So the US Open starts today from the Country Club in Boston. The course has a lot of history going back to 1913.
As for the Saudi Tour (LIV), I don’t particularly care about the politics, but the possible ramifications to pro golf. I would love to hear a player who has signed with them just admit that it was “for the money”.
An entire tour based on money guarantees could change things as we know it.
Isn’t “for the money” basically the essence of being American?
Bryson DeChambeau already has.
He probably came closest. I think he said he did it for financial reasons.
Nickel son is currently +5 after 6 holes. He is supposed to have received $200 million up front.
He said it was a business decision
I only heard snippets of his interview but I remember him using “financial”, which to me is a reference to the money. He used that and the party line of having more time to do other things.
I tend to pay attention to him as I have met his dad and he went to a local high school.
But if I am wrong, then I apologize.
Edit: I just read some quotes and he uses both terms.
It’s no issue, they are playing for the money, I assume most of them are playing for cash, especially those lower down the order. Capitalist Society we live in
Non capitalist societies do not have golf tournaments - right?
Personally do not give a crap who plays where. As a Brit it’s more embarrassing that we are trading partner with Saudi Arabia as are the USA and we sell them weapons buy their oil and support them than to really worry about where a few guys are playing golf for cash. The PGA and DP tour have tournaments in China and and the Middle East DP Tours Five Week Middle East 2022
I mean this Christmas we are all going to be cheering our football teams on while they play a World Cup in a Qatar due to a bent bid. No teams are boycotting, no FA’s are refusing to attend, fans will still flock there for the tickets
The only reason the PGA Tour are kicking up a fuss is because this could affect their bottom line and the amount of cash they could lose.
China is now big into golf.
That’s why I didn’t want to get into the politics of it as it is pretty hypocritical for most to complain about dealing with the Saudi’s.
I see the guarantees and the amount of money supporting the Saudi tour to be the problem. The PGA is actually a nonprofit, but they aren’t perfect. The Saudi’s have supposedly committed $4b to their tour.
China is not a socialist nor communist economic system. It’s state capitalism.
Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson are supremely distasteful people. The Saudis can have 'em.
I was surprised that Kevin Na is apparently not well liked as well. And that Norman is despised. Well, that may not have been a surprise.
Kevin Na is one of the slowest players on Tour, that brings its own issues.
Reports today have Koepka and Ancer joining LIV.
Congrats to Kirkpatrick, he hit some great shots on the last couple holes.
I can’t blame them for joining the LIV tour. The money is incredible. They will probably still get to play in the majors. I’m not sure most golf fans care about any individual tournaments beyond the majors and maybe The Memorial and the Arnold Palmer tournaments. All the other PGA tournaments to me sort of samey.
What I don’t really get is business plan LIV has. I can’t imagine they will make money anytime soon with the way they are spending it.
LIV apparently offered Tiger a huge, huge sum to join and he turned them down. It would be really interesting to see what the PGA would do if Tiger changes his mind and plays some LIV events. Any PGA event would be hard pressed to turn away Tiger if he wanted to play.
Yea, the business model is kinda weird. Small fields, three day tournaments, team play along with the individual play. I get a player doing it for the money, and without getting into the politics of the Saudi’s I do think they have no goal at making money themselves from this deal.
Imagine what the USFL would have done to the NFL if the USFL had a bottomless supply of money. Every professional league that has been challenged has been trying to make money and had to live on a true budget, that is not the case with the LIV tour.
Also the PGA tour basically supports 4 tours, the regular PGA Tour, the Korn Ferry Tour, the Champions Tour and the Latin American Tour. You have to wonder what a weakened PGA would mean to those other tours?