2021 PGA Tour

Pablo's TB Lover

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Lol LPGA playoff moving to Golf Channel which I don't believe I can stream, in favor of gymnastics on NBC. Because why not feed the Olympics monster in opposition of actual professional sports leagues.
 

FL4WL3SS

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Andy Brickley's potty mouth
That was gut wrenching for Lexi. She's my favorite golfer on the LPGA and I had my two girls watching and rooting her on.

She's only 26, but has built up quite a few scars already. I feel terrible for her.
 

cshea

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As has typically been the case over the past 2 years, when a major is coming up, the PGL elbows its way into the news.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/golf/57382968

They are releasing detailed plans for their league on Wednesday. High level, 18 tournaments with 48 players. $20 million purse each week with $4 million to the winner down to $150,000 to the last place finisher. They say they want to start in January 2023. 12 of the 18 events would take place in the US. There would be a team component similar to Formula One. They want to also incorporate women's golf into the league. Most of that is what was already out there, but the most interesting piece of news, IMO, is the PGL and European Tour were apparently close to some sort of agreement before the PGA Tour and European Tour formed an alliance against these start up leagues and declared that any player who jumps ship will be permanently banned from the PGA/Euro Tour.

Apparently in talking to the players the 2 biggest issues for them were travel and world rankings points.
 

Average Reds

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Lexi declined the post-round interview, just to bring this sports week full circle.
I think the truth is a bit more nuanced.

After finishing, she went right to the media tent and was prepared to take questions post-round. (Indeed, she took a couple.) When the playoff was starting her manager cut off questions, ostensibly because it would be bad form for a press conference to occur while the actual playoff was in progress.
 

Doug Beerabelli

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Lol LPGA playoff moving to Golf Channel which I don't believe I can stream, in favor of gymnastics on NBC. Because why not feed the Olympics monster in opposition of actual professional sports leagues.
I'm guessing NBC probably chose to pick the programming that would get the most eyeballs, perhaps not wanting to miss the start time if viewers tuned in, saw golf, and changed the channel. The women's golf got kicked off NBC for another women's sports event, which is kind of neat at some level. The lead in of the women's US Open into the gymnastics is event is good programming

That being said, I'm prettay prettay sure NBC would not have done the same for the men's US Open. But that type of decision likely would be supported by ratings numbers, or would never be programmed in such a way where that could happen.
 

Pablo's TB Lover

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I'm guessing NBC probably chose to pick the programming that would get the most eyeballs, perhaps not wanting to miss the start time if viewers tuned in, saw golf, and changed the channel. The women's golf got kicked off NBC for another women's sports event, which is kind of neat at some level. The lead in of the women's US Open into the gymnastics is event is good programming

That being said, I'm prettay prettay sure NBC would not have done the same for the men's US Open. But that type of decision likely would be supported by ratings numbers, or would never be programmed in such a way where that could happen.
Agreed they would have interrupted with a men's major and sent the gymnastics to start on an alternate channel. That said, I think it was odd they directly backed up a live event with another championship, when the 9-11pm slot was a rerun of America's Got Talent. Especially for prime time on the west coast, you would think the gymnastics gets pushed to the later time slot. God knows during the Olympics they will milk the gymnastics events until practically midnight.

Maybe they forgot there was no more 18-hole playoff on Monday for the U.S. Open events?
 

The Napkin

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right here
The gymnastics was on a different channel to start though - they moved it to I think CNBC and ran it over an episode of Shark Tank. Not sure when they shuffled things around since I had to turn things off shortly after 7.
 

cshea

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They shoe horned the Women's Open into an NBC national time slot. They went off early using split tees and threesomes to try to get it into that TV window. The gymnastics thing featured Simon Biles who is a far bigger draw than any of the LPGA players, so I can kind of understand NBC's decision making there.

NLU asked this question, and I'm not sure what the right answer is. Is it better for women's golf and the LPGA to jam the coverage into that NBC time slot, or would it have been better to schedule the final round like Saturday's round and have full, commercial free coverage on Golf Channel in prime time? I think squeezing it in the NBC window was probably the right call even if it was clunky and moving channels in the middle of a playoff is far from ideal. Only golf fans are going to seek it out if it was on GC. They probably picked up extra eyes by having it on NBC.
 
What I want to know is why the Women's Open had to be this particular week. It's not normally opposite The Memorial, is it? And it certainly didn't have to be opposite the gymnastics. Seems like there's plenty of flexibility in the LPGA's schedule to get this one event right above all others - with it being on the West Coast, pick a free weekend in which NBC would be happy (or at least happier) to show it in Sunday prime time. Or even in Saturday prime time and start it on Wednesday, if needs be.
 

TFP

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I mean the date was announced 5 years ago. The PGA has completely re-tooled their schedule since then and frankly many things come into play. They're also dealing with course availability and sponsor preferences, qualifying schedules, etc. There's a ton that go into the logistics of these majors, so I can't fault them. And the Memorial isn't THAT big of a tournament to be worth juggling it all to avoid. They certainly weren't looking at the 2021 gymnastics schedule in 2016 when scheduling this.
 
I mean the date was announced 5 years ago. The PGA has completely re-tooled their schedule since then and frankly many things come into play. They're also dealing with course availability and sponsor preferences, qualifying schedules, etc. There's a ton that go into the logistics of these majors, so I can't fault them. And the Memorial isn't THAT big of a tournament to be worth juggling it all to avoid. They certainly weren't looking at the 2021 gymnastics schedule in 2016 when scheduling this.
Sure, I get all of this...but COVID has jumbled up so many things already, and a lot of entities are learning to be flexible in ways that they probably wouldn't have been pre-pandemic, that a bit of additional juggling could have gone along way here.

(I'm not sure I personally agree with you about The Memorial, FWIW - that's normally one of my top five favorite non-major tournaments to watch every year, and especially with Rahm out of the picture and a close finish in prospect, I didn't want to ignore that altogether in favor of the women. If it had been the John Deere or any of 20 other tournaments, I'd have chosen the Women's Open without a doubt...although actually, the fact that NBC's C team seemed to be doing the commentary didn't help in that regard either. I tried to flip back and forth between the two tournaments and actually got into a serious row on Sunday night with my wife and daughter when they came into the living room wanting my full attention to discuss something at just the wrong moment, and I couldn't just pause the live TV without having to abandon one of the two finishes.)
 

Average Reds

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Hadley has blown a 4-shot lead in 3 holes.
He’s back up by 2 1, but more importantly, fire ants have made a reappearance on tour!

Edit: And now the nerves seem to be coming to the fore, as that last iron shot was ugly. If Hadley holds on, it's going to be by the skin of his teeth.

Second edit: And now tied with one to go. Painful to watch it slipping away.
 
Last edited:

johnmd20

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He’s back up by 2 1, but more importantly, fire ants have made a reappearance on tour!

Edit: And now the nerves seem to be coming to the fore, as that last iron shot was ugly. If Hadley holds on, it's going to be by the skin of his teeth.

Second edit: And now tied with one to go. Painful to watch it slipping away.
Higgo is going biggo!
 

ezemerson

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players head to Cromwell this week where the scores will no doubt be low.......can't believe the weekend tix sold out so fast....anyone have a connection for a couple of Saturday grounds tickets?
 

Plantiers Wart

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players head to Cromwell this week where the scores will no doubt be low.......can't believe the weekend tix sold out so fast....anyone have a connection for a couple of Saturday grounds tickets?
My connections all came up empty. The limited number of tickets, plus the lack of skyboxes/corporate tents have absolutely screwed up my usual avenues/
 

ezemerson

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I’m going Friday - not sure if those are sold out.

Seems there’s no indoor AC options this year. Maybe in private Corp tents. Weather looks perfecto.
ending up grabbing some tix late off the hub....wouldn't mind a report after your experience on Friday
 

SoxJox

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From the USGA & R&A:

New Rule: Under Rule 4.1:

  • A player is allowed to keep using and/or to repair any club damaged during the round, no matter what the damage and even if the player damaged it in anger.
  • A player is not allowed to replace a damaged club, except when it is damaged during the round by an outside influence or natural forces or by someone other than the player or his or her caddie.

Reasons for Change:


This Rule change greatly simplifies the complex Rules on damaged clubs.

In particular, deciding when a club was “unfit for play” required a technical judgment that few players had the depth of understanding to make, and even referees found it challenging to make such judgments quickly and consistently on the course.

Allowing a player to keep using or to repair any damaged club, regardless of the nature or cause of the damage, benefits players in several ways.

  • It helps players avoid the disqualification penalties that could have arisen previously when a player hit a club against something in anger and then continued to use the club, not realizing that the shaft was slightly bent or some other damage had occurred.
  • The player is able to choose whether to continue using that club in its damaged state or to use another club; whereas previously, for example, a player who damaged a putter in anger was not allowed to use it for the rest of the round (even if it was still in a usable form) and so ended up having to putt with a wedge or another club.

Although there will be times when a damaged club is unusable and cannot be readily repaired on the course (such as when a driver head comes off), the practical ability to get a replacement club is seldom present other than at some elite levels of golf.

This change is consistent with the overall philosophy that a player normally should play the entire round with only the clubs that he or she started with or added during the round to get to the 14-club limit.
 

SoxJox

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The rule previously looked like this:

Under the Rules of Golf, if a club is damaged during a round, the player’s options for how to proceed will depend on whether or not it was damaged in the “normal course of play.” Making a stroke, a practice swing or accidentally dropping a club are examples of acts that are in the normal course of play. Throwing a club, whether in anger, in retrieving a ball or otherwise, or slamming a club into a bag, are all acts that are not in the normal course of play. Generally, this term includes all reasonable acts other than instances in which a club is damaged or broken as a result of abuse, anger, frustration, etc. See Decision 4-3/1 for further clarification.

If a club is damaged during a round in the normal course of play, the player has a few options:

1) Continue to use the club in its damaged state for the remainder of the round.

2) Repair the club, or have someone else repair it, without unduly delaying play.

3) Replace the damaged club with another club without unduly delaying play – this final option is only available if the club is “unfit for play,” such as when the shaft breaks during a stroke (see Rule 4-3a for more information). There are no restrictions on the replacement club, provided it is conforming and has not been selected for play by another player on the course.

If a club is damaged other than in the normal course of play and its playing characteristics have changed or it is rendered non-conforming, the club must not be replaced or used again during the round (see Rule 4-3b). If the damaged or broken club happens to be a putter, the player would need to putt with any one of the other clubs in their bag.
 

Doug Beerabelli

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Belated report from yesterday: 10k crowd made for easy viewing of the big groups. Saw the big group morning guys, would hop ahead a couple holes, and watch again. Caught BCD a little bit in afternoon, but had to leave by 3 pm. Alas, didn’t get chance to watch and cheer on Rob Op. Where the big groups weren’t, it was empty. Like “isn’t there a golf tournament going on?” empty. Concessions were more limited, and crowded near the big groups.

My budding golfer son and friend spent some time at the driving range watching players, which was great.


Most fun was finding a spot next to 2nd green and 3rd tee. Saw Na almost snowman 2, and BCD hit some interesting shots on way to bogey. And didn’t see the driver of Bubba break, but caught him and Phil slow playing the tee ball on 3 trying to buy time to get the repaired driver back. Vid and photo I have of this is too big to upload.
 

ezemerson

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Ended up getting tix on stubhub for not much more than face for today.....spent most of the day on 15 with views of 17 fairway and 18 tee...great location and the cap on fans certainly helped....saw all the big names come thru that stretch then made our way over to 9 to get up and close with the last few leading groups ...great day overall
 

cshea

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Bubba is like the ultimate horse for course guy. Can basically ignore him unless it’s TPC River Highlands (3 wins leading now), Riviera (3 wins) or Augusta. (2 wins). 8 of 12 wins