• Welcome to OGBoards 10.0, keep in mind that we will be making LOTS of changes to smooth out the experience here and make it as close as possible functionally to the old software, but feel free to drop suggestions or requests in the Tech Support subforum!

Saudi World Golf Tour 2022/2023 Thread

Corrigan recanted that story this morning.

But that would absolutely be a dagger for the PGA Tour, which ironically has cannibalized the Euro Tour for decades. It would also be a very real path around the owgr bottleneck.
 
Schwartzel was allowed to anchor his putter this week. This isn't a serious golf tour. It's a cash grab exhibition.
 
If the PGA Tour doesn’t have the backing of the Euro Tour and/or Augusta National, they are now in a world of hurt. If everyone can play at the Scottish Open, Wentworth, & Augusta the PGA Tour is in a world of hurt.

IF they did this without that support, the PGA Tour made a massive mistake. They need to apologize for their actions and try to fizzle the hatred for them from the players before they permanently end their tour.
 
Schwartzel was allowed to anchor his putter this week. This isn't a serious golf tour. It's a cash grab exhibition.

Are you saying it wasn’t against the rules to anchor in that tournament or just saying you think he anchoring and they didn’t call it on him? Either is not good, but if they aren’t even going to follow the USGA/R&A rules, winning a LIV shouldn’t mean squat as far as rankings and major qualification.
 
We all realize that most Americans don't consider Golf to be a sport. Could be argued, but I dought it. This thread is so Wake Foresty.
 
Definitely did not look like he was anchoring to me when I was watching him putt. Is there a news story out there saying they were foregoing that rule this week?
 
https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/10/politics/us-saudi-relationship-reset-jamal-khashoggi/index.html

It seems our government has no issues legitimizing the Saudis for the almighty dollar, either.

The reality is this is the world we live in. These golfers are no different from any other successful businessman or our own government. They make decisions based on dollars. That’s it. If the European tour doesn’t ban the players, and it makes sense for them not to as compared to the PGA tour, I think this tour will only grow. The initial media hysteria over sportswashing will eventually fade away. And, more and more top players will make the jump because that’s how the free market works.

Personally, I don’t think this will be particularly good for the game because of how factioned all the tours will be, but I guess we’ll see. For now, it’s very entertaining as a fan and I can’t believe how lucky Netflix got that this was the year they decided to do a documentary.
 
Last edited:
Schwartzel was allowed to anchor his putter this week. This isn't a serious golf tour. It's a cash grab exhibition.

I was against the anchoring ban, though I agree LIV is a gimmicky exhibition and not worth watching. FWIW, this is Charl's 5th win outside of RSA (most of his Euro wins have been in RSA) and his 1st since 2016. Goes to what most of us have been saying about the quality of this field. And I hope the DP doesn't allow the LIV players to join - make them go to Asia. But that will be an interesting development.

Meanwhile back in real golf, I was enjoying the Canadian Open at St. George's yesterday afternoon. Based on memory, this appears to be the best of the courses they play up there. And maybe Rory won't blow another Sunday because he'll be paired with someone who has a worse short game than his in Finau. And maybe it's just me, but a leader board with Finau, McIlroy and Thomas is just a tad better than a past his prime Schwartzel and du Plessis (sp?). Also caught a bit of that LPGA event outside Atlantic City and the Curtis Cup at Merion. That Atlantic City course is pretty, and I'd like to see Merion host a US Women's Open. For the men, I didn't like it as much because it had 2 ridiculous par 4s in 5 and 18, 3 par 3s 230+ and then 2 holes in 10 and 13 that don't really belong on a great golf course. But it's a great layout otherwise and would be a good test with the tees moved up for the seniors or the LPGA.
 
Schwartzel made more money in 3 days than he made in the last three years on the pga tour.

Do folks get outraged when wnba players go take money from Russian oligarchs? Many top players do that (including Griner) because the pay is a lot higher. Maybe they do, but I’ve never heard it.
 
I still haven’t seen anything that the LIV event allowed anchoring or they did anything other than play by the USGA rules. Not to mention these guys are playing for a shit ton of money so I don’t see everyone going along with it. I think LK is wrong on that one, but I’ll certainly change my opinion if anyone can show me differently.
 
Schwartzel made more money in 3 days than he made in the last three years on the pga tour.

Do folks get outraged when wnba players go take money from Russian oligarchs? Many top players do that (including Griner) because the pay is a lot higher. Maybe they do, but I’ve never heard it.

Somewhat different situations. WNBA players are overseas in the off season. They are not skipping WNBA games for a bigger paycheck elsewhere. That is the biggest reason WNBA doesn't care.

The new golf tour is in direct competition with the PGA. Competing on the same days. Using Saudi money to buy golfers to play on the LIV Tour and skip PGA events.
 
Somewhat different situations. WNBA players are overseas in the off season. They are not skipping WNBA games for a bigger paycheck elsewhere. That is the biggest reason WNBA doesn't care.

The new golf tour is in direct competition with the PGA. Competing on the same days. Using Saudi money to buy golfers to play on the LIV Tour and skip PGA events.

So is the problem most people have the competition or the source of the money?
 
It’s the source of the money and the reason for the very existence of the tour, it’s really not that difficult to understand.
 
It’s the source of the money and the reason for the very existence of the tour, it’s really not that difficult to understand.

It's hard for the Freedumb crowd to figure this all out. They'll tie themselves in knots trying to make it make sense.
 
Schwartzel made more money in 3 days than he made in the last three years on the pga tour.

Do folks get outraged when wnba players go take money from Russian oligarchs? Many top players do that (including Griner) because the pay is a lot higher. Maybe they do, but I’ve never heard it.

Schwartzel now has plenty of money to build a big trophy case to hold that trophy literally no one cares about - and make himself feel better about not being competitive against a real field.

No one gets outraged about the WNBA because (i) generally no one cares about the WNBA, (ii) the WNBA players don't make THAT much money so it is understandable that they would want to go play somewhere else to make some more, and (iii) those events are off season so they don't siphon players away from the WNBA.
 
It's hard for the Freedumb crowd to figure this all out. They'll tie themselves in knots trying to make it make sense.

Pretty sure that crowd is pro-Saudi now because that’s what they’ve been told to be.
 
I know I am old but the perspective provided by age really makes me question the motivations of these guys for money, money, money. You're a professional athlete making millions of dollars a year already - what should be important to you is the competition, your legacy, meaningful championships, supporting your community, furthering the game, etc. etc. I mean Bryson was making $15-$20 million per year playing on the PGA tour - how unhappy could you be...
 
Back
Top