{"id":3956,"date":"2023-08-03T10:51:44","date_gmt":"2023-08-03T10:51:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/?p=3956"},"modified":"2023-08-11T15:28:54","modified_gmt":"2023-08-11T15:28:54","slug":"on-the-pga-tour-being-opposed-to-the-ball-rollback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/golf\/personalities\/3956\/on-the-pga-tour-being-opposed-to-the-ball-rollback","title":{"rendered":"On the PGA Tour Being Opposed to the Ball Rollback"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Jay<\/a>

Jay Monahan<\/p><\/div>\n

Last week PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan, coming off an extended leave of absence due to anxiety issues, issued a wide-ranging statement on a variety of issues. The one that piqued my attention was the Tour\u2019s current <\/i>position, following the recent Player Advisory Council (PAC) meeting, on the proposed Modified Local Rule by the USGA and R&A on rolling back the ball for elite players.<\/p>\n

The statement in part read: \u201cFollowing a discussion on the topic at a recent PAC meeting, we have notified the USGA and The R&A that while the PGA TOUR is committed to collaborating with them \u2013 and all industry partners \u2013 to arrive at a solution that will best serve our players, our fans and the game at all levels, we are not able to support the MLR as proposed.\u201d<\/p>\n

This position is not surprising. First, the majority of Tour players are NOT in favor of this local rule aimed at them and elite amateurs. Most of the Tour players have money deals with the major ball manufacturers and so naturally they\u2019re not going to bite the hands that feeds (er pays) them. Plus their agents, whose job is to maximize their client\u2019s wallets, are also adamantly opposed to any rollback.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After Monahan was widely roasted by his players for keeping them in the dark on the proposed \u201cmerger of sorts\u201d between the PGA Tour and LIV Tour, he had to stand with the PAC on its opposition to the proposed ball rule\u2014set to be implemented in 2026 (!). And this week, it was announced Tiger Woods would join the Tour\u2019s policy board making players, not independent directors, the majority of its make-up. Players are now in control on decisions re major issues.<\/p>\n

Second, the PGA Tour\u2019s primary mission is to advance its Tour, its players and sponsors. Like the television and streaming networks, the Tour is in the entertainment business, committed to providing a popular product to sell and to market. In its thinking, players \u2018going low\u2019 on courses that are now too short, makes for more birdies and eagles\u2014creating more cheers from the fans and viewers. That\u2019s also why the PGA Tour tournaments almost invariably invokes the \u201clift, clean and place\u201d local rule when dealing with soggy courses. They want scores to be lower.<\/p>\n

\"Sandy<\/a>

Sandy Tatum<\/p><\/div>\n

Unlike the USGA and R&A, the PGA Tour is not a rule-making body in charge of, in the famous words of the late USGA President Sandy Tatum, \u201cmaintaining the essential challenge of the game.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The USGA and R&A have kicked this can down the road too long and in spite of the overwhelming evidence that continued long distance effects of technology (mainly, the ball) is not sustainable. \u201cDoing nothing is not an option,\u201d said USGA CEO Mike Whan.<\/p>\n

The one positive aspect in Monahan\u2019s statement is his use of the phrase \u201cas proposed.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>It could be interpreted that the Tour might support some sort of compromise or tweaking of the Modified Local Rule (MLR)<\/p>\n

Yet, it\u2019s hard to conceive how the MLR could be altered to serve the interests of both parties but one never knows.<\/p>\n

But even if the Tour and possibly the PGA of America, yet to release its official position, oppose the MLR, three of the four majors will proceed with the new rule in 2026: the Masters, the U.S. Open and the Open Championship.<\/p>\n

As in the case of the rule banning anchoring of a long putter against the chest, the players will eventually get over the adoption of the rolled back ball. And the wisdom of Sandy Tatum will prevail.<\/p>\n

Images courtesy of the PGA Tour and USGA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan, coming off an extended leave of absence due to anxiety issues, issued a… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":3958,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,7,19164],"tags":[1036836,2732,1034165,1036647,166688,1036649,83,2832,53],"class_list":["post-3956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-golf","category-personalities","category-offcourse","tag-pga-tour","tag-r-amp-a","tag-jay-monahan","tag-ball-rollback","tag-mike-whan","tag-sandy-tatum","tag-usga","tag-terry-moore","tag-tiger-woods"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/08\/as-sandy-tatum-usga-podium.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3956","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=3956"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3956\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3976,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3956\/revisions\/3976"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}