Category: Sports

The Super League; the Hypocrisy of the PGA Tour and Human Rights

In the last few weeks, the Golf Super League has become a sore subject for the PGA Tour, the European Tour, and the governing bodies.  Understandably so, for these entities the monopoly has been good and profitable.  For me it has become an issue of blatant hypocrisy.

Now, the powers have recruited their minions in the media to peddle a narrative about the Super League and their funding sources.  There is no secret Saudi Arabia is funding the endeavor, but for the PGA Tour to be outraged by this is hypocritical at best.

The European Tour has a sanctioned event played in Saudi Arabia, the Saudi International, with big names attending and handsomely paid for their appearance.  I have not seen any outrage from the governing bodies.

But let us get to the meat and potatoes of this new anti-Saudi campaign.  They claim the money is coming from a country with serious human rights violations.  That is correct, Saudi Arabia has a dismal human rights record, and it should be held accountable for it. 

If human rights violations are the barometer used by the ruling bodies to make their case against Saudi Arabia, they are in for much bigger surprises.

Let us start with one of the biggest human rights violators in the world, China.  One of the most prestigious tournaments on the schedule, the WGC-HSBC Championship is played in China.  Where is the outrage by the folks at the Golf Channel and PGA Tour Radio? 

China’s persecution of human rights defenders, internet censorship, lack of freedom of religion, are only a few of the long list of continuous human rights violations promoted by the Chinese Communist Party.

Another place where the tour has a footprint is India.  India is another country with major human rights violations, including arbitrary arrests and detentions, restrictions on freedom of expression, unfair trials, and unlawful attacks and killings of its citizens.  This is just to name a few.

South Africa is also a serious human rights violator, but the European Tour has no problem conducting their business with the South African government.  Among their violations:  excessive use of force, unlawful killings, gender-based violence, to name a few.

This is just a short example of the hypocrisy perpetrated by the golf ruling bodies when it comes to Saudi Arabia and the Super League.

If the people at Golf Channel, PGA Tour Radio, PGA Tour, European PGA Tour, the R&A, and PGA of America, want to condemn Saudi Arabia for their dismal human rights record, by all means, but you can’t have a double standard when it comes to human rights violations.

These organizations need to do some serious soul searching about their business practices and how they support countries who are major players in the human rights violation arena. Otherwise, it is time to put a lid on it and let the free market decide.

Opinion: Is the PGA Tour afraid of the Super League Golf ? Absolutely!

Do not leave the PGA Tour or else pally! Image courtesy of Getty Images.

PGA Commissioner Jay Moynahan threatens players with possible expulsions from the PGA Tour, Rory McIlroy says “is a money grab”, and PGA of America CEO, Seth Waugh, says “be careful of what you wish for”.

Well, well, well, that is easy to say by someone like McIlroy who has made millions on endorsement deals and PGA/European Tour victories.  But ask the guy looking from the outside, or who’s career is on the downside, and he may think is a great idea to earn a set salary while playing golf for a few weeks a year.

What is the Super League Golf?  According to ESPN.com, “Originally, plans were for an 18-event schedule from January to September with 48-player fields and $10 million purses each week, with a season-ending team championship.  The Premier Golf League would offer the top players $30 million up front with a share of the teams they would be part of. Those teams would compete week to week, with individual results also logged and big-money purses for each tournament”.

It sounds like good old competition to me.  The PGA of America and the PGA and European Tour posture on this appears to be disingenuous to say the least, more life mafia type strong-arming.

Speaking of money grabs, the PGA Tour has established a $40 million Player Impact Program which will only reward the top 10 players on tour based on their popularity and not their skills.  That is a nice “money grab” like McIlroy would say, and for under achieving advertising magnate Ricky Fowler, that should be a nice pay day.

Give me a break!  I thought professional golf was about entertainment, giving back to the community, etc., etc., etc.   Excuse me, it is about business and profits, otherwise Moynahan would not be sweating bullets and issuing threats like a third world dictator.  If the PGA Tour is such a good an honest product; what is there to be afraid of?

This season alone, the PGA Tour is looking at giving out over $500 million dollars between the FedEx Cup, tournament wins, and bonuses.  Do not forget, in 2022, they will kick a $700 million television deal with NBC, which for sure will contribute to higher purses and bonuses.

Of course, the European Tour is lock in step with the PGA Tour in their opposition to the Super League.  But let us not forget, the European Tour is pretty much a lap dog of the PGA Tour since the PGA Tour has a controlling stake of the Euro Tour.  Who says money grabbing is not a good thing?  Right Rory?

Let us face it, the PGA and European Tour are afraid the top players are going to be lured by the idea of making millions of dollars in what, for all intent and purposes, is nothing more than a very lucrative Tuesday Night Men’s League.

I look at it with a different lens.  Moynahan is threatening players, independent contractors, with expulsion from the Tour.  But who would be the ultimate loser? 

Who the fans want to see?  Dustin Johnson or the 125th player on the money list?  If Johnson decides he wants to join the league; are you going to expel the #1 ranked player in the world from the Tour?  Do not be a fool Jay!

On the other hand, if the 126th player on the money list could make several millions by playing on the Super League Golf: why not?

For marquee players like McIlroy is easy to seat there and open his mouth about money, after all, he does not have to worry about it.

At the end of the day, it is a business and competition is always healthy.

I, for one, would love to see the Super League Golf come into fruition.  The PGA Tour has made several boneheaded moves in the last year, and frankly, I am ready for an alternative.

I just want to watch golf for its entertainment value, and if the PGA and European Tours cannot deliver a bias free product, then perhaps is time for a new and fresher option.  Let the free market decide.

To the USGA: Arm-Lock Putting is Anchored Putting

To Anchor or Not to Anchor…..

Putting is my favorite thing to do while playing golf.  So much so, I have a putting green in my basement and a bunch of putters laying around, including several Scotty Cameron’s made specifically for me.

I was never a fan of anchored long putters because it provided a crutch to those players who were not good putters or did not practiced enough to be a good putter. 

I still think that allowing the usage of long putters on tour should not be allowed and it opens the door to scrutiny as has been the case with Scott McCarron and Bernhard Langer on the Champions Tour.

The governing bodies banned anchored putting on January 2016; but did they? 

Introducing Arm-lock putting.  Let us be honest, Arm-lock putting is nothing more than anchoring a putter grip to your forearm restricting a “free flowing swing”. Was this a compromised to appease the “yipsters” out there on the professional tours?

Arm-lock putting may not be the textbook definition of “the player’s forearm held against his or her body to establish a stable point”.  By locking the grip, or “resting the grip against the forearm” the putter is technically locked against the body and therefore establishing a stable point.

Whatever the reason behind it, it is still anchoring by another name and it should be banned all together.  Putting requires skill, grit, patience, and controlling one’s nerves under stress. 

To me, skillful putting is what separates a Major Champion from a journeyman, and it should be preserved in its purest form.

It is time for the USGA and the R&A to right this wrong. Make putting great again!

https://www.usga.org/content/dam/usga/images/rules/anchoring/understanding-anchored-strokes.pdf

The Super “Woke” Bowl LV and Jeep

We have never been “Ununited” Image courtesy of prosportsextra.com

I have not watched regular season football for about 4 years.  I watch the Super Bowl because normally the commercials are funny and it give us an excuse to make phenomenal finger food.

This year, the commercials were not funny, but very dark in nature, except for Doritos 3D Chips commercial with Matthew McConaughey and a couple of others.

You would have thought that after the tough year the country had in 2020, advertising agencies would have been trying to uplift the country with funny commercials.

Instead they went with the phony message of “doom and gloom” and “unity” while they remained silent for four years as the country was burnt to the ground by Antifa and other domestic leftist groups.

That takes me to the most ridiculous, and woke, commercial; the Jeep commercial with known communist Bruce Springsteen as their spokesperson. 

Are you serious?  I would have expected a commercial like that from a company like Subaru, which caters to the more socially sensitive crowd, not Jeep who claims to be tough as nails and an “All American” company.

Their main point, “The Reunited States of America”, was a complete joke.  There is nothing “ununited” about the United States.  Only people who wish to make the United States into some utopian society where everything is given, nothing earned, and where everybody is to be a victim instead of a fighter.

I always associated the Jeep brand with American toughness and American pride, but they chose a known American hating communist to be their spokesperson. 

Bruce Springsteen is a pathetic old man, his music is barely recognized by the younger generation, and it is for all intent and purposes, irrelevant.

The least they could have done is hired a talent with true American values, not some “has been” who does not represent America.  Just because he sings it, it does not mean he believes in it. 

Springsteen is an opportunistic leftist who missed the bus two decades ago.  Even people on Facebook were asking who he was.

So, in this, the 55th edition of the Super “Woke” Bowl, the score is as follow:  Doritos- 45 and Jeep?  A big “Woke” Zero!

Jeep, not in this American household.

The PGA Tour’s Disconnection

Image courtesy of golfmagic.com

This past weekend we witness Collin Morikawa win the PGA Championship at the tender age of 23 years old.  I am sure it will be considered a great achievement by the young gun and in any other time I would have felt the same way; but I do not.

The PGA of America and the PGA Tour chose to play the PGA Championship in, of all places, California.  California has been on lock-down since the Wuhan Corona Virus arrived in America.  Californians have not been able to go to work, go outside without masking themselves, children have been out of school, restaurants have been closed and some have even gone out of business.

If the virus is so bad that Governor Gavin Newsome must keep the State shutdown; why did the PGA of America think that it was okay to play a golf tournament in such a place?

I sent an email to the PGA of America asking this same question and never got an answer, so they left no option but to speculate as to why they made this decision.   Was it television money, advertising, or sponsors?  Only the PGA of America and the PGA Tour know the real motive.

The PGA of America could have chosen a better venue or postpone all together due to the pandemic, instead they decided to go with it with complete disregard for the people of California.  This is the disconnect of the PGA of America and the PGA Tour.  They live in their own little bubble forgetting that many Americans are still without jobs and fighting to stay afloat, while they go around jet setting playing golf.

I understand that this is their job, but they also must be sensible to the situation of ailing Americans, and they are not.  They think that by honoring common criminals with tee times or pandering to a sector of the population based on false narratives and innuendos, it takes care of everything.

The United States Golf Association has also decided to hold their annual national tournament in another State that has been ravaged by the pandemic and are facing the same restrictions as those of the people in California. 

The USGA is playing the tournament in the State of New York of all places.  Thousands of New Yorkers have died due to the pandemic, mostly because of the governor’s failure to act properly, and people have not been able to resume their lives with some type of normalcy.  I also contacted the USGA for comment, but they did not answer my email.

What are these people thinking?  These professional organizations are completely disconnected from the reality facing America and they have chosen to go on.  The PGA Tour wanted to be the “first” sport to come back and they did, but their return has been driven by sponsor’s money and television deals.

As a golf enthusiast and player, I will remember this season as the “Season of Disconnect” by the PGA Tour.

The PGA Tour was the first, but their disregard for fellow Americans makes them last in my book.