2024 PGA Tour

joe dokes

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cshea

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He won the 2023 US Am so he has a number of exemptions he can still use if he wanted to stay an am. Masters, US Open, The Open he's already into, and he could play up to 12 Tour events though couldn't collect any money. If he turns pro he'd technically lose The Open exemption but is also in a strong position to qualify anyway.

So theoretically he could stick it out at Bama and collect some NIL money while playing in the majors, and a few other Tour events that fit his schedule, but I think he goes pro. He can't pause the 2-year exemption that goes with winning. By virtue of winning he's into all the signature events for the rest of the season, a number of which are no-cut so free money.

Golf can be a humbling and success can be fleeting. I think if I were him I'd strike while the iron is hot.
 

Average Reds

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Golf can be a humbling and success can be fleeting. I think if I were him I'd strike while the iron is hot.
100% this.

If he was a borderline talent who scored a fluke win, I might feel differently. But he’s such a talented player that there really isn’t much of a decision. You take the two year exemption, plan your schedule to maximize your odds of success and launch your career.
 

voidfunkt

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There's really one reason to play in a college golf program and that's to get to the next tier... he's proven he's better than everybody at the amateur level now. Not going pro would be an extremely weird decision at this point.
 

cshea

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If I read correctly, the only tournaments he'd not get in by turning pro that he got in via the US Am win are the US Open and The Open at Royal Troon. Maybe retain Am status through the latter, and then turn pro? But that denies lots of opportunities to win some big $ in the next 6 months.
He is in the US Open either way. The US Open removed the stipulation that a player needs to maintain amateur status to use the US Am winner exemption. The British Open, I believe, he would lose and need to qualify. That stinks but qualifying doesn't seem too daunting given he's up to 68th in the world (top 50 a few weeks before get in) and now can basically play wherever he wants.

Additionally the win gets him into the PGA Championship and The Players plus all of the signature events on Tour (has to turn pro to play them). He can also play up to 12 non-signature events without turning pro. I think turning pro is a no-brainer.

He could also, ahem, give Norman a call and see what they'd be willing to put onto the table.
 

Doug Beerabelli

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He is in the US Open either way. The US Open removed the stipulation that a player needs to maintain amateur status to use the US Am winner exemption. The British Open, I believe, he would lose and need to qualify. That stinks but qualifying doesn't seem too daunting given he's up to 68th in the world (top 50 a few weeks before get in) and now can basically play wherever he wants.

Additionally the win gets him into the PGA Championship and The Players plus all of the signature events on Tour (has to turn pro to play them). He can also play up to 12 non-signature events without turning pro. I think turning pro is a no-brainer.

He could also, ahem, give Norman a call and see what they'd be willing to put onto the table.
Yep - I corrected my post.

Agree on turning pro making most sense.
 

TFP

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Turning pro makes sense from the outside but everyone has different values at different points in their career. Maybe he is close with his Alabama teammates and wants to stick around to try and win a title with them? Maybe he wants to try to win the individual title? Maybe he wants to finish out his semester since he's already started?

He's clearly going to turn pro at some point, and I totally understand the temptation to do it now (and he probably will), but it's not as cut and dry for different people in different points in their careers.
 

Over Guapo Grande

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I was going to ask... is college golf a fall sport or a spring sport? I vaguely remember it being fall (back when I'd have top get on before the local 6 teed up), but that was so long ago, I was playing balatas.
 

Mooch

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I was going to ask... is college golf a fall sport or a spring sport? I vaguely remember it being fall (back when I'd have top get on before the local 6 teed up), but that was so long ago, I was playing balatas.
It's spring. The season ends in May.
 

cshea

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Wednesday - Saturday tournament this week at Torrey.

Edit: Field is not great with some big tournaments coming up the next 3 weeks. Pebble, Phoenix, Riv with Pebble getting signature status for this year.
 

inJacobyWeTrust

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I was going to ask... is college golf a fall sport or a spring sport? I vaguely remember it being fall (back when I'd have top get on before the local 6 teed up), but that was so long ago, I was playing balatas.
There are tournaments in both the fall and spring but the league and national championships happen at the end of the spring season in late April/early May.
 

Average Reds

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As outlined in the article, if he comes back, he’d have to return most, if not all, of the insurance money he collected - estimated between $10 and $20 million - plus interest.

After being out for more than a decade, the PGA Tour would be a pretty big risk, IMO. If he comes back, he’s going to LIV to pick up a guaranteed paycheck.
 

FL4WL3SS

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As outlined in the article, if he comes back, he’d have to return most, if not all, of the insurance money he collected - estimated between $10 and $20 million - plus interest.

After being out for more than a decade, the PGA Tour would be a pretty big risk, IMO. If he comes back, he’s going to LIV to pick up a guaranteed paycheck.
100%

He's trying to get that 100m and it doesn't matter.
 

Eagle3

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I'd be interested to know the exact terms of that insurance policy. $10 - 20 million over 11 - 12 years is likely a very low amount compared to what Kim would have earned if he was healthy and playing and getting endorsements. He made over 12 million in career earnings in 6 years on the Tour, not including endorsements. In other words it seems fair that he should not have to pay that policy back. If he agreed to terms that said if he EVER plays again he has to pay it back then that wasn't really smart on his part.

Having said that, if he can cut a deal with LIV where he gets 100 mil over 3 years or whatever it's pretty irrelevant.
 

cshea

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LIV does have to fill out the new team Rahm is on (and probably has equity in), and the season starts next week. Meronk signed with the Cleeks so Rahm is still by himself, with just the Hatton rumor. How a 13th team works in a 48 player field is beyond me but that's supposedly the plan and obviously there's an opening for Kim or others. Of course Jay and Yasir were supposedly meeting in KSA a week or two ago to hammer out a deal so the fuck knows what's going on and if any of this really matters.
 

Average Reds

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If he agreed to terms that said if he EVER plays again he has to pay it back then that wasn't really smart on his part.
The policy is not an agreement that punishes him for playing. It’s a policy that protected him in case he suffered an injury that ended his career. In that sense, his decision to retire reflected his calculation that his injury was severe enough that he was unlikely to replicate his success when he came back. So, he retired and took the money with the understanding that he could not return to the Tour.

The creation of LIV has changed this calculus. If he can get a contract that guarantees his ability to repay the settlement, there’s no risk in coming back to professional golf.
 

BigMike

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Any idea why this week's tourney is a Wednesday through Saturday event? I was surprised to see that
 

Eagle3

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The policy is not an agreement that punishes him for playing. It’s a policy that protected him in case he suffered an injury that ended his career. In that sense, his decision to retire reflected his calculation that his injury was severe enough that he was unlikely to replicate his success when he came back. So, he retired and took the money with the understanding that he could not return to the Tour.

The creation of LIV has changed this calculus. If he can get a contract that guarantees his ability to repay the settlement, there’s no risk in coming back to professional golf.
I'm thinking of it along the lines of a long term disability policy. You get x amount of dollars when you are unable to work due to injury, to cover the lost wages. Once you recover you resume working and you don't pay back the benefits you received when unable to work. I'm not say he's getting screwed by the insurance company, I'm sure that's the way its written. It just seems like a bad insurance policy to sign up for given that he will have to pay it back after losing 12 years of income.
 

Doug Beerabelli

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I was going to ask... is college golf a fall sport or a spring sport? I vaguely remember it being fall (back when I'd have top get on before the local 6 teed up), but that was so long ago, I was playing balatas.
As InJacobyWeTrust wrote, It's both. There aren't a lot of head to head matchups, it's mostly tournaments with 10-20 teams competing. Some tourneys more prestigious than others. You don't necessarily only play your conference foes, although you might face them in these tourneys. The conference championships are in the spring, as is the NCAA championships if your team qualifies. A team will play 4-6 events both spring and fall, plus NCAAs.
 

Dave Stapleton

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Yep, it's to avoid the NFL Conference Championship games. I think this is the 3rd year they've done it.
Looking at the leaderboard not sure anyone will be watching anyway. Farmers must be thrilled to be paying sponsorship money for this.
 

HomeRunBaker

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First four winners on PGA Tour in 2024

Chris Kirk 200/1
Grayson Murray 400/1
Nick Dunlap 300/1
Matthieu Pavon 125/1

Pretty wild!
 

cshea

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I get the sentiment and what not but if/when the deal gets signed it's probably not changing a ton for tournaments like the first 4 weeks of the year. It *seems* like there will be a global tour of some sorts featuring the top players 18-20 times a year and the rest of the weeks will look like this, a mule run.

Also, FWIW, the ratings for Dunlap's victory at the Amex trounced the ratings from a year ago when Rahm won. Obviously due to Dunlap's amateur status and chase for history but noteworthy that a story like that dwarfed a world #1 win.
 

Comfortably Lomb

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I guess, here's the thing: I don't really care who's playing in these non-major tournaments. What I do care about is they're live on TV on weekends sometime between 4-10pm (also please play more on the west in general). Am I going to tune into the Fancy Global Tour Championship with the best field when it's in Japan and finishing at 6 am? No. Am I going to watch a taped sporting event? Also no. So these things might as well not even be happening.

I'm sort of preparing myself to write men's tour golf off as another sport ruined by too much money being involved.
 

cshea

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Changes at the AT&T Pro-Am this year.

It's a signature event, so 80 pro's. It's the top 50 in the FedEx standings from last year, plus the top 10 in the fall series, the top 5 point getters for the 3 non-signature events (Sony, Amex, Farmers), winners, top 30 in the world (the JT category) and sponsor exemptions (Webb Simpson, Adam Scott, Peter Malnati, Maverick McNealy). Who gets the sponsor exemptions will be a thing to follow throughout the year.

They cut out Monterey Peninsula so they are only playing Pebble and Spyglass Hill and the am's will only be there for 2 days so we don't have to worry about the endless Gary Mule Deer and Bill Murray coverage on Saturday.

Sounds like Hatton to LIV is done though they haven't made it official.
 

Comfortably Lomb

Koko the Monkey
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The Paris of the 80s
I think that's actually the 1st hole:

77511

There's an extreme elevation drop in addition to the right to left swing so the ball will carry and carry. It's hard to tell from the video without the shot tracker but it almost looks like he has the height on the ball to go over that tall tree rather than just try to hit the gap. But yes, a bit of a crazy line. Having 120 mph clubhead speed is fun!
 

cshea

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I'm enjoying it. I'll take the better field over the cut. And they are doing a decent job of showing Spyglass. No amateur nonsense.

Rory with quite the ejection. He was -6 through 14 yesterday, +6 on his next 7 holes and likely just pumped his tee shot out of bounds on #4 today.

Edit: JT is back though
 

BigMike

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Wyndham Clark is playing Pebble like it is Tiger Woods Golf. 28 on the front 9 and has a kick in for birdie on 10

And with the monster storm coming in tomorrow either it is going to be cancelled, or just insanely difficult for the 4th round. Almost certainly cancelled

torrential downpours tomorrow with several inches of rain expected, plus Southeast winds 20 to 30 mph with gusts up to 60 mph expected.
 

BigMike

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Can they play on Monday?
Not sure on PGA rules. Also depending on how bad the storm hits, it may not be playable then. The ground it saturated, and many more inches of rain by Monday morning.