2022 PGA Tour

Average Game James

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Apr 28, 2016
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"Hammered right down the middle". Ball into the trap. You have shot tracer, not that hard to see it's going right...
 

ezemerson

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Jan 19, 2013
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Must've been tough being done for almost 2 hours....yes I know he was at the range but still that's a long time
 

cshea

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I'm not sure if anyone has been following, but the story/development of break away leagues trying to lure players away from the PGA Tour is still very much in the news. Recently, Mickelson confirmed he's looking elsewhere due to the Tour's "obnoxious greed" mostly surrounding the Tour owning the players media content. There are rumors today that one of the breakoff leagues, the "Saudi" league has offered Bryson DeChambeau $100 million pounds to join their tour.

View: https://twitter.com/MailSport/status/1489121483288891397?s=20&t=w1b0ELMpGrk2O0UrUcMgSw


We'll see where this goes, but it seems like these breakaway leagues are a legitimate threat. So far, the PGA Tour has taken a hardline stance against them. More overtly, things like the newly introduced PIP program is an attempt to keep players from bolting.

The world of breakaway leagues is a confusing one. Basically there are 2 leagues, there's a "Saudi" league which I believe is referred to as LIV Golf has thrown a lot of money to the Asian Tour and says they are starting this year with some kind of 11 tournament series. It's kind of unclear what they're format and everything is. Greg Norman is the commishoner.

The other league is the Premier Golf League (PGL). They're the ones who want to create an F1 stlye league with teams and a season-long competition. Their model has changed over the years. They don't consider themselves to be a breakout league, they've approached the PGA Tour about working with them, which has obviously been rebuffed.

NLU has probably been the best outlet at reporting and following these leagues. They have a couple of podcasts from a few months ago that might be of interest for folks wanting to learn more about what's what in the world of breakaway golf leagues. These are lengthy podcasts, both are over 2 hours.

SGL/PGL Developments:

https://nolayingup.com/podcasts/no-laying-up-podcast/nlu-podcast-episode-493-sgl-pgl-developments

Inteview with the PGL's Andy Gardiner (I'm not sure what his official title is, but he's like the CEO of the PGL or something like that. He's essentally at the top of the mast)

https://nolayingup.com/podcasts/no-laying-up-podcast/nlu-podcast-episode-498-andy-gardiner-from-the-pgl

Anyways, I find this stuff interesting. Not really sure where I land on them. It seems like the story won't go away and with each passing month there's more and more momentum or thought that some players could actually jump and these leagues because real.
 

voidfunkt

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Apr 14, 2006
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I think Mickelson makes some great points about how the PGA isn't doing the best thing to market the game and make it worthwhile for the players to engage with fans. It's also not clear what the fuck the PGA is doing with all this money they are amassing if it isn't going back into the Player's pockets somehow?

At the end of the day, the PGA is just another money machine... they need to compete with other leagues for professional talent. If there terms are not attractive then they need to fix that or get ready to get run off the tracks. Just because they have a great name and a lot of history does not make them immune to market forces.
 

cshea

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The Tour will say the money is going back to the players via tournament purses, the FedEx Cup bonus', and the new PIP program.

Kind of tip of the iceberg thing, but one of the recuirring problems is that high profile, popular players like Tiger, Phil, Rory, etc. are the ones who bring the most eyeballs to a tournament (both in ticket sales and TV ratings) but they get zero dollars if they miss a cut or a meaningless percentage in a tournament payout.
 

cshea

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Bryson WD's from the Saudi event citing wrist and hip injuries. He withdrew from the Sony Open a few weeks ago prior to the tournament begining citing the wrist problems. Last week at the Farmers he was clutching his back after tee shots on Thursday before he finished up and MC'd. I assume the only reason he even travelled to Saudi and tried to play was to collect the massive appearance fee.

It would seem his relentless chase for speed and distance is catching up physically.
 

cshea

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This story has been taking over golf twitter the past couple of days. It's about Morgan Hoffman, who played on Tour and was diagnosed with a form of muscular dystrophy in 2017. Doctors told him his condition would deteriorate over time and there wasn't anything he could do to stop it. He left the tour and searched around for original healing, eventually moving to a community in Costa Rica where he's changed his lifestyle and followed holistic and original healing/detoxifying methods. He has plans to build a healing center there.

He's currently planning a return to the Tour. According to the article, he has been working out and he says he's retaining/building muscle mass, strength and can flex his pectoral muscle again for the first time in years. The pectoral issue is what triggered him going to doctors which, after a long road, led to the muscular dystrophy diagnosis.

He seems to think he's been cured (this part of the story is wild, nuts and I won't spoil) and could probably find out via a MRI but he's reluctant to subject his body to the radiation from an MRI.

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/morgan-hoffmann-costa-rica-muscular-dystrophy
 

voidfunkt

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This story has been taking over golf twitter the past couple of days. It's about Morgan Hoffman, who played on Tour and was diagnosed with a form of muscular dystrophy in 2017. Doctors told him his condition would deteriorate over time and there wasn't anything he could do to stop it. He left the tour and searched around for original healing, eventually moving to a community in Costa Rica where he's changed his lifestyle and followed holistic and original healing/detoxifying methods. He has plans to build a healing center there.

He's currently planning a return to the Tour. According to the article, he has been working out and he says he's retaining/building muscle mass, strength and can flex his pectoral muscle again for the first time in years. The pectoral issue is what triggered him going to doctors which, after a long road, led to the muscular dystrophy diagnosis.

He seems to think he's been cured (this part of the story is wild, nuts and I won't spoil) and could probably find out via a MRI but he's reluctant to subject his body to the radiation from an MRI.

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/morgan-hoffmann-costa-rica-muscular-dystrophy
My bullshit alarm is ringing. He is obviously biased now after starting a business. He wants people to believe his healing worked so he can make money. He doesn’t want proof of it though.

Snake oil salesman at best.
 

cshea

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Rickie is all out of sorts. Had a fall top 3 at the CJ Cup but that seems to be a blip. Missed cuts at his first two starts in calendar 2022, +2 through 7 today and just had to hit one lefty backwards on 8 so another bogey or worse is likely.
 

E5 Yaz

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Watching the European women's event this morning from Kenya. it's quite the sight to see a golf tournament played while zebras and giraffes roam the course.
 

kenneycb

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Dec 2, 2006
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Watching the European women's event this morning from Kenya. it's quite the sight to see a golf tournament played while zebras and giraffes roam the course.
Fota Island Golf Club in Ireland has a similar type setup where there's a wildlife park next door so you'll all of a sudden hear an elephant make noise in the middle of your swing. Very unexpected given its Ireland.
 

cshea

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They got it cleanses up pretty quick. Guess it pays off to have a trash removal company as the title sponsor.
 

BaseballJones

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Oct 1, 2015
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I tell you, this tournament is unreal. The crowd is absolutely bonkers. I think golf is better because of events like this.

And honestly, I know it's not the tradition either in golf or tennis, but the idea that you need to have everything quiet in order to play the game is nonsense (and I play both sports). In every other sport in the world basically, athletes concentrate just as hard when there are thousands of people going nuts. Golfers and tennis players could adapt. Could you imagine the US Open tennis tournament if they let the crowd go crazy all the time? It would be amazing.
 

Deathofthebambino

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Apr 12, 2005
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I tell you, this tournament is unreal. The crowd is absolutely bonkers. I think golf is better because of events like this.

And honestly, I know it's not the tradition either in golf or tennis, but the idea that you need to have everything quiet in order to play the game is nonsense (and I play both sports). In every other sport in the world basically, athletes concentrate just as hard when there are thousands of people going nuts. Golfers and tennis players could adapt. Could you imagine the US Open tennis tournament if they let the crowd go crazy all the time? It would be amazing.
I can't speak to tennis, but when it comes to golf, noise isn't the issue. It's unpredictable, intermittent noise that's an issue. If you're standing over a shot, and concentrating, and everything is quiet, and then right in your back swing, someone talks, or someone yells, or a foghorn goes off, or police sirens, or whatever, I know very few golfers, from the PGA Tour on down that can maintain their concentration.

But if the noise is constant, it's fine. On 16 in Phoenix, the crowd is never quiet. They are yelling and screaming and cheering the whole time, before, during and after the shot. So there is basically no difference to the golfer, you're starting to prepare for your shot in the same noise/conditions, as you are when you finish your swing.

I agree with you that its awesome, and frankly, I would have no problem with every tournament sounding like this, but it's never going to happen. And someone screaming "get in the hole" in the middle of your putting stroke, or in the backswing of your drive, when you aren't expecting it, is just not good.
 

BaseballJones

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Oct 1, 2015
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I agree. You can't have it quiet and THEN someone shouts right in the middle. But you don't need raucous noise. You just have to allow the crowd to murmur and talk and such. That will create enough ambient crowd noise so that will be the normal golfing environment.
 

cshea

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In addition to the crowd, it’s an awesome course. I think it’s the best back 9 on tour and it generates action. You can make a big number on any hole or you can get hot go real low,
 

cshea

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Don’t have the volume on but Ortiz makes the eagle at 17. I have to imagine that’s the first time anyone has gone 1-2 through those two holes. Wonder if anyone has ever backed up an ace with an eagle before.
 

E5 Yaz

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Cantlay hit an approach off the dirt to within 10 feet. I would have hit at least one of the trees in front of him