The Twelve Days of Gheorghemas: Day 10

On the 10th Day of Gheorghemas, Big Gheorghe Gave to Me: 

10 (or more) LIV TOUR Factoids

Nine (semi) Bold Predictions for 2023

Eight People and Places In My Neighborhood

Seven books for reading (and one for burning)

Six splurges for Christmas

Five Good News Stories, courtesy of Shlara

Soon to be Four on the Floor

Three Habits Forming

Two beers with Marcus Aerelius, an OBX Dave Joint, and

Two(?) dudes bested by Kazansky

This LIV Tour and/or something akin has been on the radar for a couple of years now, and 30 if you go back to attempt #1 of Three-Leg Greg’s original play he attempted to run back in 1994. Before we get there, though, the once potential and now real presence of an alternative professional golfers’ tour was largely, if not entirely, dismissed by many, if not most, which is the very reason, in my opinion, we are here today. 

At your leisure you can review what has transpired to date – there is no shortage of ink. I realize this may not be Gheorghemas-y and all, but it’s been something that has been in the chamber for a bit. I also do acknowledge there may be zero interest in this because golf. Because of the unseemly amounts of money that is being thrown about to largely a group of folks that already have gobs of it. But if you’re not a golf fan or even not into sports at all, there are many storylines here. 

There is an antitrust case that has been brought against the PGA Tour by seven players (originally 11, but 4 have since withdrawn their suit). Why? Well, the tour, headquartered right here in north FLA, has banned from its tour, any player that participates in a LIV event. The Tour has countered with a suit against LIV, accusing the group of interfering with its players’ contracts. PGA Tour players are independent contractors. Or are they? As IC’s, you’d think they’d be able to do what they wish, including play when and where they please, right? No, say the brass here in Ponte Vedra Beach. There are politics at play here. Sports Washing. Good vs Evil. Khashoggi! OWGR which stands for Official World Golf Rankings. Augusta National. Ryder Cup. Tiger. Rory, Greg Norman, and not in the least, questions of morality and self-righteousness. Please pass the popcorn! 

What is the “LIV Tour”? The LIV Tour is an upstart professional golfers tour that aims to compete with the PGA Tour. With 48 players, and only 8 events that will spit out a total purse of $255,000,000, it has been the hottest topic in golf since Tiger entered the scene 25 years ago. It is owned and financed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Invest Fund (PIF), which is to say that it is owned and ultimately controlled by the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – EVIL DOER. The CEO is one Greg Norman, legendary golfer from down unduh and a prick of almost equal prominence. Back in the 90’s, Norman attempted to form a World Tour with a few of the other international PGA Tour players, but Arnold Palmer, Nicklaus, and then PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem put the kaibosh on that. Greg has held a grudge ever since.

Today’s value of the PIF is over $600B. It has tripled in value since 2015. One could surmise that within the next two years it will be sniffing $1 Trillion. This year, LIV’s operating expenses tallied to just under $1B, and about $1B is the projected number for 2023. Regardless, they will be at will to operate without having to concern itself with budgets, balance sheets, and P&L’s for years to come. I only say this because the question of how long MBS will be okay with subsidizing this deal to the tune of a billion or two per year is asked often. Why are they, Saudi, interested in having a professional golf tour? Yeah, there’s the sports washing thing – the desire to alter outside views of one’s culture or reputation through sport or sporting events – see “Qatar & The World Cup.” Saudi Arabia is not a good place if you happen to be gay, female, or brave enough to criticize its policies while in country. Greg Norman, when asked about Khashoggi in a press conference held during their first event, replied “Look, we’ve all made mistakes and you just want to learn from those mistakes and how you can correct them going forward.” Yes! Well said, Greg. Come on….who here hasn’t accidentally dismembered someone? Like, get a grip, you guys! 

There is also the long-term desire to wean themselves off their oil dependence. The Kingdom today is developing tourist attractions by the oil tanker including golf resorts, beach destinations, and the 8th Wonder of the World: NEOM. There have been discussions here in our office with two separate properties over the past two years, both funded by the PIF, whose desire it is to bring golf to the country and grow the game. They, like Qatar and others, are putting the Dubai playbook into action. 

“LIV”, roman numeral 54. Fifty-four, as in 54 holes of golf. As in and as opposed to 72 holes of golf. Sanctioned professional golf tournaments, whether here in the U.S. or on a foreign tour like the Asian Tour or the European Tour, are 4-day, 72-hole events. LIV events will be 3-day, 54-hole events… for now. Fifty-four also represents the perfect golf score – achieving the score of birdie on each hole of your typical par-72 golf course. Crafty, those Saudis! 

LIV, also for now anyway, will limit its tour to 48 players. Their intent is to have the top 48 players in the world. This year, twelve of the best 48 as determined by the OWGR played for LIV. The problem is (for the players and the LIV Tour), one of many really, is that as we sit, or stand here today, players are unable to receive world golf ranking points when they play in LIV events. LIV is not a sanctioned tour, not yet anyway, and until they begin hosting 72-hole events that fact will in all likelihood remain as is. No points for you! Of the twelve players that were in the top 48 back in July, only four remain and they, too, will be out in short order. Are you with me here? Every week a player who previously played and had status on the PGA TOUR does not play on said tour, and thus does not earn points in the world golf rankings, falls down the points list. Why does that matter? 

The average drop in world rankings for the LIV players just this year equals 37 spots. Now that doesn’t mean they are not necessarily among the best in the world talent-wise, but it does mean they are potentially, and probably hosed when it comes time to play in the major golf events who base their invites on world rankings, among other qualifiers. The Masters, for example, invites the Top 50 ranked in the world from the previous calendar year and/or in the week leading up to the event. The golf world (and really, the PGA TOUR), was waiting on the edge of their seats to see what Augusta National’s stance would be on permitting LIV defectors to come and play their little tournament in April. The waiting ended two weeks ago. They will continue to invite those that qualify, which does include all past Champions. Sixteen in all have made the cut whether through the past champion ticket or one of many other qualifiers and surely will be in Richmond County, Georgia come spring. Beyond 2023, that number will become smaller and smaller unless LIV is granted its wish of gaining OWGR status for its events. More on that in a smidge. 

This serves as at least a breeze into the sails of LIV. Had Augusta stood elsewhere, as some had hoped if not expected, one could reasonably expect that LIV would attract no one else to come play in their sandbox. With the Augusta news, it makes the sandbox a little less like the quick kind. And we can also expect the other major championship decision makers – USGA, PGA of America, and Royal & Ancient Golf Club, will follow the road that Augusta just hoed and forego instituting a LIV ban for their events. 

More on the OWGR – Official World Golf Rankings. The OWGR is pretty much a bullshit marketing gimmick dreamed up by Rob’s old friend Mark McCormack of IMG notoriety, a few decades ago. That may be a little harsh. The intentions I would guess were fairly pure, but in the years since many a crack has appeared. It’s just one of the many wormholes you get escorted down when jumping into the LIV topic. I’ll keep it to this – you may be a phenomenal player who dominates say in Asia or Australia but you’re unable to amass the points (status) necessary to play in larger events. That’s because the OWGR heavily weighs events played on the premiere tours that are not surprisingly, the PGA Tour, their developmental Korn Ferry Tour, and the European tour. The governing board of the OWGR includes the chiefs from the PGA Tour, the USGA, the PGA of America, the R&A (Royal & Ancient), Augusta National, the European Tour, and the International Federation of PGA Tours. If you take away the fact that it’s an Evil Empire trying to compete with the preeminent golfing tour in the world, and you replace it with say Whoville, we’d say, while channeling Jimmy Stewart, “well, wait just a minute here!” You’ve got an upstart tour that is applying for OWGR status so that its players can continue to maintain their status so as to qualify for the major golf events of which 3 of the 4 are played in the U.S., when said ranking organization is governed by the very bodies that don’t want the upstart tour around. A positive that will likely come out of this is a revamp of the OWGR because right now it’s just bollocks. 

Let us again take this upstart tour out of Saudi Arabia. If it were someone else, many of the self-righteous would be more accepting if not encouraging of another group at this party. Disruption is good. Shakes things up and not for the sake of it but for the need eventually resulting in a better product for its fans. PGA Tour events are a little stale – the production could use a shot of caffeine. It’s the same groggy telecast week to week. Most of the golf courses, same. The format for all but one or two events – stroke play, 72 holes, rinse wash repeat. My golf watching is pretty much limited to the majors only unless I’m looking to try and take a nap on a Sunday afternoon. Team formats are a part of the LIV recipe as are shotgun starts where everyone starts and finishes at the same time. Music, mics, bombastic announcers and YouTube. Until LIV gets a TV deal, YouTube is where you’ll find them for now. Despite their attempts to shake it up a bit, it’s just as boring as your standard Sunday event on CBS. But at least they have guys that suck, guys that suck, and guys we’ve never heard of. And on the YouTube front - unless and until LIV gets a TV deal, they will have to subsidize this tour entirely. Rumor has it they are in talks with you can guess which network here in the US. 

Many, not all, of the notables that have jumped ship are dicks that I and most have difficulty in wishing well for – Bryson Dechambau, Patrick Reed, Brooks Koepka, Phil, Sergio and a few others. Beyond them, the rest are average blokes with average games many of whom I have never heard of – Oliver Bekker, Itthipat Buranatanyarat (seriously), Laurie Canter, Thailand's 15-year old Ratchanon Chantananuwat who goes by “TK?”, Koepka’s brother Chase, Jediah Morgan, Viraj Madappa and let’s not forget Turk Pettit.

I do understand why many of the players took this opportunity, but not all. If you’re a guy like Pat Perez, mid-40’s, has been playing on the PGA Tour for 25 years or so, the quintessential journeyman with a couple of wins. His best days are behind him, he’ll never win a big event, and he’s a few years away from being able to play on the 50 & older Champions Tour (owned and operated by the PGA Tour) and has no legacy that he’s chasing. He’s been clear on why he made the move – it’s a business decision and he was given his number. And does he look like a guy that really GAF what we might think? In 25 years on Tour, Perez made $28M over 515 events. That’s a lot of paper. But….when you compare to his equivalent on the basketball court or baseball field, throw a 10-15 year career behind him and he has pocketed substantially more than his counterpart on the golf course in half the time. And he didn’t pay his way to each game, pay for his coach, hotels, and also had an off-season each year. Oh, and his shoes. 

For the shoephiles...a pic of Pat in front of his Jordan collection....

On the flip side, guys like Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, even Doucheshambeau – players with years of good golf ahead of them, major winners who can and should reasonably expect to win more. As a comparison, in his still early career, 29-year old Bryson has played in 140 events and cashed in $26M and probably that amount or more in off the course endorsements. He has 10-15 years of good and competitive golf to play barring injury. He could expect to triple that number. How much do you need? The fact that they are okay with “competing” against lackluster talent going forward bothers me. I think it’s lame. If I judge one thing of these guys, it is this. 

There are some legit beefs the defectors had/have, and still do exist within the loyalists. As an example – no guaranteed pay. “Big whoop” you say, “those guys don’t need money!” True for most. But at a time, with exceptions of course, they all struggled. For every guy that represents the Ryder Cup teams – Rory, Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed (douche alert!), Jon Rahm, et al – there are dozens, hundreds tapping on the door to get into one of the big tours including the developmental tour of the PGA tour – the Korn Ferry Tour. And should they do so, they are 100% on their own. They pay for their travel, caddie pay, caddie travel, meals, and entry fees for each event they play in. If they do not make it to the weekend, they go home or on to the next event having just burned thousands of dollars. If you aren’t bankrolled by upper class parents or sponsors, unless you do well quickly you aren’t going to make it. Many lose money in a year. At least that used to be the case. The PGA Tour starting this year is guaranteeing $500k for all exempt players – this money goes against their earnings, and for those that fall short of earning the threshold figure, the tour will subsidize the difference. 

Another beef is the requirement to play in a certain number of events, 15 each year on the PGA Tour to maintain status. When compared to LIV’s 8-event season and the ability to earn much more, it will be difficult to compete. That was the case until the Tour, to combat the barrage, decided to “elevate” twelve of its events aimed toward the top players. Purses have doubled for these 2023 tournaments which will have no cut, meaning guaranteed money for all. 

In trying to wrap up this post that is all over the place, I’ll say that I am not an advocate of LIV but only because of who it represents. Had another group of folks financed by say someone other than an evil regime, all for it but with a collaboration in mind between the two tours where they work together so as to not dilute both. The fact is that LIV has attracted some great talent among the 6-8 big names that have jumped ship and they won’t stop trying to get others to replace the no-names mentioned earlier. Those guys not being at PGA events is not a good thing. And the limited talent, at the moment, situated at LIV – also not a good thing. In the upstart phase, LIV/Greg Norman did reach out to the PGA Tour in an attempt to work together with the aim of working out a plan that would enable guys to do both. PGA Tour Commissioner, Jay Monahan, had and has no interest. LIV is not going anywhere and I’m not sure how the PGA Tour sustains the changes it has made, specifically on the financial front. Yes, they have a lot of money but it is not LIV/PIF money. They, the PGA Tour have out of nowhere increased purse money significantly, instituted guarantee money for its players, and invested elsewhere large sums to stall of the LIV assault. The only way to do this short-term is to cut costs and subsidize. TV deals are set. Partnership with sponsors, also set. With its commitments in place, the tour will need to get creative in order to increase its revenues over to help cover the new required spend. It will be worth watching to see what happens here in the longer term for golf and other sports nuts alike. Will Saudi look to do this with another sport? We shall see.