On the Viktor Hovland stuff, just curious if you saw (and translated) all three of the Norwegian/Eurosport articles that each gave different excerpts from the podcast? I ask because from your comments here I wasn't quite sure you'd read the one where he talks a bit about the players on the policy board. He seemed to be asked about the "Sports Illustrated article/Patrick Cantley taking over" claims, and his response was to defend Cantlay and the other board players as defending the players' interests. (In the first article of the three, he talks through all the PGA tournaments he intends to play for the first quarter of the year.)
We did see those translations - our apologies if we did not make that point clear enough, but what we hoped to illustrate in that “face value vs real” assessment of Vik’s comments was that you could read those and assume initially that he was upset with the current direction of the Tour, when in reality what it seems he was saying is that, like many other players, he was upset with the June 6th deal lacking player input, and that Cantlay and others on the policy board are now working to ensure that players do have the requisite and appropriate input on decisions going forward. Appreciate the question - definitely a fair one!
Just a comment on the ball rollback... regardless how it affects the pros distances, the better players will do fine. I know that I'm biased because I began playing in the 1970's and this just feels like what golf should be.
To integrate team golf into the PGA ecosystem, the following idea might be a way forward. At the beginning of the PGA Tour season six, eight, or twelve players (random numbers) are nominated as captains of the same number of teams. Each captain gets to choose any three (random number) PGA tour players for his team. The tour season goes ahead as normal, but with an additional layer of interest. Namely that every player continues to accrue points or money earnings as usual, except in addition to the FedEx list, each nominated team player's rolling points or money-earnings total is combined to give an aggregate total for each designated team. This simple modification would add a season-long layer of interest and excitement to the regular season, in much the way British soccer seasons work. (I'm not familiar with other American sports, being a Brit). The cherry on the cake for this idea is that, for example, the top six teams of the original twelve, in terms of aggregate team points (or earnings), would go into an end of season play-off competition, much like the FedEx Cup; something that could be played in the Fall (Autumn in UK), thus giving the season an exciting end-of-year event in a team format. This idea seems like a perfect solution to the problems Smylie and Charlie are discussing. The PGA tour suffers no disruption, but is only enhanced, giving a season-long subtext and climax to the golfing year. I'm sure this idea could be modified in many ways by people with bigger brains than me who understand the many considerations involved. The only problem is that it would require the Liv players to be reintegrated into a restructured tour, after negotiations are complete. At the very least I think this concept, or something like it, should be considered in those negotiations.
Team Golf can work when you use team formats (alternate shot, for example), but my understanding of LIV is that it’s all just standard stroke play with the individuals’ scores added up to a team total. Is my understanding correct? Or is there ever any match play being used? It also helps if your team means something (Europe, for example) rather than just random groupings of guys around mostly silly team names.
Viktor is not going. Growing as a golf player is more important to him than earning more millions on top of all the millions he already have. Makes sense. Not sure why the rest of the world don't understand this.
Blame Jon Rahm. No one will believe a word anyone says on the subject of not going to LIV after his u-turns. Short of Rory McIlroy (“I’d rather retire from golf than play for LIV”) level denials, people are going to be suspect.
On the Viktor Hovland stuff, just curious if you saw (and translated) all three of the Norwegian/Eurosport articles that each gave different excerpts from the podcast? I ask because from your comments here I wasn't quite sure you'd read the one where he talks a bit about the players on the policy board. He seemed to be asked about the "Sports Illustrated article/Patrick Cantley taking over" claims, and his response was to defend Cantlay and the other board players as defending the players' interests. (In the first article of the three, he talks through all the PGA tournaments he intends to play for the first quarter of the year.)
We did see those translations - our apologies if we did not make that point clear enough, but what we hoped to illustrate in that “face value vs real” assessment of Vik’s comments was that you could read those and assume initially that he was upset with the current direction of the Tour, when in reality what it seems he was saying is that, like many other players, he was upset with the June 6th deal lacking player input, and that Cantlay and others on the policy board are now working to ensure that players do have the requisite and appropriate input on decisions going forward. Appreciate the question - definitely a fair one!
Just a comment on the ball rollback... regardless how it affects the pros distances, the better players will do fine. I know that I'm biased because I began playing in the 1970's and this just feels like what golf should be.
To integrate team golf into the PGA ecosystem, the following idea might be a way forward. At the beginning of the PGA Tour season six, eight, or twelve players (random numbers) are nominated as captains of the same number of teams. Each captain gets to choose any three (random number) PGA tour players for his team. The tour season goes ahead as normal, but with an additional layer of interest. Namely that every player continues to accrue points or money earnings as usual, except in addition to the FedEx list, each nominated team player's rolling points or money-earnings total is combined to give an aggregate total for each designated team. This simple modification would add a season-long layer of interest and excitement to the regular season, in much the way British soccer seasons work. (I'm not familiar with other American sports, being a Brit). The cherry on the cake for this idea is that, for example, the top six teams of the original twelve, in terms of aggregate team points (or earnings), would go into an end of season play-off competition, much like the FedEx Cup; something that could be played in the Fall (Autumn in UK), thus giving the season an exciting end-of-year event in a team format. This idea seems like a perfect solution to the problems Smylie and Charlie are discussing. The PGA tour suffers no disruption, but is only enhanced, giving a season-long subtext and climax to the golfing year. I'm sure this idea could be modified in many ways by people with bigger brains than me who understand the many considerations involved.
The only problem is that it would require the Liv players to be reintegrated into a restructured tour, after negotiations are complete. At the very least I think this concept, or something like it, should be considered in those negotiations.
Teams in golf suck. Golf is an individual sport. What's next? Team tennis?? Teams in 100m sprint? Teams in high jump?? Why???
Next is short golf tournaments that can be shown in a Tik Tok. Let's bring the fucking kids in.
Team Golf can work when you use team formats (alternate shot, for example), but my understanding of LIV is that it’s all just standard stroke play with the individuals’ scores added up to a team total. Is my understanding correct? Or is there ever any match play being used? It also helps if your team means something (Europe, for example) rather than just random groupings of guys around mostly silly team names.
Viktor is not going. Growing as a golf player is more important to him than earning more millions on top of all the millions he already have. Makes sense. Not sure why the rest of the world don't understand this.
Blame Jon Rahm. No one will believe a word anyone says on the subject of not going to LIV after his u-turns. Short of Rory McIlroy (“I’d rather retire from golf than play for LIV”) level denials, people are going to be suspect.