Tag: PGA Tour

The Hypocrisy Of The PGA Tour

Casting Stones With A Glass House

In 2020, the PGA Tour decided to honor convicted felon and career criminal, George Floyd with a moment of silence at the Charles Schwab Challenge.

Sure, the loss of a life is never to be celebrated, but to honor George Floyd as some type of hero, was a despicable moment in PGA Tour history.

If they wanted to fight against whatever social discrepancies they deemed important, they could have chosen a better vessel.

By doing so, they did not only honor a career criminal, but it slapped the face of the same law enforcement officers who provided security to the pampered tour professionals week in and week out.

Fast forward to 2025 and the LIV Golf League. Since its creation, the PGA Tour and their water carriers at the Golf Channel have tried to take the moral high ground. People like Brandel Chamblee and DEI hired, Eamon Lynch, have gone on and on about Saudi Arabia and the Public Investment Fund.

Golf commentators like Taylor Zarzour, John Maginnes, Carl and Dennis Paulson, Colt Knost, and many others, have been suffering from what I call the LIV Golf Derangement Syndrome.

I understand they are stooges for the PGA Tour, but come on, they are also claiming to be objective golf analysts. They lack integrity and the confidence of serious golf fans.

They can’t accept the fact that LIV Golf is a popular product and want to use their shows to downplay the significance of the league. Because of LIV Golf the PGA Tour was forced to raise their purses and rethink a brand that has been stale for quite some time.

LIV Golf has elevated the Asian Tour and has helped the DP World Tour. LIV Golf players have been playing more in Asia and Europe, adding more interest to the tours.

Let’s be honest, nobody wants to watch Peter Malnati if they can watch Bryson DeChambeau. Everyone knows the main reason professional golfers want to play on the PGA Tour is for the money and the lopsided official world golf ranking points allotment.

The PGA Tour has refused to deal with LIV Golf while at the same time using their bully tactics and media influence to persuade the fans to believe LIV Golf is evil.

To me, the PGA Tour is a dirty organization and not a representative of American values, and definitely not my values.

And here we are, once again the PGA Tour wants to claim moral high ground when it comes to LIV Golf and its funding source, while attempting to squeeze LIV Golf out of existence.

All you have to do is look at the list of PGA Tour sponsors to know that morality is not part of their business model. It is all about money and power.

I do not watch the PGA Tour, or care to watch. The product is old, boring, and the broadcasts are like watching paint dry. I will continue to watch LIV Golf and the Asian Tour because the golf is more exciting.

After honoring a career criminal like George Floyd, without having all the facts, the PGA Tour has no room to criticize anyone or any entity. They should forever be ashamed of themselves.

Let’s not forget, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus fled the PGA of America and created the PGA Tour.

This glass house is broken!

https://golf.com/news/pga-tour-honors-george-floyd-moment-of-silence

https://www.pgatour.com/pages/marketing-partners

Bonehead of the Week: Columbus Dispatch Opinion Writer, Rob Oller

“I’m not a doctor, but I play one for the Columbus Dispatch” Rob Oller, Photo courtesy of buckeye.com

Rob Oller wrote an opinion column for the Columbus Dispatch stating Professional Golfer Jon Rahm lost a $1.6 million dollar paycheck because he wasn’t vaccinated against Covid-19.

First, it wasn’t a guaranteed Rahm was going to be the winner on Sunday, despite his 6 stroke lead going into the final round.

Second, there’s no medical evidence that will suggest Rahm wasn’t going to produce a positive test if he was vaccinated. To say otherwise, like Mr. Oller suggests, is a lie and misinformation. There have been many cases of Covid-19 positives despite the fact the individuals were vaccinated.

Many people haven’t been vaccinated for all sort of medical reasons, but that’s something to be discuss between a patient and his or her doctor.

Mr. Oller is not a doctor, and epidemiologist, nor an expert on infectious diseases. He doesn’t know what Jon Rahm discussed with his doctor regarding the vaccine.

It has been reported that he received the first shot once he found out he became in a contact with an individual who tested positive. As with any vaccine, they are not a guarantee nor a cure.

Mr. Oller gave his uniformed “opinion” and as the say goes; opinions are like (fill in the blank), everyone has one. For that Oller gets “The Bonehead of the Week” award.

PGA Tour Return: A Quadruple Bogey with an Out of Bounds

PGA Tour Commissioner, Jay Monahan. Kneeling instead of Leading. Photo courtesy of golfergalore.com

The PGA Tour returned this week to Colonial Country Club and the Charles Schwab Challenge, after almost 3 months of inactivity due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Of course, no fans were allowed.  Massive testing and precautions were taken to ensure players, caddies, and staff were properly taken care of.  I guess it was better to err on the side of caution, although I think it was an overkill based on the information available.

Unfortunately, for the tournament, the country has been in a tailspin after the tragic death of a black man named George Floyd in the city of Minneapolis while in police custody.

The PGA Tour and Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan wasted no time to turn that tragedy into a publicity stunt by saving the 8:46 a.m. tee time to honor Mr. Floyd every day with a moment of silence.

The Tour was nowhere to be found when it came to honoring the memory of the many police officers who were injured or killed during the riots. The Tour missed a huge opportunity at been a vehicle for unity.

Let’s talk about the tournament for a moment.  For me, it was a big snoozer.  I didn’t realize until this week, the importance of those annoying “in the hole” or “baba booey” screams from the galleries.  The fans are such an important part of the game, even players acknowledged how “weird” it felt.  I agree 100% and I hope the Tour takes a second look at this.

I have to say, the most entertaining part for me was listening to Sir Nick Faldo and his “one liner” analysis.  The golf itself was pretty good, but I could not watch for more than twenty minutes.  I can only take so much of Jim Nantz and the golf silence was deafening.  It was like watching a long televise practice round and it was utterly boring.

Back to the social aspect of the broadcast.  I want to give huge kudos to Harold Varner III.  Varner III, one of the few black golfers on the professional tour, didn’t fall for the obvious race baiting coming from the media circus.  He did not brush away what happened, but he refused to engage in a social tit for tat with the media, instead choosing to talk about his game.

On the other hand, Tony Finau, who’s not Black, but from American Samoa, went on a social tirade on social media.  Short of saying all white people were racists, Finau went on to say he was with Black Lives Matter.  I am sure Mr. Finau has no clue what Black Lives Matter is all about, but like most athletes, he thought he sounded pretty good propping an organization who calls for white people to be eliminated from the face of the earth. 

When it comes to honoring Mr. Floyd, the Tour should have done better research when it decided to honor Mr. Floyd with a moment of silence by leaving the 8:46 a.m. tee time open. 

They should have known that on September 11, 2001, at 8:46 a.m., American Airlines, Flight 11, hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center killing all passengers onboard. This time is reserved every year, by every television network, to honor the memory of the victims of that tragic event. How the Tour didn’t know this is beyond me.

In my opinion, this was a mistake of major proportions that went mostly unnoticed by the golf media and golf pundits. 

They also missed a big opportunity in promoting unity by not acknowledging the many good police officers who do a great job.  Many of these police officers provide security during tour events and are avid golfers and fans of the game.  For this, the Tour scored a quadrupled bogey, with an out of bounds.

The PGA Tour decided to kneel instead of lead, and for that they’ll never get a social mulligan.

PGA Tour scorecard?  Way, way over par.