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This PGA vs LIV thing continues to be interesting.

Greg Norman intentionally snubbed for some 150th celebration in golf.

Mastercard pauses sponsorship for two LIV golfers.

DOJ investigating PGA Tour's behavior towards LIV Golf.

I'm guessing some Saudi money rattled some of their owned Congresspeople's cages.

R&A chief shits on LIV.

Am I the only one who finds this whole thing fascinating? Not from the golf perspective exclusively, but you have the Saudis, literally, trying to throw money at something for PR. They're treating it like a sledge hammer. Will they succeed?

The PGA and European tours seem pretty united in telling the Saudis to go fuck themselves, and truthfully, the money they are paying is not sustainable without the Saudis. Once they decided to stop throwing money at it, and sponsors are needed, the whole thing will crumble.

Currently, how can they be looking at their investment in LIV and think, "Yes, this is going well. The world's golf fans love us now and will forget about 9/11, that journalist we murdered, executing gays, oppressing women, etc."

Leisher wrote: ↑Wed Jul 13, 2022 11:30 am The PGA and European tours seem pretty united in telling the Saudis to go fuck themselves, and truthfully, the money they are paying is not sustainable without the Saudis. Once they decided to stop throwing money at it, and sponsors are needed, the whole thing will crumble.

Right? It's the USFL.

Trump weighs in on LIV and says, "Take the money".

Of course he'd say that since he's in bed with them. However, is he wrong? I'm very against the LIV tour. It's definitely blood money. And businesswise they way they're doing things reeks of "Yep, this is how the entitled rich trying to hide their sins would do things". This is honestly like if China just swooped in and bought every franchise or the entire NBA outright. It'd be really interesting to watch all the black players and fans' reactions to slave owners now owning their league and teams.

That being said, some dude just signed a 2 (or 4?) year, $40M deal with them. He's the #170-something ranked player and has never won a tournament. Hank Stetson or something. WTF shouldn't he take the money? He would NEVER make that much in his career.

BTW, I absolutely do think the PGA needs to step up their game with the purses. At the very least, they should open their books to players. Let the players see exactly what percentage of the take they're actually getting.

Leisher wrote: ↑Thu Jul 21, 2022 10:20 am That being said, some dude just signed a 2 (or 4?) year, $40M deal with them. He's the #170-something ranked player and has never won a tournament. Hank Stetson or something. WTF shouldn't he take the money? He would NEVER make that much in his career.

I have morals, but I also need money. It all depends.

TheCatt wrote: ↑Thu Jul 21, 2022 10:46 am

Leisher wrote: ↑Thu Jul 21, 2022 10:20 am That being said, some dude just signed a 2 (or 4?) year, $40M deal with them. He's the #170-something ranked player and has never won a tournament. Hank Stetson or something. WTF shouldn't he take the money? He would NEVER make that much in his career.

I have morals, but I also need money. It all depends.

Understand and agree.

I hate folks taking the money, but I absolutely understand it. To give it a proper analogy, it's like when Chris Rock said, "A man is as faithful as his options."

LIV offered Tiger $700-$800 million and he said no.

Respect.

Fuck it, I'll take the deal.

11 LIV players file an antitrust suit against the PGA.

Weird for players who wanted lighter schedules to sue for heavier schedules...

Details and revelations from the lawsuit.

The most interesting part, imho:

One of the challenges for the LIV Golf players, according to Craig Seebald, a partner and antitrust expert at Vinson & Elkins law firm, is proving injury. Many of the players who left the PGA Tour for LIV Golf received guaranteed signing bonuses of between $100 million and $200 million.

"Normally, when you're representing plaintiffs, you say, 'Oh my God, our plaintiffs are so hurt. They're so injured. They're going out of business," Seebald said. "But the allegation in the complaint is that to get these players across the transom to be part of LIV, they had to overpay them. They were surprised they had to pay all these upfront payments to get people over. I guess they're saying that makes it hard in the long term for them to be viable, despite the fact they have the Saudis giving them millions of dollars."

Seebald believes it will be difficult for the three LIV players seeking temporary restraining orders to participate in the FedEx Cup Playoffs to get them. Seebald did note that the Northern District of California is a popular choice of venue for antitrust plaintiffs. It's the same court that essentially blew up the NCAA's amateurism model in the Ed O'Bannon case.

"I think the chances are pretty slim that they're going to do that [issue a restraining order]," Seebald said. "This is essentially a money case. I think the court would say, 'Look, we can sort out the money later. This is a big case.' The judge might not want to just kind of jump in without knowing many of the facts before doing something that extraordinary."

Horschel, a member of the PGA Tour Player Advisory Committee, also wondered how the LIV Golf players could argue they were injured after receiving lucrative signing bonuses and competing for $25 million purses.

"Why do they need to be a part of the PGA Tour?" Horschel said. "Why do they need a double dip? Why do they need to have their cake and eat it at the same time and sort of rub it in all the other PGA Tour players' faces? That just doesn't make sense to me."

PGA files motion to block temporary injunction for three golfers who want in the Fedex Cup.

They make a strong argument.

Temporary injunction denied.

Ouch.

In worse news:

Freeman told attorneys that her court's first availability for a trial on the antitrust lawsuit would be September 2023. If that date doesn't work, the trial might not happen until 2025. That is significant because LIV players aren't currently receiving Official World Golf Ranking points for LIV events. LIV Golf recently submitted an application to OWGR for consideration.

You took the money, but now you're irrelevant for the next year at a minimum, probably longer because you know the PGA will be dicks about this and extend the case.

Another LIV lawsuit, but this one is personal.

This is just a golfer vs a commentator that clearly hate one another.

PGA announces huge changes for next year and large player commitments.

Tiger and Rory starting tech league.

Today I played the #33 ranked golf course in the U.S.

Been dreaming of playing there for years, but it's not public and you need to play with a member (all of whom are millionaires).

Finally got a connection.

I was -1 through the first 3 holes. That's when reality stepped in and bitch slapped me. Still didn't shoot over 100 though.

Bucket list item checked off.

Inverness? Nice.I've heard of it from video games

BTW, that was playing ball down and from the member tees. (Essentially the blue tees at a normal course.) I was playing with a guy who tests golf courses for the PGA as a side gig. He and I were teeing off from those tees. My dad and uncle were teeing off from the tees in front of us as the course was just too long for them at the member tees.

If you've ever golfed or watched the ones on TV and wonder why they have so much trouble out of the rough... Holy shit. I play golf all the time, but not at a top course like Inverness. The rough is very different. It grabs your club when you're swinging. It requires a completely different mindset.

I really believe that now I could go back and play the course better. I might not score as well, but I would understand where I want to put shots, what to avoid, etc.

The greens were slower than normal, only rolling a 10.5. For comparison, when the pros are typically putting on 11-13, and when it hits 14 they start bitching like crazy. Meanwhile, your local courses are typically rolling a 6-8, which is why you have to hit the ball so hard to get it to the hole. I putted very well yesterday.

Inverness has been completely redone over the years, but still maintaining the original course. They just lengthen it and obviously technology has improved on making it drain better, the grass grow how they want, etc. You genuinely feel like you've gone back in time, except for all the damn women on the course.

Recently Toledo put in a new expressway exit to service both UT and Inverness. They're working hard to attract majors again. They are in talks with the PGA for the PGA Championship and the U.S. Open. Toledo is a BIG market for golf for some reason. The Toledo LPGA event is their longest running event outside of their majors, pays more than some of their majors, and attracts some of the largest crowds they get all season. The LPGA golfers absolutely love coming here to play. However, for the PGA they are driven by corporate dollars and there's always concern they can't generate enough here. This is despite them holding several events here over the years. Inverness will be hosting the big Amateur tournament this year or next and that's usually a precursor to getting the U.S. Open, so you might be seeing Inverness on TV soonish.

When I got home my wife tried to play the "I'll bet it was nothing but rich white men there" card. Nope. Easily half of the people I saw playing were women. Asians, black people, etc. were all properly represented both in the golfers and staff. People need to stop with the old tired stereotypes.

Norman: "LIV has no interest in truce with the PGA."

Also Norman:

"It was always an additive to all tours," Norman said. "This notion [that] we're trying to destroy tours is not true. The PGA Tour is trying to destroy us, it's as simple as that."

Uh...