LIV Golf (Saudi PIF), "Mergers," and More

[Big C]

9 hours ago, pganapathy said:

PGA Tour 2024, LIV Golf news: Adrian Meronk dealt slow play penalty that costs him $385,000 in prize money

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Rarely-enforced rule costs star $385k, exposes ruthless flip side to LIV Golf

Say whatever else you will about LIV golf, they are at least serious about enforcing slow play penalties.  I love that about them.  Now if only the PGA tour can learn from this and do the same.

Funny. I saw this article and was going to post the same thing. If they continue to take a firm stance with this (and enforce it with the big names as well), then I'll have to tip my cap to them on that front. 

[iacas]

1 hour ago, pganapathy said:

I have watched many PGA tour broadcasts and have seen players take much longer and have yet to see them getting penalised, other than via a financial penalty.  A stroke penalty is the only way these pro's will learn.  It is like a financial penalty in the NBA.  None of those players really care about it.  They earn too much to care about a small sum for them, but something that is a large sum for the average joe watching golf

As always… it doesn't really matter how long you take if you're not out of position.

[ChetlovesMer]

3 hours ago, Vinsk said:

Don’t wanna sound stuffy but the untucked shirt and basketball shoes look didn’t work for me. 

I have to agree with you on this. 

[Vinsk]

45 minutes ago, ChetlovesMer said:

I have to agree with you on this. 

To me he looked like a young John Daly version for LIV….😀

[snapfade]

LIV Golf ends chase for Official World Golf Ranking accreditation

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On Tuesday, Greg Norman told players at LIV Golf that the breakaway tour would no longer be pursuing Official World Golf Ranking accreditation. In a...

Until they go to a 72 hole format I don't see how they would have a credible argument.  

[pganapathy]

On 3/5/2024 at 1:00 AM, iacas said:

As always… it doesn't really matter how long you take if you're not out of position.

Well, that means if you are taking 5 minutes a shot but still not out of position, the group in front of you or the leader who is holding everybody else up is slow and needs to be penalised.  Will that ever happen is more debatable

[iacas]

5 hours ago, snapfade said:

LIV Golf ends chase for Official World Golf Ranking accreditation

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On Tuesday, Greg Norman told players at LIV Golf that the breakaway tour would no longer be pursuing Official World Golf Ranking accreditation. In a...

Until they go to a 72 hole format I don't see how they would have a credible argument.  

There's a lot more to it than that.

4 hours ago, pganapathy said:

Well, that means if you are taking 5 minutes a shot but still not out of position, the group in front of you or the leader who is holding everybody else up is slow and needs to be penalised.  Will that ever happen is more debatable

What if you walk really quickly? Walk fast enough and you can take several minutes a shot and not get out of position.

[ChetlovesMer]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

There's a lot more to it than that.

What if you walk really quickly? Walk fast enough and you can take several minutes a shot and not get out of position.

Thank you for mentioning this. 

Because the reverse is also true. If you walk slow as a snail you can get out of position even if your pre-shot routine is only a couple seconds long. I see this from time to time in the tournaments and leagues I play in more so than in the pros. 

[snapfade]

3 hours ago, iacas said:

There's a lot more to it than that.

What if you walk really quickly? Walk fast enough and you can take several minutes a shot and not get out of position.

There are other issues sure, but I am of the opinion that LIV's shorter tournaments don't carry the same weight as a 72 hole tournament. For me, it starts there. But I'm not Peter Dawson.

[iacas]

7 hours ago, snapfade said:

There are other issues sure, but I am of the opinion that LIV's shorter tournaments don't carry the same weight as a 72 hole tournament. For me, it starts there. But I'm not Peter Dawson.

It doesn't really matter what your opinion is, though:

• No 72-hole events.
• No cuts.
• Small fields below the minimum average field size.
• No real relegation/promotion.

They need to have those things for a year before you can be considered for points, and they haven't done any of them.

[snapfade]

2 hours ago, iacas said:

It doesn't really matter what your opinion is, though:

• No 72-hole events.
• No cuts.
• Small fields below the minimum average field size.
• No real relegation/promotion.

They need to have those things for a year before you can be considered for points, and they haven't done any of them.

How's that different than what I said exactly?  For me it starts at the 72 vs 54 holes. Of course the other bullet points are valid as Dawson said. LIV didn't stand a chance winning the battle so Norman gave up, he can go start is on WGR for all I care. We will see how all of this pans out when Rory jumps ship. It's coming. 

[iacas]

41 minutes ago, snapfade said:

How's that different than what I said exactly?

Dude.

41 minutes ago, snapfade said:

We will see how all of this pans out when Rory jumps ship. It's coming. 

[pganapathy]

16 hours ago, iacas said:

15 hours ago, ChetlovesMer said:

Because the reverse is also true. If you walk slow as a snail you can get out of position even if your pre-shot routine is only a couple seconds long. I see this from time to time in the tournaments and leagues I play in more so than in the pros. 

 

16 hours ago, iacas said:

What if you walk really quickly? Walk fast enough and you can take several minutes a shot and not get out of position.

I suppose both these are possibilities but in my view, the biggest contributor to slow play tends to be people taking forever over the ball.  Of course, this is just an average so all scenarios are possible.  So I understand why the rules officials have decided that the easiest way to police slow play is to address the one time limit which can be easily quantified and measured.  Walking fast or slow can be determined by many factors.  A level course is quicker to walk than a mountain course which is either uphill or downhill pretty much all the time.  Also, if you are pulling or carrying your own bag as opposed to using a caddie times can vary.  Then the type of terrain, distance between tee box and green and weather can all affect your walking speed.

[snapfade]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

Dude.

Who knows what the future will hold? Didn't think Rahm would jump ship. I think if he doesn't get a Major this year then I will lean more towards it becoming a reality, nothing would surprise me at this point in the game. Insert any name and I wouldn't be surprised. Money has a lot of power. Can't buy OWGR points though. LOL 

[iacas]

9 minutes ago, pganapathy said:

So I understand why the rules officials have decided that the easiest way to police slow play is to address the one time limit which can be easily quantified and measured.

I haven’t said anything differently. My main point has been that you have to be out of position first.

I do disagree that the main cause is the time someone takes over the ball.

[phan52]

Rahm:

“I’m hoping that in the near future I can be back playing some of those events. I would certainly love to go back and play some of them. If there’s ever a way back and a way where we can play, even if it’s as an invite, I will take it. There’s certain events that are special to me that I would still love to support. For everybody who said this would be easy, some things have been, but not being able to defend some titles that mean a lot to me hasn't. I love Palm Springs. I've been able to win twice there. Riviera is about as charismatic of a golf course as we have. Not being there was difficult.

I still watch golf because I love watching it, but it's hard. It was hard not to be at the Phoenix Open at the end of February, and it was hard not to be at Hawaii."

It appears that there is some regret there. And also, an appeal to have his cake and eat it too. He is the one guy I miss but, too bad Jon.

[elementz]

20 hours ago, phan52 said:

Rahm:

“I’m hoping that in the near future I can be back playing some of those events. I would certainly love to go back and play some of them. If there’s ever a way back and a way where we can play, even if it’s as an invite, I will take it. There’s certain events that are special to me that I would still love to support. For everybody who said this would be easy, some things have been, but not being able to defend some titles that mean a lot to me hasn't. I love Palm Springs. I've been able to win twice there. Riviera is about as charismatic of a golf course as we have. Not being there was difficult.

I still watch golf because I love watching it, but it's hard. It was hard not to be at the Phoenix Open at the end of February, and it was hard not to be at Hawaii."

It appears that there is some regret there. And also, an appeal to have his cake and eat it too. He is the one guy I miss but, too bad Jon.

I am confident that it will happen eventually that a path opening for LIV players to play in PGAT events.   Same goes for the Ryder Cup.

[snapfade]

Maybe a solution is to let them play on sponsor exemptions. If the major sponsor of an event wants whoever, then they could say to the PGAT, "We will pull our sponsorship if we cant invite whoever we want." For now that's the only way I see them playing on the PGAT. Who knows what the future holds with all of this mess? They chose to go to LIV, now they have to live with the decision. End of story...for now.