Major(s) News & Notes, November 14th, 2024
Major(s) News & Notes, November 14th, 2024
Report says USA Ryder Cuppers to be paid $400k as pricey tickets are "sold out" and Seatgeek gouging enrages fans. Plus, eye-catching auction items are up for grabs, This, That, Quotable and Reads.
Days to The Masters opening tee shot: 144
Another week and more intersecting stories of greed and golf!
While the narrative has grown tiresome, at least there is comfort in knowing that (A) the dollar figures are a pittance compared to those money pits called NEOM and LIV, (B) no one I know had to edit that Pickering-stiff rollout video for the indoor league’s Atlanta Drive that no one asked for, and, (C) it’s becoming crystal clear what’s making the 2025 Ryder Cup the most expensive ticket in golf history.
Gotta pay the Mericans!
This week’s News & Notes will tackle a Telegraph report that could turn the Long Island crowd pro-European. Then, I’ll share my experience attempting to buy tickets to an event declared a sell-out on the same day the PGA of America took (another) social media beating for price gouging. Then we’ll touch on some other stuff before some palet-cleansing Reads.
Players May Get $400k A Piece To Represent America
The Telegraph’s James Corrigan reports that “America’s Ryder Cup players are on course to be paid for the first time, in a break from a near 100-year tradition.”
Just over a month since the Presidents Cup teams and their cart driving brigades each received $250,000 in direct deposits, Corrigan says the American Ryder Cup team will receive “almost £4 million collectively for next year’s showdown in New York.”
That’s around $400,000 a piece for the 12 players. And then presumably there will be some couch-cushion money for the Captain and banana-fetchers who will want to be paid for folding their arms, putting on sunglasses, and expressing grave-yet-stoic concern. The Telegraph report suggests the play-for-pay situation is pending PGA of America approval and would not come in the form of a charitable contribution that have received since the late 90’s pay gripes precipitated by David Duval and friends.
While we’ve known pay-for-play was inevitable after 2023’s dust-up involving hatless Patrick Cantlay, demands of Netflix back end points, blah, blah, and blah, two key details from the latest reporting could dramatically change the match atmosphere.
Corrigan’s Telegraph report says, “There are no plans for European players to be paid to appear.”
The PGA of America is charging a record-price for general admission tickets which have now reportedly sold out (more below).
Pay for (American) players was inevitable. But in the current environment, where eight times as many people will watch a rerun of Die Hard than a round of PGA Tour golf, their timing could not be worse. The two PGA organizations and assorted hanger-on types apparently couldn’t convince the players to put this scheme on ice to help rebuild their images as athletes. Meaning: the pay-for-play demand could deliver an unprecedented wrinkle to 2025’s matches. As the visionaries who pushed for this think they’re now Goldman-partner material for negotiating pay out of the PGA of America—even as they had all the leverage—the potential backlash could play a factor in the matches.
Even if you fall into the camp of wanting to see players compensated for putting themselves on the line during the intense biennial matches, the contrast of one side playing for money and the other playing for the love of competition might have an unimaginable impact on fan partisanship. It’s not as if the folks attending will be there after paying bargain basement prices…
Ryder Cup Tickets “Sold Out”
Social media rage unfolded Wednesday when fans were emailed their turn in line for expensive Ryder Cup tickets—only to be redirected to inflated resale options on official site Seatgeek—the PGA of America announced the event was sold out.
The statement above, which exudes as much joy as a ransom note, claims more than 500,000 people from 47 countries registered interest in tickets to next year’s matches. With a purported sell out of the Ryder Cup’s Friday, Saturday and Sunday match days, this would mean the PGA of America sold around 120,000 tickets at $750 a piece despite the backlash. Pretty impressive.
That $90,000,000 must look swell in the depleted accounts. But there is a dreaded but. Anyone who waited the 20-30 minutes (as I did for the opportunity), may have noticed:
Tickets are still widely available for the practice days at face value.
There are few resale options on the Seatgeek but there are some pricey official packages that were there since the beginning of the ticket sales process.
Resale prices on a competing resale, Stubhub, are lower and more plentiful despite not being an official partner of the Ryder Cup.
As you can imagine, fans who waited “in line” for their chance were not pleased with a redirect to prices in the $1300-before-fees range. They let the PGA know it on the above post and also subsequently took to Twitter:
It remains shocking to see these prices for what is essentially a standing-room-only ticket with there is no guarantee of seeing a shot:
But the American players will get paid and fans will assume they are paying the freight for this new wrinkle. We’ll find out next September how this goes over as the matches play out at a state park while the opposing side plays for pride.
Oldest Iron, Daly Claret Jug Up For Auction
There are a few more days left in the Golden Age auction featuring some pretty significant items.
While John Daly’s 1995 Open Championship replica Claret Jug has gotten a lot of attention in its second time on the block, so has a “monumental discovery,” as branded by Jeff Ellis, the leading expert on early golf clubs and balls.
“After being allowed to study this clubhead on many occasions over the past two decades, I can confirm that it is the oldest iron I have ever seen, heard of, or read about,” Ellis told the auctioneers. “Golf dates at least as far back as 1457, the date of the oldest known written reference to the game. Because golf is so old, I have often been asked what is the oldest golf club? I now have a new answer. It is likely the iron clubhead shown at the top of this report—and I believe it dates to the 1500s.”
With three days to go, the ancient square-toe iron bidding has reached $23,000 and is expected to go for much more.
As for Daly’s Claret Jug, the owner likely spotted an eye-opening $481,000 price paid for Gary Player’s 1974 replica and hopes to reap just as much.
With three days to go, bidding on Daly’s 1995 trophy is over $152,000.
Check out the full auction here and if and Quadrilaterallectors are in the holiday mood, I could find a (shaded) spot in my collection for this super rare edition of Wethered and Simpson’s masterpiece.
This And That
Paul Azinger will replace Lanny Wadkins in the PGA Tour Champions
booth“windowless room”, reports Golfweek’s Adam Schupak. “I’ll just be as candid as I can and enjoy it,” Azinger said.The DP World Tour released its 2024-25 schedule with some tweaks, disappearances, and a 26-country circuit. The lineup again includes a Genesis Scottish Open at Renaissance prior to The Open and October’s annual Alfred Dunhill Links at the Old Course. Notably missing: the Scandinavian Mixed tournament.
The Story of No. 1
The latest “Hallowed Grounds” installment goes all in on Augusta National’s first hole is now live on YouTube. From the history of the first tee shot to the design dynamics, the difficult starter has been home to the Honorary Starters Ceremony since 1963. As with the past editions, this is full of some fresh and unexpected imagery celebrating many fine traditions unlike any other. Enjoy.
Quotable
Adrian Meronk on not making the 2023 Ryder Cup team. “Not making the Ryder Cup team definitely opened my eyes to the fact that I need to focus on myself, my career, my game and my life. I realized that the Ryder Cup is not the most important thing in the world. I would love to play, and if I perform well enough next year I could qualify. But it’s not my priority. Before the last match it was all I thought about. I was checking the rankings every week.”
DP World Tour Chief Guy Kinnings to BBC on scheduling. “Golf is in such good health but we have to work on this product. It is complicated, not as easy as everyone thinks. There are transactional elements, scheduling elements, but all the parties you would want are engaged with right mindset and working towards it…We all hope there may be a different schedule in 2026 but who knows what that might be.”
Robert MacIntyre on not resting on his laurels. “It's trying not to lose sight of what's got you here, and not changing, not being like a revolution of your whole game. It's just about, this has got you here. This can improve. Let's try and tweak it a little bit. Don't try and overwrite the whole thing. Stick to the basics and then just tweak little bits to get you to the next level to major championships.”
Billy Horschel on playing events outside the United States. “I always encourage guys to travel and always encourage guys to come over and play even if it's a couple events out of the year. At the end of the day, it's their decision and they do what's best for them and that's their choice. You can't fault them for the decision they make…I've improved my game in conditions like playing in The Open Championship and going and playing Dunhill and doing that more often. I've become a lot better of a person, I guarantee you that, by having to understand different cultures.”
Reads
🤑 Spencer Jakab wonders if Warren Buffett knows something we don’t.
🎬 Kyle Buchanan interviews filmmaker Ridley Scott as Gladiator II nears its November 22nd release date and finds that the 86-year-old director has absolutely no filter discussing actors, his career, Rome, etc... Pull up a chair!
Have a great weekend.
Money grubbing by the players has "some" justification because there are some other money grubbers up the money eco-chain making big bucks off of their "free play" and proud of it.
Why not establish a pot of prize money and winner takes all. Pay me to show up tastes bad; pay me if I win tastes good.
A lot to digest there Geoff. I mean 400k is almost like paying for free. When corporate America wakes up and realizes there isn’t the ROI from golf that there use to be. Then maybe the players will realize they shot the golden goose. Nice to see the PGA and the players work so hard to ruin a great event. Hopefully, some players will donate their payments if they want to earn a smidge of respect.
Watching the tournaments from the Middle East, it must dawn on some that their ROI isn’t because of money but legitimacy in the world. You have said it before sports washing. That’s a whole other thread.
Thanks Geoff