2023 PGA tour thread

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Roughneck

The Honda Classic field could benefit from a shotgun start. Just get it over with and at least maximize the number of shots people can see in a short amount of time. Learn from LIV to reduce the amount of time needed to watch tournaments people don't care about to maximize the viewing experience.



Maybe that's a hybrid formula the PGA Tour could go with. Elevated events and majors keep the traditional format. Everything else goes to 3 day shotgun starts.

I'm not really watching golf every week anyway, but I don't mind some of these events with the B list tour players. The golf is still excellent and especially gives some of the canadians a chance to make a name for themselves.

[Roughneck]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1629194813684809729

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by jayswin

Wishes for LIV death aside, with this brutal Honda field and LIV being on TV this weekend, I'm going to check out a little bit just to check in on some old favourites.

CW will broadcast from 11am-4pm calgary time on Saturday and Sunday.

The broadcast was as expected and on par with any other broadcast from the PGA. This is a really stupid thing but I love seeing the golfers out on the course wearing shorts instead of being forced to wear pants.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

The broadcast was as expected and on par with any other broadcast from the PGA. This is a really stupid thing but I love seeing the golfers out on the course wearing shorts instead of being forced to wear pants.

I watched some and to be entirely honest, I kind of like the shotgun. And really, they're still some really good golfers. I do wonder if the majors being open to them is going to attract more PGA players. Do they really care about playing the Honda Classic or whatever instead of this three rounder at Mayakoba? I'd think it's the majors that players really want to play in.

[jayswin]

I was pretty pleased with their broadcast overall. Just some goofy stuff like the announcer looking at the abbreviation of the Range Goats teams and guessing what it stood for and getting it way wrong. I laughed at that.

The teams are the centrepiece of your entire tour, you gotta act like you care, which means....knowing their names.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Slava

I watched some and to be entirely honest, I kind of like the shotgun. And really, they're still some really good golfers. I do wonder if the majors being open to them is going to attract more PGA players. Do they really care about playing the Honda Classic or whatever instead of this three rounder at Mayakoba? I'd think it's the majors that players really want to play in.

Small sample size to me, but I felt the good players looked casual and out of "competition" golf mode. I watched a solid 20 minutes at one point where every highlight was players missing 7-20 foot putts and coming up short or going long on approaches, lol.

It was an embarrassing stretch and that was the shots they were showing. Makes you wonder if that tour will be good enough to have it's top players ready at the same level as the PGA stars for a major. It'll be fun to see how they do in April.

But I just reminded myself that this is their first tournament of the year. But still we're 5 weeks away from the Masters.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by jayswin

Small sample size to me, but I felt the good players looked casual and out of "competition" golf mode. I watched a solid 20 minutes at one point where every highlight was players missing 7-20 foot putts and coming up short or going long on approaches, lol.

It was an embarrassing stretch and that was the shots they were showing. Makes you wonder if that tour will be good enough to have it's top players ready at the same level as the PGA stars for a major. It'll be fun to see how they do in April.

But I just reminded myself that this is their first tournament of the year. But still we're 5 weeks away from the Masters.

I made the same observation about the misses shots and I thought it was pretty odd but I wasn't sure if it was golfer related or a result of the course conditions. Plus it is the first tournament, if I'm not mistaken, so who knows what these guys were doing in the off season.

[jayswin]

Well considering a lot of them specifically pointed to a better life balance in favour of the gruelling PGA tour as a major motivator in moving over, you'd wonder if some of these guys cashed in and simply aren't putting in what they used to.

That could be death in trying to complete in the biggest golf tournaments in the world (the majors) coming from a huge off season and relaxed atmosphere in a party themed golf league.

[Senator Clay Davis]

It's the fatal flaw in LIV as a product, it's consequence free sport so it just isn't interesting. Their best bet will pretty much be counter-programming on weekends like this where the PGA field is as weak as it is, but even then it's tough to want to commit time to watching this. And that's before even factoring in LIV, besides being the semi-retirement tour, has also managed to corral most of the PGA's most unlikable players. A product that combines golf's least likable crew, playing at "half speed", with nothing on the line, on mediocre courses, with about 80 fans per hole? Good luck I guess. Outside of this being money laundering for Trump I still can't see what the actual endgame here is.

[dirk diggler]

its always interesting to see how Reed is going to cheat in new ways every week.

[Sylvanfan]

I saw some thing where an agent claimed LIV would have to be like IPL with team owners to eventually survive. I think they'd have to be more like F1 where the teams supply the equipment and the team owners demand competition and control some consequences to make it competitive.

But golf is golf and I don't know if they could get enough of a following for that type of format.

[accord1999]

Originally Posted by Slava

I do wonder if the majors being open to them is going to attract more PGA players. Do they really care about playing the Honda Classic or whatever instead of this three rounder at Mayakoba?

They still have to qualify for the Major tournaments though. For the golfers who haven't won Majors, it'll be much harder with LIV since they don't get points on the Official World Golf Rankings or get exemptions from winning PGA Tour events.

[jayswin]

LIV getting ripped on TikTok after it's first broadcast. I agree with many that there just aren't enough fans there and it kills the tournament feel completely.

The best was a video of Matthew Wolfe coming within inches of a hoel out approach and the guy sets it up as "Listen to this crowd after this crazy shot!!!" and it happens and there's no fans on that hole, as is the case for most holes.

They're lucky to get a hundred or so on 18.

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

I saw some thing where an agent claimed LIV would have to be like IPL with team owners to eventually survive. I think they'd have to be more like F1 where the teams supply the equipment and the team owners demand competition and control some consequences to make it competitive.

But golf is golf and I don't know if they could get enough of a following for that type of format.

That seems to be the angle they are going for. Some articles are saying they've stopped paying player and caddie expenses this year, and expect the teams to handle them.

It seems very delusional that they could sell these teams for the 50-100 million dollars. I could tee people having a routing interest for team Taylormad vs team Calloway or Titleist, but the obvious problem is that those brands are not really wanting to be associated with liv, and it would be tough to have 12 equipment manufacturer based teams.

As a funny aside, I noticed that Chris Kirk hit his second shot in the water with a Stealth fairway wood on 18 on Sunday. The funny part is that he is Calloway sponsored, and actually had a Paradigm head cover on his Stealth wood!

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

I saw some thing where an agent claimed LIV would have to be like IPL with team owners to eventually survive. I think they'd have to be more like F1 where the teams supply the equipment and the team owners demand competition and control some consequences to make it competitive.

But golf is golf and I don't know if they could get enough of a following for that type of format.

It probably isn't very evident right now but if the concept is done and expanded properly I can see the team aspect of LIV being very interesting. This is an evolution to the game that can elevate the fan experience and grow the game.

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

It probably isn't very evident right now but if the concept is done and expanded properly I can see the team aspect of LIV being very interesting. This is an evolution to the game that can elevate the fan experience and grow the game.

It only works if they could create a way for people to have a rooting interest. The goofy team names sure don’t create that. Random non-golf related corporate sponsors aren’t going to create that either.

It seems that Norman sold these Saudis on a business plan that was mostly delusional. The Saudis are an easy mark as they don’t know anything about running a golf league.

A lot of writing this year has been about the Saudis only funding the start up and need the teams to be self sustaining going forward. It’s hard to imagine they are anywhere close to being able to do that.

[jayswin]

https://awfulannouncing.com/golf/liv...-cw-debut.html

LIV Golf posts dismal rating for CW debut

.2 overnight rating, yikes.

This winter saw the departure of some of the only adults in the boardroom, and that should have been a strong sign that LIV was never going to get it together. We’re well past the time for telling. LIV needs to start showing a potential audience why they should be tuning in.

Nothing about what they’ve put out has come close to doing that, and considering the general lack of awareness on display from everyone with decision-making power, that’s not likely to change.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

It probably isn't very evident right now but if the concept is done and expanded properly I can see the team aspect of LIV being very interesting. This is an evolution to the game that can elevate the fan experience and grow the game.

Like how team tennis exploded the sport? I don’t see golf taking off as a team sport.

[Senator Clay Davis]

There isn't even really "team" play involved in LIV. They are on "teams", but it's not like they are actually playing another team in anything. Maybe if every LIV weekend was one team played another in like three disciplines across three days (team best ball, match play, stroke play) it could be viewed more as a team thing, and would be more interesting and have potential to develop rivalries, but right now the team aspect doesn't really exist. I would say it might be fun if there were true "home fields", like if Bone Saw GC was hosting Repressive Rights GC and the fans were openly taunting RRGC players, that could make it fun.

I'm basically of the opinion LIV should lean into as much sideshow as possible, because if they intend on going direct as a virtually identical product against the PGA, I can't see myself ever caring. Drunk, belligerent fans? Hardcore on course gambling, drug use and drinking? Yeah, I might be down for that

[Flabbibulin]

Originally Posted by jayswin

https://awfulannouncing.com/golf/liv...-cw-debut.html



.2 overnight rating, yikes.

I turned it on for maybe 15 seconds- not even realizing until then that I got this channel. The PGA tournament last weekend wasn't all that compelling either, but I still probably got in at least an hour over the weekend.

It would take something pretty significant for me to tune into LIV at this point- and I can't imagine what that would be- Perhaps a LIV vs PGA tour showdown, but as if that will ever happen.