Wednesday At The Open
Slumbers is concerned about pro golf's sustainability, reiterates intent to act on distance. Plus, Clark discusses his love of links and U.S. Open and much more from Hoylake.
A bright, mildly breezy afternoon helped firm up Royal Liverpool on championship eve. For now. As is tradition, the R&A’s Martin Slumbers took many press questions but opened with intriguing remarks on the sustainability…of the pro game.
These are unusual times.
Slumbers made a less-than-subtle statement about the path golf has taken over the last year-and-a-half when gobs of money have been thrown at players with no regard for the long term health of the professional game. The R&A chief covered a number of other issues in candid fashion and left the assembled scribblers plenty of material to work with before lunch hour. Dreamy stuff.
Below are all of his comments plus news—detailed later on—of a new amateur championship to continue the success of the Asia Pacific and Latin America Amateur Championships.
2023 U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark also stopped by and proved to be in stout form discussing a number of topics related to his changed life, excellent game and love of links golf. Finally, the winner here in 2006, Tiger Woods, made an eye opening statement about where the victory ranked for him. That, plus one last weather forecast still light on Met Office confidence regarding rain. But at least the tepid forecasters provided enough details to determine if any side of the draw will gain an advantage.
Slumbers Calls For Sustainable Pro Game
The R&A CEO Martin Slumbers sat for his annual state-of-the-organization (and game) session before a full press room. The lively back-and-forth covered the gamut of issues, including the PGA Tour-LIV merger, the state of the distance proposal comment period, world rankings, and more. Before announcing a new amateur championship in the Africas, he noted the R&A’s August opening of the Golf It facility outside Glasgow before reiterating the organization’s plans to invest 200 million pounds over a ten-year period.
Prior to taking questions, Slumbers chose to set an intriguing tone by opening the proceedings with pointed words about the sustainability of the “entire business model of men’s professional golf.”
Slumbers called the rise in purses “a significant challenge for us when you take into account our desire to keep growing the game and investing all the proceeds we make into the game” and referenced “stark choices” the leading organizations face in balancing investment in the sport versus players.
It made for an intriguing way to kick things off, but spoke to both is passion for the R&A’s initiatives, and the inevitable discomfort the major organizations have for the PGA Tour-PIF battle. Slumbers used the word sustainable or sustainability six times and all were in the context of rising purse levels, not the environment.
Particularly since nearly all fans and key partners in the game would be hard-pressed to guess the current purses for the four majors. (They are $18 million for the Masters, $17.5 million for the PGA, $20 million for the U.S. Open and $16.5 million this week).
“As custodians of the game,” Slumbers said, “we have to balance the prize fund at The Open with ensuring the appropriate investment in grass-roots and new golf initiatives, ensuring pathways are in place from elite amateur golf to the professional game, and most importantly, promoting women and girls' golf, both amateur and professional.”
Slumbers also made clear the R&A is not “party to the agreement, and while we absolutely welcome an end to the disruption in the men's professional game, there is a lot still to be understood.”
Other topics covered:
On the Model Local Rule proposal to limit golf ball distance. “Our role, indeed our responsibility, is to do what is right for the sport when we reach our determination on the way forward. All I really will say at this stage is that I would echo Mike Whan's sentiments when I say that doing nothing is not an option.”
On who would be impacted by the MLR. “I think it's really important that people understand it's not professional golf, it's elite golf. I've always felt that elite golf is starting at pretty well under 18 boys' level golf where we're seeing the same growth in distance, and it's that piece that we're now working forward to it.
On the possibility of revisiting the driver after several players voiced that it was as significant component to distance increases. “I still keep on the radar longer term around the driver because I do think there is an element of skill and technology that you and I have discussed and we've discussed in this room a number of times. But at the moment we're focused on the MLR of the ball, but I absolutely hear what all the players are saying.”
On Royal Liverpool. “The course is looking great, a bit greener than I would like, but given the weather the last few weeks that is a credit to the excellent greenskeeping team and agronomists that are working here…There's two things in my opinion that make this golf course fantastic: The bunkers off the fairways and the runoffs around the greens if you miss the greens, which makes the greens much smaller than they actually are.”
On the expected crowds which have been light until Wednesday’s robust turnout. “We have the largest galleries we've ever enjoyed outside of the 150th Open at St Andrews last year with 260,000 fans coming this week, and I think I can sense that the atmosphere is building nicely.”
On whether The Open’s reach has been diminished by moving from BBC to paid-subscription-necessary Sky Sports. “It's not about just showing pictures, it's telling the story, and I think Sky do that extremely well. We're delighted to work with them across our digital panels. I'll just leave you with one thought in case you have a follow up. You can only consider terrestrial free to air offering if there is one put on the table to be able to be considered, and there isn't one at the moment.”
On the extreme cost of equipment for aspiring golfers in developing countries and golf markets. “To be able to play elite golf, that's part of the package, and there's lots of -- the national federations around the world do a brilliant job in helping the best players in their country to make sure that they can do all they can to make sure that money is not the reason why they can't play. I think at grass-roots it's a really good point.”
Regarding all of the money talk in golf. “This constant discussion about money, which I referred to again last year, was in my opinion damaging the perception of our sport worldwide in the eyes of a number of young people who are saying, why do I want to join that, in the eyes of a number of politicians who help us put on these fantastic championships.”
On the possibility of a security issue posed by “Just Stop Oil” protestors. “We have significant security procedures in place. We work clearly with the law enforcement agencies, and we'll wait and see what happens.
On intelligence received last year about a similar threat. “We had a very credible threat that came through a -- was reported to us through a journalist that's in this room who very kindly and responsibly informed us that one of the most senior players in the field was going to be targeted by an environmental activist.”
On the state of the course. “I've been watching some of the players' interviews and some of the conversations, and the challenge they're talking about is not how bouncy it is, it's how to stay out of the bunkers. There's two things in my opinion that make this golf course fantastic: The bunkers off the fairways and the runoffs around the greens if you miss the greens, which makes the greens much smaller than they actually are.”
On the new 17th hole. “One of the, not feedback, but one of the sentiments that was felt after '14, '06 and '14, was that the course could do with more drama. It's a great golf course. I mean, I absolutely love it. It's one of my top two or three favourite golf courses on the pool. Can we create some more drama? It was actually the club came to us and said, do you know, with a lot of talk being around flipping around what was 15 up on to the dunes, and we came and looked at it, and we thought, yeah, that could really add some drama.”
On short par 3’s and 17’s success potential. “I am a believer that the best par-3s in the world are short. The 12th at Augusta, 17th at TPC, 8th at Royal Troon. This gave us an opportunity to change that hole to create drama…whether it's a great hole or a really great hole, I'll wait until Monday morning.”
On the Official World Golf Rankings. “One thing I keep coming back to that I really care about is making sure we get it globally relevant. Nothing is static, and everything has to keep evolving.”
Clark Ready To Contend
In his first major since winning the U.S. Open at L.A. Country Club, Wyndham Clark is ready to build on his limited links golf experience. He’s chalking up his T25 in the Genesis Scottish Open to his inability to figure out the greens slowed to accomodate contours and wind.
“I love links golf,” Clark said. “I think it's the purest test of golf. It's more fun than I think any other golf that we have around the world just because every day is so different.”
Clark’s first experience with links happened a decade ago at Portrush when he played The Amateur. Then a 19-year-old, Clark was overseas as part of the Palmer Cup and came away enamored.
“Played a bunch of links courses, and that's where I was first exposed to it. Just fell in love with just those exact things, the variety and the imagination and how much fun it was.”