Arena The PGA Thread

Rumor has it Cameron Smith will be going to LIV. Corroborated by the Telegraph but not explicitly confirmed by Smith himself.

 

Oh boy, time for another playoff involving Zalatoris.

 

Man, these guys hit it all around the course like I do.

Luckily, they know how to scramble.

 

Can Zalatoris get a shot off that wall...if he does, he has his win.

 

@Guidman Don't know why Seep just didn't aim for the middle of the green and play for par.

@Jedimarine Nope which is why Will just picked it up and is going back to the drop zone.

This is just unreal.

 

Well, one guy decided to end it.

Congrats Zalatoris.

Probably join LIV next week now.

 

This is going to be in the goof reels for years

 

Straka deserved to lose.

He should've been no where near aiming at the stick on that shot.

And if he didn't know what condition Zalatoris' ball was in, his caddy should never hold another bag in the game.

You are in a playoff, you have to know everything that is happening. He should've been listening to all the chatter about where that ball was and with that in account, you hit it left and safe and force a miracle shot out of Zalatoris.

It wasn't even an "aggressive" shot...it was a shot of someone clearly not in full awareness, whether he was "playing his game" or was exhausted and losing focus, or distracted somehow...he took a gift wrapped whoops and blew it.

But considering Zalatoris tried to choke it away the hole before and Straka left the door open there...this shouldn't be a surprise.

The more highlights I see, the more annoying it is.

Go back to missing cuts, man.

 

He's back...

Cantlay just won the BMW Championship.

Again.

First successful defense of a Fedex Cup Playoff event.

Not Tiger.

Not Rory.

Not Scottie.

Patrick Cantlay.

And man, that "hop" over the sand on 17...divine intervention?

Congrats to Patrick. No extra holes this year (Thank Heavens!).

The cold front is headed to Atlanta. Ice in East Lake!

 

Will out for awhile with two herninated discs therefore not only is going to miss the Tour Championship but also the Presidents Cup:



Finally got his first PGA win the other week and this happens. Also leaves another hole in the US squad next month which will already be without a couple key players because of them leaving the tour for LIV.

 

Too bad for him.

Hope he comes back healthier...and perhaps a little wiser.

He could have a long career if he plays smarter.

 

The most important words in that tweet are "in partnership with the PGA Tour".

And that image reminds me of some of the minigames from the old Tiger Woods PGA Tour video games from the PlayStation 2 era.

 

Hard to take these announcements as innovation or reform instead of a direct response to LIV, which speaks to it's attractiveness to a sizable chunk of the PGA. I think more and more players will defect before TGL starts up. As long as LIV can keep lining their players' pockets. That's the key. If the money dries up it's game over for LIV.

 

https://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/i...s-12-tournaments-purses-15-million-20-million

So basically they are trying to create a LIV type tour within the PGA Tour.

@Darth_Accipiter Yes but my guess is some will look to bolt back when the added money kicks in. I think that has been their plan all along. Make a bunch of easy cash the next couple years and then quietly return back to the PGA tour when LIV either folds or the grass gets greener aka more money on the PGA tour.

 

Boy is that an eye-sore.

Looks more like a desperation move then a carefully crafted counter-punch.

The fact that they are leaning on Tiger to get this any press at all is a bad sign. They are cashing in on his brand to carry the tour past LIV.

What if he can't play? What if he gets embarrassed? What if age finally catches up with him right when they need his spectacle the most?

If you want to look on the bright side, at least they are trying "something", and the extra money is a good incentive to get the top players together more often. But the adjunct nature of this tells me 2 things:

1. The PGA tour is terrified of alienating their existing sponsors.
2. They don't think they can get any more money from those existing sponsors.

So they are spinning off a new concept, injecting it with startup capital, in the hopes that either it catches fire and becomes the great next thing in golf...

...or it sticks around just long enough for the Saudi's to give up trying to support the LIV.

Good luck to them...but I don't think I will be watching. Monday is not for golf.

 

There's much more than just that:


PGA Tour makes significant changes to schedule, compensation model after Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy-led meeting

Some high points are that fully exempt members will now be guaranteed $500,000 minimum for the season (contingent on playing at least 15 events) and non-exempt members will receive $5,000 for each missed cut to subsidize travel expenses (not part of the tournament purse). There will also be significantly larger purses and more high-profile events with large purses.

 

The money is nice, but what are "more high profile events..."

Fans decide what is a high profile event...otherwise the game would've abandoned that stuck up good-ole-boy course in Augusta decades ago.

LIV is already throwing money around, hoping it draws the eyes...I don't expect the PGA to be any more successful just because they were here first.

The message I got loud and clear was "The good players are gonna play more events together." Which is all the tour has wanted for 20 years.

So if they can consistently get 15 of the top 25 at events week after week, maybe that starts to see an uptick in fan viewing.

But making a reality-gameshow-videogame-virtual puke fest is more an experimental gimmick then a market-driven step toward growth.

 

So it is the weekend, and I have checked the leaderboard at the tour championship.

What a shock, Scheffler and Schauffele.



I was glad Scottie finally started winning a few tournaments, but neither of these guys have much thrill or interest to their game.

Scottie is still young and perhaps can grow some personality, but right now he strikes me as the shy frat boy who needs a six-pack to loosen up.

-----

When I was first getting into golf, I remember it was the heyday of Tom Kite.

Anybody remember watching Tom Kite play? No you don't, because you were asleep before his second shot.

To his credit, he stuck around the game a long time and I remember hearing at one time he held the record for being the runnerup in the most PGA events.

But man, I'd rather watch grass grow then watch him play again.

Schauffele reminds me a lot of Tom Kite.

-----

Rahm and Cantlay, while not outrageous, can do some remarkable "did you see that!" stuff on the course.

I really hope one or both of them can get into contention for Sunday.

 

Yikes, lots of golf left to play but Scheffler is imploding. The lead is shrinking just about each hole. Still a chance for him to turn it around but he has to mentally reset which is not an easy thing to do on the final day with all that pressure.

 

@Darth_Accipiter Unless he suddenly turns it around, this will be painful to watch. I do enjoy every now and then pros look like weekend hackers but that is when they are all struggling together like at the US Open when it's playing really tough, not like this when a guy has a case of the s-word.

 

Shocking considering how good he played in the finish up of round 3 this morning.

Lunch made him tense up.

I suspect he will recover, especially since he just got caught. Now he doesn't have to worry about losing the lead. He lost it. No worrying now. Just win it back.