Re: The Golf Thread (III)

[beamer]

This feels like a gimmicky sideshow, though. The Hundred of golf.

No idea why there wasn’t a single elite World Tour as per tennis though, before all this.

[JGK]

Average age of the “name” players is over 40, it’s virtually a seniors event, very few there with realistic prospects of winning majors in future. A bunch of players sacrificing their legacy (and Ryder Cup captaincy prospects) in the name of sportswashed cash they don’t even need. As shameless as Boris Johnson.

Sounds like Big Phil does need the cash!

[JGK]

This feels like a gimmicky sideshow, though. The Hundred of golf.

No idea why there wasn’t a single elite World Tour as per tennis though, before all this.

US PGA fought against it (mostly because half their players are rednecks who don't want to leave the country).  Norman has been trying to establish one for decades. In reality, if Tiger had been a part of establishing it in the early 2000s, it would have gotten up.

[lardbucket]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-13/linn-grant-first-female-golfer-twin-mens-european-tour/101147066

[tricycle]

^in her first year as a professional as well. She was dominant. Last year, it had Alice Hewson leading into the final round (with Scrivener again). But she finished third.


https://www.bbc.com/sport/golf/61776448

In the LIV world, it's McIlroy's time in the comedy carousel now. Jumeirah was his personal sponsor for around half a decade.

[JGK]

Oi Trike - got any tips for the US Open?

[tricycle]

Rory to have a great final round and miss out by 4 strokes. Not left field but not favourite pick would be Fitzpatrick. Beat Oliver Goss in Brookline to win the US Amateur and been in some good form recently.

But with the European tour now just the equivalent of the Korn ferry tour (strategic alliance and all), it's a bit harder to pick unheralded players in the US from there.

[JGK]

Trike is officially my favourite forummer and possibly in my top 5 favourite people in the world.

[skully]

Ha!!!

How much did you pick up on Fitzpatrick??

[lardbucket]

JGK can't really have put money on MF, or he wouldn't have got over the line.

[JGK]

Ha!!!

How much did you pick up on Fitzpatrick??

$700.

[skully]

[tricycle]

Trike is officially my favourite forummer and possibly in my top 5 favourite people in the world.

Ha! Nice. What were the odds on Fitzpatrick pre tournament?

Had to get one of them right sooner or later.

[JGK]

Got him at 36s.

[tricycle]

Nice.

I see that Rory also missed out by 4 strokes.

[skully]

Your crystal ball was accurately calibrated, t.

[beamer]

Only the second English winner of this since 1970 (Justin Rose in 2013 the other). Nice to have a bit of good news for British/European golf.

[skully]

What a shot he hit from the fairway bunker on the last!!

[horace]

What a shot he hit from the fairway bunker on the last!!

It was a cracker!

I enjoyed watching this off and on and the last 2 hours in particular! The tough growth around the greens was a real challenge and placed an imperative on accurate irons to the greens. Incredibly Fitzpatrick hit 17 of 18 greens in regulation. on D4.

Trike is an absolute legend.

[tricycle]

Liv players can't participate in the Scottish open as it's co sanctioned by the PGA tour. The ET have properly become the PGA Tour's lapdog now (they gave a big tournament as co sanction and got the Barbasol in return), and the tour has become a glorified Korn Ferry Tour since the alliance. A simple look at the rankings points by tour will prove it.

Mainland Europe keeps producing good players... but they're not getting another Martin Kaymer for a while with the tour as it is. The talent will have to be routed through America like Hovland/Rahm.

Koepka, deChambeau and Reed. Liv field getting stronger. Won't be surprised if Fowler jumps or even Cam Smith among the top players, who's been pretty ambivalent on liv.

[skully]

Geez, those Saudis love to chuck money around.

What's their return on investment?? Middle East TV rights??

[tricycle]

No telecast rights yet. It's just on youtube as yet. Basically no ROI at all.

Just a bottomless pit for being the "best in sport" with African athletes, PSG, Manchester City, Newcastle, Emirates everywhere and LIV while hiding the fact that the region is a racist shithole built on modern slave labour that doesn't even allow people to have any other places of worship beyond mosques.

But then again, given cricket's history... I guess they're just a few decades behind the curve.

From an entertainment standpoint, we really should see less 72 hole tournaments imo. It's bland. And while there are big boy courses for majors/big tournaments, what's the general difference? I think it needs a change, be it more matchplay/medalplay/54 holes/even sixes and tournaments across the globe. Of course I'm a nobody. But the PGA tour are generally pig headed twits that won't smell the shit on their head and claim it's Brylcreem.

/rant

[beamer]

Well yeah, as with all these things it’s usually partly down to an existing governing body stuck in the past. Cricket in the 70s, darts in the 90s etc. Difference is that top golfers in this era didn’t really need a pay rise…

[tricycle]

Fair. Although I don't care about the money/ obscene sums. Their choices... football has been doing this for a while anyway. Or, on the contrary, if the players played in poverty either. It's the entertainment. Neither bothered about morality as that's applied by anyone only when convenient.

If one follows golf for 6 tournaments a year... it's near perfect. Follow it for 20+ a season, and it's a stale mess (and I say this as a golftv subscriber). Follow it for 50+ and you plumb the depths of the Madeira Islands open... LIV offers something slightly different. I don't even think it's the greatest experiment in terms of format. I much preferred the Turkish World Golf Final or something 10 years ago. But at least it's different.

[JGK]

OK, Trike, who have you got for The Open?

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