Slugger On Norman Reaching Out To Manage Saudi Golf League's Rules

Ken Willis caught up with formerly-retired PGA Tour rules and competitions director Slugger White about his new role running that side of things for Greg Norman and the Kingdom’s ambitions in golf.

White said it came down to Norman’s outreach.

“Yeah it really is. I appreciated him reaching out to me and asking if I’d consider something like this,” Slugger says. “Thought about it long and hard. Shelly and I talked about it. She felt like it was a nice opportunity and nice of Greg to think about me and reach out. 

“Then I thought, you know what, this is something that I know, and it’s just a new chapter.”

“They’re concentrating on those 10 events on the Asian Tour right now, and that’s pretty much all I know,” Slugger says. “I’ll just wait for them to tell me where they want me to go.”

An Inconvenient Sunday: Wins By Saudi Golf League Potentials Kokrak And Mickelson

Courtesy of Leslie Johnson Plaza/Sportwire

As middle-aged executives work the Global Home phones to stop a disruptor golf league from messing with their bonus structrue—imagine a Jerry Lewis telethon with way too many men in Gingham and khaki—the task got tougher Sunday. That’s because two potential players who have been linked to taking a dictator’s “sovereign” money happened to win on the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions.

Jason Kokrak, Golf Saudi’s proud ambassador, recovered from Saturday’s back nine 41 to win the Houston Open and the privilege of posing with a furry “Astro” clad in the colors best associated with owner Jim Crane’s special brand of dishonest baseball. See, I resisted the urge to call them cheaters. Progress! But boy, for a game of integrity, golf sure has its share of shysters.

Anyhoo…over on the PGA Tour Champions, Phil Mickelson, who has recently blasted away at the PGA Tour’s business structure and could pocket a massive payday if he doesn’t mind mingling with Greg Norman, won for the fourth time in six geezer Tour starts as Bernhard Langer took his sixth Schwab Cup. The key differences between Mickelson and Langer? One captured a major this year and seems primed to bolt from the PGA Tour while wearing his sunglasses to trophy ceremonies. The other is just a freak at age 64.

Houston’s final round highlights. Though they might vanish from The Tube if Kokrak takes the SGL money…

Report: PGA Tour Floating Detail-Light And Eerily Familiar Sounding Plans To Stop Players From Fleeing

We’ve moved to the bad movie phase in this Leagues v. PGA Tour. This is the scene where law enforcement calls and starts off by saying, I just want you to know before I say anything else, the FedExCup is safe. Now, for the bad news…

Years after first learning of different approaches to the pro golf model and months after knowing those pesky Saudi’s are offering silly money, the PGA Tour is (finally) formulating plans for a fall world circuit of WGC-style cut-free events and—are you ready—possibly a team component. Breathtaking originality.

The real takeaway from this Eamon Lynch Golfweek exclusive is that (A) the Tour is very worried about the Saudi offers and (B) no where in the Global Home was there a plan tucked in a drawer should this very predictable scenario arise. Oh, and (C) the FedExCup is not why players show up to tournaments.

To say the details are not well formulated or even close to fruition is an understatement:

The Tour intends to stage between four and six events annually outside of the United States, in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The series will begin in the fall of 2023 at the earliest, though possibly not until 2024.

Three years? That’s a lifetime in this world. Are we going to blame the global supply chain for the lag time? Then again, when you haven’t planned accordingly, that time is needed.

This almost makes the PIP look original and smart.

While internal discussions are continuing on specifics, tentative plans call for between four and six events, with fields limited to 50 or 60 competitors and no halfway cut. It has not been decided if the fields will be determined by the Official World Golf Ranking or FedEx Cup standings. A range of format options are being considered, including the possibility of a team component.

“Nothing firm on formats yet,” the well-placed executive said, “but a team format is certainly one of the ideas on the table.”

See, that baking option in the Global Home Cafe has drawn real outside-the-box thinkers!

And again, so you can rest easily, the most important thing of all…

A PGA Tour source told Golfweek that a mechanism will be devised to ensure players who compete in the overseas series will not be disadvantaged in the FedEx Cup points race as a result of having skipped the U.S. schedule.

“Top guys want to have a break from the FedEx Cup,” the source explained. “The setup would be so they don’t have to worry. If they play in these big events, the idea is they don’t fall behind in the FedEx Cup.”

Big relief! Maybe one less points reset too? Oh…that was aggressive, sorry.

Given that we have full confirmation even decent fall leaderboards draw no audiences, it will be fascinating to see star player reaction to something assuring the schedule is year-round and asking them to divert their energies away from the core part of the schedule surrounding the majors.

Major(s) News & Notes, November 11th, 2021

This week’s edition free for all to read and subscribe to for free explores the danger of pro golfers talking money. Plus, an update with links to the best reads about the chase for money.

Then the Quad dives into how major venues fared in Golf Mag's World Top 100, followed by a Frisco update, and some non-golf reads.

State Of The Game 117: Golf's Hot Mess: Greg Norman, Saudi Arabia, The PGL and the PGA Tour

The title says it all.

The latest show with Rod Morri, Mike Clayton and yours truly discussing all things green reading books and Saudi golf. This was recorded before a few more hires were announced and the European Tour sold its soul to Saudi Arabia’s competition.

"Players competing for 55% of consolidated revenue from roughly $1.5 billion"

Phil Mickelson’s claim of only 26% of revenues going back to PGA Tour players appears to have earned him a rebuttal from the Global Home, albeit a slow one given that he mentioned it in a September 14th podcast with Gary Williams.

This comes from a Doug Ferguson column advocating against paying players salaries instead of through purses, Ferguson writes of where the PGA Tour is finding money for PIP and Play 15-Get-50K guarantees:

At least two players have coined a similar phrase of $50 million “magically appearing” to pay for the Player Impact Program and another program called “Play 15” that doles out $50,000 to anyone playing 15 tournaments.

The tour would suggest nothing magical about it. In a presentation to the Player Advisory Council, it showed players competing for 55% of consolidated revenue from roughly $1.5 billion, courtesy of a nine-year media rights deal worth about $7 billion. It also includes $32 million from the reserve fund to help pay for the earnings increase.

Obviously “consolidated revenue” is a different way of interpreting the Tour’s revenues and most of us probably don’t really care. But the disparity in Mickelson’s understanding versus the Global Home’s number is worth keeping an eye on as the situation unravels.

Also, it’s a bit surprising to see the television rights valued at $7 billion over nine years, putting the network/cable rights at just under $800 million a year.

Quadrilateral: Ranking The Disruptive Forces

So much is at stake in the coming months and it’s a pretty stunning change from not that long ago when the “league” idea was declared dead.

For a new edition of The Quadrilateral, here are fifteen factors that have put the PGA Tour on notice and opened the door for potential pro golf anarchy.

Kenyon Points Out The Inconsistency Of New Green Reading Rules

The pending rule change attempting to restore certain skills by killing off green reading books and other gizmos has run into some criticism. And the point is a legitimate one but I have an easy solution.

Short game specialist Phil Kenyon argues in an Instagram post at the oddity of going after levels and other machinery possibly used to test green conditions. This seems like an effort to cut down on the number of people on greens, devices on greens or, if you’re a bit forward thinking, players bringing Stimpmeters or moisture-reading devices into the practice round equation. The entourages also add unnecessary traffic on the greens. Mostly, the art of golf’s rugged individualist scouting out things on their own is in danger.

Still Kenyon makes this point:

So you can take a TrackMan or quad or range finder on to the course and check how certain shots or holes “play” yardage wise but you can’t take a level onto a “practice” putting green to calibrate your feel for slope.

What a ridiculous rule. It’s stupid in fact. It serves no purpose. It’s indeed skill limiting.

I actually don’t think the governing bodies understand the complexity of the scenarios in front of them.

Is using a level in practice hurting the game more than how far the ball goes or the speed of play ?

There is an inconsistency here. Tee to fringe players can max out the technology and outside sources to gain insight, but once on the greens they must revert to conditions of a decade ago.

The easy solution: lose the launch monitors on the course. Oh, and stop providing slope-adjusted yardages in official books.

As for the ball going too far and slow play, well those two go hand in hand.

Kenyon’s full post:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Phil Kenyon (@philkenyonputting)

Foreign Players Entering U.S. For PGA Tour Events Must Be Vaxxed, Tour Has 83% Compliance

Nice scoops by Rex Hoggard to report on the updated CDC policy for players entering the U.S. in the coming months and hoping to play—vaccination and a negative test will be needed.

Plus, he reports the PGA Tour spokesperson said they are up to 83% vaccination for the combo of players, caddies and essential staff.

McKellar Podcast With Lawrence Donegan And Mark Cannizzaro

McKellar’s podcast is back and Lawrence Donegan and Mark Cannizzaro included yours truly in a discussion about Golf Saudi’s infusion of cash into the Asian Tour. We explore the possibility of anarchy should top players take some huge cash offers, plus the flaw in the concept and some of the people who’ve signed on to support the effort to remake professional golf.

Listening options: Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your pods.

PGA Tour Adds Green Reading Books Restrictions Effective January 1, 2022

PGA Tour Memo To Players

This one is a little embarrassing for the USGA and R&A, who tried to limit green reading books by reducing their size and only prompted players to the silly cheat sheets closer to their face. But in a rare and welcomed moment of product introspection, the PGA Tour Advisory Council took bold action to all but limit their use in PGA Tour events.

Brian Wacker first Tweeted the message sent to players:

Changes coming to PGA Tour yardage and greens books starting January 1, 2022. pic.twitter.com/GhgsXReUC3

— Brian Wacker (@brianwacker1) November 1, 2021

Enforcement of this should be interesting as players tuck books into leather covers and spotting “Committee Approved Book” may be tricky. But otherwise, it’s a welcome change and one that should have happened sooner in the name of protecting skill as well as pace of play.

Presumably the USGA and R&A will follow suit since they provide players yardage and green reading books at their majors.

The Masters does not allow surveying of their surfaces and therefore green reading materials have not been an option. The PGA of America will presumably follow suit but given their tendency to play an outlier role, there are no guarantees.

"Pro golf is approaching its own mental health reckoning"

There’s a lot to take in via Daniel Rapaport’s GolfDigest.com story on pro golf “approaching a mental health reckoning”, including some frank disclosures from players and predictions of mental health becoming a big topic in years to come.

But this stood out from Dr. Michael Lardon, a clinical psychiatrist “who has worked with Phil Mickelson, David Duval, Will Zalatoris and dozens of other tour professionals.”

Rapaport writes:

But meditating and blocking Twitter only go so far if there is a chemical imbalance in the brain. A growing number of tour players are seeking professional help not only from the types of sports psychologists that have hung around the tour for decades, but from medical doctors like Dr. Lardon, who can diagnose psychiatric conditions and prescribe medication to treat them.

“There’s a number on the men’s tour that I help,” says Dr. Lardon, “but we never talk about it. There are some super-high-profile golfers, and ones in the past, that are on medication. And what does the media say? They say what the player’s PR person or agent says. I hurt my back. I got dizzy. I wish more would come out and just be honest about what’s happening, but it’s not my place.”

Of course it’s understandable he wants to normalize the disclosure of mental health issues to help the greater good, but it’s ridiculous to expect media to draw this out of players. It has to come from them.

Is Greg Norman Going To Be Golf (Saudi's) Commissioner?

Golf Digest Australia’s Brad Clifton is very excited about the rumored prospects of Greg Norman leading Golf Saudi’s theft of the Premier Golf League concept. That’s right, rumors are flying that the Shirtless Shark will be the, gulp, Commissioner of this new team venture taking aim at the PGA Tour.

Clifton writes:

One thing that is certain is the global outreach for such a platform will be equally as significant, if not more.

If the latest Norman rumours are indeed true, it’s the best news golf has received in a long time.

Has there been a more influential innovator in the world of golf over the past 40 years? It’s why ‘The Shark’ is the perfect person to help modernise the game at a time when the PGA Tour hasn’t exactly ticked all the boxes in its efforts to deliver a compelling product and give global golf and sport fans what they really want – the world’s best players competing against each other on a regular basis outside of the Majors and, crucially, outside of the United States.

Would this be a bad time to bring up the Shark Experience? You may recall the Shark’s epic tease a few years back:

“In the middle second quarter of next year, I’ll invite you guys down to my office,” he said. “We will tell you exactly how we’re going to break this cast iron that’s been wrapped around golf for so long. We’re going to shatter it. The institutions (USGA, R&A, PGA of America, PGA Tour) will eventually buy into it because they will have to buy into it. They won’t have a choice.”

Turns out, it was a golf cart that plays music.

Now Norman has apparently turned his focus to helping Golf Saudi in a grander fashion than his initial grifts of some course design work and appearances at their grow-the-game summits.

According to this story in Golf Digest Middle East—oh yes that’s not fiction—Norman has lauded the Saudis as “truly at the forefront” of grassroots development. Guess they liked the Shark Experience!

Time will tell what the Shirtless one’s role will be in the disruptor golf league, if and when it launches.

Meanwhile, more disturbing allegations regarding the Crown Prince were aired on 60 Minutes Sunday. Saad Aljabri, former number two in Saudi intelligence, says Mohammed bin Salman forced him out and is in exile, fearing for his life because he knows too much. Nice people.

Phil's Champions Win Edges Out Shriners' Ratings, But No One Was Watching Either One

Showbuzzdaily.com

Maybe you decided to go for a par-5 in two, dunked it in a pond and lost $20. Or you finally figured out you’re paying more for fewer channels after cutting the cord? Or you just feel understandably duped for having bought a $1,000 patio furniture set that’ll sit under a cover for the next seven months?

But know this, as least you aren’t paying millions to broadcast or sponsor PGA Tour fall golf. Or millions upon millions for the FedExCup.

Last week’s ratings for the 2021 Shriners Hospital For Children Open and Furyk and Friends event on the PGA Tour Champions are posted at ShowBuzzDaily.com and what’s the best thing one can say? At least they drew a rating, while the LPGA’s Founders Cup could not draw a large enough audience to be listed.

It was the rare win for PGA Tour Champions golf, with Phil Mickelson’s third victory in four starts drawing an average of 237,000 to the Shriners’ 210,000. Both drew what amounts to a courtesy number of 13,000 in the coveted 18-49 demo, so this was even more Villages-leaning than normal. Essentially, built into that number are the family dog and college freshman home for the weekend who tip-toed out by the TV while Pops was snoozing in a Barcalounger to Sungjae Im’s stirring victory.

The causes of this dire state were predictable, predicated and are no secret except to those whose bonuses depend on pumping out product: schedule oversaturation, Golf Channel reaching fewer and fewer homes, and too many other more compelling things to watch.

(Side note on the whole cable/cordcutting topic: this David Lazarus column in the LA Times highlights won way Spectrum is trying to woo back the cutters and it’s really quite unbelievable!)

In the embed above, other sports ratings were included from the bottom third for context. The 2021 Shriners numbers were also down substantially from last year when the pandemic cancelled college football games and other sports:

Networks And Betting: "But will they go all in?"

The LA Times’ Ryan Faughnder and Stephen Battaglio access the push into sports gambling and talk to various figures with an interest, but namely how networks and leagues are balancing the need for revenue and “engagement”. Coupled with their vaccine stance, it’s amazing again to see the NFL trying to lead in a more responsible manner, while other sports dive in for short term ad revenue, dreams of regaining lost viewers and to build a new kind of transactional relationship with fans.

This was fun:

Only the seven betting companies with NFL deals are allowed to advertise during pro football broadcasts. The league allows six ads per telecast: one per quarter and one during pregame and halftime.

While odds analysis can bring another level of sophistication to coverage, NFL executives are reluctant to have explicit gambling references during the regular live national broadcasts. Research indicated that audiences don’t want national broadcasts to explicitly include gambling chatter, according to Christopher Halpin, the NFL’s chief strategy and growth officer.

“The bettors say, ‘I don’t need to hear Jim Nantz and Tony Romo talk about sports betting,’” Halpin said. “‘It’s inauthentic. It’s not their area.’”

Golf’s foray has largely leaned on selling ads to the various authorized gaming partners of the Tours, with a scattershot and comically lame approach on the television side (to date). In reading about the above NFL findings, it’s hard not to think about the painful sound earlier this year of longtime CBS analysts Nick/Ian/Frank having to make their FanDuel picks for next week, or Golf Channel’s Jimmy The Greek, Paige Mackenzie, chiming in on a top parlay opportunity at PointsBet, currently available in four states. At least the CBS crew turned the sponsored bits into a chance to laugh a little.

Good news for the anti-gambling set: if the lazy, awkward and short-sighted integration continues, the whole thing will fizzle based on first impressions.

Case in point from last weekend’s Shriners Hospital For Children Open. Mercifully I didn’t hear the analysis, but won’t be shocked to learn that good golf broadcasters were put in an awkward position of hawking product only the folks of New Jersey and Indiana could gamble on via their phone.**

**The page has been updated today (Oct. 12, 2021) to now reflect seven states with some form of legalization.

As seen on @GolfChannel’s final round telecast of the @PGATOUR’s @ShrinersOpen, here’s a live odds leaderboard, courtesy of @PointsBetUSA. (Cc: @Ourand_SBJ @Bill_KingSBJ @GeoffShac) —> #PGATOUR #golf pic.twitter.com/cDW33cssxp

— Jeremy Schilling (@jschil) October 10, 2021