Elevated or Just Hot Air
As we all know, the PGA Tour, and its commissioner, Jay Monahan, are trying everything they can do to diminish the impact LIV Golf has had in professional golf.
From using their cheerleaders at the Golf Channel, the lame golf media, and the United States court system, the PGA Tour wants to totally erase LIV Golf from the face of the earth. Of course, that is not going to happen.
As part of their strategy, and in order to bring the “best” players in the world together, one of the tools they implemented was the designation of “elevated” events in order to have the top players in the world on the field to battle it out.
It sounds great, but let us be honest, without the likes of Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, and Cameron Smith, a PGA Tour event does not have the “best” players in the world on the field. But that is a whole different conversation.
The following is the 2023 schedule of designated “elevated” events, in addition to the Major Championships, and the winners so far. (OWGR at the start of the tournament week.)
Jan. 5-8: Sentry Tournament of Champions $15,00,000 (Jon Rahm) OWGR Ranking: 5
Feb. 9-12: Waste Management Phoenix Open $20,00,000 (Scottie Scheffler) OWGR: 2
Feb. 16-19: The Genesis Invitational $20,00,000 (Jon Rahm) OWGR: 3
March 2-5: Arnold Palmer Invitational $20,00,000 (Kurt Kitiyama) OWGR: 46
March 9-12: The Players Championship $25,00,000
March 23-26: WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play $20,00,000
April 6-9: Masters Tournament $15,00,000
April 13-16: RBC Heritage $20,00,000
May 4-7: Wells Fargo Championship $20,00,000
May 19-22: PGA Championship $15,00,000
June 1-4: The Memorial Tournament $20,00,000
June 15-18: U.S. Open $17,50,000
June 22-25: Travelers Championship $20,00,000
July 20-23: The Open Championship $14,00,000
Aug. 10-13: FedEx St. Jude Championship $20,00,000
Aug. 17-20: BMW Championship $20,00,000
Aug. 24-27: Tour Championship $75,00,000(includes bonus)
In a nutshell, the top 20 players will have to play in all the 13 designated “elevated” events with the option of only being able to skip one during the season. For example, Rory McIlroy chose to skip the SENTRY Tournament of Champions; therefore, he has to play the remaining 12 events for the season.
But, hold on a minute, hypocrisy is fixing to kick-in. As reported this week at the Players Championship, moving forward into the 2024 season, the Tour Policy Board voted to make the designated “elevated” events, limited field events with “no cut” format.
This is highly hypocritical from a tour who has mocked LIV Golf for not having cuts as part of their tournament’s format and a limited field. Now, it is all good because it is the PGA Tour doing it.
Even the biggest hypocrite, Rory McIlroy, stated this week “The emergence of LIV has benefited everyone who plays professional golf.” He went on to say, “this has caused a ton of innovation at the PGA Tour, and what was an antiquated system has been revamped to mirror where we’re in the world.”
Innovation, meaning they are going to steal LIV Golf ideas and make them their own. The PGA Tour is such a sad joke. An organization that lacks integrity and principles is not worth anybody’s time or effort.
As to McIlroy, I never thought he was the most intelligent person in the world, so to hear him say theses things after two years of criticizing LIV Golf, LIV Golf players, and LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman, it’s not only expected, but predictable.
In my opinion, McIlroy is a clown, and his flip-flopping regarding LIV Golf shows that he is not the best at handling a juggling act. He is the designated PGA Tour “useful idiot”, and he has done an excellent job at it, while Monahan sits and watches on the sidelines.
So far, the designated “elevated” events for the 2023 season have delivered some level of competition.
Having said that, I think in order for this to work, you cannot have the #46 ranked player in the world, whooping the top 20 ranked players in the world on these “elevated” events. If this were to become the norm, I do not think it would bode well for the tour or the sponsors.
With all due respect to Kurt Kitayama, but sponsors do not want the #46 ranked player in the world winning a tournament with the likes of Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy in them. Kitayama moved to #19 in the official world golf rankings after his victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
So, as The Players Championship is on its on its way, a little known PGA Tour player by the name of Chad Ramey who is ranked as the #225th player in the world by the official world golf rankings, is leading the way after shooting a 64.
Is that is going to be the “product” the PGA Tour is going to sell as “elevated”, they may have to come up with a better plan. Hot air is not going to sell.
As a side note, after shooting an opening round 76, I would suggest McIlroy concentrates on his game and leave the adults in the room and administrative types deal with the tour shenanigans.