is this group spending so much money — billions of dollars — recruiting players and chasing a concept with no possibility of a return?” he said. “At the same time, there’s been a lot of questions, a lot of comments, about the growth of the game. And I ask, ‘How is this good for the game?’”

Monahan also focused on the relative integrity of PGA Tour competition compared to the first LIV stop.

“You’ve got true, pure competition, the best players in the world here at the RBC Canadian Open, with millions of fans watching. And in this game, it’s true and pure competition that creates the profiles and presences of the world’s greatest players. And that’s why they need us. That’s what we do,” Monahan said.

Latest Governing Body Notice To Manufacturers Outlines Significant Rollback Possibilities (For Elites)

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GolfDigest.com’s Mike Stachura reports the latest notice to manufacturers outlining new “areas of interest” proposals that would have a huge impact on golf balls and driver faces.

While we already knew of these were the focus, the June 8th specifics suggest as much as a thirty percent reduction for the longest of long hitters. Stachura writes:

The original proposed change was to raise the test swing speed for the Overall Distance Standard from the current 120 miles per hour to 125. The June 8 announcement now proposes studying a test speed “between 125 and 127 mph and will include studies of the effects of these test speeds on the launch conditions and aerodynamics of the golf ball.” At the maximum, that speed would be more than 12 mph faster than the current average clubhead speed on the PGA Tour but only a little more than two mph faster than the two current fastest swings on tour, Cameron Champ (124.76) and Branden Hagy (124.41).

As the USGA’s John Spitzer previously indicated when the speed being considered was 125 mph, nearly all of the balls played on tour would be non-conforming under the new standard, and of course many of those balls are also among the most purchased balls on the market.

The bigger set of changes proposed in the June 8 notice, however, would not affect average golfers, but could dramatically alter the performance of drivers at the elite level. The new proposal suggests tournaments or tours could institute a “model local rule” for equipment that would severely roll back how springy faces are and how forgiving drivers are on off-center hits.

As Stachura notes, these are just proposals and may have been crafted to begin a discussion, listen to the inevitable whining, and negotiate to a place that would keep courses relevant and anticipate the next generation of decathletes reared on modern stuff.

The notice also appears to have taken a few things off the table: grooves, changing the size of the ball or minimum ball spin.

Interested parties have until September 2nd to get their comments submitted. To date the manufacturers have been largely silent on the proposals.

The Country Club: Q&A With Fred Waterman, By The Numbers And All 18 From Above

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CBS Opens Canadian Open With Strong Rebuke Of PGA Tour's Defectors

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I’ve seen some wild stuff in this PGA Tour v. LIV situation but in a lot of ways, the likely fissures in the sport have only just begun based on CBS’s opening to Saturday’s RBC Canadian Open.

Nick Piatstowski at Golf.com summarized it here.

After showing some golf and maybe selling the leaderboard of 5 world top 18’s a wee bit hard—it is a doozy of a final group Sunday with Finau, McIlroy and Thomas—Jim Nantz explained how the LIV event in London had just concluded.

"Charl Schwartzel with his first win of any kind in six years, ranked 126th in the world, he was the victor of this 54-hole event of the tour that’s Saudi backed,” Nantz said.

Any kind and Saudi backed. That’s a declaration of war in the Hello Friendsphere!

Oh but it got better.

Faldo, speaking after clips of PGA Tour players talking:

“We’ve got two totally different golf tournaments. One, we play for tournaments and national championships over here. And the LIV Tour is what, 54 holes and no cut, shotgun start, you know, sounds crazy. 

“And the other thing that is very noticeable is the players that have left. Obviously they’re in mid-40s, they’ve been out here on Tour, they’ve been battling away and they probably know they can’t win out here against these youngsters. So they’re taking the easy option to go over and try and win a boatload of cash.”

Then Nantz turned up the heat after admitting that CBS’s relationship with the PGA Tour is something they’re proud of.

“But I think about — what I keep hearing from people, too, is a sense of disappointment, even a little betrayal. They’ve always been told the story, and I know it was true, that at some point in their careers the dream was to play on the PGA Tour, build a legacy, build your future financially. 

“And the Tour’s been good to them. It’s a Tour that’s come into these communities for decades and made these communities better than how they were when they first got there. I’m talking not millions; I’m talking billions of dollars into these communities.”

He hit the billions word hard, as you can see in the video I tweeted of Nantz’s remarks:

Credit CBS for addressing the topic at the top of the show along with disclosure of the obvious Tour partnership and conflict. And for doing it in a way that came off as genuinely believing in what the traveling circus format has done for communities on the calendar. These are points not emphasized enough in this entire debacle.

But all parties will have some soul searching to do after their partners failed to take the disruptive threats seriously until it was too late. The Global Home has never publicly suggested LIV’s money source is one their members should not be associating with (unless you count vague references in leaked memos).

So that’s why Nantz noting the Saudi source Saturday was significant.

Either way, we’ve just watched a series of events emblematic of intense coddling that is now coming home to roost when players are not always held to account publicly for their actions, are held up as the greatest to ever play the game, have excuses regularly made for them when making a poor decision, and often believe—in key cases—they are the game.

Stunner: They're Not Exactly Playing By The Rules Of Golf In The Saudi Golf League

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There are some fabulous details in Sean Zak’s Golf.com story looking at two rules situations at the inaugural LIV Golf Invitational. That young man’s mane of Slugger White’s might be thinning grey by the time he lands back in the States!

In the first instance, a caddie signaled to another player what club was used. White decided to issue a warning even though the caddie in question is a pro jock. And Slugger also made a request to fill divots. Charming. So they don’t know the rules or etiquette.

On brand in Saudi golf land!

In the second incident, also involving J.C. Ritchie of South Africa, well, it’s less a clear violation but speaks to the integrity of the competition…

Phachara Khongwatamai, of Thailand, the third player in Ritchie’s group, was playing so well Thursday that many of his shots were being shown on the event’s coverage. Ritchie, noting the action of the cameras around them, was concerned that viewers streaming at home might have seen the infraction and thought it had been overlooked. That was Ritchie’s first question when he approached White near scoring.

“If something like that happens out there,” he asked White Thursday, “do you want me to just be quiet?” 

White, it appeared, was unsure what to say. It was an odd question, to be sure, but Ritchie’s player support followed with the same query. What do you want us to do? 

“Well, you have a fiduciary responsibility to the rest of the field,” White said.

“Did something happen out there?” I asked Ritchie as he headed in to finalize his scores.

His player support turned around and said, “No. Nothing.”

Ogilvie: Pro Golf's "Unbundling" Phase?

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Phil Mickelson embraces Golf Saudi’s Majed Al Sorour (John Phillips/LIV Golf/Getty Images)

Former PGA Tour winner Joe Ogilvie has retired and gone into managing private equity but took to Twitter to offer this fascinating analogy of the current affairs pitting the PGA Tour vs. the Public Investment Fund Of Saudi Arabia.

9/11 Families Send Letter To The American Golfers Sportwashing For Saudi Arabia

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Next week’s U.S. Open is the first in Boston since 1988 and also the first since 9/11 when 15 of the 19 hackers were from Saudi Arabia, as was ringleader Osama bin Laden. As most know by now, the hijackers had multiple problematic ties to the government, with much of the information only coming out thanks to the persistence of victim families. And of the terrorists at Al Qaeda, like like LIV Golf, enjoyed Saudi funding.

Two flights hijacked on that awful day from Boston’s Logan Airport eventually flew into the World Trade Center, killing thousands.

With all of this horror in mind, families of 9/11 victims have sent a letter to Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed and Kevin Na expressing outrage for participating in the new Saudi-backed LIV Golf league, reports the New York Post’s Brian Wacker.

“As a freedom-loving American, I am grateful to have the freedom of choice where I work and who I work for, and I respect your right as well,” wrote Terry Strada, the organization’s national chair and a mother of three whose husband, Tom, was on the 104th floor of the north tower of the World Trade Center during the attacks. “As a 9/11 widow, I feel compelled to help you understand the level of depravity the Kingdom engaged in when it knowingly sent government agents here to establish the support network needed for those hijackers.

“As you may know, Osama bin Laden and 15 of the 19 September 11 hijackers were Saudis. It was the Saudis who cultivated and spread the evil, hate-filled Islamist ideology that inspired the violent jihadists to carry out the deadly 9/11 attacks.  And, most egregiously, it is the Kingdom that has spent 20 years in denial: lying about their activities, and cowardly dodging the responsibility they bear. Yet these are your partners, and much to our disappointment, you appear pleased to be in business with them.

“Given Saudi Arabia’s role in the death of our loved ones and those injured on 9/11—your fellow Americans—we are angered that you are so willing to help the Saudis cover up this history in their request for ‘respectability.’  When you partner with the Saudis, you become complicit with their whitewash, and help give them the reputational cover they so desperately crave—and are willing to pay handsomely to manufacture. The Saudis do not care about the deep-rooted sportsmanship of golf or its origins as a gentleman’s game built upon core values of mutual respect and personal integrity.  They care about using professional golf to whitewash their reputation, and they are paying you to help them do it.”

Meanwhile, the LIV Golf league’s backers in Saudi Arabia continue to withhold oil production, which when combined with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has led to record prices.

The Day That Will Live In Rich, Greedy And Egomaniacal Golf History

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The Curtis Cup At Merion Is Here!

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