Category: Golf Channel

The “Dead” Presidents Cup

Presidents Cup Trophy Photo courtesy of bvmsports.com

I forced myself to watch a little bit of the Presidents Cup on Thursday, with hopes the International squad was going to do something exciting against the American team.  Of course, it was the same old song, the United States finished the day with a 5-0 sweep.

The coverage? The same old NBC Sports/Golf Channel coverage, not much golf and a lot of nonsense.

The Canadian fans were as dull as a butter knife. Not event Tom Kim could bring those people to cheer.

The course looked beautiful on television, but that is as far as I can go on praising this event.

The International team is taking on an American team that cannot be beaten without the best International players.

Before you go on to say the event is a PGA Tour sanctioned event therefore LIV Golf players are not eligible, I will not disagree with you.

Having said that, let me say to you the PGA Tour always do whatever they want to do as long as it is convenient for the PGA Tour.  They change the rules as they please time and time again.

The International team did not have a chance to begin with. You cannot compete without the best international players on your team. With all do respect to Captain Weir, he did not pick the best international players to win this competition.

Like it or not, the best international players at this moment are in LIV Golf. Again, the PGA Tour changes the rules all the time, they could have done the same this time and allow Captain Weir a chance to pick a winning team.

Having said that, I am not sure if Captain Weir even brought up the subject, so I am going to assume he toed the line and went along with whatever the PGA Tour mafia told him to do.

It is a shame, but this competition has become a joke. You cannot expect to be taken seriously when the best players are not in the field.

These are not the best international players in the world. On the other hand, these are the best American payers in the world, even ignoring the corrupt OWGR system.

Which players got left out from consideration? Abraham Ancer, Carlos Ortiz, Joaquin Niemann, Dean Burmester, Louis Oosthuizen, Cameron Smith, Lucas Herbert, Anirban Lahiri, Marc Leishman, Sebastian Munoz, and Mito Pereira. These guys are the hottest international players in LIV Golf, hands down.

Go to the DPWT, and the list is even bigger. No Triston Lawrence on the International Team? Seriously?

As the great William Shakespeare once wrote, “Heavy is the head that wears the crown.” Unfortunately, the PGA Tour does not understand their responsibility and the importance of having the best players in the field, regardless of tour or corrupt OWGR influence.

A Man Without Conviction

Rory McIlroy

Rory McIlroy Photo courtesy of golfdigestme.com

There is no doubt, Rory McIlroy is one of the best professional golfers in the world. His accomplishments are well documented and he can be a very entertaining golfer when his game is on.

Unfortunately, this is not what McIlroy has been remembered for as of late.

Since the creation of LIV Golf, McIlroy chose to be the de-facto leader of the PGA Tour. Taking on LIV Golf, Phil Mickelson, and the great Greg Norman, he decided to interject on something he obviously did not have much knowledge of.

For over a year, press conference, after press conference, McIlroy has sounded like PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan’s loudspeaker, unlike Jon Rahm who decided to concentrate on his game and stayed above the pettiness of it all.

Nobody can deny the fact, LIV Golf has changed the face of professional golf and has forced the PGA Tour to be transparent. McIlroy is making more money because Phil Mickelson and LIV Golf shined a light on the PGA Tour’s alleged financial shenanigans.

As a result of McIlroy’s lack of attention, and self appointed leadership role, his own game has suffered and it seems his mental health has taken a hit. His performance at the 2023 Masters was dismal and he chose to disappear for over four weeks, missing his second PGA Tour “Elevated Event” of the season.

According to him, he needed a mental health break from golf. I have to admit, I needed a mental health break from all his nonsense.

This evening, I watched his interview with Golf Channel’s Kyra Dixon and I have to say, he sounded like a man without conviction. His weak answers were telling and it showed me he is not ready to return to the “Big Time” yet.

McIlroy looked more like a lost teenager than a professional golfer on a mission.

My unsolicited advice? Rory McIlroy needs to pay more attention to his own professional career and leave the adults in the room deal with the nuisances of the Tour.

Has he learned his lesson? Only time will tell.

The Continuous Trip Down Irrelevancy Road

Brandel Chamblee

Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee. Photo courtesy of golfnewsri.com

Another week and another opportunity for Brandel Chamblee to make a fool of himself on national television.

On Monday’s episode of Live From The PGA Championship, Chamblee went on a full frontal attack against Phil Mickelson and LIV Golf.

Along with Rich Lerner and Paul McGinley, they were discussing Phil Mickelson’s recent Twitter spat with the USGA and his use of vulgar language. Seriously? Vulgar language?

Chamblee went on to say Mickelson was riding a high after his second place finished at The Masters and that was one of the reasons why he was going after the “establishment.”

He stated that Tiger Woods, not Phil Mickelson, was responsible for the increase in PGA Tour purses. This is laughable to say the least. Phil Mickelson sounding the horn on the PGA Tour alleged financial shenanigans and the emergence of LIV Golf were part of the reasons why the Tour came up with all the changes and increase in purses.

As he went on, Chamblee insinuated Augusta National was a hacker’s paradise.

He alleged Mickelson’s second place finish at The Masters was expected because Augusta National is where, and I am paraphrasing, ‘has been’ golfers go for a second wind, including the likes of Jack Nicklaus in 1986. Say what?

He continued to spew his normal garbage about how LIV Golf was losing lawsuits and players were not happy. According to Chamblee, Mickelson made a lot of promises he did not fulfilled and players were complaining about it.

I do not know where Chamblee is getting his bad information, but LIV Golf players are pretty happy and people are watching more and more.

He continued to ramble about Mickelson, insider trading, and all kind of nonsense that had nothing to do with golf, nor golf fans care about.

Chamblee’s LIV Golf Derangement Syndrome is real and it only continues to make him look like small and irrelevant.

The King Of Woke Does It Again!

Rich Lerner Of The (Woke) Golf Channel

The King of Woke, Rich Lerner of The Golf Channel

I was watching the USGA Women’s Amateur when I heard Rich Lerner come up with another one of his ridiculous gems.

He was talking about a reunion of all past U.S. Amateur champions when he mentioned the name of Fred Ridley.

He first referred to Fred Ridley as “Chairman” of Augusta National, then caught himself using the NBC Sports non-approved pronoun and immediately changed it to “Chairperson.”

Well Rich, the last time I checked, Fred Ridley still not only a person, but also a man. So, yes, Mr. Ridley is the chairman of Augusta National and you looked like a buffoon on national television.

I know you work for a company that is drunk on woke, but come on man, do not be that kind of stupid. At this point you are just an embarrassment.

What happened to you Rich? You used to be a person we could trust to call it the way it was.

A Buffoon By Another Name

Golf Channel’s Eamon Lynch

Eamon Lynch Photo courtesy of eamonlynch.com

Folks, as LIV Golf Derangement Syndrome continues its path to become a mental health pandemic, people like Eamon Lynch keeps reminding us, it is real and it is here to stay.

Between him and his cohost Damon Hack, they cannot stay away from talking about LIV Golf and complaining about the Saudi connection.

Frankly, it has gotten pretty old. Everyone knows where the money is coming from and most people do not care. No matter how much Lynch wants to make it an issue, the people who most matter, the players, have dismissed it.

Lynch, who is openly gay, wants to make LIV Golf about gay issues. Saudi Arabia is not the only Muslim country in the world who does not approve of homosexuality, that is a fact.

It seems to me, Lynch is only complaining about Saudi Arabia because they are the ones financing LIV Golf and his personal disdain towards LIV Golf CEO, Greg Norman.

I am in the camp of live and let live, but Lynch wants to inject his personal lifestyle into the golf conversation.

For People like Lynch, if you do not agree with his world view, you are the problem, so he will insult you and attempt to intimidate you into seeing things his way.

He complained about Paul Casey when he was asked by Christine Brennan, another media hack from USA Today, about the treatment of gays in Saudi Arabia.

Paul Casey’s answer was that he was not knowledgeable enough about the subject to answer the question. As a rational human being, I believe that was an honest answer, but to an agenda driven person like Lynch, it was not enough.

Listening to Lynch, he sounds petty and small. Lynch will serve his audience best by keeping his personal agenda away from the game.

Live and let live Eamon!