To be fair, to >90% of the population, all pro golf is a punchline to a joke
Hoping to make some money tomorrow. Need the Smash for the big score
Personally I gave LIV a shot, came into it with high hopes and thought that I would enjoy it. In NZ we watch all the Sunday coverage on Monday morning, so my morning routine is to wake up at 6am, go to the gym and then coffee, breakfast and golf until 10am-11.
I watched the first 4 events, almost all days. I found myself being drawn back into the PGA Tour though. The commentators on LIV donât actually focus on the golf tournament and constantly have random idle chatter about other things. Feherty is a great commentator but as a lead analyst heâs terrible.
And then thereâs the thing I thought I wouldnât care about but ended up caring about and now realize that is what makes the PGA Tour or any other tour so great. You can lose your job if you donât play well.
Something about seeing a guy make it for the win when it really matters or seeing a guy lose it all because itâs too much, the emotional crumble or the triumph. Itâs gripping to watch. I think I understand what people say when they say âthis means somethingâ, because it really does.
Golf on TV as a production maybe just isnât watchable enough without something else to draw you in and thatâs what the PGA Tour does well is build the drama for that.
Ben Griffin was a great example of that this week. Gave up the game, office job, now making the comeback. If anyone else saw that interview after the round it was almost the highlight of the whole tournament.
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You bring up a good point thatâs come up in soccer/football circles as well. What makes sport most interesting and watchable is when you have the most talented people at their craft in the world under extreme stress/peril/pressure and seeing what happens. When that element of risk/danger is removed, so is most of the interest
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how is it completely meaningless? I mean all golf is kind of meaningless in a way, but how is LIV more meaningless than the CJ Cup or John Deere?
PGA Tour wins carry a lot of weight because of the history behind the tour. Playersâ careers are measured by how many PGA Tour wins they have. That has been the biggest stage in pro golf for 50 years or whatever itâs been. Itâs a big deal even for someone like Jon Rahm to win a brand new event like last yearâs Mexico Open, simply because itâs a PGA Tour event.
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I understand history adds a lot of context and helps but new competitions can be created and be Upgrades over old ones: see the Premier League, Champions League, Euroleague,
Yeah it can happen, but it is difficult. I assume in those soccer examples they had to overcome the same initial problem having less âmeaningâ due to their lack of history.
I think meaningless is too strong a word. The way I see it is more of a lack of consequence for underperforming and lack of consequence for winning as well.
On the PGA TOUR winning guarantees you a job for two more years on the (now 2nd) most lucrative tour in the world. That also means that as a professional golfer you were all in, no backstops, no guarantees (mostly), chasing a dream that one day you would wear the crown over everyone else. Players are fighting for their livelihoods, for their families and glory. Its epic to watch and creates some incredible TV.
Remove that aspect and you just have some really good golfers playing golf well. Its also nice to watch but, from a viewers perspective its not nearly as enthralling.
That may come across as sort of selfish to the players, that the viewers need the spectacle of live or die by the sword to enjoy golf live on TV, however without that conduit they wouldnât have the mentioned above accolades or prestige. They are damned if they do and damned if they donât.
I think all the people who have played golf know how it feels when you need to make a putt or hit a shot and pull it off. Its an immense sense of self accomplishment that we can channel to vicariously live through whoever is that weeks victor.
I think that is what they mean when they say that winning or even being on the PGA TOUR has meaning.
I agree with this, but think itâs a relatively easy fix to kick off the bottom # of performers from LIV. Letâs face it PGA top golfers are also not really at risk of losing card either but I do think some big negative consequences would be a good addition