Running 2024 golf thread

Sign of the summer. For my early morning tee time at my local public course, I had to use the auxiliary parking lot for the first Sunday this season.

 

Memory. In 1994 when my now 40 year old son was a kid, his grandfather gave us a pair of passes to the Bruno's Pro-Am at Shoal Creek. There were two foursomes that were very popular. One included Nick Saban and Gene Stallings, and the other was Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Lee Trevino, and the two Bruno Brothers, who were sponsors. This was while Jordan was playing for the Birmingham Barons, and my son was in Little League. He took a baseball with him in hopes of getting it signed. I told him that there was no way Jordan was going to stop to sign anything, because he would get swarmed, but he insisted on bringing it "just in case".

We got there a little late, and as we got off the bus Jordan's fivesome was headed out, and they were just overrun with a huge mob of people following them. I suggested that instead of fighting the crowd, we should get out in front of them and stake out a good spot. We moved to #7 or so and staked out a prime spot on the rope around the green. This let us watch some more normal foursomes play the hole so he could see how things worked. We could tell when Jordan's group was coming because the crowd was like a swarm of army ants. The hole before us was suddenly boiling with people running to find a spot, then they came our way My son decided to stake out a place on the path between the green and the next tee box, figuring to try to catch Michael at the choke point. I didn't argue, just let him go... so of course, when Jordan actually reached the green, he parked his cart about five feet from where I was standing.

Anyhow, predictably, Randall didn't get his ball autographed. We decided the crowd was too crazy to fight, so we followed Chi Chi Rodriguez for a while and watched his schtick. I think I enjoyed that more than my son. Eventually he got hot and tired and I suggested going to 18 and watching the groups finish there. We got there and grabbed seats on the rail of the pavilion overlooking the green. (They were very nice corporate passes.) We got something cold to drink and watched the groups come in and hole out. Guys were tossing their balls into the stands, etc.

Jordan's group comes in, and he sinks his putt. People were calling to him to toss his ball, and he shakes his head and pockets it. A lady down the rail from us starts getting on him hard... "What, you can't afford another sleeve of balls? C'mon, everyone else is doing it!" He kinda scowls, glances up toward us and flips his ball up. My son was a pretty good infielder and he made a grab, but missed. The ball tinks off of the rail and drops to the edge of the green about eight feet below us. Randall is staring at it sadly. It sits there a few seconds, and then a photographer starts to edge over toward it. Barkley walks up and gives the guy a ferocious scowl and backs him off, picks the ball up, and looks up at Randall. "You gonna catch it? I'm not throwing it twice!" "I'll get it!!!" and he snatches it out of the air, so he gets Jordan's ball from Barkley's hand. The day is a great success. On the shuttle back to the parking lot he's showing it off, and a guy says "I'll give you twenty bucks for it." "A hundred!" was the answer.

Of course he later took it to school and lost it, but it's still a great memory.

 

Yes, you are correct. My wife loved that.

 

The "signature" events were a blatant attempt to funnel more money to the top players to keep them from straying to LIV. They were handed out as rewards to loyal and important sponsors. To be fair, the Travelers has never quite found its niche on the schedule. It's always either too close to the US Open or too close to the Open.

 

Tell me why they wouldn’t play the first group out each day with 3?

 

True enough. Scheffler has earned more than $24 mill this season, 55 percent of it from the Signature Events. Now consider that pro golfers pay their own travel expenses and have to pay caddies, swing coaches, etc. How many team sports athletes are making at least that? And this is the No. 1 player in his sport. MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL players not only aren't paying their travel expenses but they're getting per diem (MLB, for example, gets $117 per day on the road). And the teams are paying the hitting, pitching or quarterbacks coaches and probably pick up the tab if a guy needs a mental coach.

Now, where I think it evens out is golfers are competitive into their 40s, rather than starting to fade in their early 30s, so they're making money longer. And they have more opportunities for endorsements (clubs, balls, shoes, apparel) and unlike the team sports guys, they can sell their hat, shirt and bag logo.

Fact is, golf was due for an awakening about money. The issue now is will the networks put up with a watered-down product?

 

This has come up before. The players want it this way. When it comes to going out alone as a single, in the first tee time of the day, they all want the option to play speed golf and get the fuck out of there -- especially on the weekend when the number of players who made the cut isn't evenly divisible by two or three.

When it comes to the competitive side of a tournament, they usually get their way.