2023 PGA Tour

[cshea]

The Tournament of Champions at Kapalua tees off tonight.

This is a bit of a hybrid season as they move towards the tour-within-a-tour model featuring elevated, elite events and non-elevated events. This season there are 17 elevated events, including the majors. All the top players have agreed to play them (if qualified) plus I think 3 outside the elevated ones which will be of the players own choosing. They do have the option of skipping 1 elevated event if they want (Rory is not playing the ToC for example). But otherwise, these 17 weeks will feature all of the top players in golf.

Tournament of Champions
Waste Management Phoenix Open
Genesis Invitational
Arnold Palmer Invitational
The Players Championship
WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play
Masters Tournament
RBC Heritage
Wells Fargo Championship
PGA Championship
Memorial Tournament
US Open
Travelers Championship
The Open Championship
FedEx St. Jude Championship*
BMW Championship*
Tour Championship*

* is the playoffs.

We'll see how this works out, but I think it's a positive development.

 

[cshea]

Morikawa is going to win this by a billion.

 

[cshea]

Maybe not!

 

[Mooch]

Wow. Blew a 7 shot lead on Sunday. Yikes.

 

[Bob Montgomerys Helmet Hat]

He is really leaking oil.

But even more surprising to me is that Smylie Kaufman is now a Golf Channel announcer

 

[cshea]

Smylie is really good in my opinion. He did some feature group stuff at the majors last season.

 

[cshea]

67 holes without a bogey then 3 in a row.

 

[Comfortably Lomb]

Morikawa is going to win this by a billion.

Not so much! He's even todat but it's a bad even par round. He just didn't have it.

 

[E5 Yaz]

Rahm wouldn't shake the announcer's hand ... COVID memories

 

[Zomp]

Loved the drone shots in the fairway.

 

[TFP]

Loved the drone shots in the fairway.

Those were fantastic. As was the final hour being commercial free, really made following Morikawa even more dramatic.

Some potential updates on coverage improvements this year. Hopefully it begins and ends with "fewer commercials".

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2023/01/05/Media/pga-tour-streamline-broadcasts-2023.aspx?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

 

[cshea]

The Netflix show “Full Swing” which covers the 21/22 PGA Tour season drops on 2/15. It’s supposed to be golf’s version of the Netflix F1 show “Drive to Survive.” They picked a hell of a year to start following these guys around.

View: https://twitter.com/pgatour/status/1613204292013260802?s=46&t=q_rwJqitRSUxOvCPsgDtuw

 

[inJacobyWeTrust]

Mito Pereira rumored to be heading to LIV to join Niemann:
https://www.golfwrx.com/702904/report-pga-tour-pro-expected-to-sign-with-liv-golf-next-week/?fbclid=IwAR0VPwRPJWJrMk4uIhK399aR9PCt4o_K2ZTjeb6ptyZt8VMvODKPGvSzOcY

 

[FL4WL3SS]

The product is definitely suffering. I miss watching guys like DJ. Hoping that some of the new influx of talent can make a name for themselves. Looking at the field this week is underwhelming.

Post Tiger/Phil hangover combined with the LIV stuff. The Tour is going to suffer.

 

[cshea]

The product is definitely suffering. I miss watching guys like DJ. Hoping that some of the new influx of talent can make a name for themselves. Looking at the field this week is underwhelming.

Post Tiger/Phil hangover combined with the LIV stuff. The Tour is going to suffer.

This is just sort of the way it's going to be with the elevated/non-elevated system. As a fan, I know that when an elevated event week is here I'm going to see all of the best players on Tour play which should enhance the product those weeks. I get that 17 times a year now as opposed to 5 under the previous system. It sucks for the non-elevated events but in reality I don't think much really changes for them. The fields will be weak but they were already weak to begin with. The John Deere, 3M, Rocket Mortgage will be dreadful but they already were dreadful fields.

The Sony has always had a pretty weak field. Would DJ or Cam playing this week in place of the last 2 players on the field list really change your opinion or potential viewing of the tournament?

Edit: And for the non-elevated events the tour will need to lean into the human interest side of things. Journeymen looking for their breakthrough. Young up and comers trying to stick. Rickie Fowler looking to make it back on the elevated side, etc. To me the most compelling golf on TV each year is the end of the KFT regular season and playoffs where guys are literally playing for their livlihood. I think the Tour will need to develop some of those storylines throughout the non-elevated events to drum up more interest.

 

[FL4WL3SS]

This isn't an elevated v non-elevated issue. Even the elevated fields have been weakened with a number of top 50 guys no longer competing. The product has taken a significant hit.

 

[Mooch]

Mito Pereira rumored to be heading to LIV to join Niemann:
https://www.golfwrx.com/702904/report-pga-tour-pro-expected-to-sign-with-liv-golf-next-week/?fbclid=IwAR0VPwRPJWJrMk4uIhK399aR9PCt4o_K2ZTjeb6ptyZt8VMvODKPGvSzOcY

That's why I had him on my "do not draft" list for the SOSH PGA league. This has been in the works for a while.

 

[cshea]

This isn't an elevated v non-elevated issue. Even the elevated fields have been weakened with a number of top 50 guys no longer competing. The product has taken a significant hit.

I think the elevated events are stronger. Under the previous system, the top players picking and choosing their schedules made each non-major week a crapshoot in terms of field. Now at least we know that when the Waste Management rolls around Rory, Rahm, Scheffler, JT, Spieth, Xander, Cantlay, etc. will all be there. In the past you maybe get Rahm Scheffler and JT but none of the other guys. It was always a mixed bag. So in that sense I don't think the product suffers. They weren't all playing the same week anyways.

It would've been a lot better if they did this before LIV started but so be it. I miss Cam, DJ and Niemann to some extent. I thought I would miss Bryson from a content/villain standpoint but I haven't really given him or anyone else second thought. I don't think I'll tune into the Waste Management and be bummed to not see Brooks out there. Maybe that's just a personal preference and YMMV.

 

[Comfortably Lomb]

I didn't miss whoever wasn't there last week in Hawaii.

I watched Sunday. It looked like PGA Tour golf.

 

[joe dokes]

Edit: And for the non-elevated events the tour will need to lean into the human interest side of things. Journeymen looking for their breakthrough. Young up and comers trying to stick. Rickie Fowler looking to make it back on the elevated side, etc. To me the most compelling golf on TV each year is the end of the KFT regular season and playoffs where guys are literally playing for their livlihood. I think the Tour will need to develop some of those storylines throughout the non-elevated events to drum up more interest.

As a more casual fan (I'll watch/follow majors and late any Sunday if its close and the weather outside at home isnt good), I agree with this. I do usually check the lower end of the scores in the first 2 rounds to see which has-beens or never-wases are still out there. A post-season close-up look at the fight for 120-130 on the points list (or whatever other benchmarks there are) should be compelling to a lot of viewers who, like me, aren't very good at golf. (Not saying the 130th best tour player isn't good at golf......). The PGA should try to get the networks to focus on teh bottom end much in the same way English soccer coverage focuses on relegation as something of a second title race..

 

[Mooch]

I didn't miss whoever wasn't there last week in Hawaii.

I watched Sunday. It looked like PGA Tour golf.

That's because it was all of the previous year's tournament winners. There will be weeks on Tour where the field is significantly diminished.

 

[cshea]

I don't think last week is a great way to judge any of the changes. The TOC was always a limited, elite field. It's a slightly more serious version of the Hero World Challenge. Let's see what it looks like next month when we go from Farmers to WM to ATT Pro Am to Genesis to Honda, etc.

 

[ezemerson]

Buckley parred both par 5s .....not gonna get it done.....lucky chip in by Kim on 17

 

[cshea]

LIV announces a TV deal with The CW. Friday's will air on the CW app, Saturday and Sunay on the CW channel and app.

 

[voidfunkt]

The CW... best known for teenage drama shows. What an awkward pairing.

 

[ezemerson]

Hate multiple course tournaments..... coverage blows

 

[joe dokes]

Hate multiple course tournaments..... coverage blows

This is the one that was 5 rounds when I was a kid. Arnie's last Tour win.

 

[Bob Montgomerys Helmet Hat]

A propos of nothing, I'm watching a Pro Am event and good lord is Sterling Sharpe huge.

 

[cshea]

Rahm has won 2 straight tournaments he's played in, 4 of 6 overall and heads to Torrey Pines where he has won twice already in his career.

Reminder they play Wednesday -Saturday this week.

 

[cshea]

There's an amusing Reed/Rory bruhaha over at the Dubai tournament this week. Apparently Reed threw a tee at Rory on the range. Rory is not a fan of Reed, apparently he was subpoena'd on Christmas Eve in one of the numerous frivolous Reed lawsuits.

View: https://twitter.com/KylePorterCBS/status/1618236955275440129?s=20&t=5KqpaEjsnsz2klcEZiCszQ

 

[cshea]

More details on the Rory/Reed spat:

View: https://twitter.com/SI_Golf/status/1618282177476628481?s=20&t=bGUvsdpCOVLiIYz_5NsAAA


Reed says he walked over to wish Rory and Harry a Happy New Year (too late asshole /Larry David). Harry shook his hand, Rory ignored Reed and fiddled with his Trackman. Reed walked away and flicked a 4 Aces tee playfully at Rory.

Rory said he didn't see the tee flick but if roles were reversed, he'd be getting sued by Reed and that he wasn't happy getting supboena'd at his house on Christmas Eve for one of Reed's lawsuits.. Reed countered that the subpoena Rory received on Christmas Eve wasn't from one of his lawsuits, but of the LIV vs. PGA Tour lawsuit. He then called Rory an "inmature little child" for not reacting to him (kinda wild coming from a guy who has cut off all ties and won't acknowledge his own family).

A lame tee flick on the range and some words in the media basically constitutes an all out brawl in the pro golf world.

 

[ezemerson]

watching the par 3 coverage on ESPN + and these holes (south course) are eating these guys up.....take your pars and get out of there

 

[cshea]

Mac mic’s up for a hole talking to the announcers is very cool.

 

[Bob Montgomerys Helmet Hat]

Only Saturday finish of the season could be a barn burner. Ryder just bogied 7&8 to bring lots of top players back in, including Homa, Morikawa, Matsuyama, even Rickie. Rahm having a rough day, but still only 4 off.

 

[TFP]

Max is absolutely cruising right now.

 

[Bob Montgomerys Helmet Hat]

Keegan making a charge

 

[Zomp]

The last hour of this tournament has been awesome.

 

[TFP]

Just an awesome finish, Max with a huge final round. What a closer he's become.

 

[ezemerson]

can't wait for next week.....a real tournament on only 1 course

 

[Bob Montgomerys Helmet Hat]

Pebble in a gusty wind is fun. Someone just hit a 7 iron on #7. 100 yard downhill par 3

 

[E5 Yaz]

Heck of a finish in the European tour event this morning. Leader has a three-shot lead going into 18, drains a 25-footer to "save" a double bogey to maintain a one-shot lead, then watches as an eagle putt from the last guy with a chance slides by the hole to win.

 

[E5 Yaz]

Denny McCarthy with a 29 on the front nine

 

[Bob Montgomerys Helmet Hat]

Denny McCarthy with a 29 on the front nine

He has a perfect putting stroke

 

[cshea]

Final round about to resume. Rose has a 2-shot lead through 9.

 

[cshea]

Rose is going to win unless he puts a few in the Pacifc on 18.

First win in 4-years.

 

[cshea]

Time to see how the designated event structure works. 3 of the next 4 weeks are designated events for the PGA Tour, followed by The Players.

Monster field in Scottsdale this week. 22 of the top 25 by OWGR. The only non-LIV player sitting out is Zalatoris.

 

[cshea]

Roughly 2 hour delay due to frost, but they are off. Some of the big groups out there:

Rory/Morikawa/Hideki
Spieth/Finau/Xander
Cantlay/Fitz/Burns

and in the afternoon wave

Rahm/Max/...Keegan?
JT/Theegala/Dahmen
Tom Kim/Scheffler/Hovland

 

[Zomp]

Course is playing pretty tough so far. The wind is giving players fits.

 

[cshea]

32 players over par. Morikawa and Hideki just missed the 16th green by a mile.

 

[TFP]

32 players over par. Morikawa and Hideki just missed the 16th green by a mile.

Keith Mitchell almost hit it into the bleachers.