Golfing News & Blog Articles

Actually Jack, it was just business.

In his debut piece for The Fire Pit Collective, Michael Bamberger reviews the PGA of America decision to abandon Trump Bedminster for Southern Hills following the January 6th insurrection. The piece also weaves in Phil Mickelson’s absence this week and Jack Nicklaus’ claim he was offered $100 million by Saudi Arabia to handle the role currently occupied by Greg Norman attempting to overthrow the PGA Tour.

Besides getting PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh’s side of how the change occurred—and the lucrative and safe landing spot provided by Tulsa and Southern Hills—Bamberger interviewed Nicklaus about the move.

“I like Seth Waugh,” Nicklaus said. “Seth didn’t need this job. He took the job because he thought he could give the PGA of America some good guidance. And I think he’s doing that. But this move is cancel culture. Donald Trump may be a lot of things, but he loves golf and he loves this country. He’s a student of the game and a formidable figure in the game. What he does in the future in golf will depend on what the cancel culture will allow him to do.”

Just so you have it, here’s the first sentence from the Wikipedia entry for cancel culture: “Cancel culture or call-out culture is a contemporary phrase used to refer to a form of ostracism in which someone is thrust out of social or professional circles — whether it be online, on social media or in person.”

Following a series of interviews to promote the upcoming LIV Golf event outside London, the entity has sought to clarify Commissioner Greg Norman’s various idiotic and ignorant remarks regarding murder. Their statement:

"The killing of Jamal Khashoggi was reprehensible. Everyone agrees on that, including Greg, as he has said as such previously on many occasions. Greg also knows that golf is a force for good around the world and can help make inroads toward positive change. That is why he is so excited about LIV and that was the point he was making."

Clean-up on aisle 4 still needs cleaning up.

Norman was condemned by the widow of Jamal Khashoggi following his wave of interviews. You may recall that the journalist was at the Saudi consulate to get a marriage license when U.S. intelligence believe a team of Crown Prince bin Salman’s detail murdered Khashoggi, dismembered him with a bonesaw and disposed of his remains. From The Telegraph:

"Would you say that if it was your loved one? How can we go forward when those who ordered the murder are still unpunished, and continue to try to buy back their legitimacy?" Ms Cengiz said.

The expected showdown over LIV Golf’s Portland stop ended before it began.

Instead, the PGA Tour expedited the inevitable showdown with the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf by denying player waivers to the upcoming LIV Invitational outside London. While many expected the Tour to allow their players that lucrativeplaying opportunity, a memo sent to players—and plenty of media who’ve apparently joined the player email list—explained the Tour’s position. The statement to players was sent at 6:30 p.m. ET and it’s tight! From GolfDigest.com’s Dan Rapaport story:

"We have notified those who have applied that their request has been declined in accordance with the PGA TOUR Tournament Regulations. As such, TOUR members are not authorized to participate in the Saudi Golf League’s London event under our Regulations," PGA Tour Senior Vice President Tyler Dennis wrote to players in the memo. "As a membership organization, we believe this decision is in the best interest of the PGA TOUR and its players."

The key words seem to be Tournament Regulations and “membership organization.”

LIV Commish Greg Norman found time after a busy daydigging new landmines while promoting the London stop to issue a lawyerly response. Bob Harig at MorningRead.com has it:

The LIV Golf folks admirably opened their Commissioner to questioning following news of a staggering infusion of more money and to roll out world ranking numbers hoping to play the June 2-9 event outside London. One huge catch: Commissioner Greg Norman is a terrible interview and continues to do his best to sink this ambitious ship. Assuming you expect consistency, clarity, vision, non-B speak or a sense this is something to be taken seriously.

And the grow the game references are almost a nervous tick at this point. Another sign no one has been able to tell him the phrase is a way of announcing to the world, “I’m a stooge with no one around me to say stop using that inane, phony, shallow phrase.”

The latest rollout’s details.

According to Bob Harig at Morning Read, “LIV Golf Investments received 170 entries for the June 9-11 event at the Centurion Golf Club outside of London, with 36 ranked among the top 150 in the Official World Golf Ranking. Several amateurs, who have apparently worked out NIL (name, image and likeness) deals, will also be part of the 48-player field.”

Not a single player name was released. Norman said 19 of the top 100, and six of the top 50 are committed. Again, before releases were granted.

First reported last week by the New York Post and confirmed by Joe Buck on Twitter, the minds behind ESPN’s successful Monday Night Football “Manningcast” are bringing the concept to the 2022 PGA Championship.

The details of an aggressive effort—four hours a day—now include confirmed guests. The full release:

Joe Buck, Michael Collins To Host First of Its Kind PGA Championship Alternative Telecast for ESPN 

Celebrity Guests Joining Telecast Include Troy Aikman, Josh Allen, Charles Barkley, Doris Burke, Fred Couples, Jon Hamm, Peyton & Eli Manning 

Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions, Production Company Behind Monday Night Football With Peyton and Eli, to Produce Telecast in Conjunction with ESPN  

They are the undisputed best in the business and I’m not sure it’s close, so it’s great to read Shaun Tolson’s profile of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw who are still going strong but also working the same way they always have: with the utmost care for the details.

It’s hard to believe this many years later but they struggled to get their design firm off the ground.

Looking back on those early years, when the duo had no pipeline of work and no completed projects upon which they could hang their proverbial hats, both men legitimately wondered if anyone was going to hire them. What they did know was that they shared the same philosophical approach to designing courses. Equally significant, they both shared the same philosophy of how they wanted their business of designing courses to operate. “We knew it had to be run like a business to survive,” Coore explains, “but at the same time, philosophically, we were trying to say that we were going to treat it like a hobby.

“When I say hobby, I mean, ‘let’s have fun doing this.’ Don’t make this such a business that we’re not involved and can’t have fun. If you have this dream to actually create a golf course, but you structure a business deal that takes that dream away, now you’re just a businessman.”

Ultimately, Coore and Crenshaw agreed from the beginning that their No. 1 goal was to design a few interesting golf courses, to be significantly involved in the work and development of those courses as they moved through the conception and construction phases, and to have some fun while doing it all. “Back then, no matter how we progressed, we knew we weren’t going to be prolific,” Crenshaw says. “Our goal was to build a few good golf courses. And that’s never changed. It doesn’t change now.”

Hayley Salvatore of the Washington Post tells the amazing story of 14-year-old Madison Smith, who has overcome Stage 3 colorectal and is competing for her high school golf team with dreams of making it to Augusta.

During a trip to Maui in August, Madison started experiencing extreme stomach pain and nausea. While she was initially diagnosed as being infected with E. coli and Salmonella — bacteria consistent with food poisoning — her symptoms persisted after she took medication, prompting her mother to suspect worse. Doctors performed an X-ray, found a stricture — a narrowing of the intestinal tract — and airlifted her to a hospital in Honolulu that was equipped to perform surgery.

When pediatric surgeon Sidney Johnson was finished, he pulled Molly and James Smith out of the recovery room to discuss the results. In the hospital’s chapel, Johnson told them he had removed 23 swollen lymph nodes and a foot of Madison’s colon and that a biopsy came back positive for both celiac disease and cancer. Molly and James were stunned to learn about their otherwise healthy daughter’s diagnosis.

“We had not even been contemplating that because she’s so young and it’s so rare for her age group,” James said. “It just doesn’t happen, so we weren’t prepared for that.”

The cancer afflicts around 100 kids Smith’s age annually, but with the support of her family, school and puppy, she made it through 12 chemo sessions and is back on the course playing high school matches with hopes of making to Augusta via the Drive, Chip and Putt.