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

[Shindig]

14 minutes ago, jmanbooyaa said:

I heard that Matt Wolff is just taking the money now as his retirement. Young dude who is burnt out already and will most likely be out of golf in the next few years. Not because of injury just lack of enthusiasm for the game. 

I think Pat Perez said something similar a few years ago -- something like if he wasn't making a living in golf, he wouldn't play anymore.

[Friz]

24 minutes ago, jmanbooyaa said:

I heard that Matt Wolff is just taking the money now as his retirement. Young dude who is burnt out already and will most likely be out of golf in the next few years. Not because of injury just lack of enthusiasm for the game. 

Wolff was at least the most honest and genuine with his comments about why he joined.  I'm sure money played a factor, but at least he didn't just spew the same lies about "growing the game" and all that.  He was genuinely not interested in the high stress tournament life of the PGA Tour.  This was from an article at Golf Digest

He said he felt isolated, depressed, dejected. He simply hasn’t been happy for long stretches, and he seems to view LIV as a much lower-stress option to the life he lived 12 months ago. Wolff absolutely loved his time at Oklahoma State—he has said he regrets leaving Stillwater early and spent most of his time there during his hiatus from the game last year—and reveled in the team environment. He is a deeply social person, perhaps not cut out for the rugged individualism of the PGA Tour. He knows that, and he’s OK with that.

"I just think that like this just gives us such a good opportunity and getting back to [why I joined]," Wolff said. "You're going to try so hard for your team and it just gives you so much more opportunity to enjoy yourself and have little small wins and feel good about yourself rather than shoot 75 on Sunday [and feel like] I could've played better, I could have done this, I could have done that."

[jbishop15]

1 hour ago, saevel25 said:

Fred Couples talks LIV

'I'm done with it': Fred Couples dismisses LIV Golf, Phil Mickelson

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On Wednesday, Fred Couples expounded on his feelings about the upstart LIV Golf tour and the PGA Tour stars who have contracted with it.

 

man, he cooked phil

[Vinsk]

I wonder how the Saudis would react if the players pledged a large portion of their sign on money to the 9/11 relief funds? Bryson wants to talk about ‘all the good the Saudis are doing’, well…there’s an idea for the non-degree mad scientist.

Edited June 30, 2022 by Vinsk

[woodzie264]

22 minutes ago, Vinsk said:

I wonder how the Saudis would react if the players pledged a large portion of their sign on money to the 9/11 relief funds? Bryson wants to talk about ‘all the good the Saudis are doing’, well…there’s an idea for the non-degree mad scientist.

Now there’s an idea. If the Saudis want to improve their image on the world stage, they can make a donation $1B to those funds and toward the war on terror. 

[keeps21]

Well they've improved the leaderboard. You don't have to guess the player based on 3 random letters from their surname anymore.

It also seems like they've got rid of the leaderboard noises.

[jmanbooyaa]

Youtube feed sucks and these guys don’t look like they give a shit while playing a shot. Just my take after 15 minutes of this. 

[boogielicious]

Zach Johnson Deals US Ryder Cup Blow To LIV Golf Rebels | Golf Monthly

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The US Ryder Cup captain gives a reality check to LIV Golf Series players hoping to make the 2023 tournament

Quote

So what I know is this: in order to play on the Ryder Cup team whether you're top 6 or a pick, you must garner Ryder Cup points through the PGA of America. In order to garner Ryder Cup points through the PGA of America you have to be a member of the PGA of America. The way that we're members of the PGA of America is through the PGA Tour. I'll let you connect the dots from there."

 

[ChetlovesMer]

2 hours ago, Vinsk said:

I wonder how the Saudis would react if the players pledged a large portion of their sign on money to the 9/11 relief funds? Bryson wants to talk about ‘all the good the Saudis are doing’, well…there’s an idea for the non-degree mad scientist.

I'd love to see that, but I don't think that's even kind of likely.

The guys that signed on seemed to have done so for the money. ... Oops, I mean in order to grow the game. Donating any of the money to a relief fund would be in direct contradiction of getting all the money they possibly can... I'm sorry, I meant growing the game as much as they possibly can. So, I really don't see these guys donated any of that money that they are clutching and grabbing with both hands. ... I mean, I don't see them doing anything that distracts them from their goal of growing the game. 🤪

[JetFan1983]

I made a BINGO card for anyone else who wants to play during the next LIV press conference. 

[ChetlovesMer]

18 minutes ago, JetFan1983 said:

I made a BINGO card for anyone else who wants to play during the next LIV press conference. 

[Indy-Archer]

Okay, I'm watching the tournament right now, streaming to my Apple TV, and I'm not minding it. The pace is good. Coverage seems adequate. Video quality appears good with no lagging so far.  At this point there isn't all of the fluff and interviews that I think plague PGA coverage. Field appears to be every bit as good as the JD Classic this weekend, IMO. Wasn't sure what to expect, but it's holding my attention so far. 

Edited June 30, 2022 by Indy-Archer

[iacas]

 

22 minutes ago, Indy-Archer said:

Okay, I'm watching the tournament right now, streaming to my Apple TV, and I'm not minding it. The pace is good. Coverage seems adequate. Video quality appears good with no lagging so far.  At this point there isn't all of the fluff and interviews that I think plague PGA coverage. Field appears to be every bit as good as the JD Classic this weekend, IMO. Wasn't sure what to expect, but it's holding my attention so far. 

It's not holding mine. The players are almost all playing terribly, Jerry Foltz is unbearable, and of course the John f***ing Deere has a bad field. It almost always does. But it's not this shit show.

Also:

 

[Vinsk]

7 hours ago, jmanbooyaa said:

I heard that Matt Wolff is just taking the money now as his retirement. Young dude who is burnt out already and will most likely be out of golf in the next few years. Not because of injury just lack of enthusiasm for the game. 

Sounds like a great spokesperson for the LIV Golf Tour. Norman should be proud of this one!

[Indy-Archer]

6 minutes ago, iacas said:

 

It's not holding mine. The players are almost all playing terribly, Jerry Foltz is unbearable, and of course the John f***ing Deere has a bad field. It almost always does. But it's not this shit show.

Also:

 

The Onion. Now there's a great objective, serious source!

 🤣

I do agree the play isn't stellar so far, but the coverage isn't bad, IMO. We'll see where it goes. I really don't expect many to agree with me here, and that's okay. 

👍

Edited June 30, 2022 by Indy-Archer

[jmanbooyaa]

The announcers are fawning over the players. Not good golf being played. Some of the players seem to be going through the motions since well who cares the outcome. 54 holes of blah. 

[iacas]

10 minutes ago, Indy-Archer said:

The Onion. Now there's a great objective, serious source!

 🤣

It's funny.

10 minutes ago, Indy-Archer said:

I do agree the play isn't stellar so far, but the coverage isn't bad, IMO. We'll see where it goes. I really don't expect many to agree with me here, and that's okay. 

Because we don't support sports washing?

9 minutes ago, jmanbooyaa said:

The announcers are fawning over the players. Not good golf being played. Some of the players seem to be going through the motions since well who cares the outcome. 54 holes of blah. 

Yep.

[Friz]

15 minutes of tuning in and I can't stand the commentary.  They've clearly been instructed to hit their talking points as much as they can.  The "star power" that's here, how much in on the line or how much money players won in London, why the team aspect is so good and how much the pkayers care about it, and they apparently need to remind me how exciting it all is.  Also I'm not sure if they put microphones I'm the bottom of the cup or if someone found a new sound effect, but it quickly became very annoying to listen to the ball go into the cup.  If I cared to continue watching I'd be way better off on mute.

Also was interesting that despite the commentary about how many people showed up, I saw Pat Perez sink a birdie putt to dead silence, Kaymer stick an approach to about 4 feet to dead silence, and I think it was Wade Ormsby put an approach to about 6 inches and literally one guy was clapping.

And there is just no appeal to seeing what happens.  I can watch some guys hit some golf shots, but I don't care who wins, a bunch of guys who got paid before showing up playing with no cut for no stakes besides an additional paycheck just sucks all the life out of a tournament.  I'll happily go back to the John Deere, that was more than enough from LIV