This is long overdue.  Too much complaining about being in the afternoon vs the morning wave, being affected disproportionately by weather, etc.  Of course, the media and sponsors may not like this because of potential reduced broadcast time, but for the players its great. 

Love that their is no cut.  Everyone gets paid.  Don't like the shortening to 54 holes, tho.

Less time on TV plus more prize money doesn't seem like a sustainable business model to me.  

Also, I am wondering, since the tournaments have 48 players, if some more players jump to LIV Golf, who gets cut and no longer has a spot in LIV Golf?  And what if the guy who gets cut has already been suspended by the PGA Tour?  Where does he go play if that happens?

With 4 man teams, the maximum amount of players for one round is 72. If more than 72 players are participating then they could do a second round since they play so quickly.

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Less time on TV plus more prize money doesn't seem like a sustainable business model to me.  

Also, I am wondering, since the tournaments have 48 players, if some more players jump to LIV Golf, who gets cut and no longer has a spot in LIV Golf?  And what if the guy who gets cut has already been suspended by the PGA Tour?  Where does he go play if that happens?

With 4 man teams, the maximum amount of players for one round is 72. If more than 72 players are participating then they could do a second round since they play so quickly.

You're saying 4 x 18 = 72.  But that's 4 players per hole, and that could slow things down quite a bit.  Round 2 yesterday took 5 hours from tee-off to final putt.  That was with 3 golfers per hole.

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Players ranked in the top-50 in the official world golf rankings (OWGR) qualify for the Masters.  Same thing for the (British) Open. The top-60 in the OWGR automatically qualify for the US Open.  The PGA takes the top-100.  

Right now, LIV golf is not a part of the OWGR.    And even if it was, the average OWGR of the 48 players in the LIV field is 100, which is a very weak field.  So even if LIV golf was qualified for the OWGR, it doesn't help a player's OWGR to play against such a weak field.  The result could be that players in LIV golf could see their OWGR decline due to the weakness of the LIV golf field.  And even worse, if OWGR decides not to allow LIV tournaments to be included in the OWGR, the players' OWGR rankings will sink even faster.  And therefore some LIV players could lose their qualification for all the majors.

The other day, a LIV representative was asked about whether LIV tournaments were qualified for inclusion in the OWGR, and his response was that they had applied for the right to submit an application.  Whatever that means.

Thanks to you both for the info.  I wasn't fully aware.  So, then maybe the Players will be affected?

Yea none of these guys will be eligible for the Players as it is a PGA Tour event.  It'll be a bummer to not see DJ, Phil, DeChambeau, Sergio, etc... out there.

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Scouting well is all that matters.  Draft philosophy is all fluff.

With 4 man teams, the maximum amount of players for one round is 72. If more than 72 players are participating then they could do a second round since they play so quickly.

You're saying 4 x 18 = 72.  But that's 4 players per hole, and that could slow things down quite a bit.  Round 2 yesterday took 5 hours from tee-off to final putt.  That was with 3 golfers per hole.

It could be done if events are played during the summer months. If they have, say, 92 players, then it could be split between each round to make it faster. Otherwise, they could limit the field.

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I didn’t realize there was a golf show on 1010 Saturday mornings. Anyway, the host was saying to not be surprised if an LIV type event is created for the LPGA.

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It’s a good time to be a lawyer.

https://www.foxnews.com/sports/pga-tour-...rticipants

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I think the PGA sees this as an unprecedented threat.  The NFL has never had to worry about a start-up league with deeper pockets than it has.

They're poaching players right and left. If this first event turns out to be a viewing success, I think we'll see more defectors in the future.

After Schwartzel's $4.75M payday, I don't think they'll too much trouble recruiting more.

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When you get into the endzone, act like you've been there before.

Here are the LIV players, who defected from the PGA Tour, in this week's US Open:  Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia, Kevin Na, Patrick Reed, Talor Gooch and Louis Oosthuizen.  Bryson DeChambeau is joining LIV shortly.  

None of these guys are actually playing very well right now.  

I could see a scenario where none of them make the cut.  

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The USGA says it will not prevent LIV players from participating in the U.S. Open.

https://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id/340...le-golfers

It's called Open for a reason, right?

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My fellow southpaw Mark Brunell will probably always be my favorite Jaguar.

The USGA says it will not prevent LIV players from participating in the U.S. Open.

https://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id/340...le-golfers

It's called Open for a reason, right?

One can qualify for the US Open in various ways.  The usual way for the top players is to be in the top 60 point leaders in the Official World Golf Rankings.  The question right now is, will these 54-hole no-cut tournaments qualify for the OWGR?  If not, then a lot of these LIV players will rapidly sink from the top-60, and have to play in qualifying tournaments to get into the US Open.  And even if these LIV tournaments qualify for OWGR points, right now their 48 man field is so weak that the OWGR will not award the same number of points as they do in regular PGA Tour events.

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It's called Open for a reason, right?

One can qualify for the US Open in various ways.  The usual way for the top players is to be in the top 60 point leaders in the Official World Golf Rankings.  The question right now is, will these 54-hole no-cut tournaments qualify for the OWGR?  If not, then a lot of these LIV players will rapidly sink from the top-60, and have to play in qualifying tournaments to get into the US Open.  And even if these LIV tournaments qualify for OWGR points, right now their 48 man field is so weak that the OWGR will not award the same number of points as they do in regular PGA Tour events.

Yep.

It's going to be an uphill battle for some of these defectors to qualify for the Opens as things progress. 

A few of them may already have exemptions for this year, but maintaining that is going to be tough. And like you said - if OWGR begins adopting NIV contests - it will still be tougher due to slighted competition.

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I think Rickie Fowler will be next to defect.  He's dropped out of the top-150 in the world, he's not competitive, he didn't even make the US Open field, but he's still a big name.  And he probably needs the money.

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I think Rickie Fowler will be next to defect.  He's dropped out of the top-150 in the world, he's not competitive, he didn't even make the US Open field, but he's still a big name.  And he probably needs the money.

I think you are right that is a great article too. He is absolutely right on all of his points. I think he discounts how much money matters to those guys but couldn’t be more correct when he illustrates the “it” factors effect on the game. 

The players who have made the jump either never had it or have lost it. They got the call have so because of their name but once that fades from relevance the liv will have a group of extremely rich washed up golfers that nobody cares to watch. They will have effetely ruined any chance they had of salvaging their career because not only can they not compete since they can’t qualify for majors because of OWGR but have diminished their skill set to the point that, even if they did, they wouldn’t make it passed the first cut.  

New names will rise up and replace the DJs of the world the same way they they to the last generation.

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I think Rickie Fowler will be next to defect.  He's dropped out of the top-150 in the world, he's not competitive, he didn't even make the US Open field, but he's still a big name.  And he probably needs the money.

I think you are right that is a great article too. He is absolutely right on all of his points. I think he discounts how much money matters to those guys but couldn’t be more correct when he illustrates the “it” factors effect on the game. 

The players who have made the jump either never had it or have lost it. They got the call have so because of their name but once that fades from relevance the liv will have a group of extremely rich washed up golfers that nobody cares to watch. They will have effetely ruined any chance they had of salvaging their career because not only can they not compete since they can’t qualify for majors because of OWGR but have diminished their skill set to the point that, even if they did, they wouldn’t make it passed the first cut.  

New names will rise up and replace the DJs of the world the same way they they to the last generation.

Completely agree on Fowler. He's ripe for the LIV. Another golfer I was half expecting to make the jump was Tony Finau. He went professional at age 17 and came up through the ranks the old school way by playing for money anywhere he could, including hustling games in Las Vegas with his brother. However, even though he's only won twice on tour, he consistently finishes in the top 10-20 of the field, which is still decent money. In addition, the PGA offers one the best pension plans throughout industry and that figures largely for a guy who has a big family to take care of. 

I'm reveling in all the drama. Even though I love golf, the weekly grind can get a little stale. This is fun to watch.

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Agree with most points above, the guys who have already defected or will shortly defect are either guys who cannot consistently compete, are already washed up, or just don't have a passion for the game. A guy like DJ, for example, has said in the past before LIV was even a thing when he was on top that if he continued to play like he was for another 10 years he would call it a quits so he could go enjoy life. The $$$ from LIV just guarantees that for him or possibly accelerates it. I mean, he's already outside of the top 15 in the world which is unbelievable for a guy with that talent, unfortunately he just doesn't have that passion.

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This guy is very rich, and very influential, and a member of Augusta National.

https://www.si.com/golf/news/one-of-golf...gn_4488654

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It's called Open for a reason, right?

One can qualify for the US Open in various ways.  The usual way for the top players is to be in the top 60 point leaders in the Official World Golf Rankings.  The question right now is, will these 54-hole no-cut tournaments qualify for the OWGR?  If not, then a lot of these LIV players will rapidly sink from the top-60, and have to play in qualifying tournaments to get into the US Open.  And even if these LIV tournaments qualify for OWGR points, right now their 48 man field is so weak that the OWGR will not award the same number of points as they do in regular PGA Tour events.

Well, first you have to decide if they are tournaments or exhibitions.  They appear to be team exhibitions that are called tournaments in name only. Then the entity running the major or minor tournaments will need to agree to accept points earn in that way. The OWGR can't make them. Messy, messy messy.

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A new broom always sweeps clean.

Tiger reportedly turned down an offer of almost 1 billion.

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"Remember Red, Hope is a good thing. Maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies."  - Andy Dufresne, The Shawshank Redemption

Brooks Koepka reportedly going over.

Rumors of Abraham Ancer and Xander Schauffle making the jump.

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PGA Tour responds to an extent. I don't think it will be enough and that more is coming. I think they need to address how to compensate the young players/KFT players so they don't lose their pipeline: https://www.golfdigest.com/story/pga-tou...l-schedule

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