Major(s) News & Notes, September 19th, 2024
Rahm's Ryder Cup drama is making more sense. Plus, a Masters TV increase, Kizzire's win highlights a Masters invite dilemma, Ryder Cup tickets are going to set a new record, This, That and Reads
The Jon Rahm Ryder Cup drama has begun to make more sense thanks to reporting this week from Sports Illustrated and Bloomberg. It turns out the $400 million man is not clinging to chump change. And for those whose faith in the sporting spirit of modern-day golfers has made watching pro pickleball a possibility: Rahm seems prepared to do what’s necessary to play the biennial matches that have meant so much to him and the Spanish greats he admires. The 29-year-old even appears to have the (cautious) backing of peers.
“Well, from my understanding, he is following the rules,” Rory McIlroy said ahead of the BMW PGA at Wentworth. “He appealed the decision or whatever it is that he did. So that makes him eligible, as long as he plays his minimum number of events, like members of the Tour have to do to be eligible for the Ryder Cup.”
McIlroy’s careful response amounts to a papal blessing in Ryder Cup and pro golf circles. Perhaps because he knows Rahm’s situation has been thrown into the piercingly dull and predictably tone-deaf tussle between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia over who controls the non-major championship calendar.
The same PIF that started the war oddly came off as the least complicit turd-stirrer this week after SI’s Bob Harig revealed how the backers of LIV have already forked out incredible sums to cover DP World Tour fines for their Lesions and Niblicks: £12 million to date with another £10 million outstanding.
Just enough to pay for the inevitable next renovation of Wentworth!
The PIF folks are no saints in this mess but have cracked up the door to showing they know what golf is viewed as legitimate by players and fans. They’re also appearing to use the Ryder Cup eligibility situation as a precursor to a bigger deal with the former European Tour. The Saudi’s opened this negotiation with a desire to create schedule cohesion that keeps LIV events from conflicting with the DP World Tour (as they do this week when the BMW PGA faces off against LIV’s season-ending team championship in greater Dallas). Harig’s reports reveals how the Saudi Arabia-backed league floated an exemption category for DP World Tour players into the Asian Tour’s International Series with a proposal to chip in £6 million for purses.
Again, nothing earth-shattering but the first steps to a partnership that potentially takes the rest of the world schedule from a PGA Tour board that has shown little interest in golf outside of the United States. And LIV appears to be shelling out silly reimbursements for players' fines to help their remaining DP World Tour members play in four events that maintain eligibility for one of six Ryder Cup Captain’s picks. However, negotiations broke down and the DP World Tour’s “strategic alliance” with the PGA Tour is at the heart of the tussle.
No matter how you feel about the state of pro golf or the fund representing Saudi Arabia’s loathsome regime, the ongoing PGA Tour-LIV situation still could negatively impact next fall’s highly-anticipated matches on Long Island.
Rahm waited until the last minute to appeal even though he could have used his massive LIV advance money to pay the fines. But it’s increasingly apparent he had good reason to make life inconvenient for his adversaries. As this week’s Bloomberg story on the recent negotiating sessions suggests, jealousy over his massive LIV advance may be causing PGA Tour players to forget Tom Hagen’s adage to brother Sonny that it’s business and not personal.
According to Bloomberg’s Giles Turner, Malathi Nayak, and David Hellier, the PGA Tour and LIV’s negotiations incomprehensibly scheduled for New York City session during 9/11 remembrance week, an agreement “inched closer” with Rahm’s financial windfall among the purported holdups.
“A deal isn’t a certainty, and talks may still fail, the people said. A particular sticking point is Jon Rahm’s reported $300 million LIV contract, struck late last year, the people said, asking not to be named discussing private information.
“Some PGA Tour players want Rahm — and others — to hand back money they’ve made from LIV, the people said. Other options include paying fines to participate in events, giving to charity, or agreeing to forfeit any future career winnings on the PGA Tour, the people said.”
Of course no such thing will happen and if a shred of such a request has gotten back to Rahm, well, you’ve seen what he does to a golf club after a bad shot.
So here we are, fifteen months removed from the infamous “framework agreement” rollout on CNBC and it still feels as if both sides haven’t gotten over the initial bombing campaigns or figured out how to deal with the (first world) prisoners of war. In the unlikely event the lawyers sort this mess out to everyone’s liking, as McIlroy warned on Wednesday, half the players on each tour are opposed to a merger that might help save the non-major championship portion of the schedule.
All of this is set against a year where the majors provided beautiful displays of skill and talent, while played over venues that delivered fan-friendly excitement. And the latest revelations follow a week of gobsmackingly low viewership numbers for men’s golf. We’re talking numbers that would embarrass middle-of-the-night reruns on Bravo. Whether it’s the loss of fans to tee times or the NFL, the trendlines should be setting off alarm bells with all of these egomaniacs. As should the declining reach of golf’s primary network partner, another problem that must be addressed before the public has to watch the Volunteers of America spot run another 85,000 times.
Some of these messy topics were discussed on pods this week that you can check out here or wherever you subscribe for your listening pleasure.
Meanwhile, in this week’s News & Notes, we have some big September news from Augusta National that does not involve a new tee box or sand-capped fairway, followed by disconcerting Ryder Cup ticket prices, and all wrapped up by This, That and Reads.
Masters Television Coverage To Expand In 2025
The long-overdue addition of an hour to Saturday’s Masters network broadcast has finally arrived. A 2 p.m. ET start in a normal-weather year means CBS will no longer sign on with the leaders at the first tee waiting for Walter Driver to hand them a scorecard. The scheduling tends to have the network playing catch-up from the get-go, which can be an issue on moving days if there are multiple contenders or a stout round is well underway needing to be recapped.
The one-hour increase was announced by the tournament and confirmed on social media by CBS Sports.
Also revealed: two additional hours of early weekend coverage will air on Paramount+ prior to the network show. Previously, early weekend coverage was confined to streaming on Amen Corner, Featured Groups and other feeds. While production details will not be announced until next spring, the early window on Paramount+ is likely to be approached in similar fashion to the network show. This will put the announce team on air for a long, intense window where the veteran crew is trying to call action while making sure not to suggest the greens have been bikini waxed. And with just four minutes per hour of commercial breaks the bladders had best be strong on these ones!
The new early window of network-grade coverage on Paramount+ throws a nice bone to CBS’s streaming platform while also giving the A-team the best chance to set the weekend stage. And in another nice perk for streaming viewers, the new early Paramount+ coverage can easily be continued when the coverage jumps to the network.
Overall, the club and CBS appear to have found a nice sweet spot protecting the highly-rated and fast-moving network shows with annual calls to expand traditional 18-hole coverage.
Augusta National also announced the addition of Bank of America as a sponsor “Champion Partner.” The bank with its $308 billion market cap joins AT&T, IBM and Mercedes-Benz in the Champion Partner tier.
“Through Bank of America’s support of our community initiatives and amateur events, they have become an impactful and committed partner in our organization’s mission in Augusta and around the globe,” said Chairman Fred Ridley. “Today’s announcement celebrates an expansion of our relationship, and we are delighted to welcome Bank of America to our valued family of Masters Tournament partners, which together will strengthen the Tournament for many years to come.”
Delta Air Lines, Rolex and UPS return as “Tournament Partners.”
Bank of America has been a “Proud Partner” of the Asia Pacific and Latin America Amateur Championships since 2022 along with the Augusta National Women’s Amateur since the inaugural year in 2019. “BofA” has also supported the club’s local initiatives at the HUB for Community Innovation and Paine College.
Kizzire’s Headed To The Masters
The Masters’ decision to invite winners of fall PGA Tour events dates to the Billy Payne era and continues under current Chairman Fred Ridley. Yet the spots awarded to the PGA Tour’s fall event champions continue to look questionable due to the state of the weakened fields and the Masters co-founders’ desire to recognize global performance. While the tournament still reserves the right to invite international players overlooked—and did so again last year with three such exemptions to the event—they’ve been less willing to work in a few automatic invitations for tournament winners outside of the States.
Patton Kizzire was this fall’s first “full FedExCup points” beneficiary following his five-stroke win in the Procore Championship at Silverado. He entered as the 257nd-ranked player and will receive an invitation for his first trip down Magnolia Lane since 2019.
The Procore field Kizzire dominated featured just 24 players inside the top 100 with an OWGR rating of 211.98 (compared to the competing Amgen Irish Open’s 166.52 at Royal County Down where Rasmus Højgaard held off Rory McIlroy in a more significant and demanding national open.)
This week’s BMW PGA at Wentworth features 28 top 100 players. And while the BMW field comes in at only 199.91 in the OWGR’s system, this is a long-running, consistently premier event culminating the DP World Tour regular season. It would seem like a logical event for the winner to receive an automatic invite. Particularly since two weeks from now the PGA Tour will feature a new event called the Black Desert Championship where they’re awarding full FedExCup points regardless of who shows up. But under the current Masters parameters, the winner is guaranteed an invitation to the Tradition Unlike Any Other.
Pricey Ryder Cup Ticket Ballot Off To Rough Start
The PGA of America sent out an email blast announcing the opening of its “Random Selection Process” for 2025 Ryder Cup tickets. And as per recent tradition, the website was unable to handle requests before taking another 30 hours to allow fans a chance at signing up for hideously overpriced tickets.
For those who do get notified in November following an October Citi Card offering, the absurd prices and substandard junior policy seem destined to scare off a sizable audience. And who knows what’ll happen when players get wind of the price gouging? A degree in rocket surgery won’t be necessary to predict another hat protest in our future.
The 2025 Ryder Cup pricing debuts the same all-you-can-eat food and non-alcoholic beverage program that’s become the norm at the last three PGA Championships. Prices for the Ryder Cup start at $255.27 for Tuesday’s practice and go up to $749.51 for each of the three competition days. Next year’s U.S. Open at Oakmont is currently $800 for a one week-long pass covering six days.
Ryder Cup Parking will be a separate cost for what already is the all-time highest price for general admission tickets.
Even with the record pricing, the PGA’s deep devotion to family values did not buy the kids any favors.
The Ryder Cup official site’s FAQ page touts the PGA of America’s “mission to grow interest and participation in golf” by allowing up to two juniors aged 15-and-under free admittance with a paying adult for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday (a.k.a. the days when everyone is standing around watching people drive four-seat carts as players break in their cashmere hoodies and tell the kids they’ll sign after the round when they have no intention of doing such a thing.)
For each of the three $750 competition days, kids will need a full-price ticket.
But at least wee ones under the age of 2 will not require a ticket to enter the Ryder Cup. They may not know what it is they’re watching and likely will need ear muffs given the added audio that comes with Long Island’s finest getting gouged and having access to beer at 7 a.m.
Quotable
Rory McIlroy on the prospects of an Ian Poulter or Lee Westwood Ryder Cup captaincy. “You look at what Luke [Donald] has done the last few years. He's really made an effort to come over. He played in the Czech Republic. He was in Switzerland. He's making an effort to be around the players and make the players feel comfortable with him, the up-and-comers that haven't had a chance yet to be on a team or trying to make a team. With the guys that left, Poulter, Westwood, how can these young up-and-comers, you know, build a rapport with them when they are never here? You can't see them. I think that's a really important part of a Ryder Cup and a Ryder Cup captaincy.”
This And That
SBJ’s Josh Carpenter reports that the Solheim Cup final day on NBC averaged 657,000 viewers, up from three years ago at Inverness when the matches ended on Labor Day. Saturday’s neverending session averaged an impressive 634,000 on NBC despite the hellacious pace of play that forced a toss to Golf Channel for the last matches final hole.
The fund supporting and placing the Old Tom Morris statue at The Scores and overlooking the Old Course is halfway there but could use more donations to fund the project before the October unveiling.
Reads
👤 Ewan Murray on how the PGA Tour-LIV situation and Jon Rahm’s murky status casts an unnecessary shadow over the Ryder Cup. Presidents Cup fans: cover your eyes!
🤔 Art Stricklin on H.E. making an unannounced visit—sans massive entourage of bone saw-proficient goons—to PGA Frisco for a quick spin around the course. Maybe His Royal Worship is hoping to get on the Golf Digest panel!
🤑 Jared Doerfler on how Rory McIlroy has quietly built the makings of a business empire.
Enjoy the action from Wentworth!
Geoff
PGA wants to grow the game and interest young kids.
What do you think a 10 year old will take away from the antics at Bethpage? Expanded vocabulary? A Breakfast of Champions? Biology 101 - "Different uses of the Cavities of the Human Body."
Thanks Geoff, the tickets prices for the Ryder cup are insane. I won’t have to worry about attending. I did get to attend the Solheim cup for one day and it was very enjoyable and didn’t cost a fortune. The wait was well worth it.
The greed of golf will do them in eventually. It’s a matter of time before sponsors realize there is no ROI on a golf tournament. There are just to many tournaments now and someone said no anticipation anymore. Can’t wait to read through all the linked articles. Thanks again.