Major(s) News & Notes, August 6, 2026
LIV's major perks appear in danger and that's the least of their concerns. Plus, lots of Ryder Cup news, strong AIG Women's Open numbers, U.S. Amateur returns to Merion, This, That and Reads.
30: Days to the Walker Cup flag-raising ceremony
Connoisseurs of unadulterated, unabashed, and unscripted horse puckey should devour LIV CEO Scott O’Neil’s Wednesday presser at Trump Bedminster. While he’s to be commended for even speaking before reporters or attempting to answer their tough questions, the real mitzvah lies in O’Neil’s profound, even inspring Rodin-meets-Bernini gift for sculpting copious on-the-fly word salads regularly interrupted by name drops (Rob Manfred, really?), touching affection for staff he’s about to be send off to spend more time with their families, some plutonium grade delusional ramblings about Dean Burmester’s planetary star power, and even momentary flirtations with honesty.
“This is a very fluid situation,” O’Neil said in answer to a question about the status of LIV’s team championship scheduled for later this month. “We are all working tirelessly to do everything we can to deliver the events of this season. Some of the stuff is completely in our control. Some of the stuff is not. We are working to deliver the best we can. We just don’t have any update or certainty as we are now.”
That should have been the extent of his remarks.
Instead, O’Neil teased an agreement signed with a “lead investor” without mention of the entity or the amount ponied up to keep LIV going. (The Financial Times reports that the credit division of the imaginatively-named BC Partners is the league’s new sugar daddy…with plenty of caveats, including everyone needing to heap lots of appreciation for the PIF as they’re getting shafted by a bankruptcy filing and expected to see much less of the cash promised when they were woo’d by H.E.)
O’Neil’s not going to win any poker tournaments after teeing up in the pro-am with someone from Alix Partners, a noted Chapter 11 specialty firm. He wisely sidestepped the B-word topic during the press session but wisely heaped praise on the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia in a smart bid to ensure he doesn’t end his C-career in Chop Chop Square.
“From my perspective, I can tell you I have a lot of appreciation for them allowing us this time to go and find investment, and it’s not something they had to do,” O’Neil said of the PIF. “It’s something that clearly…this is a sponsor that cares about the game of golf, appreciates the impact that we’re having in terms of driving a younger audience into this game, that we get to operate on five continents and truly explore and appreciate the global nature of this game, that we get to take some of these stars to markets that are starved for it, and that we get to put a product on the course.”
So much so that the PIF cut LIV loose in the middle of the season. But g-dammit they got that average age demo down to 63.8 from 65! Saviors!
O’Neil left plenty of unanswered questions about the schedule, model, some “player equity” nonsense (i.e. playing for free), and even the status of events just weeks away. O’Neil also labored when asked to clarify actual golf details. In doing so, he at least signaled to real golf organizations good news: whatever gains LIV made in pursuit of ranking points and exemptions, those various invites and exemptions must now be reviewed and likely eliminated for whatever truncated, watered-down, and “equity” driven 2027 season takes place.
Golf.com’s Sean Zak reported that the new mystery investor will be part of a 10-event schedule featuring five U.S. stroke play events prior to majors and five international team events (at the places where they’ve drawn crowds). This leaves little in the way of “product” to justify ranking points or exemptions into Opens (which, as we saw again this year, can find better ways to fill fields while O’Neil and friends try to keep LIV afloat).
Meanwhile, in the world of real golf, this week’s News & Notes include Ryder Cup news, the solid numbers around last week’s AIG Women’s Open, a new St Andrews Links Trust head facing totally non-vital questions about how Luke Combs could possibly wear a Mountaineers sweatshirt at the Old Course, a U.S. Amateur at Merion preview, This, That and Reads.
Europe Announces Ryder Cup Qualifying
Ryder Cup Europe announced the 2027 Ryder Cup qualification process with little changed since 2025, including one of the more bizarre and pitiful displays of confidence in their “Rolex Event” series.
The points-earning will commence at August 27-30’s Husqvarna British Masters Hosted by Sir Nick Faldo. The process of earning points ends Sunday, August 22, 2027, to be followed by Captain Luke Donald’s picks the week of August 30th.
As with the process last time, the points breakdown highlights a strange lack of self-confidence in the DP World Tour’s most important events. They are treated the same as a stock PGA Tour stop:
Majors: 5000 points
PGAT Signature events, Players, FedExCup Playoffs: 3000 points
DPWT Rolex Series events, PGAT regular events: 2000 points
DPWT Back 9 events: 1500 points
DPWT Global Series events, PGAT opposite events: 1000 points
Europe will be seeking to win a third consecutive Ryder Cup at Adare Manor from September 13-19, 2027. For full details and all the eligibility fine print, click here.
The United States has yet to announce its qualification plans for 2027.
In case you were wondering about the wildly unsuccessful 2025 Ryder Cup effort: the USA waited until October, 2024 to announce criteria and retroactively awarded points from 2024’s biggest events. Very on brand for the Task Force to be at least two steps behind the Euros…and probably again in 2026-27.
Ryder Cup General Admission Sells Out
“We could have sold out our general admission tickets more than 12 times over, which is testament to the appeal of golf’s greatest team contest, as well as the passion of fans who want to be part of it,” said Richard Atkinson, the European Tour group’s Chief Ryder Cup Officer.
All who applied were notified in the last two weeks.
Ryder Cup Europe says fans from 80 different countries were successful, with Ireland comprising 34% of the number who were successful through the ballot.
There are still “opportunities” for people seeking to attend via “bespoke travel inclusive packages and a limited number of premium experiences available via rydercup.com.” So at least they aren’t claiming “sold out” and then offering tickets at double the price on Seatgeek.
The overall attendance across the Ryder Cup week is expected to exceed 250,000. Daily site capacity will be capped at 55,000. A real bespoke spectating experience.
AIG Women’s Open: 55,000 For The Week
The AIG Women’s Open celebrated its 50th playing with some solid numbers revealed by the R&A:
The highest attendance since AIG became its main sponsor. A total of 55,000 fans attended the championship, up from 47,000.
Almost 4,500 children under the age of 16 attended for free across the week through The R&A’s longstanding Kids go Free initiative.
Viewership of the four days on Sky was up 18.4%.
NBC saw an average of 1.034M viewers for Sunday’s final round and, according to SBJ’s Josh Carpenter, this did not include NBC’s preferred Total Audience Delivery metrics likely to boost the final number.
There were 8.1 million live minutes watched (up 181%) across the AIG Women’s Open digital channel (R&A TV and YouTube),
The Championship next heads to Royal St George’s from July 28-August 1, 2027.
New Links Trust CEO
What is it about rugby and St Andrews?
After R&A CEO Mark Darbon’s arrival from the Northampton Saints, new Links Trust CEO Richard Holland departs after 14 years as CEO of Cardiff Rugby.
Holland succeeds Neil Coulson following his departure earlier this year.
“I’m honored to be appointed to lead the home of golf into its next chapter,” said Holland. “St Andrews Links has an extraordinary history, and I’m excited to play a part in ensuring we continue to respect what has gone before, while shaping an exciting future as golf grows in popularity and inspires people around the world, and right here in St Andrews.”
Holland takes the job with a major international crisis attempting to break out.
Coming off three(!!!) sold-out shows at Wembley Stadium, Luke Combs played TOC in a sweatshirt, light blue shoes and looking more haggard than the usual paying customer while proudly touting the day on Instagram.
In a statement to the Scottish Sun’s demands for answers (you didn’t believe me, did you), a spokesperson said: “We ask golfers to wear clothing which is appropriate to the game, not scruffy or torn and comfortable to play in. We do not require golfers to adhere to strict dress codes. We were delighted to welcome Luke Combs to play the Old Course during his time in Scotland.”
International crisis averted!
Meanwhile, the real international crisis was addressed in this video highlighting changes to the Old Course to offset regulatory inefficiency ahead of the 31st Open played there.
Merion Returns
The U.S. Amateur returns to Merion Golf Club for the seventh time, commencing with stroke play qualifying Monday and Tuesday.
Philadelphia Country Club serves as the stroke play co-host.
In a 21st-century rarity, Mason Howell returns to defend last year’s title and will attempt to be the first player since Tiger Woods in 1996 to defend his U.S. Amateur title. Even more remarkable in a world with 20 percenters telling 20-year-olds they’re ready when they aren’t, all four semifinalists from a year ago are in the field (Howell, Jackson Herrington, Niall Shiels Donegan, Eric Lee).
Besides the Havemeyer Trophy, the champion receives invitations to the 2027 Masters, U.S. Open at Pebble Beach and The Open at the Old Course provided the player remains an amateur (except in the case of the U.S. Open).
The schedule:
Aug. 10 (Monday): First round, stroke play (18 holes)
Aug. 11 (Tuesday): Second round, stroke play (18 holes)
Aug. 12 (Wednesday): Round of 64, match play
Aug. 13 (Thursday): Rounds of 32 and 16, match play
Aug. 14 (Friday): Quarterfinal round, match play
Aug. 15 (Saturday): Semifinal round, match play
Aug. 16 (Sunday): Championship match (36 holes)
The 126th U.S. Amateur features eive at least 15 hours of broadcast coverage on Golf Channel and Peacock, with Rolex again serving as the exclusive presenting partner of coverage (meaning “uninterrupted” broadcasts). The broadcast plan includes semi-final and final coverage on NBC this year:
The U.S. Women’s Amateur is underway at The Honors Course, where stroke play did not conclude on Wednesday because of a two-hour, twenty-two-minute delay for inclement weather.
Coverage plans for the U.S. Women’s Amateur once the match play field is set Thursday morning:
Thursday, Aug. 6: 11 a.m. - 2 p.m., Golf Channel
Friday, Aug. 7: 3-6 p.m., Golfchannel.com
Saturday, Aug. 8: 9 a.m. - 12 p.m., 3-6 p.m., Golf Channel
Sunday, Aug. 9: 3-6 p.m., Golf Channel
This And That
Last weekend’s final Rocket Mortgage Classic drew impressive ratings according to Sports Business Journal’s Josh Carpenter. Nielsen says it was the second most-watched sporting event of the weekend, and with a 3.23 million average audience, the fourth most-watched PGA Tour event of 2026 behind just the Memorial, Truist, Genesis and AT&T Pro-Am. Pretty strong evidence that golf tournaments can draw eyeballs in August.
The PGA of America named Jeffrey J. Jones II to its Board of Directors as an Independent Director, filling new PGA CEO Terry Clark’s former seat. Jones joins the Board as one of three Independent Directors. Jones serves on the Board of Directors of Levi Strauss & Co. along with director or advisory roles for Advance Auto Parts, Children’s Mercy Hospital, Mayo Clinic, The Coach K Center on Leadership and Ethics at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, and the Nasher Museum of Art. “Jeff has led transformation and growth at some of the world’s most recognized companies and brings the experience and judgment that will make him an outstanding Independent Director,” said PGA of America Acting President Nathan Charnes, PGA.
The R&A has appointed Northwind Leisure Golf as its operating partner for Golf It! According to the announcement, Golf It! was profitable in 2025 and saw a 5% increase in footfall year-on-year as it has established itself as a popular community golf facility in the north east of Glasgow. The R&A will retain full ownership of Golf It! and “will have oversight of Northwind Leisure Golf’s operations at the facility” while enabling the R&A “to focus on the facility’s wider purpose, impact and role as a showcase for how innovative facilities can help catalyze the future growth of the sport.”
Reads
🤑 Sujeet Indap with more details on the LIV-PIF mess.
😢 Will Knights says goodbye to his beloved East Potomac with a month before it’s set to close and become a Trump/Fazio mess.
🏌🏼♂️ David Shefter ranks the top 10 USGA championships held at Merion, where they’re about to host No. 20.
🙅♂️ Dylan Byers and William Cohan on the potential of a Paramount-WBD merger unraveling.
🍸Ginia Bellafonte on what else society loses when people give up booze out of health concerns.
🎸 Jem Aswad goes behind the scenes with Mick Jagger and Andrew Watt on the making of Mr. Charm from the new Stones album(with a must-watch video embedded).
Most of O’Neil’s statements sound like some of the most desperate and pandering waffle I’ve ever heard, which is saying something in a world where there’s been no shortage of vacuous PIFfle spouted over recent years.
Thanks for the link to the Jagger video. It’s kind of an inspiration that he and the band still want to create new music. Unlike other old rockers, Jagger’s singing is a reasonable facsimile of his peak years. Over 30 years ago, I saw the Stones at a stadium show during the back end of a hurricane. Counting Crows, the opening act, played a couple of songs and walked off. The Stones almost joyfully acknowledged the horrible weather while playing their whole show. At the time I thought that’s why they are still here while the Counting Crows will soon be forgotten.