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

[Divot Master]

Gonna have to add a couple more team names for the late arrivals. How about Bone Saws GC for DeChambeau?

[Vinsk]

I don’t buy any of the nonsense talk that this is ‘growing the game’ or ‘ a change is needed’ or anything else as a reason they’re doing this. It’s money. 100%. Just shut up and do what you’re gonna do. 

[p1n9183]

12 minutes ago, Vinsk said:

It’s money. 100%

Agree with these. Every player switching to the liv tour is after money, not fame, or to be the best and I'm totally fine with that. 

As an IT guy working in a multinational company, if other smaller company offers me the same job but paying me a LOT more I would definitively take that in consideration. I don't have any work related ambition , I just work for the bucks, my ambitions are all outside the work environment, so I'm not after been the N°1 employee of my company or the country so going to another company to do the same thing for a lot more money is not that bad of an offer.

The only thing that is a risk, is that this new employee is not rock solid, it can run out of business in a couple of years and you can end up unemployed and without an invitation to go back to your previous company an not many other real options to choose from.
For the guys that are over 40 this is not a problem because they are totally loaded in cash, so they just need to invest their money wisely and live the rest of their life away from professional golf.   

[iacas]

1 hour ago, Divot Master said:

Gonna have to add a couple more team names for the late arrivals. How about Bone Saws GC for DeChambeau?

No more teams. 48 players.

[Vinsk]

I’m not really seeing this ‘team’ format appealing. I’m obviously biased with the PC and the RC with its history and meaning. But a bunch of relative nobodies and a handful of big names sounds like the dismal pro-Ams I never watch. 😳

[Darkfrog]

I'm sure for the maximum impact of the sportswashing effort, the LIV Golf players are not supposed to (or maybe even contractually obligated not to) say that they are joining for the money. So far it seems like they are sticking to the talking points. But does anyone believe the "we're doing lots of good with the game of golf" and "grow the game" BS? I certainly don't.

[phillyk]

Let’s just get this week over with. If the Masters is true, that would be a blow. 

[chriskzoo]

2 hours ago, Vinsk said:

I don’t buy any of the nonsense talk that this is ‘growing the game’ or ‘ a change is needed’ or anything else as a reason they’re doing this. It’s money. 100%. Just shut up and do what you’re gonna do. 

It's definitely the money right now, but was listening to a podcast discussing it and what this has really done is who how little power the PGA Tour has and might force a change.  The power rests solely with the Majors and the Players.  I don't think they can ever compete with the Saudi money, but it could force a change along the following lines:

Split the PGA Tour up at the end of the year by the Top 50 Players and the 51-150 guys.  The top 50 guys compete in the premier events - Riviera, The Memorial, Bay Hill, Pebble Beach, The Players, and WGC events. The 51-100 guys compete in the other tournaments and maybe there is some way to rotate some of them into the premier events.  

I don't know how the team concept will play out, but I like trying new stuff.  Could be cool to see guys form their own teams by some commonality - same manufacturer sponsor, alma mater, etc.  Similar to F1.

I get the criticism of the LIV, but shaming these guys is nonsense.  Nobody has a tighter relationship with the Saudis than the United States government - so why are we hassling a handful of golfers if we're not holding our own government accountable?  

No idea where this goes, but I think it could lead to some  change to make golf more engaging outside the majors.

[Zeph]

2 hours ago, p1n9183 said:

Agree with these. Every player switching to the liv tour is after money, not fame, or to be the best and I'm totally fine with that. 

As an IT guy working in a multinational company, if other smaller company offers me the same job but paying me a LOT more I would definitively take that in consideration. I don't have any work related ambition , I just work for the bucks, my ambitions are all outside the work environment, so I'm not after been the N°1 employee of my company or the country so going to another company to do the same thing for a lot more money is not that bad of an offer.

The only thing that is a risk, is that this new employee is not rock solid, it can run out of business in a couple of years and you can end up unemployed and without an invitation to go back to your previous company an not many other real options to choose from.
For the guys that are over 40 this is not a problem because they are totally loaded in cash, so they just need to invest their money wisely and live the rest of their life away from professional golf.   

Is the morale, ethics and reputation of these companies irrelevant to you? Doesn’t matter what they do or how they do it as long as you get more money?

[chriskzoo]

30 minutes ago, Zeph said:

Is the morale, ethics and reputation of these companies irrelevant to you? Doesn’t matter what they do or how they do it as long as you get more money?

Look at the Twitter icons for any international company and the icon for their Saudi operations - they aren't playing the "Pride Month" games with their Saudi social media for a reason - they already play the game with the Saudi's and the rest of the Middle East.  

Is it right?  No.  Will it change?  Not as long as the money flows. 

The idea people are up in arms over golfers taking free money should be the LEAST of our issues with the Saudis. 

[colin007]

6 hours ago, boogielicious said:

Will Sergio be able to hack up the greens with his temper tantrums in this new format?

I mean, it's not the first hacking that will have happened..... 👀

[nevets88]

The only way to watch it at the moment is via YouTube or Facebook. I'm not sure how a lot of the golf demographic is going to deal with something not their cable set top box, but I guess that's not the demographic LIV is going for. It'll also stream at 9 in the morning. Not exactly prime viewing time.

[jbishop15]

[Zippo]

Tiger turned down a big payment to move:

Tiger Woods Turned Down Nearly $1 Billion to Join Saudi-Backed LIV Tour, CEO Claims

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Golf icon Tiger Woods turned down nearly $1 billion to join the Saudi-backed LIV Tour.

 

[Darkfrog]

I wonder how much of the incompetence of LIV Golf is by design, versus true incompetence.

It almost seems like the horrendously stupid team names, logos, and descriptions were contrived to instigate conversation, whether good or bad.

On the other hand, Talor Gooch's "I'm just a dumb golfer and I am too dumb to understand sportswashing" feels like real incompetence.

[imsys0042]

17 minutes ago, Darkfrog said:

On the other hand, Talor Gooch's "I'm just a dumb golfer and I am too dumb to understand sportswashing" feels like real incompetence.

That’s like getting audited and saying “I’m not good at math”.

[PeaceFrogg]

8 hours ago, Darkfrog said:

I don't think I will miss Reed and Dechambeau on the PGA Tour. I liked watching Bryson because of his extreme pursuit of distance, but I find him profoundly annoying otherwise.

Meanwhile, Phil is saying that he "does not condone human-rights violations" while taking bags of money from one of the worst human-rights abusing governments in the world. 

Phil's acting like Carmela Soprano.

[iacas]

5 hours ago, phillyk said:

Let’s just get this week over with. If the Masters is true, that would be a blow. 

I've heard… the Masters will not give the same type of reaction as the USGA. And that at least one Masters champ was going to go to LIV and decided against it because of what they were told by Augusta National.