LIV's newfound momentum...

and how it's similar to HBO's Gilded Age

Author

Sean Melia
February 09, 2024

Friday, February 9

Hey Everyone,

Hope you had a great week.

This part of the year marks that point when our minds trick us that spring is close. Temps in the 50s are coming this weekend in Boston, the sun is up longer, and there is no snow on the ground.

If you’re looking to tee it up this weekend, with the help of a bunch of folks, I have compiled a solid list of courses that should be open for play.

I’m grateful you’re taking the time to read my ramblings, and I’m also grateful for sharing this newsletter with anyone you think might enjoy it.

I’m cooking up some fun stuff once real spring arrives, and this will be a great place to find it all.

Some thoughts on LIV and the PGA Tour…

Prestige Television and professional golf

HBO’s The Gilded Age had me thinking about this PGA Tour and LIV situation. It is a show that takes place in New York in the 1890s. The overarching plotline in the second season is about the opening of a new opera house called The Metropolitan. The dignified “old rich,” represented by Mrs. Astor (The PGA Tour), already had boxes in the Academy of Music’s Opera House, and this second opera house was being spurred by Bertha Russell (LIV), the wife of a robber baron, who is trying her hardest to find a place among New York’s elite on 61st Avenue.

The season’s finale culminates in the opening of The Met on the same night as the Academy of Music. A final litmus test of loyalty to Mrs. Astor and the “Good Old Days.”

The build-up is all about who will have a full house and who will attract the society’s finest. Mrs. Astor and Mrs. Russell are also jockeying to have the Duke of Buckingham (Jon Rahm?) in their respective boxes; his attendance will go a long way in boosting or destroying The Met’s potential and each lady’s reputation.

In the end, the Academy of Music is gloomy, dark, and empty. Mrs. Astor says to her loyal followers, “This is what losing feels like.”

On the other side of town, The Met was jam-packed, and Mrs. Russell had finally ascended to the top of New York society.

Mrs. Astor and the Academy of Music is like the PGA Tour. Stubborn and unwilling to welcome new people into high society, forcing those she shunned into building their own opera house with ungodly amounts of money that Mr. Russell has earned as a robber baron. In the end, Mrs. Astor was looking around at a dreary opera house with some of her loyal friends walking out on her to make it across town to see what was happening at The Met.

Does a set schedule make more sense than we thought?

It’s become a weekly occurrence in one of my group chats - updates on players who have withdrawn from a PGA Tour event.

This week, Viktor Hovland and Xander Schauffele were the players of consequence who decided to skip the Waste Management Open in Phoenix. I can’t say I blame them; it’ll be as warm in Boston as it is in Arizona this weekend..).

Of course, when players like that withdraw, it’s followed by suspicion that the player is heading to LIV.

It sucks.

It’s the reality of golf fandom right now.

But it sucks.

Last year, the WM was must-see TV because the best players on the PGA Tour were literally required to play. It was a Designated Event (these events are now called Signature Events because the PGA Tour sucks at branding.).

It was such a big event that Full Swing, the Netflix docuseries, used the famous 16th hole as the opening sequence for the show.

This year, the WM Open is not a Signature Event. Of the top five finishers from last year’s event, only one, Scottie Scheffler, is in the field this year. Nick Taylor, Joh Rahm, Justin Thomas, and Jason Day are all taking the week off. In Rahm’s case, he’ll play in Las Vegas in the LIV event.

One of the perks for golfers on the PGA Tour is the ability to set their schedule. They can chase money and FedEx Cup points, rest, and use events to prep for the majors.

It’s up to them.

When LIV came along, one of the biggest issues that detractors like me had, aside from the Saudi Arabian government, was the players had set schedules. Their presence was required at each and every tournament. Suddenly, golfers were like athletes in other sports. They would be told when and where to play.

It appeared draconian, and I waited for players like Brooks Koepka, a known contrarian, to begin to long for the days when he could, on a whim, skip an event.

That day still might come.

But right now, what seemed like a weakness has become a strength, and it was one, to be fair, that LIV said was a strength as they rolled out their plan for the league. They wanted people to see every golfer in a four-hour window, so they had shotgun starts. And they wanted their dozens of fans, when they arrived to the course, to know who would be competing.

When the likes of Graeme McDowell, Lee Westwood, and James Piot were the promised competitors, it seemed meaningless. However, now that people know Jon Rahm, Cam Smith, and Brooks Koepka will be playing in each and every event, it makes it seem like LIV gives a shit about the fans.

Of the first 12 events on the PGA Tour schedule, World No. 2 Rory McIlroy, who has been the most outspoken defender of the PGA Tour (while back peddling like a seasoned tour guide at the Louvre), will play four of the first 12 events (Pebble Beach, Genesis, Bay Hill, and The Players).

That’s not ideal. Rory has been playing golf in Dubai. If you’re the PGA Tour, you should want your best playing together as much as possible, especially now given that their fields have been diluted by LIV defectors. At least LIV knows they're most valuable assets are playing together every week they arrive to a venue.

Spieth isn’t the type to ask for a second desert…

Jordan Spieth has caused a bit of a stir in the last week when he basically said that the PGA Tour might not need that sweet sweet PIF money. I wonder if Spieth might be feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the money changing hands here. He’s always come across as socially aware and thoughtful. Considering the public perception of golfers as greedy right now, I could see him feeling uncomfortable asking for more money after $1.5 billion was promised to the PGA Tour.

Spieth’s answer generated some chatter across the golf world. Rory spoke out against his sentiment and even had a private conversation with Spieth about it.

LIV Golfers get a little attention and ask for…. more…

It’s pretty wild that within 24 hours of LIV having a bit of attention on Sunday because the PGA Tour was postponed due to weather at Pebble Beach they decided to use the attention to… ask for more things. Carlos Ortiz went on the Sub Par Podcast and said that LIV guys were basically promised they’d have World Ranking Points.

Meanwhile, Rahm is saying that he missed playing in PGA Tour events like Torrey and Waste Management but that he has no regrets about leaving for LIV.

He also said he hopes in the future he is able to come back and play on the PGA Tour.

There’s a bigger story to unpack here about Rahm, but there was chatter that he thought his move to LIV would be the final straw for the PGA Tour and LIV to strike a deal. The move would cement his legacy in the game’s history, The guy whose departure drove the PGA Tour and LIV together. But please ignore the bulging bank account….

Rahm was reportedly in Hawaii during the Sentry and then in Palm Springs during the American Express. It makes me wonder if he thought maybe, just maybe, a deal would be made, and he could slide into the events at the last minute.

I’ll pay attention when LIV guys get treated like other high-priced athletes and coaches.

I was sitting in the balcony at the Celtics game last week, and Jaylen Brown bounced the ball off his foot for the one-millionth time. Brown signed a $300 million contract this summer. A bunch of people started screaming that he isn’t worth the money, that a guy who can’t dribble with his left hand or hit free throws consistently shouldn’t make $50 million a year.

This is part of the pressure of signing massive contracts in team sports. You have to live up to the contract because a city depends on you to help their favorite team win. Caleb Surratt, who left college at Tennessee to join LIV reportedly made $25 million for signing his name. That’s the same amount of money that Caleb Williams will make in his rookie year when an entire franchise will be thrust on his shoulders.

The money in LIV is unserious because the golf is unserious and the stakes are nil. After winning the Myakoba LIV event on Sunday, Joaquin Niemann immediately complained he’s not in the majors.

Golfers are accustomed to playing for their money, and until Bryson Dechambeau is screamed at by rabid Crushers fans for missing a vital par putt that costs his team a championship, these massive contracts have one purpose - to make it easier for LIV golfers to miss majors and tumble down the World Rankings.

Imagine the pressure they might feel if they had this type of consequence…

Merch Table

One way to help support me in my quest to play every course in the Bay State would be to spend a little money on some Bay State Golf swag. Check it all out here.

Apparently, this winter hat is being discontinued starting Feb. 27… get it before it goes!

When I’m not golfing…

I’m gambling….(Every week, because it's now legal in Mass. I'm going to make five NFL picks and keep track of them here.)

  • Playoff record: 8-4

    • Chiefs (+2.5) over the Niners

      • It’s just impossible to bet against Mahomes at this point.

I’m reading…

  • The newest Golfer’s Journal arrived this week. Read a great piece by Charlie Warzel about Branson, Missouri, and Big Cedar Lodge. I was interested because I’m heading there in May for a weekend of golf.

I’m listening to…

  • Continuum by John Mayer.

  • We’re going to see Foy Vance (not to be confused with Vance Joy) in Portsmouth this weekend, so he’s been in the rotation a bit this week. I little Van Morrison and little Springsteen.

  • The Long Game had John Sherman on to talk about the mental and strategic side of golf.

  • No Laying Up has been doing these great deep dives into the majors. The lastest one tackles 1997. Some great Tiger Woods stories from his Masters win that I had forgotten about or never heard before.

I’m eating…

I’m watching…

  • The Grammys were a good watch on Sunday for a bit. I checked in and out. Glad I caught the “Fast Car” performance by Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs. Didn’t know Chapman went to Tufts. Of course, they also made me feel old, but they’ve been doing that to me for 15 years.

  • We finished Gilded Age this week (as noted above). It’s a pretty good watch, especially if you’re interested in that era of the last 19th century.

  • Watched a handful of movies this week. American Fiction was excellent. So was The Holdovers. However… It took me about four sittings to get through Killers of the Flower Moon. My advice… skip it and read the book.

PLUGS

New stuff:

  • A bunch of Instagram followers sent me some questions, so I answered them on this week’s Bay State Golf Podcast. From underrated private courses to my favorite Donald Ross Public and Privat courses to how I get onto private courses and more.

  • I had Jordan Perez on the Amateur Golf Podcast to talk about the latest college golf stuff, including Nick Dunlap and Caleb Surratt’s pro debuts. We also did a PIP draft, where we picked four players each we thought might crack into the PIP’s Top Ten in the next 5-7 years.

  • I’m doing a little series on IG highlighting some of my favorite holes I’ve played so far.

Old stuff: 

I'm (shamelessly) plugging...

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