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Re: Actual Golf: General Tourney discussion
Na got a ton, otherwise he wouldn't have done it. I think guys made the jump with the calculation that even if the whole thing folds in 2 years, they're fine never having to do anything else for the rest of their lives. If that weren't the case, nobody would have done it, since they weren't exactly living hand-to-mouth on the PGA Tour.
I think it offers 100% security (or as close to it as possible), which is never the case on the PGA Tour. Which, by the way, is what makes the PGA Tour so great - it (was) the ultimate meritocracy. You don't win, you don't eat. But if someone is going to offer you boatloads of cash - the equivalent of winning several (many?) tournaments on the PGA Tour - without even having to make any cuts? Hard to say "no" to...
The Saudi Investment fund has, conservatively, $800 billion dollars. They can lose a billion dollars every year for the next 800 years. LOL
In all seriousness, I think a lot of people (mostly in the golf media) are looking at this thing the wrong way. Big picture, there's no real reason the LIV Tour and the PGA Tour couldn't co-exist. Most of the big name marquis players don't play every week on the PGA Tour anyway, so it's not like it would be all that different. I'm a pretty big golf fan by any measure, and I have no idea who is in the field in any given tournament on a week-to-week basis. Are the Rocket Mortgage Classic or the Fortinet Championship really fielding a worse field than next week's LIV event? Not to pick on those events (I love that the PGA has a stop in Motown!), but any random week on the PGA Tour can't really claim to be pitting the best players in the world against each other.
The only PGA event that can make that claim, in my opinion, is the Player's Championship. Other than that, it's really just the majors that can make that claim, and those aren't PGA Tour events. So what would really be different with the existence of LIV? I think the PGA Tour made a mistake by going to war with LIV and making it an 'us vs them' proposition, as opposed to granting releases and maybe even trying to work with LIV to schedule their events in the off-season of the regular tour (not that there even is one, but that's a whole other discussion). If you force guys to pick a side, the side with more money is probably going to win (or at least put up a damaging fight that can drag out indefinitely).
LIV is here, like it or not. I don't want golf fractured or to become like boxing (go over to that thread if you want to laugh at what a comically splintered sport looks like), but we're here now. The PGA should have realized at some point that they would face competition; as someone once said, every business in history is either disrupting another business or is themselves being disrupted. The NBA faced this in the 1970's, the NFL in the 1980's, and now it's golf's turn. Nothing profitable goes un-challenged forever. Adapt or die.Last edited by pietasterp; 06-24-2022, 08:13 PM.Comment
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Re: Actual Golf: General Tourney discussion
This LIV is different to the challenges for the NFL and NBA. They're not there to make a profit, just sportswashing. They're paying them like they would pay prostitutes. It reminds me of the old Million Dollar Man in the WWF, throwing money until the chosen fan would lick his feet or bark like a dog. Everybody has a price for the Million Dollar Man... in this case for the Saudis.Comment
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Re: Actual Golf: General Tourney discussion
What pietasterp said above, I think, is one of the best summations of the situation I've seen here or even on golfdigest, golf.com, espn or whoever has posited opinions on all of this. Very succinct.
I am not a fan of the LIV thing at all, but not for the obvious reasons of where the money is coming from and the sports washing aspect of it. That in itself should be enough for most lovers of this game to be against it, but that kinda stuff is all over sports and everything else in this world at this point.
My problem with LIV, since it's here and we have to deal with it, is the 54 hole, shotgun, "exhibition" aspect of the whole thing. I *hate* it. It's not a tournament. LIV, you want to compete or even eventually cooperate with the PGA and the many many other tours in the world, have your events be included in Rankings, be accepted into the world of golf? Then at least play full 4 round tournaments, with cuts, like all of the others do.
Even if it remains a no cut, 48 or whatever invite field with even the last place guy shooting 22 over getting $120k to show up, you simply can't compare or include any of that **** into the Rankings or hope to have your "tour" integrated into the long established norms of what professional tournament golf has been and still is. It's like trying to meld CFL stats and careers into the NFL, or Japanese baseball into the MLB. In fact, it's even worse than those examples, because it's not even the same game or tournament, where as CFL is still football and Japanese (or any other baseball league) is still baseball, where stats can comparably mean the same things.
When you create a whole new "experience" of golf with 54 hole, no cut shotgun starts, you have by definition created an event that is a pre paid "exhibition" of golf.
I'm guessing the way this all plays out is, LIV will end up being the worse name choice for a tour or new sports league, because the 54 hole shotgun start thing is going to end up being the main thing that keeps them from being considered or even accepted as just another sanctioned tour.
I predict LIV will eventually be completely renamed at some point, and hopefully not the obvious, LXXII.Last edited by golfnut67; 06-25-2022, 04:30 PM.Comment
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Re: Actual Golf: General Tourney discussion
Maybe EA Rory was ahead of its time. Finish dead last in the first event, no problem you advance to the next event.Comment
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Re: Actual Golf: General Tourney discussion
Was reading this morning about how a lot of members from the Country Club hosting LIV this weekend are pretty upset. They are afraid to leave though because they paid like $12k to join and doubt they'd get that money back. Pretty sure whatever amount LIV paid the CC would cover their members leaving 10 times over anyway.
It's a weird one. I have been affected by this already... Was a Newcastle United supporter but after last season ended I no longer follow them. Refuse to support the Saudis there and won't support them in Golf either.
They atleast tried to claim they had nothing to do with Newcastle, but then the new Away kit was leaked and it's a copy of the Saudi Arabia National Team...
Anaheim Angels - Green Bay Packers - Vegas Golden Knights - Washington Huskies
YouTube: Currently uploading MLB The Show 22 and eBaseball Powerful Pro Baseball 2022!Comment
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Re: Actual Golf: General Tourney discussion
Here to stay or not, someone else can have the Saudi Sportwashing Tour
I’m not going to watch any of it, ever.
If that means I’m done watching golf, so be it..
What they have put together isn’t even professional golf as I have always enjoyed anyhow.Comment
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Re: Actual Golf: General Tourney discussion
Now it's Matthew Wolff and the 2nd top amateur in the world joining LIV at Portland.Comment
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Re: Actual Golf: General Tourney discussion
If it's good for Phil, and Mr Dustin Paulina Gretzky Johnson...Comment
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Re: Actual Golf: General Tourney discussion
PGA tour and DP tour holding a joint press conference today at 2. That’s unexpected and curious.Comment
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