Something being around for decades is not a reason for meaning. Lots of golf has been played forever and fans don’t give it meaning now. The premier league was brand new in 1993, think it has more meaning than the US Open Cup?
I’m curious to see who comes out of this with little to no damage. There’s a decent amount of relevant guys on LIV.
I’m also grateful that LIV gave us the AK redemption story. I was pretty young and not a big golf follower when he was around so I had no memories of his birdie round at the Masters or his Ryder Cup. I knew the guy but his comeback gave me a chance to go back and learn more about his short lived « domination » 15 years ago. I remember when his name popped on twitter and they started teasing him with videos of his swing with a blacked out silouhette.
Not sure what happens to him on the golf side now, but I enjoyed his comeback and win in Australia.
Yeah same here, and Bryson has won me a fair chunk of change these last 2 years. But with this and Bet365 coming to Michigan it at least means I don’t have any reason to drive the 20 minutes south to Indiana in the middle of my workday.
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Yeah it’s pretty crazy that AK was able to come back and put up one of the 10 best results of his career:
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Do we think PGAT will take over the big hit events like Australia and S Africa? Those are my favorite parts of LIV and a thriving LIV likely would have S Korea and Japan alongside them.
Will be interesting how An, Detry, Ortiz etc level players get treated when returning.
Let’s talk about meaning. I will take a random event from last year on the PGA Tour. As a result of winning the Rocket Classic, Aldrich Potgeiter directly got into the Masters, the PGA Championship, the Players Championship, and this week’s Heritage event (in lieu of the Sentry). He got a two year exemption on Tour, and the points earned at that event qualified him for the playoff. All that stuff from a win. That is meaning.
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So Anthony Kim winning promotions event had meaning?
It had some… if the events he was getting into had meaning.
By DG points, sure. What about by SG?
Right but my point is the puntacana or the Sanderson farms or whatever don’t have „meaning“ except they had a clearer pathway to getting into majors. The PGAT basically bullied the majors into shunning LIV which was the tipping point imo
They didn’t bully anything. OWGR kept them out because what little qualification structure they had was flimsy at best. The way 95% of their tour was selected was by invitation. The first two years there was actually zero meritocracy.
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That’s not at all why OWGR kept them out. PGAT used influence to keep LIV from getting points, getting good media deals and coverage or getting on good courses
It was entirely the fact that entry into the league and events were not meritorious.
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Incredible that people actually buy this line. The propaganda (and control of media) was so total
How so?
Bear in mind you are talking to somebody who knows how exemptions work in pro golf and often corrects or consults media when they get things wrong. I independently came to the conclusion based on my own knowledge of the pro golf ecosystem after a decade or so of studying it in detail. The notion that conclusion was the result of brainwashing and propaganda reeks of projection, all due respect.
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There was obviously no problem for data golf to rate LIV golfers and events. The OWGR clearly would have no problem either.
I can’t speak for Will and Matt, but I am sure that added extra challenges to their calculations. Their rankings are accomplishing different things from the OWGR, though. The simple fact is that LIV, especially pre-promotion event days was a closed system that people didn’t earn their way on or off of. There were not exemption criteria for their events, like there is every other OWGR sanctioned tour. That is important because it allows you to blend into the golf ecosystem.
Without that meritorious entry, the people you are competing against may not be up to quality. People aren’t earning their way in.
The PGA Tour isn’t perfect in that regard. Sponsor exemptions (which have more restrictions than people think) aren’t the best look, but make up a small portion of the field.
What other OWGR-sanctioned tour or event is invite only with no exemption criteria? Don’t say the Hero: 17 of the 20 spots are top OWGR.
It’s not hard to judge a field strength. This website does it every week. LIV has access and demotions from the Tour and is very easily judgable, the OWGR got bullied
It is when you have a closed system whose sole exemption criteria is who took the money. It is hard to describe unless you have tried to do it before.
I think I am done here. I am not a fan of discussing things with people who are not arguing in good faith.
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I mean I don’t think the authors of this website think it is too hard to judge right? Do you think the Datagolf rankings are just inaccurate now?
If the LIV guys only played LIV I would understand but lots play other events which makes it not too tough