Aguirre

Faldo has outside business interests and the dude works a lot. He's been on multiple networks and is often calling pretty run-of-the-mill tournaments on Thursdays. That's a lot of travel. I'm not surprised. I've often been surprised that so many of these guys have been at it for decades after decently long playing careers. There must be some great camaraderie on these traveling crews that keeps them coming back.

I watched a couple hours of coverage and although there was a shot or two (one long par 3, and that long carry on an already long par 4) that I thought, "eh, I dunno," but generally seems like a really good US Open setup to me. Ha, there's a broadway less than a mile from me.

We all have to navigate the waters of potential moral decisions through our money choices on a daily basis. Whether it's Amazon or apple or wearing clothes made under questionable conditions. It's kind of impossible not to live a normal life and somehow not do business with potentially questionable corporations or foreign regimes. However, I would point out two things about LIV: 1. It is entirely funded by the Saudi's. This isn't an Emirates sponsorship, or one tournament. It's the whole tour. 2. More importantly, we all know this is a net loser for the Saudi's. They are not going to make money from this tour with how they are operating. Maybe they believe they can flip that in the future. In that case, I think they're nuts, and I doubt they're nuts. So if they cannot turn it into a profitable venture, what is their motivation? And I think we all know what it is. And that's my problem with the tour. If for some reason the US government or the EU wanted to compete with LIV, the new tour would die overnight. Of course that's not going to happen, and I think that's important to consider when taking a position here. Also, can you get a drink in Saudi Arabia? I don't think you can, but I may be wrong. Any country where I can't order a drink can get f***ed.

*a fart, that nobody heard, and nobody smelled, and drifted into the WalMart rafters* Pat Perez left?

Well I didn't quote another poster, cowboy. I do think that if you're trying to create a golf super league, certainly LIV would want their leaderboard to beat out an average June tournament. It is. So yes, that would certainly disqualify that venue.

I mean, they have contracts, but potentially, sure? And no they don't "own" the tournament. Outside of a few exceptions, nobody owns any of the run-of-the-mill PGA events.

25

Oh that sucks. I liked him.

I just checked the leaderboard of the LIV event. Lol. It's not better than the Canadian Open. Please with this shit. An "all-star tour" and you can't beat the leaderboard of an average summer PGA Tour event. GTFO Things can change of course. If they become the primary tour, I'll watch. With all their blood money.

I know I'm jumping in late but 35 pages is a lot to read. So sorry if it has been covered. 1. We know this is "sports washing" (as mentioned many times before in this thread), and I assume that because of that, the players have secured their money in contracts, and presumably in neutral nation banking systems, but can they be sure of every dollar? I wonder. This is clearly going to be a tour operating in the red. There's literally zero chance that they can operate profitably with these kind of payouts. No chance. IMPOSSIBLE CHANCE. The Saudi's have done this before. Soccer/football fans can remember the (I think) Saud Cup which eventually morphed into the Confederations Cup. It wasn't profitable. They jumped ship. They WILL NEVER BE PROFITABLE with this tour. You sure you're getting the money? If you're Bryson's age, you sure it's worth the risk? 2. The majors may decide to assign exemptions to these tournaments at some point, but right now they are not. The talking heads are pointing out that the USGA has allowed them to play in the US Open, but these players are already exempt. What happens when those exemptions expire? What becomes of the OWGR points allocation? If the USGA, R&A, Masters Committee, and the PGA of America decide otherwise, this tour is dead in the water. And you've burned your bridge. Now you're MORE beholden to the tour than you ever were. 3. Do any of you care to watch these events? Because on the surface, I do not. These ideas of "super leagues", in any sport, rely on the idea that as a neutral I will tune into a big event. And if you have a big event every week, surely I will watch! That's absurd. It doesn't work that way. At the top of their games, a slam final between Federer and Nadal was must watch (or must DVR watch later) viewing for me. But it wasn't if they met in a Masters series event. Just because you create a WGC-style field every week you play, doesn't make me feel it's big tournament viewing appointment. 4. I'm a big statistics guy. I'm a very good poker player, do well at sports handicapping. A forty eight player field does not bode well for entertaining Sunday rounds. It is too thin. And it's too thin even if the 48 are in the world top 150. Maybe even top 100. You will get a lot of events where the Sunday back nine begins with somebody up five shots. 5. The underdog story. This happens on the PGA Tour far more often than on the ATP Tour, because of the nature of the sports and field size, but it's part of the charm. How are you putting up and coming players in your field, and who are you freezing out? This is a mystery. It makes it smell more like a "celebrity" professional golf tour than an actual athletic competition, where a committee of marketing executives tell me who to watch, rather than the results tell me who to watch. 6. f*** Saudi Arabia and their sports washing blood money.

Yeah, that's why they do it on tour. To make it "easier." That's why the majors try and make the greens as firm and fast as possible. So it's easier to score low. You've been making this dumb take for years.

Okay, so the question seems to be asking an average. I'd say low to mid 60's. If you're giving them practice rounds and stakes, yes many would break 60. With a full field of 144 or 156 pros, many. Particularly if you don't roll and cut the greens the way an average tour event would. Or grow out the rough, for that matter.

Look, heavy-handed annoying moderator, bullshit. READ BETTER

I didn't call him a choker. Read better.

I remember making a comment about the amazing natural wonder that are the legs of Michelle Wie on this forum, so I can't judge much. But, Limbaugh and Guiliani are gross people, so I'm not surprised Wie is horrified. It's like her dad's creepy racist older friend was drooling over her at a bbq.

I haven't read the entire thread but the only chance I see this occurring is at at the US Open, the Open (British), and LPGA (which I think the PGA just became a part of like five years ago). The women's Slams in tennis are equal pay largely because those events are joint events. And--also importantly--draw a lot of television ratings and crowds for the women as well as the men. In golf, the ratings and crowds are way behind. And of course, those events are not held in the same weeks at the same venue. The LPGA and PGA Tour are not associated entities. So I doubt any of this will happen anytime soon.

lol. wtf are you guys doing

It's not

Ha. I think he has. And I've seen it mentioned elsewhere. But I'm sure he'll lose it soon. He probably had too much fun in the offseason. Secondary point--I'm not one to put the "choker" label on golfers or any other athlete for that matter. But it certainly is more applicable in a sport like golf. Which is individual and has enormous self-controlled pauses between shots. And it's not looking good for Finau at this point. I won't do that to him yet either, but man, that top 10 finishes stat without a win. Thirdly, I hope Phil decides in a couple years to become a color analyst and NBC drops Azinger for him. So much.

Lol. "Not meant to be argumentative." Yeah, sure.

Yes. I've been saying this for a long time. Somewhere in 600AD in Romania, maybe under control of the Avar Khaganate, some turnip vendor who beats his wife was lamenting about "these young kids." That's not to say that every new generation improves upon the last. But this constant lamenting about the next generation needs to stop. The world moves on. And, generally, continues to get better. What I wish is that more generations of parents (including my own), took more responsibility for raising their kids, than simply shaking their fist at social media aps. Lol. Wait a minute. You think your generation is being singled out and denied appropriate pay and promotion? By most definitions millennials are 21-40. Like, you're managers and the boss now. The idea that you're being glass ceilinged? Are you f***ed in the head?

I received first shot on Jan 30. Second is coming Feb 27. My buddy (a cop) is expected to get his soon, and at least one other of the potential foursome received his on Feb 2, so we're starting to plan a Myrtle golf trip in May. Hopefully will fill a foursome. We put it off twice last year because golf is of course* not the only part of the fun on a guy's golf trip. It's having great food, drinks, and hanging out at a bar and taking $10 a game from everyone else playing pool. Light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully about to permanently wrap up what I would easily call the worst year of my life. *That's right.

I read most of the thread and agree with iacas, few people play from the wrong tees. Particularly on this forum. If I had to identify two groups of people who play from tees that are too distant, it's senior men with too much pride to move up and women. For the latter, that has far too much to do with the standard "red" tees than them not wanting to play forward. The option simply isn't available. Iacas also pointed out the longleaf tee system earlier, and I've become an advocate to all my golfing friends for this system. With my mother, who is 5 foot, 110 lbs, with back problems and 76 years old, I design the course for her when I play. I even go past the longleafs shortest distance. And I put her on the sides of the fairway (say 145 yards on average on a Par 4, where she has to play strategically). This forces her to think as longer hitters would, but allows her to get to every Par 4 in 2, and every Par 5 in 3 (or less--I build in two reachable Par 5s for her). And it keeps her from getting fatigued on the back nine as she would have before. The last couple golf trips I've organized, I ask players in advance if they're okay with X general yardage (usually around 6000-6200 yards). A couple longer hitters have elected the tee back. So I make custom scorecards for those events, including moving players up and back depending on the hole. It's more fun to have a variety of clubs into holes, and a couple of reachable Par 5s, than merely being beholden to a scorecard.

Lol. I know, dude.

Golf course architecture? Love the idea. Buildings? Meh. We could do a good thread on western PA and northeast OH courses. I bet we've played most of them. I don't think there would be many others who care, though.