Quadrilateral: Phil Mickelson's Block Binge
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Freaking out over critiques of his anti-PGA Tour comments and Saudi support, Mickelson dismantles his good-guy image in a matter of months.
When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
Twitter Manspat: Murray v. Na, Sony Open Slow Play Edition
/I know what you’re thinking. Who is Grayson Murray? Didn’t he leave Twitter? Has Tour status of some kind? Took time away from pimping the shallowest of MAGA tropes on the range of Trump Jupiter and sharing predictable anti-vaccine grievances while Tweeting at Lebron? Oh and providing updates on his post-rehab monster back tat?
Well, he got some much-desired attention for his special brand of buffoonery in taking a jab at Kevin Na’s slow play. Na heads into the Sony Open weekend seven back of 36-hole leader Russell Henley and is, indeed slow.
Here is Twitter manspat in all of its early season glory below, at least until the deletes start flying (Murray already took one down). But please, guys, save some of this for Netflix!
PIP Pandemonium: Phil Declares Victory, Tour Says Not So Fast, Morikawa Posts Dog Photo In Late 10th Place Play
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As the (not secret any more) Player Impact Program hurtles toward its year one conclusion, the silly bonus pool is wrapping with a deservedly absurd finish.
Phil Mickelson declared PIP victory two days before the calendar ended the comical bonus pool. This, despite just one top 10 against the under 50’s this year—the 2021 PGA Championship—Mickelson apparently used four Champions Tour wins to accrue the magical number of Google searches, Meltwater mentions, MVP Index points, Nielsen scores and Q-rating strength to edge Tiger Woods for the $8 million first place prize.
The closest you’ll get to a PIP victory speech since it’s a private matter:
You have to give Phil credit with the late rush of Tweets and replies while playing to the angry bro mobs, a key demo for accumulating Meltwaters by stirring up some virus questions and replying to Elon Musk.
Oh, but not so fast says Golfweek’s Eamon Lynch:
Maybe Phil’s premature celebratory Tweet will ensure victory? Or will the Commissioner and his team of independent analysts who tabulate Player of the Year totals find a way to de-Meltwater Phil’s late run?
These are just the kind of ramifications one deals with when the subject is a cockamamie concoction created for all the wrong reasons. Robert Lusetich summed up the farce best here:
Imagine that, discriminating against the youth trying to grow the game. Sad.
Speaking of the next generation, dream-demo Open Championship winner and dignified user of social media Collin Morikawa reportedly will finish 11th. This means he misses out on last place’s $3 million.
But showing vision and wisdom beyond his 24 years, Morikawa made a last ditch effort with social media gold: celebrating his 11th place finish with humor (on Twitter), and birthday well wishes to his labradoodle. Sources say the indices give extra weight to dog posts—and then triple that for any doodle—so there may still be hope for young Morikawa to crack the top 10 once that independent firm digs into the numbers!
Not since Freddie Tait posed with his dog Nails has a golfer’s dog potentially played such a key role in the game.
And then there’s Jim Herman, coming home strong even as they’re breaking down the bunting, packing up the barricades and still making his valiant PIP plays:
What a time for the game!
Unhinged Files: useGolfFACTS Resurfaces As Reed's Hero World Challenge Digging Anniversary Nears
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We’re coming up on the two-year anniversary of Patrick Reed’s excursion in the sands of Albany and for reasons only clear to his devout Twitter supporter at useGolfFacts, also widely believed to be a family account, there is no time like the middle of the night to dredge up Reed’s suspicious behavior en route to winning the 2019 Hero World Challenge.
In reply to a January 30th—yes January 30th—Tweet by European Tour player Eddie Pepperell, useGolfFACTS randomly decided on October 26th to offer a robust set of screen shots and analysis questioning the “accuracy of the digital integrity verification testing” conducted by rules officials who ultimately penalized Reed.
It’s wild and wacky stuff:
The account also responded regarding Reed’s college days at Georgia.
Glad we clarified that last part about the free putters.
GolfDigest.com’s Joel Beall reviewed the account history of zaniness and bashing Reed’s peers, while offering this HOF Non-denial Denial from Reed’s attorney:
But to those who believe Reed’s tweet on Saturday is the smoking gun, Reed’s attorneys say that’s not necessarily the case. In response to a Golf Digest email about Reed’s Saturday night Tweet and his connection with “useGolfFACTS,” Reed’s lawyer, Phillip B. Costa, replied “Please be advised that the person who manages Patrick Reed’s Twitter and Instagram accounts does not run the @ use GolfFACTS account.” As of writing, a direct message to the “useGolfFACTS” account from Golf Digest has not been returned.
Spin Is In On Meltwater: $40 Million Is A Bargain! Independent Contractors Are So Yesterday! Tiger Needed Our Thanks!
/The socially distanced chatter around the Global Home’s pizza maker must have been lively today.
Yet despite pretty tepid reactions to having $40 million extra to give to stars based on some kooky algorithm (plus the cost to employ all of the metric services), some fascinating reactions were peddled 24 hours later. And knowing the Tour’s expectations of its media partners or wannabe partners, it sure seemed like folks felt extra compelled to spin and amplify odd details in Eamon Lynch’s reveal of a secret bonus pool for the game’s most engaging players.
(Players who, oddly, generally leave their social media to someone else.)
The most aggressive rebuttal to Lynch’s story was penned by…Eamon Lynch! Some could say it’s odd to write such a strong defense of a secret slush pool less than 24 hours after revealing the scheme with an undercurrent of skepticism. Not all, but some.
Anyway, maybe he revealed the secret fund’s existence because the golf fan will want to root their favorite star home to a secret bonus as determined by a special algorithm of several other algorithms. Lynch defends this as just a fancy way to find out who the cool kids are everyone wants to hang with. His words not mine:
For all its charitable endeavors, the PGA Tour is a business and businesses everywhere incentivize those individuals deemed to deliver value. That value isn’t always easy to define and often harder to quantify. Much of the head-scratching about the Impact Fund centers on the metrics used to determine a player’s impact, a waggish assortment of measurements that achieve what any child in a schoolyard can do with the point of a finger: identify the cool kids people want to hang with.
Given the scale of the Tour’s new TV rights deal, $40 million is a small sum. There is ample left to boost purses in the minor leagues, underwrite the European Tour and otherwise gild the lily.
Wow, that’s a lot of money to tell us the list most of us could guess! And oddly, the Tour had to lay off 50 low-paid employees of a particular vintage just over seven months ago while rolling this out. That was a really small sum if $40 million is couch change to these folks.
Anyway, this from Lynch is fun:
Whatever criticisms are aimed at the Player Impact Program, it incentivizes players to engage more with fans, media and sponsors. That might be an awkward exercise for those ill-equipped for socialization, but it’s a worthy goal.
The 2019 players who would have received bonuses according to Lynch’s original reporting: Tiger Woods, Brooks Koepka, Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson, Rickie Fowler, Justin Rose, Adam Scott, Jordan Spieth, Dustin Johnson and Justin Thomas.
Let’s just say as a nice way of not suggesting someone else runs their accounts, a lot of people have their passwords. Several of them have publicly made clear they have no use for the same engagement stuff the pool supposedly rewards. We’ve even had high profile resignations from social media in this group when the engagement grew to be too much.
Those are your clubhouse leaders!
At least we have Billy Horschel to tell us all of the above is just nonsense and this was a way to pay Tiger some more money. From Rex Hoggard at GolfChannel.com:
“If we look at over a few years the guys who really drive the Tour, the guys who bring in the money to the PGA Tour, in my opinion, I think we should thank them,” Horschel said. “I look at as we’re thanking them, we’re thanking one guy [Woods] and now multiple guys because of what they’re going to do in the future. We have an amazing TV contract now that is going to be beneficial for all Tour players. If Tour players actually look at this, they’re going to be rewarded in a lot of different ways.”
We’re thanking and placing future bets? And giving TV deal bonus money? Is he saying they’re a non-profit organization is so flush with cash that they have to lose the money somewhere? Huh!
The whole layoff thing kind of messes up the financial fairy tale.
Kyle Porter at CBSSports.com offered seven thoughts defending this as a common sense investment.
The Tour has been (probably unintentionally) taking advantage of the fact that its "franchises" are just individuals who maybe did not think of themselves as revenue-generating entities. However, the power in golf rests not with the PGA Tour but with the Jordan Spieths and Justin Thomases of the world just as it rests with the Lakers, Knicks and Heat in the NBA. The PGL shined a light on that, and now there's a $40 million purse to prove it.
The PGL concept had people praising the Tour’s independent contractor ideal. Yet this no-longer-secret pool will pay people for being famous, with a few conflicts on the side. But that’s the Tour and players business to deal with. The fan should be more saddened by what both the program and the spin job means: the Tour’s vision for growing their product involves marketing morons manufacturing a mirage of meaningless media under the guise of player accounts.
That’s not a worthy goal.
Meanwhile, a man who insists he’s never going to be pool eligible—dream big Billy Horschel!—the hissy-fit thrower himself posted this today:
The “engagement” after the Tweet is superb.
I wonder if the Meltwater Method knows the Jonah Hill throat slash GIF is a negative reply?
Moving along, it seems the big secret reveal did not stop MVPIndex from some Twitter humblebragging: “Our partners, @PGATOUR, are revolutionizing their sport and player compensation based on fan and sponsor engagement. We're excited to announce that MVP's performance ratings will be the social measurement tool for this new Player Impact Program!”
New AND one they didn’t tell the public about.
The company also Tweeted this, captured since the Tour or Golf Channel should issue a take-down notice for lifting copyright video. Heck, it should be deleted merely for “quantifies intangible metrics.”
Lesser known players who are actually the Tour’s authentic social media stars did their thing in reaction to the news, as Coleman Bentley notes here with Twitter evidence.
Gents, good luck getting your intangible humor noticed by the quantifiers.
Finally, Mark Calcaveccia was the rare player willing to go on the record with his views:
Sir Nick: Rickie Comment Probably "Born Out Of A Little Bit Of Jealousy"
/If you were on Twitter the last few days or you read today’s newsletter detailing the saga of Rickie and Sir Nick, you know the six-time major winner took some grief for a roasting.
The dreaded Tweet in question:
Rather impressively he took full ownership of the Tweet and even admitted that some jealousy might be involved given Rickie’s blue chip endorsement roster.
Faldo recorded this apology, his explanation of British humor for those wondering and even managed a plug for Sqairz…
#CringeContent: PGA Tour, Betting Sites Continue To Exploit An 11-Year-Old Boy And Folks Have Seen Enough
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The PGA Tour Instagram page
It’s never good when Instagram commenters are the arbiters of taste and standards. But that’s what is happening as various outlets pad year-end numbers and take bets off of an 11-year-old boy.
The PGA Tour’s 23rd Charlie Woods post in a week has finally started to prompt the inevitable questions about where to draw the line from commenters. Here is the latest post and just one selection of the many comments suggesting the exploitation in the name of activation, views, growing the game or family values.
The PGA Tour’s official account has featured 23 posts on Charlie during and after PNC Challenge week. When they keep showing up 3 days after the final round it’s clear no line will be drawn.
For context: in contending during and winning the Masters, Dustin Johnson was worthy of 21 PGA Tour Instagram. He, however, is a (A) an adult (B) a member of the PGA Tour (C) compensated in multiple ways for the use of his likeness.
Included in the chorus of critics of today’s post was Tour player Dylan Fritelli. The 2019 John Deere Classic winner hopes the “media/people” will respect the young lad and his privacy, even though it’s the PGA Tour social media account still pushing the story as other sites have finally backed off.
And then there are the betting sites.
Christopher Powers reports at GolfDigest.com in a story titled, “You can now bet on Charlie Woods' chances of winning a major, proving we've all lost our minds”:
The website sportsbettingdime.com sent out its Charlie Woods futures odds on Monday morning, proving we've officially lost our minds. According to SBD, Charlie is 825-1 to win a major by the age of 25, this despite not knowing if he even wants to take up a career in professional golf.
And thanks to reader Grillo for this horrifying option from betting site Bovada:
Ringer: "What Happened to Tiger Tracker, Golf’s Most Beloved Twitter Account?"
/There should be so many painful elements in reading John Gonzalez’s Ringer account of Golf Channel’s Tiger Tracker and the accounts’ demise.
While it’s obviously a first world account of a silly-fun social media account, it’s also the story of a the brutal implosion of a Golf Channel staple that no beancounter could fully appreciate. After all, the GCTigerTracker did not generate revenue but in the world of “content” it did connect fans to the channel in ways no accountant or, as the story notes, even executives could grasp.
So while this is a look at TT’s demise, it’s also a devastating look into the point-missing that is quickly taking a once wildly successful 25-year-old start-up into no man’s land. Some of the details here should raise alarm bells with Golf Channel and NBC’s partners, particularly because the writer in question admittedly knows little about golf or the account, yet with some digging, was able to grasp the insanity of destroying the kind of authentic, slightly crazy and sometimes captivating connection the account made with “consumers.”
Please read the entire piece, but this from Gonzalez is particularly brutal regarding TT’s resurfacing at the 2020 Masters.
According to Tracker, executives at the company didn’t understand why, in the wake of layoffs that gutted the Golf Channel staff, TT didn’t have the manpower to cover the Zozo Championship just as it always had. In fact, the bosses didn’t know the most basic details, like how to log into the account. They didn’t even have the password. Ultimately, Tracker skipped the October event, the first tournament TT missed that Woods played in since the handle launched eight years earlier. Fans noticed.
“I sat and watched people lose their freaking minds when Zozo was going on,” Tracker said.
The discontent over the discontinued account finally registered with the brass, who realized that they ought to get the handle tweeting again for the Masters, considering Woods was the defending champion. But here again, there was a disconnect about what that required. Tracker says Geoff Russell, a senior vice president and executive editor for Golf Channel, wondered if maybe TT’s Masters responsibilities could be outsourced to a freelance golf writer who had never worked on the account before and didn’t know its voice, which confirmed what Tracker thought—that the bosses “didn’t understand.” (Russell did not respond to several requests for comment.)
Golf Channel's Beloved Tiger Tracker Appears To Be (Another) Casualty Of Layoffs
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TT has he/she/it/they have been known—aka Tiger Tracker—has become a staple of GolfChannel.com’s presence on social media. The 8-year-old account had become the go-to for fans to track Woods’s every move and could even, at times, become a tad cultish as those who questioned the anonymous Tweeter’s wisdom.
Nonetheless, at 438,800 Twitter followers, it was Golf Channel’s second most-followed account but easily its most beloved. While not profitable, TT was quite good at the whole “engagement” thing MBA types mention as vital to their businesses.
But with the channel laying off most staff and sending a small number to Connecticut to put a bare bones channel on the air until an inevitable move of PGA Tour coverage to Peacock, layoffs have apparently eliminated those behind the beloved Twitter follow.
Tiger Tracker has not posted since September 23rd and sat out Tiger’s opening two rounds in his 2020 ZOZO Championship defense. Fans have been inundating both the official account and folks like myself wanting answers.
How revered is the Tracker? Even Golf Channel’s official account briefly wondered where TT was during Thursday’s opening round before the delete button was struck.
Not What It Sounds Like: PGA Tour, Twitter Launch "Global Live Content Execution"
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After hearing about cumbersome task facing CBS in returning during a pandemic and social unrest, it’s noteworthy that the first events back appear to be anything but a soft re-launch.
Down the road I see the merit here, but I’m not sure anyone really wants to hear from the influencer/presenter/personality sector just yet. But good news, it’s totally optional.
Though I am wondering how, after all those Zoom meetings, someone didn’t squelch the “execution” word. For Immediate Release:
PGA TOUR, Twitter announce innovative fan engagement initiative
TOUR’s return to golf to feature celebrity and athlete commentary across nine different live video streams
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA, AND SAN FRANCISCO – To mark the PGA TOUR’s return to competition at the Charles Schwab Challenge, June 11-14 at Colonial Country Club in Ft. Worth, Texas, the TOUR and Twitter today announced a global live content execution that will be a first-of-its kind for the social media platform.
“Twitter Multicast” will take place on Thursday, June 11, from approximately 1-2:30 pm ET and will showcase athletes, celebrities and other personalities creating their own live, audio/video commentary in conjunction with PGA TOUR LIVE Featured Groups coverage during the first round of the Charles Schwab Challenge. Twitter Multicast will feature the likes of Danny Kanell, Dude Perfect, Darren Rovell, Darius Rucker, Annika Sorenstam, Golden Tate and others.
“The PGA TOUR is proud to be among the first major sports leagues to return to competition,” said Rick Anderson, Chief Media Officer of the PGA TOUR. “With no spectators on site, we want to work harder than ever to connect our fans to the event, across numerous platforms and devices in addition to the PGA TOUR LIVE, Golf Channel and CBS broadcasts. Working with Twitter on this all-new fan engagement initiative is a nod to how important fans are to the TOUR and our players.”
The Charles Schwab Challenge features the top-five ranked players in the world and 17 of the top 20 in the FedExCup Standings. The Twitter Multicast will offer nine versions of the live stream with distribution from more than 20 different Twitter accounts. The video streams will cover pre-game, practice sessions, and the first two holes of competition of players such as Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth. Each stream will carry PGA TOUR LIVE featured groups coverage complemented with live audio/video commentary from commentators who will provide their point of view on the return of the TOUR.
A full list of the guest commentators across nine video streams:
CBS Sports: Charles Davis (@CFD22) and Danny Kanell (@dannykanell)
SKY Sports/NBC Sports: Kevin Pietersen (@KP24) and Conor Moore (@ConorSketches)
Discovery/GOLFTV: Henni Zuel (@hennizuel) and Eddie Pepperell (@PepperellEddie)
Golf Digest: Hally Leadbetter (@hallylead) and David Leadbetter (@davidleadbetter)
The Action Network/GolfBet:Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell), Jason Sobel (@JasonSobelTAN) and guest
LPGA: Annika Sorenstam (@ANNIKA59) and Brittany Lincicome (@Brittany1golf)
Celebrity Stream: Darius Rucker (@dariusrucker) and Golden Tate (@ShowtimeTate)
Celebrity Stream: Dude Perfect (@DudePerfect)
Celebrity Stream: Paige Spiranac (@PaigeSpiranac) and Wells Adams (@WellsAdams)
“This first-ever Twitter Multicast will give golf fans a viewing experience they won’t find anywhere else,” says TJ Adeshola, head of U.S. sports partnerships for Twitter. “By adding conversation and commentary from a range of Twitter notables to premium golf content, the Multicast will have something for everyone, regardless if you’re looking for real-time reactions, analysis or just some laughs to pair with live footage from Colonial. This is a prime example of how to create a richer, more customized fan experience through the power of Twitter.”
Living Over Par Files: Menery's Comeback Squashed Before He Could Make Golf A Little More Fun (Again)
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Social media funnyman and announcer-we-all-wish-we-had Bob Menery vowed to bring his act back to golf after multiple PGA Tour takedown notices. He did so with a fun post of Genesis Invitational highlights and it got taken down again after Menery’s various social accounts were served an unfriendly notice.
In a world where the PGA Tour is eager to add young viewers, the focus on Menery’s efforts is surprising. He has 2.3 million followers, including Justin Thomas, Graeme McDowell, Phil Mickelson, Matthew Wolff, Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry, Luke Donald, among others. Not to mention some of the biggest names in sports who don’t mind Menery’s roasting of both athletes and announcers.
The post, as of this post, has received nearly 3,000 comments. Good engagement!
Kuch The Mooch: "Does This Constitute A Story?"
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That’s the question GolfDigest.com’s Joel Beall asks and does a nice job answering after a fellow golf pro called out what he saw as Matt Kuchar’s substandard pay to a caddie last fall.
Now, while the list of athletes indiscretions is long, being tightfisted spurs a special kind of fury. Ours is a culture that implores the rich to spread the love; those failing are branded. Michael Jordan, Scottie (“No Tippin”) Pippen, Pete Sampras and, yes, Tiger Woods are some of the alleged stars with alligator arms.
Kuchar's case, however, felt different, for it wasn’t a tip as it was wages owed. The optics alone—a veteran with $46 million in career earnings low-balling a man who makes less than $46,000 a year—were damning. That Gillis’ previous blast of Ben Crane over an unpaid bet to Daniel Berger proved accurate wasn’t helping, nor was Australian pro Cameron Percy’s reply of, “It’s not out of character if true.”
The irony in this escapade like other recent episodes cited by Beall: this was started and fueled by one of Kuchar’s peers, not a media outlet.
As players have increasingly shunned media for social media to break news or tell their story, it’s fascinating how many examples we’ve already seen of players calling out fellow players on social media in ways more harsh and reputation-damaging than a traditional media outlet would dare.
After all, few in the golf press dared to touch the story until Kuchar had a chance to play his round, collect his thoughts and chat with press. Some of his peers were judging before he’d had a chance to comment. It’s a phenomenon worth nothing as players increasing view traditional journalism as “out to get them” even as, at least in Kuchar’s case, the damage was done before he even reached the media center.
Win PGA Tour Player Of The Year, Gets Subjected To Torturous Social Media Rollout
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As the European Tour continues to set the bar with fun, inventive and clever social media stunts, the PGA Tour offered another under par counter for Brooks Koepka’s 2018 Player of the Year rollout. Mercifully, he was spared having to pose with Like-inducing animals, as far as we know.
Warning, this video contains extremely awkward content:
Maybe this is why Brooks didn’t bother to vote, as reported by Will Gray at GolfChannel.com.
The trainwreck continued with not one, but two photobomb videos involving Jack Nicklaus and Koepka. Note to the legion of VP’s: one photobomb a day with the same two people is the max. Two means at least one is not technically a photobomb. Have your kids explain if this is too confusing.
As for his media interviews, they were pretty deadly until Koepka received questions from both Morning Drive’s Cara Banks and Dan Patrick on the reported Versailles dust-up with Dustin Johnson. Koepka denied a fight with Johnson in both cases. The Dan Patrick Show chat:
Justine! Patrick's Wife Takes To Twitter To Defend Her Man
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After mostly automated social posts, Justine Reed—she can’t confirm or deny—took to social media to defend her man after husband Patrick struggled in foursomes and four-ball play at the 2018 Ryder Cup.
G.C. Digital with the details of Reed’s defense of her husband’s play and suggestion that Jordan Spieth be asked why the vaunted Spieth-Reed partnership has ended.
Golf.com’s Dylan Dethier got a strange non-denial denial from Mrs. Reed regarding the legitimacy of the account and Tweets.
Another Pro Golfer Bites The Twitter Dust: Lee McCoy Complains About Children, South America
/I can't put a finger on what might have gone wrong for Lee McCoy--wait I can, he has proven to not know what he doesn't know and is a defender of backstopping. The Bobby Jones Award is not in his immediate future.
Seems the Web.com Tour player took to Twitter to complain about South American children wanting some more than a free autograph for coming out to watch the developmental tour play in their country and also insulted the country.
As Joel Beall reports for GolfDigest.com, the offending McCoy Tweets now sleep with the fishes and McCoy has taken the Grayson Murray path of suspending his account. And we know that how well that turned out for Murray.
McCoy tells Beall he has learned his lesson.
"To say I learned a valuable lesson would be an understatement," McCoy said. "More importantly I want people to know that I am, and always have been, a strong supporter of growing the game and doing everything I can to give back to the community."
Grow that game!
