We have a new episode of “The Apprentice” with the venue in the Oval Office of the White House. (“The Kids go to the White House).   The PGA Tour and LIV Tour have come to state their cases to the President of the United States and Club Champion of a number of private clubs. (which he owns).

The tours have not been able to negotiate a merger agreement to get all the professional players back to playing against each other again.  The issue is MONEY.  Fortunately, the professional golf fan could care less about this problem so the game itself continues to persevere.  The PGA Tour player is playing competitive golf and working for his income through success with significant downside for failure. A missed cut means zero winnings for a week in your season.  The Tour has tried to ameliorate the missed cut with a series of designated events where there is no cut.  We really have no idea what the LIV player is doing on the golf course since no one that I know understands what is going on during their so called competitions.  The LIV player might be competing but his livelihood has been paid for with billions of investment by the Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund.  The LIV Tour player may be competing but he has made enough money where failure doesn’t matter.  LIV competitions are impossible to watch as golf commentators are droned out by on course music and scoreboards that resemble the cockpit of a jumbo jet.  The Saudi’s raided a number of the PGA Tour’s best players such as Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka and a host of others to legitimize the tour and justify the investment.  It hasn’t worked and the LIV players have decided that money is more important than their golf reputations and the potential legacy they would have provided for the game.  None of us know how any of these guys are playing and they are invited to major championships to compete as past winners or special invitees.  The Saudis have invested billions trying to knock out the PGA Tour, but their approach, their product and their attitude have fallen prey to the game of golf.  The PGA Tour has suffered TV ratings losses but recently have been regaining some momentum as players such as Rory McIlroy regain some great form.  Rahm, a former No. 1 player in the world, is not ranked any longer and his performances in recent major championships have been lackluster.  You might ask how this can be,  and I would respond that is the game of golf where competition for something matters.  Whether its the Waste Management Open or the local Saturday press in the four ball, competition has a significant impact on the quality and mental part of the game of golf that makes it unique.    Dustin Johnson has faded into oblivion, with only Bryson DeChambeau making some progress.

My sensation is the dispute is not resolvable if it means that the Saudis take significant control of the PGA Tour.  If this were to occur, PGA Tour TV Golf Ratings would tank.  The golf fan doesn’t care about MONEY–the fan wants to put these guys on the pedestal of greatness as we all try to get better every day with our own games.  The Big Kahuna in the White House should advise the Saudis to take a back seat and support the development of the PGA Tour with their money.  It’s also very interesting that the supposed largess and commitment to professional golf excludes the LPGA and the Senior Tour.  The entitled entourage of current LIV signatories should be required to take an equity position in the PGA Tour as a form of support for the game.  They have already lost years in their careers and I believe only guys like Rahm, DeChambeau, Koepka and a few others are going to be able to compete with the current PGA Tour players.  The game of golf will “trump” money every time.

The Gods of Golf Strike Again

Campbell’s reprieve -after tee shot returns from out of bounds

It’s the Mexican Open.  Aldrich Potgietter and Brian Campbell have both birdied the 72nd hole and headed back to the 18th hole for the playoff,  On the first hole of the playoff,   Campbell misses a 13 foot birdie hole to win the tournament and they retreat back to 18 to do it again.  Usually a miss to win a tour event results in eventual defeat but the gods of golf had other plans for Campbell.  Potgietter blasts a 330 yard drive in the fairway and Campbell moves to the tee.  Campbell gags at the tee shot and it is heading for way out of bounds over the fence on the right, but wait, a few crackles of sound later the golf ball returns from a forest of death to the cart path of the golf course and lands in a dry patch sitting up some 313 yards from the green.  It is almost impossible to believe that unnatural forces had nothing to do with this fortuitous reentry from OB to the golf course.  Campbell went from being finished to having a chance as he recomposed himself and pulled a three wood to get himself into position.  The old adage of “match play” is to never underestimate what your opponent can do in any circumstance.  Campbell’s three wood was perfect and he would knock a wedge shot to 3 ft. 7 inches for a birdie opportunity.  In virtually every other instance that tee shot would have cost him the tournament.  Campbell hadn’t won an event in 187 tries as a professional.  Potgietter seemingly hit his 5 iron perfectly at the flag but I believe that the golf gods coaxed a zephyr of wind to just catch the front bunker.  An indifferent bunker shot lead to a five foot putt, which he missed.  Campbell closed things out and proceeded to the winner’s circle–the gods of golf had decided.

We may need the gods of golf to drive some sense into the world of professional golf management as well.