The Moonster Posted June 8, 2023 Share Posted June 8, 2023 7 minutes ago, sparky88 said: I'm assuming he would regret criticising it because he's just contradicted himself by saying that he's fine with PIF pouring money into golf. Yes he said he hates LIV, but he means the 54 hole 3 day competition. He's now fine with the sportswashing bit though. His argument is all over the place, it's hard to keep up. Yeah his problem now seems to be the 54 hole team event LIV, rather than the sportswashing bit. I have absolutely no doubt he will be lining up for the team event that he apparently hates before long. Do you want him to quit pro golf? The only other option is to soften your comments and get on with it. The coward here is Jay Monahan, he has sold his entire membership out. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheese Posted June 8, 2023 Share Posted June 8, 2023 I'm not sure what people want from McIlroy here tbh. He's been clear that he thinks that 54 hole shotgun starts and a half baked team concept, abandoning any idea of meritocracy with guaranteed money is dogshit and that having the Saudi government providing the funding and having a large controlling interest in the game of (professional) golf is probably bad. It's now being forced upon him and all he can do is suck it up because there's no other options for him. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Florentine_Pogen Posted June 8, 2023 Share Posted June 8, 2023 2 hours ago, Herc said: I'm not sure what people want from McIlroy here tbh. He's been clear that he thinks that 54 hole shotgun starts and a half baked team concept, abandoning any idea of meritocracy with guaranteed money is dogshit and that having the Saudi government providing the funding and having a large controlling interest in the game of (professional) golf is probably bad. It's now being forced upon him and all he can do is suck it up because there's no other options for him. Pretty much this. I think Rory is taking a bit of flak here because, IMHO, he had the balls (some may call it naiiveté) to make his position clear from a moral compass standpoint regarding the Saudi human rights issue. I would like to think that many of the players, LIV rebels excluded, share Rory's view but they obviously haven't been as successful as McIlroy, aren't as financially secure and therefore don't have his 'clout'. As is now being seen, even someone of Rory's stature gets emasculated once free market capitalism and an entity such as PIF ($650 billion, kids..) come together. As has been said, they are unstoppable......and it's not just golf. Anyhoo, if anyone is interested on the history of Saudi geopolitical clout and how it came to be, get on to BBC iPlayer and watch a docufilm by Adam Curtis called 'Bitter Lake'. Very, very interesting. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bairnardo Posted June 8, 2023 Share Posted June 8, 2023 I do feel for Rory a bit. He was, by being the sort of de facto spokesman, swimming in shark infested waters. His talk of "sporting integrity" was going up against "leveraging a bottomless pit of money to get your way". Whilst he probably doesn't regret things he said, I imagine he probably regrets letting others slowly build a soapbox underneath him, then subsequently blow it to bits. Paul McGinley IIRC, was talking recently about how Rory can't help but get involved in things other than his golf game and he maybe suffers for it. This will probably be the kick in the bollocks he needs to avoid that in future 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pozbaird Posted June 8, 2023 Share Posted June 8, 2023 (edited) Edit to add… just as a change from talking about the LIV clusterfcuk for a second… Anyone on here play computer golf on the PS4, PS5, X Box or PC? If so, are you into the new EA Sports game, or PGA 2K23, or both? I’m a PS4 man, PGA 2K23… Love the course designer and the multitude of fantastic courses to play, designed by guys like Arctic Fury. Edited June 8, 2023 by pozbaird 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bairnardo Posted June 8, 2023 Share Posted June 8, 2023 Anyway, back to real world golf..... Had a really good round today. Went round in net 1 under par. Only 3 putted a couple of times. Sank a couple of decent mid rangers but the main thing was I was getting them close enough for tap in 2 putts from all over the greens. Most pleasing though I guess was that despite a nonsensical 8, which I don't quite know how I managed, there were no chaotic, meltdown type holes where I fell apart, which is shown in going the full round on the same ball One 8, two 7s all of which were a bit silly really and could easily have been improved. Finally something that looks like genuine progress! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie_B Posted June 8, 2023 Share Posted June 8, 2023 Played my first round of the club match play today and won 6&5. The other guy was giving me six shots but he just had a nightmare - I think I beat him on all but one of the holes he was giving up a stroke on even without the handicap advantage. First hole summed it up - par three over the water, I dumped it in the water off the tee then thinned it through the back with my drop. Ended up with a six. He cleared the water then took five to get up and down from about 15 yards from the flag. Wee handicap cut as well this week, down to 21.3. If I could cut out the silly nonsense I could quite easily be under 20 by the end of the month… 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pozbaird Posted June 8, 2023 Share Posted June 8, 2023 1 hour ago, Jamie_Beatson said: Wee handicap cut as well this week, down to 21.3. If I could cut out the silly nonsense I could quite easily be under 20 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bring Back Paddy Flannery Posted June 8, 2023 Share Posted June 8, 2023 4 hours ago, pozbaird said: Edit to add… just as a change from talking about the LIV clusterfcuk for a second… Anyone on here play computer golf on the PS4, PS5, X Box or PC? If so, are you into the new EA Sports game, or PGA 2K23, or both? I’m a PS4 man, PGA 2K23… Love the course designer and the multitude of fantastic courses to play, designed by guys like Arctic Fury. I have both for PS5 but got extremely bored of 2K’s lack of career mode content. I’m mostly just playing the EA one at the minute and working through the career mode and all the challenges. Both have their pros and cons, it’s hard to completely favour one over the other. 2K’s career mode is pish but the online stuff is better, the course designer stuff is also a massive positive for 2K as well IMO. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funky_nomad Posted June 8, 2023 Share Posted June 8, 2023 https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/06/pgi-tour-liv-golf-antitrust-merger/674332/ 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheese Posted June 8, 2023 Share Posted June 8, 2023 15 minutes ago, funky_nomad said: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/06/pgi-tour-liv-golf-antitrust-merger/674332/ I think the DOJ will rubber stamp this. I don't think it was a coincidence that it's been announced during Secretary Blinken's visit to Saudi. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doulikefish Posted June 8, 2023 Share Posted June 8, 2023 Reading more about the merger it looks like they were all chucked under the bus (Monahan included) by the real bosses of the pga Ed Herlihy and the mighty dollar 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peasy23 Posted June 8, 2023 Share Posted June 8, 2023 42 minutes ago, Herc said: I think the DOJ will rubber stamp this. I don't think it was a coincidence that it's been announced during Secretary Blinken's visit to Saudi. No idea how it will pan out, but thus twitter thread explains a lot of it. It all comes down to the PGA Tour not being able to finance all their new prize finds that they announced last year. https://twitter.com/NathanCHubbard/status/1666853857178296321?t=X3s1Kktmb_lwRX59xM9Vfw&s=19 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamonds are Forever Posted June 8, 2023 Share Posted June 8, 2023 (edited) 11 hours ago, sparky88 said: I'm assuming he would regret criticising it because he's just contradicted himself by saying that he's fine with PIF pouring money into golf. Yes he said he hates LIV, but he means the 54 hole 3 day competition. He's now fine with the sportswashing bit though. His argument is all over the place, it's hard to keep up. Yeah his problem now seems to be the 54 hole team event LIV, rather than the sportswashing bit. I have absolutely no doubt he will be lining up for the team event that he apparently hates before long. Completely. All year he was the hero standing up against sportswashing, then yesterday he was saying in his press conference how good it was to get this money into the game of Golf. You either think it's sportswashing or you don't, it's not an opinion that can just change overnight because now it's funding your Tour. He's saying today that the players who didn't go to LIV deserve compensation, yet also says that the LIV players shouldn't be allowed straight back in, so what's the compensation for exactly? Allowing players who didn't move to be able to continue to play on the PGA Tour, without the LIV players? It's nonsense. 8 hours ago, Florentine_Pogen said: As is now being seen, even someone of Rory's stature gets emasculated once free market capitalism and an entity such as PIF ($650 billion, kids..) come together. As has been said, they are unstoppable......and it's not just golf. That's been obvious ever since they started this venture though, I don't see why it's only now there is a sudden, resigned realisation of this fact. These guys don't mess about and don't chuck that amount of money at something only to quit a year or two in. As I said up the thread, it was a mixture of arrogance and stupidity right from the start from the PGA that have led to this mess. The PGA realising/accepting the reality earlier on would have allowed a much more strategic approach to all this, and stop guys like Monohan and McIlroy looking pretty silly having to backtrack. Edited June 8, 2023 by Diamonds are Forever 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheese Posted June 8, 2023 Share Posted June 8, 2023 1 hour ago, peasy23 said: No idea how it will pan out, but thus twitter thread explains a lot of it. It all comes down to the PGA Tour not being able to finance all their new prize finds that they announced last year. https://twitter.com/NathanCHubbard/status/1666853857178296321?t=X3s1Kktmb_lwRX59xM9Vfw&s=19 Plus sponsors pulling out and others getting cold feet. Legal fees for years of litigation ahead at around $40M per annum. Without huge investment from somewhere, the Saudi's were going to bleed them dry. Which is why I think it will go ahead, as a deal at this stage still gives the PGA some control. If the deal collapses then the PGA are properly fucked because Monahan has just legitimised the Saudis with his "after 10 minutes of meeting him, I trusted him" stuff. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheese Posted June 8, 2023 Share Posted June 8, 2023 2 hours ago, doulikefish said: Reading more about the merger it looks like they were all chucked under the bus (Monahan included) by the real bosses of the pga Ed Herlihy and the mighty dollar Hard disagree here I'm afraid. Monahan has chucked himself under the bus multiple times. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheese Posted June 9, 2023 Share Posted June 9, 2023 (edited) Looks like this is still going ahead. Edited June 9, 2023 by Herc 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pozbaird Posted June 9, 2023 Share Posted June 9, 2023 As a couple of days pass, my view on McIlroy remains that his strong condemnation of the LIV tour, those jumping ship from the PGA to LIV, and the nature of the LIV funding from Saudi, was (and deep down inside him, still is) his actual, genuinely held view. He started off as a gobby youngster who mouthed off about the Ryder Cup and all sorts, but clearly, matured into a leading light on the PGA Tour, who seemed to talk a lot of sense and was highly regarded by his fellow professionals. I firmly believe Rory absolutely thought about it all in very simple terms - PGA good, LIV bad. I also believe he, like every player, had this ‘merger’ bombshell dropped on him and was totally blindsided. This is where my sympathy with Rory (and others who were on the ‘PGA good, LIV bad’ side of the argument) lies. I posted that I don’t know what Rory was now supposed to do as a professional golfer. Same as all professional golfers. It’s like the NFL. There’s only one organisation for American football and now, professional golf. The whole thing is way, way bigger than just McIlroy, or Woods, or Morikawa, or Spieth, or anyone. Here’s where my sympathy with McIlroy will end. Much as I reckon he had the carpet whipped from under him by snakes, he simply cannot start giving it the ‘this will be good for golf’ patter. He cannot start mouthing off about ‘oh I hated LIV, but it’s OK now’ type of U-Turn. If he hated it, and I believe he still does, then please Rory, just spare us from massive hypocracy and do not actually go from being a spokesman for the PGA to being a spokesman for the new umbrella. I think McIlroy’s heid’ is full of broken biscuits at present, but if he starts vocally U-Turning to such a degree that he slowly becomes a spokesperson for the new Saudi backed umbrella, then frankly, he can fcuk off. At present, I’m kinda’ still on his side, but any respect I have for him is in danger of being flushed down the pan. IMHO he needs to say a lot by saying nothing. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheese Posted June 9, 2023 Share Posted June 9, 2023 Best thing McIlroy could do is just keep his head down and concentrate on his golf seeing as the status quo will remain for 2023, but it won't happen as he'll be constantly asked about it as more details of the deal and what it means emerge. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lichtie23 Posted June 9, 2023 Share Posted June 9, 2023 21 minutes ago, Herc said: Best thing McIlroy could do is just keep his head down and concentrate on his golf seeing as the status quo will remain for 2023, but it won't happen as he'll be constantly asked about it as more details of the deal and what it means emerge. Aye. Head down and start winning majors again. Go complete the grand slam 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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