Golf

January 03, 2024

Rory McIlroy's New Attitude is LIV and Let LIV: The ongoing merger between the PGA and LIV has cooled Rory McIlroy's volcanic hatred of the Saudi-backed league. "I think, at this point, I was maybe a little judgmental of the guys who went to LIV Golf," he said during a podcast full of can't-we-all-get-along jibber jabber. The PGA and LIV are dead to me.

posted by rcade to golf at 12:32 PM - 0 comments

December 07, 2023

Jon Rahm is Joining LIV Golf: The Saudis are paying Jon Rahm $300 million to leave the PGA and join LIV, which seems like a weird thing to happen when the rival leagues are on the brink of completing their merger to collectively ruin all remaining decency and virtue in the sport. In 2022 Rahm gave this reason for not wanting to LIV: "Would our lifestyle change if we got $400 million? ... I've never really played the game of golf for monetary reasons."

posted by rcade to golf at 01:30 PM - 9 comments

August 22, 2023

Jon Rahm: Golf Fans Are Mouthy About Gambling: After reports that a gambling golf spectator yelled at a golfer hoping to cause him to miss a putt, Jon Rahm said gambling-related talk is heard during every round they play. "That happens way more often than you guys may hear," Rahm told reporters. "In golf, spectators are very close, and even if they're not directly talking to you, they're close enough to where if they say to their buddy, 'I bet you 10 bucks he's going to miss it,' you hear it."

posted by rcade to golf at 10:03 PM - 1 comment

August 21, 2023

Gambler: Phil Mickelson Wagered Over $300 Million Dollars: Sports gambler Billy Walters has a new memoir out that describes his five-year betting partnership with Phil Mickelson and the staggering extent of the golfer's wagering. Walters claims that Mickelson bet $110,000 to win $100,000 over 1,100 times, bet $220,000 to win $200,000 over 850 times and averaged nine bets a day in one year.

posted by rcade to golf at 05:10 PM - 1 comment

July 13, 2023

Rory Isn't Willing to LIV and Let LIV: "If LIV Golf was the last place to play golf on Earth, I would retire." -- Rory McIlroy

posted by rcade to golf at 12:45 PM - 1 comment

June 15, 2023

Canadian Golf Meets Canadian Football: When Nick Taylor sank a 72-foot putt to become the first Canadian to win the Canadian Open in 67 years, raucous celebrations broke out and his fellow Canadian golfer Adam Hadwin ran up spraying champagne on the winner. Security thought he was an interloper and decleated him (angle 1, angle 2, angle 3). Hadwin's wife said later he was "still among the land of the living and in true Canadian form, apologized to the security guard for being tackled."

posted by rcade to golf at 06:55 PM - 1 comment

June 09, 2023

Bryson DeChambeau Tells 9/11 Families It's Time for 'Forgiveness': After taking $125 million from the government of Saudi Arabia to leave the PGA Tour and join LIV Golf, Bryson DeChambeau was asked on CNN about 9/11 families objecting to LIV because of recently revealed Saudi links to the attacks. DeChambeau suggested there needs to be "forgiveness." He said, "I don't know exactly what [the 9/11 families] are feeling, I can't ever know. But I have a huge amount of respect for their position and what they believe, nor do I want anything like that to ever occur again. I think as we move forward from that we've got to look towards a pathway to peace, especially in forgiveness, especially if we're trying to mend the world and make it a better place. I think this is what they're trying to accomplish, what LIV is trying to accomplish, the PIF is trying to accomplish, what we're all trying to accomplish is a better world for everybody." Money well spent, MBS.

posted by rcade to golf at 10:38 AM - 3 comments

June 06, 2023

PGA Tour Merges with LIV Golf, DP World Tour: In a deal reached without the knowledge of many of their golfers, the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and DP World Tour are merging into a single organization. The particulars released so far are vague but Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund will be the new entity's "exclusive investor" and its fund governor joins the PGA Tour policy board. An unnamed PGA golfer whose name probably rhymes with Corey Spackelroy told ESPN, "It's insanity. The LIV tour was dead in the water. It wasn't working. Now, you're throwing them a life jacket? Is the moral of the story to just always take the money?"

posted by rcade to golf at 12:20 PM - 11 comments

April 06, 2023

LIV Golfer: Of Course It's About the Money: Shortly before today's opening round of the Masters, Harold Varner III scoffed at the comments made by his fellow LIV golfers about why they joined the Saudi-bankrolled league: "They're full of shit. They're growing their pockets. I tell them all the time, you didn't come here to fucking grow the game. ... Some of these motherfuckers want their cake and eat it too."

posted by rcade to golf at 09:07 AM - 5 comments

August 22, 2022

Rory McIlroy Fends Off Remote-Control Ball: A fan with a remote-controlled golf ball tried twice to get in the hole at the BMW Championship 15th on Saturday, but Rory McIlroy made deft stick saves to keep it out and heaved it in a lake.

posted by rcade to golf at 05:29 PM - 4 comments

August 16, 2022

Tiger Woods Meets Top PGA Golfers to Rally Support: Tiger Woods will be meeting today with top PGA golfers to address the LIV menace. "It's a meeting to get the top 20 players in the world on the same page on how we can continue to make the PGA Tour the best product in professional golf," one invited player said.

posted by rcade to golf at 01:59 PM - 2 comments

July 20, 2022

LIV Golfer Invites Sky Sports Reporter to Self-Fornicate: An unnamed LIV Golf turncoat didn't like being asked by Sky Sports reporter Jamie Weir whether he was concerned that The Open might be his last major for a while. All that Saudi money isn't buying much happiness, it seems. The golfer told Weir to "go f--- himself"

posted by rcade to golf at 06:58 PM - 6 comments

May 12, 2022

Greg Norman: LIV and Let LIV: "Look, we've all made mistakes." -- Greg Norman on Saudi Arabia and the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi

posted by rcade to golf at 10:28 AM - 9 comments

February 26, 2022

How's Your Month Going, Phil Mickelson?: Phil Mickelson's been talking about defecting to a new Saudi-backed "Super League of Golf" lately -- and not since Fuzzy Zoeller has a golfer gone so far out of bounds with his mouth. Mickelson told golf writer Alan Shipnuck, "We know they killed Khashoggi and have a horrible record on human rights. They execute people over there for being gay. Knowing all of this, why would I even consider it? Because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates."

posted by rcade to golf at 12:03 PM - 3 comments

September 25, 2021

See Jordan Spieth's Moon Shot: Jordan Spieth's shot at the Ryder Cup on the Pinched Nerve at Whistling Straits was one for the ages.

posted by rcade to golf at 09:44 AM - 2 comments

June 06, 2021

Leader Jon Rahm Forced Out of Memorial by Positive Covid Test: Right after he completed the third round six strokes ahead of everybody else on Saturday, Memorial leader Jon Rahm was told he had tested positive for Covid and would not be allowed to play the final round. The circumstances suggest Rahm had not been vaccinated, because under PGA rules, a player must be tested regularly after a close contact to someone with the virus unless they are fully vaccinated. CBS Sports was wrapping up the broadcast and had no idea what was going on with Rahm.

posted by rcade to golf at 02:19 PM - 0 comments

May 23, 2021

Phil Mickelson Did What?: Half centurion Phil Mickelson has become the oldest golfer to ever win a major, taking the PGA Championship Sunday at Kiawah Island, South Carolina, before a full-capacity crowd that descended into bedlam. He's also the first to win tournaments 30 years apart. "He's been on tour as long as I've been alive," said Jon Rahm, to which I say shut the hell up kid.

posted by rcade to golf at 10:38 PM - 6 comments

May 16, 2021

Lost Golf Course Brought Back in Wales After 50 Years: A golf course in Rhayader, Wales, has been returned to a playable state a half century after it closed and reverted to the wild. Research on the old course's layout led to the discovery that it was the work of Alister MacKenzie, who also designed Cypress Point in California, Royal Melbourne in Australia and Augusta National. "The most upsetting part is that it will be completely unplayable again in another month," rescuer Chris Powell said.

posted by rcade to golf at 06:54 PM - 3 comments

February 24, 2021

Tiger Woods suffers multiple leg injuries in single-car accident in Los Angeles: Tiger Woods was recovering from major surgery on his right leg Tuesday evening at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center after being involved earlier in the day in a “high-speed” single-car accident outside Los Angeles.

posted by BornIcon to golf at 08:58 AM - 2 comments

January 15, 2021

Who knew there was a :

In golf’s history, there were just four previous condors reported through 2018 — all of them holes-in-one on par 5s, starting in 1962 when a golfer in Hope, Ark. cut the corner on a dogleg for an ace on a 480-yard hole. Before Pon’s rare feat, the last condor was in 2007, when a 16-year-old aced a 511-yard hole in New South Wales, Australia.

posted by yerfatma to golf at 11:14 AM - 1 comment

April 16, 2020

The PGA Plans a June 11 Return: The PGA is making a bid to be the first sport to come back, starting with the June 11 event in Fort Worth. There would be no fans at the first four events and a field of 110 golfers, all of whom kept distance from everyone else except their caddies. If testing availability has improved there would be screenings for coronavirus. The flag and bunker rakes would be handled by an official. The ball could be disinfected or replaced after each hole. "Golf has to be the single easiest sport to bring back safely," writes Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports.

posted by rcade to golf at 02:32 PM - 8 comments

April 14, 2019

Tiger Wins The Masters: His hope for another major left for dead by most of golf, Tiger Woods won The Masters Sunday afternoon. It's the 43-year-old's 15th major and first since 2008. It is his first win at a major where he trailed entering the final day. He was still trailing Francesco Molinari by 2 shots after 11. The catalog of iconic father-son moments after a Woods triumph now includes this boisterous hug of his son Charlie, who is 10 and never had a chance before to see him win like this.

posted by rcade to golf at 09:20 PM - 5 comments

March 30, 2019

If You Play Golf With Trump He Might Touch Your Balls: “To say ‘Donald Trump cheats’ is like saying ‘Michael Phelps swims,'” writes Rick Reilly in the new book Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump, out Tuesday. “He cheats at the highest level. He cheats when people are watching and he cheats when they aren’t. He cheats whether you like it or not. He cheats because that’s how he plays golf … if you’re playing golf with him, he’s going to cheat.”

posted by rcade to golf at 10:02 PM - 7 comments

June 16, 2018

Phil Mickelson Finds New Way to Keep Putt on the Green: Phil Mickelson intentionally hit a moving ball while putting at the U.S. Open Saturday, a move that should have resulted in his disqualification but didn't. He said on the broadcast he did it to stop the ball from rolling off the green. "I would gladly take the two shots over continuing that display," he said.

posted by rcade to golf at 07:59 PM - 1 comment

May 08, 2018

Detroit is Getting a PGA Tour Event: The city of Detroit is close to landing its first-ever PGA Tour event, a tournament that would begin in June 2019 at Detroit Golf Club when The National moved away from Washington D.C. with Quicken Loans as sponsor. Company founder Dan Gilbert has invested $5.6 billion in downtown development this decade and is also trying to bring in MLS Soccer.

posted by rcade to golf at 09:52 AM - 1 comment

February 28, 2018

Fools Rush In Where Scots and Augusta Members Fear To Tread: Notes and wanderings from the Waste Management Phoenix Open

posted by beaverboard to golf at 10:19 AM - 1 comment

August 25, 2017

Augusta Chairman Billy Payne Retires After 11 Years: Billy Payne is stepping down as chairman of Augusta National and The Masters. During his 11 years in the position, the club first admitted female members after going commercial free for two years to reject public pressure to make the move. Payne also played a role in the creation of the Asia-Pacific Amateur, the Latin America Amateur and the Drive, Chip and Putt children's competition. The Masters brings in over $115 million a year in revenue, up from $22 million 20 years ago.

posted by rcade to golf at 10:09 AM - 2 comments

June 26, 2017

Trump Runs Over the Biggest Rule of Golf Green Etiquette: Video shows President Trump driving a golf cart all over a green, an act of sacrilege against all that is holy in the sport. The first time I drove a cart I had the fear of God put into me about never doing this. "Driving on the green is the most unsettling thing Trump has done," Vince Roedmer tweeted.

posted by rcade to golf at 08:55 PM - 4 comments

April 30, 2017

Golf's Army of TV Rules Tattletales Just Lost Some Power: The United States Golf Association and Royal & Ancient have adjusted the rules of golf, normally revised every four years, in response to the Lexi Thompson traveshamockery. The Christian Science Monitor explains: "a player can avoid a penalty if the violation could not be noticed with the naked eye. In the other, officials can eliminate penalties if they feel players made a 'reasonable judgment' in taking a drop or replacing their golf balls on the putting green."

posted by rcade to golf at 05:45 PM - 6 comments

April 03, 2017

Lexi Thompson lost an LPGA major after a TV viewers email prompted a four-stroke penalty: Tiger Woods knows all too well how this feels. Dustin Johnson can identify. An eagle-eyed TV viewer, watching the LPGAs first major of the year, spotted day-old rules infractions that left Lexi Thompson in tears and, unlike with Woods, it cost her the lead and the second major title of her career.

posted by tommytrump to golf at 06:45 PM - 2 comments

September 25, 2016

RIP Arnold Palmer, 1929-2016: One of the all-time greats has passed.

posted by Etrigan to golf at 09:10 PM - 5 comments

August 07, 2016

Jim Furyk Scores First 58 in PGA History: Golfer Jim Furyk of Ponte Vedra, Florida, has turned in the lowest single-round score in the history of the PGA Tour. He shot a 12-under 58 Sunday in the final round of the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands. Six golfers had a 59 previously, including Furyk. No one had ever written "58" on his card at the end of a round. Asked how it feels to score 58, Furyk replied, "One worse than 57."

posted by rcade to golf at 04:17 PM - 4 comments

June 21, 2016

Dustin Johnson Won U.S. Open Without Knowing What His Score Would Be: The U.S. Open was finished Sunday without leader Dustin Johnson knowing if he'd be penalized a stroke. After his ball moved as he was preparing to putt on the fifth hole, a rules official told him on the 12th he might be penalized a stroke -- but a decision wouldn't be made until after the round. "Upon reflection, we regret the distraction caused by our decision to wait until the end of the round to decide on the ruling," the USGA said. "This created unnecessary ambiguity for Dustin and the other players, as well as spectators on site, and those watching and listening on television and digital channels." Jordan Speith called the situation a joke on Twitter.

posted by rcade to golf at 12:58 PM - 2 comments

May 19, 2016

British Open Drops Muirfield for Not Admitting Women: Muirfield has been dropped from the rotation of British Open courses after the club that owns it refused to end its ban on female members. A vote that could have allowed women to join the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers failed to get the necessary two-thirds vote, so when Phil Mickelson lifted the Claret Jug three years ago at Muirfield, it could be the last. A group that defeated the vote said, "A traditional resistance to change is one of the foundations of our unique position in golf and our reputation." Only one of the other nine courses that gets the Open has a gender restriction. Royal Troon, this year's site, has separate men's and women's clubs.

posted by rcade to golf at 08:51 AM - 4 comments

April 23, 2016

The Secret History of Tiger Woods: ESPN scribe Wright Thompson has penned a fascinating, sympathetic piece on the fall of Tiger Woods that tells an insider story with no help at all from the golfer. Before reading it I wasn't aware of how much his wish-fulfillment Navy SEAL training might have contributed to the ruptured ACL in his left knee that changed the trajectory of his career in 2007. One of many interesting quotes, from golfer Mark O'Meara: "If Tiger was around other professional athletes, storytelling would always have a nature of one-upmanship. If Tiger was around some sort of active or retired military personnel, he was all ears. He was genuinely interested in what they had to say. Any time he told a military-related story that he had heard or talked about a tactic he had learned, he had a smile on his face. I can't say that about anything else."

posted by rcade to golf at 07:05 PM - 1 comment

January 14, 2016

Golfer linked to multi-million dollar coke deal.: Coca-Colas link to golf dates to a sponsorship connection with Bobby Jones in the late 1940s. Now it is a key partner of the Tour Championship in Atlanta, which marks the lucrative conclusion to the FedEx Cup series.

posted by JJ to golf at 05:15 AM - 3 comments

November 24, 2015

Tiger Woods to be a Ryder Cup vice captain in 2016: Ian Poulter thinks it's a good idea. Rory McIlroy is "visibly surprised". Two questions arise: what can we infer from his acceptance of the role about the extent of his back injury, and why would Davis Love III want someone in the team room who hasn't played on a winning US team since 1999?

posted by JJ to golf at 08:15 AM - 7 comments

November 01, 2015

Steve Williams: Tiger Woods Treated Me Like a Slave: Bitter former Tiger Woods caddie Steve Williams has written a memoir in which he offers this specific complaint: "One thing that really pissed me off was how he would flippantly toss a club in the general direction of the bag, expecting me to go over and pick it up. I felt uneasy about bending down to pick up his discarded club, it was like I was his slave." Williams made an estimated $6 million in the job he compares to slavery.

posted by rcade to golf at 06:30 PM - 6 comments

April 29, 2015

Calvin Peete: who taught himself how to play golf at 24[!!] and became the most successful black player on the PGA Tour before the arrival of Tiger Woods, died Wednesday morning, the PGA Tour said. He was 71.

posted by rumple to golf at 02:02 PM - 3 comments

March 30, 2015

Tiger Woods Falls Out of Top 100 in Golf: Tiger Woods, who spent 683 weeks (over 13 years) atop the rankings of world golfers, has fallen out of the top 100. He's currently at 104 and sidelined with injury. In February the 39-year-old took an indefinite break from golf and called his play "not acceptable for tournament golf," but he's hoping to be back to play the Masters in April. He has won 14 Majors, the last in 2008 at the U.S. Open.

posted by rcade to golf at 10:52 AM - 8 comments