{"id":3595,"date":"2022-06-23T19:26:11","date_gmt":"2022-06-23T19:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/?p=3595"},"modified":"2022-06-23T19:26:11","modified_gmt":"2022-06-23T19:26:11","slug":"the-power-struggle-between-the-pga-tour-and-liv-golf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/uncategorized\/3595\/the-power-struggle-between-the-pga-tour-and-liv-golf","title":{"rendered":"The power struggle between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"James<\/a>

James Piot is a LIV Golf player<\/p><\/div>\n

A late friend used to observe that most major scandals and controversies revolve around one of three elements: power, money and sex.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The matter of LIV Golf versus the PGA Tour is only lacking sex, but give it time. For certain, it\u2019s all about power and money as name players defect from the PGA Tour, the game\u2019s most competitive tour, and sign on to the Saudi-backed LIV Golf, earning guaranteed money in the millions and hundreds of millions of dollars.<\/p>\n

The pride of Michigan, James Piot, signed on to the LIV Golf, receiving a guaranteed \u201csigning\u201d money of anywhere from one to five million dollars. On top of that, he\u2019ll cash in $120,000 per tournament even if he finishes last. It\u2019s hard to turn down that largesse, especially\u00a0 <\/span>knowing Piot would be a long shot to earn his PGA Tour card next year.<\/p>\n

Turmoil and disruption involving rival sports organizations is nothing new. I grew up watching the upstart American Football League go head to head with the National Football League. Later, the American Basketball Assn. fought the National Basketball Assn. Remember how Julius Erving, aka Dr. J, helped to legitimize the ABA by signing on, thus paving the way for a merger between the two sports entities.<\/p>\n

\"Gordie<\/a>

Gordie Howe went to the WHL after retiring from the NHL<\/p><\/div>\n

Detroit\u2019s beloved Gordie Howe was not immune from jumping to a rival league, though it was after his retirement in 1971. Two years later he joined 67 NHL players, including Bobby Hull, to sign with the World Hockey League and to play with his sons for the WHL\u2019s Houston Aeros. Eventually, there was a merger between the two leagues.<\/p>\n

Looking at the dynamics and rhetoric between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour, I don\u2019t see a merger as a final outcome. Most likely, more concessions and alterations to the existing practices of the PGA Tour will follow such as what happened this week prior to the Traveler\u2019s Championship in Conn.<\/p>\n

\"Matt<\/a>

Matt Fitzpatrick<\/p><\/div>\n

On top of the latest defections of Brooks Koepka and Abraham Anser to LIV, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan announced that purses for eight events will increase to an average of $20 million next year. He also announced a new international series and a revamped calendar schedule, dropping the wraparound season.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

All of this is the PGA Tour\u2019s attempt to keep its card-carrying millionaires in the fold and fight off LIV Golf, led by the polarizing Greg Norman. Given all the sharp knives brandished in this battle, Norman should make a guest appearance on \u201cThe Shark Tank.\u201d<\/p>\n

Compared to the drama of last weekend\u2019s US Open at The Country Club and the Meijer LPGA Classic at Blythefield, I can\u2019t get too excited about the LIV Golf\u2019s 54-hole, no-cut, shotgun-start tournaments. It all smacks of a very lucrative exhibition series, akin to some of snoozy prime time offerings with Tiger and Phil and other sports icons. It\u2019s far from \u201cmust watch\u201d TV as seen last week.<\/p>\n

Matthew Fitzpatrick and Will Zalatoris battling it out on the 72nd hole of the US Open, thinking a first-ever two-hole aggregate playoff was next up, was absolutely thrilling.<\/p>\n

\"B99C22EC-60D3-4C83-AD48-3D31EEA2767F\"<\/a>

Jennifer Kupcho<\/p><\/div>\n

Likewise, Jennifer Kupcho\u2019s win in a sudden death playoff against Nelly Korda and Leona Maguire at Blythefield CC on Sunday was equally exciting. You have to hand it to the LPGA Tour for delivering a world-class field of players week after week. LPGA stars don\u2019t regularly skip tournaments or play in alternate foreign events. The LPGA is the gold standard of\u00a0 competition for women\u2019s golf in the world.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure how this will all shake out, other than a lot of golfers and their agents will be making even more money. But in the interim, let me announce over the PA system:<\/p>\n

\u201cLawyers, start your engines.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

images courtesy of the GAM, NHL, USGA and the LPGA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A late friend used to observe that most major scandals and controversies revolve around one of three elements: power, money… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":3598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,9,7],"tags":[1034163,1034164,1034165,980472,1418,762,1036836,64,975936,1028400,1035140],"class_list":["post-3595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-golf","category-personalities","tag-matt-fitzpatrick","tag-jennifer-kupcho","tag-jay-monahan","tag-gordie-howe","tag-lpga","tag-greg-norman","tag-pga-tour","tag-us-open","tag-meijer-lpga-classic","tag-james-piot","tag-liv-golf"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2022\/06\/BCE3FBA9-CE9C-43DD-ACC9-F5033D3D7173.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3595"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3595\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3607,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3595\/revisions\/3607"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}