Major(s) News & Notes, January 16, 2025
Latest on Riviera and the fires. Plus, a pre-Ryder Cup heckler twist, NBC's SpinCo play, major invites at stake in the Latin America Am, plenty of Quotables, This, That and Reads.
Days to The Masters’ Honorary Starter’s tee shot: 84
Days to the PGA Championship’s first tee shot: 119
Days to the U.S. Open’s first tee shot: 147
Days to The Open’s first tee shot: 183
I’d love to kick off this week’s News and Notes by saying the situation is looking up in southern California. The winds have finally subsided, allowing firefighters from all over the state and world to have things in check. But a bleak reality has set in that is unlike anything I’ve experienced in many decades of living here. One that’s cast an understandable pall over the surrounding communities facing a wide range of hurdles to help the displaced and disoriented recapture the essence of our thriving region prior to the catastrophic fires.
Short-term needs continue to center around an array of basics for those who lost everything, still starting with wearable clothes and other supplies for kids trying to return to makeshift classrooms. Notable L.A. golf brands GFore and Johnnie O are among the many local companies that provide new clothes and get involved in other efforts to help people get back on their feet. More substantial fundraising efforts are in the works to help the affected regroup.
Having experienced the mere possibility of evacuating in the late 1970’s when I was a child, and the same Palisades area last faced a wildfire, my heart keeps hurting for the kids who went from attending a normal school day to not having a home in 24 hours. They will need all of our compassion, assistance and understanding.
“It’s just sad,” Woods said, as reported by Bob Harig at Tuesday’s TGL “match.” “Max and I have grown up there. We’re So Cal kids. To see what has happened, I’ve known a couple of people who lost everything, so it’s just hard.
“As far as the Genesis, we’re just trying to figure everything out and make sure that everyone is safe and we have meetings scheduled going forward. But as of right now, we’re not really focused on the tournament. It’s more about what we can do to help everyone who’s struggling, who’s lost homes and had their lives changed.”
Homa concurred.
“I’ve had a lot of people ask me about the golf tournament,” Homa said. “No offense to Tiger and TGR (Tiger’s foundation) and Genesis, but it seems silly at the moment to be overly focused on a golf tournament when people are still continuing to have this go on and living in a bit of fear in So Cal. It’s been really tough, but again, I’m just very happy that a lot of people have gotten out, been safe.”
There is also the question of why play at all?
Without going too deep down a depressing recap of all the historic and long-standing buildings, businesses, schools, churches and other community staples lost to the fire, there is something symbolic about carrying on as long as a silly golf tournament is not interfering with victims, first responders, or crews handling the work of aftermath repairs.
Short-term options for maintaining an annual golf tournament tradition dating to 1926 should be well away from Riviera. The club remains inside a National Guard-protected evacuation zone lacking basic services like power and communications lost in the firestorm. Any efforts to continue the normal pre-Genesis Invitational setup would only get in the way of post-fire operations.
Tom D’Angelo floats the venue options with a focus on places already maintained to tournament conditions and wired to accommodate all that goes into beaming out a tournament. Furthermore, volunteer bases are already in place at these locales and could be summoned without worrying about exposing everyone to the fire-related aftermath. We’ll see what all involved come up.
In much lighter and wildly insignificant news by comparison, the DP World Tour’s return to Dubai churned up all kinds of Ryder Cup first-world talk. Also, the Latin America Amateur is underway with major invites available, the world’s pro golfers served up more eye-opening quotes than normal this week, NBC’s SpinCo plans are not getting any clearer for golf fans, and, we cap things off with This, That and Reads.
10th Latin America Am Underway
The 2025 Latin America Amateur Championship (LAAC) has begun at Buenos Aires’ Pilar Golf Club. This is the second time the course has hosted an event organized by the Masters, R&A and USGA.
This week’s winner receives an invitation to the Masters and exemptions into The Open and the U.S. Open, provided the champion retains his amateur status.
The field of 108 of male amateurs features 17 players inside the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) top 200, headlined by Mexico’s Omar Morales (No. 13), Bolivia’s Jose Luis Montaño (No. 43), the Cayman Islands’ Justin Hastings (No. 47), and Brazil’s Andrey Xavier (No. 57) and Herik Machado (No. 61). Morales, a Haskins Award finalist at UCLA, finished runner-up last year in Panama while 2022 winner Aaron Jarvis makes his fifth start in the Championship.
ESPN platforms will provide event coverage in Argentina, as well as throughout Latin America and the United States. Times for American viewers:
Other broadcasters include SuperSport (Africa), Fox Sports (Australia), TSN (Canada), Warner Bros. Discovery Sports (Europe), SBS Sports (Korea), SPOTV (Pan-Asia), and Sky Sports (United Kingdom). All of the coverage will also be streamed live on LAACgolf.com.
Comedian Commissioned To Heckle Ryder Hopefuls
Speaking to Team Cup participant Jordan Smith, bunkered’s Ben Parsons reveals a fun detail of last week’s test event: various sound effects were used to prepare players for the Bethpage environment, including the commissioning of an American comedian to hurl humorous insults at players.
From Parson’s report:
“They changed a few things with distraction tactics because we’re going to New York,” Jordan Smith, a member of the Great Britain and Ireland side, told bunkered.co.uk here at the Dubai Desert Classic.
“They had these big microphones and speakers on the first tee, baby noises, things going off, people shouting and coughing. Then when we got onto the 7th, which was a tough par three with water around it, they had an American guy there shouting all sorts at us. He was an American comedian.
“He said to Tyrrell Hatton that he looks like a reborn Amish farmer because of his beard. He was trying to put everyone off, saying you’re going to put it in the water, you’re going to hit a s*** shot.”
The idea reportedly came from 2025 Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald and included a funny post-Cup mash-up of player reactions shown only to the Team Cup participants. It’s believed the effort was not meant to have become public knowledge. Boo.
We want the mash-up, we want the mash-up!
In other non-Ryder Cup news that could never, ever happen, American captain Keegan Bradley is said to be planning a mock press conference to help prospective players practice the art of ducking high-and-tight softballs over their mysterious lack of team headwear.
SpinCo’s Future Still A Mystery
SBJ’s Josh Carpenter spoke to several in the television business about a forthcoming year that includes the fluid state of Golf Channel, the apparent return of Fox Sports to golf, new PGA Tour Studios, and much more. While Carpenter didn’t even delve into the state of USGA rights negotiations or what the demise of Venu might mean for companies like Disney, Warner Brothers Discovery or Fox, the folks in Liberty Corner undoubtedly have noticed the uncertainty surrounding their current media partner.
Longtime executive and new “SpinCo” CEO Mark Lazarus is now in charge of winding down or merging or whatever’ing Comcast’s spinoff entity that includes cable outlets such as Golf Channel. He did his best Chip Diller, “All is well” impression for SBJ’s Carpenter.
“Golf Channel was before, is now and will remain the network of record for all things golf,” said Lazarus, the former chair of NBCUniversal Media Group. “I am as confident in Golf Channel’s future as I’ve been in the past.”
Lazarus did not indicate how viewing might be better under a forthcoming split-up that spins Golf Channel from the NBC Sports family. The scenario leaves cordcutters traversing silly app switches mid-telecast or missing out on cable-exclusive windows altogether, a practice that’s long past due to have been repaired if Comcast cared about viewers. Meanwhile, cable customers will continue to wonder what they get for their subscription as Golf Channel programming runs marathons of its 30th-anniversary special now that even Cindy Crawford infomercials aren’t interested in advertising there.
“We’re not going to hurt one business for the betterment of another,” Lazarus insisted. “If Rich [Lerner] works on both [networks], or [Steve] Sands, or whoever, we’ll be able to do a deal where they can do that. There’s lots of talent around the media industry that does that.”
As for SpinCo, Lazarus claimed there have “not been any discussions about the PGA Tour, or anyone else for that matter, buying Golf Channel.”
This is your occasional reminder that NBC has offices in the PGA Tour’s “Global Home.”
Maybe they only discuss the amazing pizza maker and the ingeniousness of Norman Foster’s alligator-free moat surrounding the Tour’s hub? Because it seems curious to suggest such an option has never been discussed.
Either way, SBJ’s Carpenter says that the current rights fee split covering costs for both NBC and Golf Channel has yet to be determined by the Comcast counters. Nor has a decision been made about what’s left of Golf Channel working from NBC headquarters in Stamford. Or the possibility of moving those left back to the recently-opened PGA Tour Studios in Ponte Vedra Beach.
“We have to figure out what we’re allowed to do in terms of production in terms of staying within the NBC Sports facility or not,” Lazarus said. “An option would be for us to work there [in Florida], but there are options up here, too. We’ve not had any serious discussions on that, but to be candid, they did say if you need space, we have some.”
The uncertainty comes as the end of NBC’s rights deal with the USGA arrives next year. Maybe by then, they’ll have at least come up with a more flattering name than SpinCo.
Quotable, Ryder Cup Edition
Jon Rahm on the state of his DP World Tour appeal of fines and the Ryder Cup. “I don't know what's going to happen, and I'm hoping they don't try to settle the appeal before The Ryder Cup. I don't think that would be good for anybody. But my plan is to be at Bethpage.”
Rahm on last week’s Team Cup where Ryder Cup elements are simulated. “From what I hear they did an incredible job off the golf course of giving them the experience of that team feeling as close as we can to the Ryder Cup. Obviously it's not the same thing, but seeing what the locker room would look like and many other things, and the atmosphere in the week in general, I think is very, very beneficial. I wish I would have had that because when I went to Paris, I was a fish out of water. I was very out of my comfort zone, and I think it showed a little bit on the golf course as well.”
Rory McIlroy on home course advantages in the Ryder Cup. “The reason we set the course up the way we did is because we knew they were slightly better wedge players than us. So we made some of those par 4s that you would hit wedges into drivable, so we made them go for it. That's the great thing about the Ryder Cup. You can do that when you have that home-course advantage. They are going to set it up to their strengths, and it's up to us to try to beat them at what they are strong at, alongside dealing with the crowd and dealing with all of that that's going to bring its own pressure.”
McIlroy on Europe’s chances at Bethpage. “It's going to be an incredibly difficult task. I think from here, for rest of my career, one of my career goals going forward is to try to win another away Ryder Cup. I've experienced it once, and it was absolutely amazing. And I would love to experience it once again.”
Paul Azinger on the American squad receiving non-charitable Ryder Cup pay. “I think the crowd in New York would turn on them so fast, you know, like they did in Detroit on the American players that wouldn't sign autographs. They turned on the Americans up there and they'll turn on 'em at Bethpage Black. And it won't be pretty if they get outmaneuvered by Europe. And they're dealing with Luke Donald, who's pretty clever, he's gonna say, you know, he'll run a campaign how we play for pride or whatever. And I'm telling you, you want the crowd behind you up there. But those guys need to be compensated for what they're doing and I feel like it should all filter through their charities of their choice.”
This And That
Two-time major champion Xander Schauffele gave no reason for withdrawing from this week’s American Express Championship. The winner of last year’s PGA and Open Championships participated in the TGL’s opening night match on January 7th after playing The Sentry on Maui.
The PGA of America is inviting talent from backgrounds underrepresented in the golf industry’s workforce to register for PGA JobMatch and be considered for positions that support its spectator championships in 2025. Individuals surrounding the geographical area of each championship can register here through February 11 to potentially interview for opportunities with the Association’s larger suppliers for jobs.
Quotable
Rory McIlroy on countryman Tom McKibbon weighing an offer from LIV despite the league no longer offering silly money. “There is still a ton of money to be made on the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour. There is so much money in the game, and some would argue too much money in the game for the eyeballs that we attract. I think that for whatever the benefit may be, I don't think it's worth the sacrifice to what he's potentially going to give up.”
Thomas Pieters on his move to LIV costing him world ranking points. “I made the decision, there’s no majors for me and that’s fine by me. If I happen to play another major then it would be amazing, obviously, but it’s not on my schedule.”
Butch Harmon, speaking to Matt Adams on the state of pro golf. “When you turn on the TV on Saturday and Sunday and you look at the leaderboard and the novice golf fan sees these ten names and he has no idea who any of them are, ’cause it’s not any of the superstars, and I think that’s why golf ratings are down, that to me is wrong, because these kids are so good…I think the arrogance of the PGA Tour – thinking they were the best game and only game in town, and that nobody was going to come in and do anything about that – well, we’ve seen what’s happened.”
Blades Brown on turning pro as a high school junior and passing up college. “I feel like that's life, you learn each and every day. I'm probably not going to be going to school in college, but I am going to be going to school on the PGA Tour, so that sounds pretty good to me.”
Reads
🎻 Michael McEwan breaks out his teeny-tiny violin to consider Eugenio Chaccarra’s buyer’s remorse.
🙏 Michael Williams on seeing his community disappear and coping with the aftermath of the firestorm.
📷 Jon Wertheim on the passing of longtime and legendary Sports Illustrated photographer Heinz Kluetmeier.
Adam Lawrence started a GoFundMe campaign for Tommy Naccarato and the response has been great. Tommy, who works with Gil Hanse, lost his home in Pacific Palisades.
Brad Becken
Fox and LIV, the perfect marriage. A bad broadcast announcing bad golf, sponsored by bad people.