FORE!

[camelheelfan]

The Financial Times has an article out that says part of the reason the PIF pulled their LIV funding is that Yassir was embarrassed when Sergio had a temper tantrum and tore up a tee box at this year's Masters.

 

[lakelawyerheel]

Meanwhile, Scottie is 1 stroke from being DFL after the first round. Lol

Not anymore. Jumped half the field today with his 65

 

[PINEHEEL]

What would y'all like to see the Tour playoffs/Championship look like going forward, and what do you expect it to look like?

They've butchered this thing about as poorly as you possibly can. Playing your playoffs in August in Memphis, St. Louis, and Atlanta is inhumane.

Personally, I think they need to find a way to make it the best possible TV product they can. That probably means you need to allot most of your payouts based on regular season performance, and then that frees you up to have some made-for-TV playoff events that are volatile but not unjust in how prize money is distributed.

My biggest change would be to hold the entire playoffs on the west coast so that you can be on primetime for the east coast viewership. August is a tough month to hold your playoffs, but your best chance of capturing eyeballs is to hold events where the drama unfolds from 8-10PM on the east coast.

As far as format, there seems to be a lot of momentum for Match Play, which would be fun, but I don't know how you do it if you're trying to make the best TV product. The entire reason MP is basically extinct at the professional level is because it's not great for TV. Would a two-day stroke play event with the Top 20 golfers compel you to watch? I think it would be very good TV, and players would be very aggressive knowing they only have two days to go as low as possible.

Hold it in Seattle and make it the Microsoft/Amazon/Costco Championship. Or Cypress Point would be sick.

 

[lakelawyerheel]

So Scottie showed up to the BMW with Hand Foot & Mouth disease. Blisters on his hands and in his throat. May help explain his un-Scottie like 1st round

 

[camelheelfan]

So Scottie showed up to the BMW with Hand Foot & Mouth disease. Blisters on his hands and in his throat. May help explain his un-Scottie like 1st round

In the year that my daughter has been in daycare, she's had HF&M four times. It's miserable.

 

[camelheelfan]

What would y'all like to see the Tour playoffs/Championship look like going forward, and what do you expect it to look like?

They've butchered this thing about as poorly as you possibly can. Playing your playoffs in August in Memphis, St. Louis, and Atlanta is inhumane.

Personally, I think they need to find a way to make it the best possible TV product they can. That probably means you need to allot most of your payouts based on regular season performance, and then that frees you up to have some made-for-TV playoff events that are volatile but not unjust in how prize money is distributed.

My biggest change would be to hold the entire playoffs on the west coast so that you can be on primetime for the east coast viewership. August is a tough month to hold your playoffs, but your best chance of capturing eyeballs is to hold events where the drama unfolds from 8-10PM on the east coast.

As far as format, there seems to be a lot of momentum for Match Play, which would be fun, but I don't know how you do it if you're trying to make the best TV product. The entire reason MP is basically extinct at the professional level is because it's not great for TV. Would a two-day stroke play event with the Top 20 golfers compel you to watch? I think it would be very good TV, and players would be very aggressive knowing they only have two days to go as low as possible.

Hold it in Seattle and make it the Microsoft/Amazon/Costco Championship. Or Cypress Point would be sick.

I think they could incorporate match play if they treated it like the US Amateur, and make the first two days stroke play, then take say, the top 8 from that, and then go match play the rest of the way. The Saturday round could be one round of match play that cuts it down to 4, and then play the semi-final and final on Sunday.

 

[PINEHEEL]

Welp, good timing for this discussion. The Tour officially announced today that they're incorporating Match Play into the Championship starting in 2028. Cliff's Notes...

- One final stroke play event will determine the Top 90 (of 132) players in FedEx points. Those 90 will qualify for the next season's Championship Series. Payouts for season-long points race will also pay out.

- Top 32 will then advance to a two-week Match Play event.

- First week is group play, with the Top 2 from each of 8 groups advancing to the final week.

- Last week is 16 players, bracket style. One caveat is that everyone will play four matches (for TV purposes), regardless of if you lose, so that you are playing for 1st through 16th place rather than just lose and go home.

- Commentary: This is going to be so sick if they can do it somewhere like Cypress in Prime Time.

 

[camelheelfan]

Welp, good timing for this discussion. The Tour officially announced today that they're incorporating Match Play into the Championship starting in 2028. Cliff's Notes...

- One final stroke play event will determine the Top 90 (of 132) players in FedEx points. Those 90 will qualify for the next season's Championship Series. Payouts for season-long points race will also pay out.

- Top 32 will then advance to a two-week Match Play event.

- First week is group play, with the Top 2 from each of 8 groups advancing to the final week.

- Last week is 16 players, bracket style. One caveat is that everyone will play four matches (for TV purposes), regardless of if you lose, so that you are playing for 1st through 16th place rather than just lose and go home.

- Commentary: This is going to be so sick if they can do it somewhere like Cypress in Prime Time.

View attachment 1406379

So my guess was sort of right: stroke play that eliminates a bunch of guys, and match play to finish it off. I think this is a big improvement.

The only thing I don't like is that it sounds like the Tour Championship, which is the match play portion, is 16 guys/4 rounds, and I'm guessing that is over 4 days like a regular tournament. That's the part I don't like. That doesn't feel like enough golf. I think it would be better if they made it 2 days (Sat/Sun) and went from 16 -> 8 -> 4 on the first day, and then 4 -> 2 -> 1 on the second day. 36 holes each day just feels right to me.

ETA: I see now that all 16 will play all 4 days, even after elimination, to determine the final standings, which...meh. No one is going to be interested in a bunch of consolation matches. Or maybe I'm just projecting.

 

[PINEHEEL]

So my guess was sort of right: stroke play that eliminates a bunch of guys, and match play to finish it off. I think this is a big improvement.

The only thing I don't like is that it sounds like the Tour Championship, which is the match play portion, is 16 guys/4 rounds, and I'm guessing that is over 4 days like a regular tournament. That's the part I don't like. That doesn't feel like enough golf. I think it would be better if they made it 2 days (Sat/Sun) and went from 16 -> 8 -> 4 on the first day, and then 4 -> 2 -> 1 on the second day. 36 holes each day just feels right to me.

ETA: I see now that all 16 will play all 4 days, even after elimination, to determine the final standings, which...meh. No one is going to be interested in a bunch of consolation matches. Or maybe I'm just projecting.

You have to have them for television purposes. It would be virtually unwatchable live with that much dead air between shots. They used to always have a consolation match for the Dell Match Play for the same reason, and even that left a lot of time to fill with only four golfers on the course. While those matches don't truly matter to most golf fans, it could lead to a fun finish if you have several matches finishing within an hour or so. That's the fun part of watching the NCAA Championships.

It's spread out over four afternoons/evenings to get more money from the television partners. You get a lot more eyeballs for Thursday/Friday afternoons than you do Saturday/Sunday mornings.

 

[OakForestHeel]

Give them golf carts to speed up pace of play!

 

[egr2teup]

Golf Channel makes a double bogey.

 

[PINEHEEL]

Golf Channel makes a double bogey.

I seem to be one of the only sports fans on earth who pays very little attention to the differences in announcers, but what is the complaint?

If I’ve ever heard Furyk announce any golf I haven’t noticed it. Is he bad? Or has he not announced and you just think he’ll be bad?

I barely even notice Kis in the booth and people seem to hate him as an announcer.

 

[egr2teup]

I seem to be one of the only sports fans on earth who pays very little attention to the differences in announcers, but what is the complaint?

If I’ve ever heard Furyk announce any golf I haven’t noticed it. Is he bad? Or has he not announced and you just think he’ll be bad?

I barely even notice Kis in the booth and people seem to hate him as an announcer.

Kisner is no Johnny Miller but he's fine by me.

Have you ever seen Furyk interviewed? He's dull, lacks charisma and speaks in a monotone voice. He has done commentary quite often here at the end of the season and is awful. This is a terrible decision by Golf Channel, imo.

 

[PINEHEEL]

Kisner is no Johnny Miller but he's fine by me.

Have you ever seen Furyk interviewed? He's dull, lacks charisma and speaks in a monotone voice. He has done commentary quite often here at the end of the season and is awful. This is a terrible decision by Golf Channel, imo.

My vote for golf announcers would always be to only hire guys with cool accents. I always love listening to Scots, Englishmen, Irish, Kiwis, and Aussies announce golf.

 

[egr2teup]

My vote for golf announcers would always be to only hire guys with cool accents. I always love listening to Scots, Englishmen, Irish, Kiwis, and Aussies announce golf.

I miss Peter Aliss.

Trevor Immelman is fantastic. So is his brother, Mark. I like Nobilo, too.

Then again, I'm a big fan of Roger Maltbie.

 

[egr2teup]

$200, Grant? Really?

 

[Mr Winterville]

Love the plan to bring match play to the tour championship. I only wish it could start sooner.

 

[PINEHEEL]

$200, Grant? Really?

There's a great small business out of Iowa run by this guy in his garage that makes great bags for kids. Highly-recommend ordering from him if you're in the market, or following his journey on X even if you don't need one. I have one for my daughter and will order one for my son in a year or so.

 

[egr2teup]

There's a great small business out of Iowa run by this guy in his garage that makes great bags for kids. Highly-recommend ordering from him if you're in the market, or following his journey on X even if you don't need one. I have one for my daughter and will order one for my son in a year or so.

I'm not in the market but that's good to know.

On a more serious note, I was unaware you and your wife had welcomed a son into this world. Congratulations! I hope everyone is doing well.

 

[PINEHEEL]

I'm not in the market but that's good to know.

On a more serious note, I was unaware you and your wife had welcomed a son into this world. Congratulations! I hope everyone is doing well.

Thank you! Daughter will be 4 in December and son will be 2 a couple of days later. We moved up to West Jefferson last October and just joined Jefferson Landing this spring. I've loved being able to get out for an afternoon nine about once a week with my daughter this summer. They also have a short course and putt putt course that are great for kids. Hopefully they'll both catch the bug and we'll have a lot of future rounds together!