The US Open

What an interesting week the golf community has been through. Between a Canadian winning the RBC Canadian Open for the first time in almost 70 years and the jaw-dropping merger between the PGAT and The Saudis, it's safe to say the golf community has been taken for a wild ride in the past seven days. What’s even better is that all of this drama has taken place just one week before the U.S. Open. First things first let's take a dive into this merger. 

To put it bluntly, this merger shocked literally every person. There were virtually no whispers, no speculation, actually everything that was being said pointed towards the exact opposite of a merger. This entire deal was done behind closed doors and didn't even involve LIV CEO Greg Norman. The deal was done between Jay Monahan and PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan. Now for those who don’t know Yasir is in charge of the Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund which is valued at more than 700 Billion. When the news broke last Wednesday morning the golf community went into a frenzy. Players, fans, and loyalists from both sides were confused, shocked, and many angry, especially the players. It was difficult to understand what was unraveling because PGAT commissioner Jay Monahan continuously preached that players should remain loyal to the PGAT and LIV was the enemy for almost two years. Then without warning he goes back on everything he said and jumps into bed with the people he fought so tirelessly against. He took the easy way out, I guess the old adage is true if you can’t beat them, join them. 

Since the merger, Jay has been working tirelessly to get the players back on his side but due to his hypocrisy and lack of integrity, many of the players called for his resignation. Jay was met with all kinds of backlash from players, media, analysts, basically any against LIV wanted Jay out at this point and honestly I can’t blame them. Jay begged players to stay and turn the money down and now all those players that left and took the money will ultimately be back playing on the PGAT once this season is over. Players turned down generational money because Jay told them loyalty was more important. Little did they know in a short time Jay would sell his soul to the Saudis and their money. Nevertheless, this merger is happening and at this point, we really don’t know much more than what we are seeing at the surface level. We do know that all litigation will end, and both LIV and The PGAT will finish out their season's business as usual. After the 2023 FedEx Cup Championship all changes, whatever those changes may be will take effect. Nevertheless, the show goes on and the USGA is trying to keep this week all about the LA Country Club and the U.S. Open. 

This week the golf world converges on Los Angeles, California for the 123rd U.S. Open. The host Venus LA Country Club is primed and ready for their first major event in over 75 years. LA Country Club is a rather historic golf course, it was built over 100 years ago by George Thomas and has since been redesigned by the famous Gil Hanse. LA Country Club however is a little different than the traditional east coast venues that have hosted past U.S. Open. While there aren't many elevation changes, the golf course has a way of preventing players from being comfortable. It forces them to really get creative around the green complexes and precision off the tee. The other aspect about LA Country Club that I find fascinating is the idea of half pars. This course’s famous for its easy holes relative to par, being backed up with extremely difficult holes. For example, the first hole is much easier par five which will probably play a half shot under par, followed by the difficult second hole which will probably play a half shot over par hence the term “half pars.” With this setup, we could possibly see a lot of birdies followed by quick bogeys. I think the player that scrambles well and finds the most fairways will be successful. The other key to success at LA Country Club is creativity. One specific hole comes to mind that requires finesse. The par 3, 15th is a deceptively challenging hole. In past events, the hole played around 124 yards, but the shot required was only an 80 yard pitch due to the type of green and hole design. It’s holes like that, that challenge the players to hit creative wedge shots around the golf course. All in all the course looks pristine, the players are ready for another major and the golf community is ready for another showdown. (Mike)

Tyler’s Picks: My pick this week is Jon Rahm. He can cap this remarkable year with multiple majors. He is someone that is hard to bet against this year. If he does not win, a top ten seems almost like a guarantee these days. My dark horse this week is Keagan Bradley. He is in a group of guys that have made a nice resurgence in their careers. He has experience winning a major before so that should help him if he finds himself near the top of the leaderboard over the weekend like I expect. 

To wrap up this week, we are lucky enough to have some thoughts from the land down under. Xavier joins us from Australia to give us his thoughts on the wildest last week. We will hopefully have him continue to give his thoughts on the matter as this all unfolds. We are just getting started here! (Tyler)

LIV and let die…

 Just shy of a young boy’s 7th Birthday, he and his parents were in attendance to watch the Portsea Pro-Am which played host to few professionals of note and even fewer genuine stars of our game. There were ropes separating the fans and the players, officials holding signs and scores, and caddies (although I didn’t know the name for them at the time) hauling gargantuan golf bags up and down the slopes of this cliffside course on one of Victoria’s most stunning peninsulas. As a sporting savant at the tender age of 6 and 3 quarters, I couldn’t quite spot the ‘umpires’ so naturally I turned to ask my Dad where the people were with the whistles, etc. “The players umpired themselves” he whispered. My confusion at the time, which was shown via a non-response (rare for me). “The players umpire themselves, if they do the wrong thing, even if by accident, they give themselves a penalty.” More silence ensued while the next group of players hit their shots. I didn’t know much about the rules at the time, or what ‘par’ meant, or the strategy of how to hit a draw, fade, flop, stinger, but I absolutely knew in my nearly 7-year-old brain that golfers do the right thing.

Golf’s most memorable ‘hello world’ moment up until now had dripped from the enigmatic smile of the one and only Tiger Woods; it the most prolific golf emergence… up until now. In January of 2020, the ‘Premier Golf League’ was floated as an alternative professional golfing format whereby events would be shortened to 54 holes and played in teams across a ‘shotgun’ format – ‘shotgun’ definition; each group of golfers tees off from different tee boxes, where the only benefit is to those too impatient to withstand the horrors of even more time spent playing the game they love. This was hardly a threat to the game. PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan announced shortly after that players who wish to partake in this alternative format will not be granted status as a PGA tour member. Fair enough. November of that same year, the DP World tour (formerly European Tour) announces a strategic alliance with the new format to allow players dual status, its reason, a “global schedule” (that’s the sound of a coins rattling). Fast forward to October 2021, and ENTER ‘The Shark’ Greg Normal. A rather appropriate name for someone with a public disdain for all things PGA, and whose nose has an attuned sense for money in the water. Norman is announced the CEO of LIV Golf, an organization that is a part of the Saudi Royal Family’s public investment fund (PIF). This particular investment group is an arm of the official Saudi government, which tends to be nonchalant about the cleanliness of their money but rather focused on the sexual orientation of their citizens, or the honesty of Journalists. Suffice to say, that their attempted entry into the world of comes with deep pockets and shallow morals. A 55 million dollar increase in total purse prize money is Monahan’s attempt at swatting away the Saudi sports washers. In a game where morality has spoken the loudest since time immemorial, money is now the language de jour.

The astronomical sums of money being dangled in front PGA tour players to defect to the Saudi-backed was too much to ignore for some. Mostly has-beens and no-names flanked high profile players to form a small and non-threatening stable of golfers who, despite claims to “grow the game,” were chasing money over legacy. The average punter could at least reconcile themselves with the fact that those who elected to go were shutting the door on any future involvement with the tour. Or so we thought. 

The stance that Monahan and the PGA took was clear. On June 12, 2022, Monahan was interviewed by the sports broadcaster Jim Nantz, and within that interview he was asked about a letter written from some families of 9/11 victims to players who had already defected, namely, previous major championship winners in Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, and Dustin Johnson. Amidst the objections to current human rights practices committed by the those supporting the breakaway league, the letter was imploring players to remember the past atrocities of 9/11. Monahan went on to echo the sentiments of the letter, and responded by stating, “I would ask any player that has left, or any player that would ever consider leaving, have you ever had to apologize for being a member of the PGA tour?” In a backflip that Olympic gymnasts would be proud of, it was announced just shy of a year after that interview that the PGA would be merging with the people it had vehemently condemned. The players that remained learned of the merger via Twitter… conduct unbecoming don’t you think? Adding insult to injury, it seems that players who took the money and defected will have the chance to rejoin the PGA tour. Only those players will know if their conscience weighs as heavy as their cashed up brown paper bags.

For now, there are more questions than answers. Fans and players are now forced to exist in limbo to see just how much influence the PIF has over operational decisions etc. For the 7-year-old attending a tournament, at the practice range or at home watching their heroes, could we still tell them that golf is a game of honor? If Monahan can’t answer that question himself, I’m sure his new mates at the office can pay someone to lie on his behalf. More to follow (Xavier G, Zero Putts Given guest)