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‘To play an event like this is a dream for me’ – Patrick Reed on this week’s Asian Tour event

Published

2 years ago

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One of the main reasons given by players moving from the PGA Tour to the LIV series was to allow more time between events, to be at home more often, and to have the freedom to choose which events to play throughout the season.

In the last week or so, we have seen 11 LIV golfers serve a lawsuit on the PGA Tour and subsequently receive an in-depth reply and denial of charges. Three of the 11 – Talor Gooch, Matt Jones and Hudson Swafford – have since seen their application for a Temporary Restraining Order denied by the courts, therefore being unable to play in the first (or following) FedEx play-off events, starting on Thursday.

2018 Masters champion, Patrick Reed, has had his many controversies over the years and after agreeing to sign for the LIV series, spoke of how it allowed him more free time.

“On top of it, just the quality of life for us as players now, having less events, being able to spend more time at home with the family,” was an admirable take by Reed.

“If you have kids, being able to spend time with your children, and not sitting there and having to play three, four weeks in a row, then have a week off, and during that week off you’re preparing, trying to get ready for the next week.”

Great, hard to argue with that notion.

Yet, here he is, just a couple of months later, playing the LIV-backed International Series Singapore before taking in a similar event in Korea, just a few days later, surely not giving much time to jet home and spend more time with Justine and the kids.

Having dropped to #46 in the world rankings, and with no OWGR points currently awarded to LIV events, Reed is in danger of slipping out of the top-50 and losing the considerable privileges that come with it – that is if the leading organizations do eventually allow all LIV players to compete.

With the backing of LIV Golf, but not an exclusive event, the Asian Tour events do carry OWGR points. However, as the official world ranking site shows, winning here will not make a tremendous deal of difference to the standings, the eventual champion receiving around 7.5 points compared with 69 points for the winner at St. Jude and nearly 15 at the DP World Tour event in Northern Ireland.

Reed doesn’t see that as an issue, saying that, “World ranking points always help, but at the end of the day, for me, coming over here, I’d heard great things about this place.

“And coming in, I knew I wanted to play a little bit after the last event we played in Bedminster, and it fit the schedule.

“For me, it’s more about travelling and playing golf and trying to grow the game around the world–and not just staying at home and playing at home. I have always loved traveling and playing, so to play an event like this is a dream for me.”

Once out in the mainstream, there was, of course, plenty of social media reaction.

Responding to a tweet by @BunkeredOnline, one user commented, “Wow….that seems strange, given his reasons for joining LIV. “He asserted that being on the road and away from his kids, the possibility that he wasn’t being a good dad, was beginning to affect his play.” Hopefully, sometime in Asia will help with those issues!”

Opinions come and go. What the majority are calling for is the honest answer to why the players are making the choices they are.

With the legal moves in process and still to come, this could get even nastier than it has already.

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19th Hole

Man charged with stealing millions of dollars worth of memorabilia from Augusta National

Published

11 hours ago

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Apr 18, 2024

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Augusta National

According to a report from the Chicago Tribune, a man has been charged in Chicago with stealing millions of dollars’ worth of memorabilia from Augusta National.

The man, Robert Globensky, was charged with transporting the memorabilia across state lines.

The report states that between 2009 and 2022, Globensky allegedly transported “millions of dollars’ worth of Masters golf tournament merchandise and historical memorabilia” from Augusta National “and transported to Tampa, Florida, knowing the same had been stolen, converted and taken by fraud.”

The document was filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Per the court records there is no mention that Globensky worked for the golf club.

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Talor Gooch: 54 holes is more exciting for the fans

Published

11 hours ago

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Apr 18, 2024

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Over the past few weeks, two of LIV Golf’s biggest stars, Jon Rahm and Phil Mickelson, have both expressed that they believe LIV could go to 72 holes.

While speaking to BBC Sport, Rahm said he “wouldn’t mind” going to 72 holes.

“If there ever was a way where LIV could go to 72 holes I think it would help all of this argument a lot.”

“The closer I think we can get LIV Golf to some other things the better. I think it would be for some kind of unification to feed into a world tour or something like that.

“I don’t know if I’m alone in this, but I definitely wouldn’t mind going back to 72 holes.”

Phil Mickelson, while speaking after his final round at The Masters, also said he “wouldn’t be surprised” if LIV went to 72 holes.

“I don’t think it makes a difference either way. We’ve got mini-tours playing 54, Champions Tour playing 54. I wouldn’t be surprised if some or all of LIV events went to 72. I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter. I enjoy the competition.”

Another one of LIV’s top players, Talor Gooch, expressed on Wednesday that he feels quite differently.

“It’s just funny to me, this arbitrary number of 72.”

“Why is it not 90? “Why is it not 108? We just decided to make that number the number, for what reason?”

“Everyone’s talked about world ranking points and all this stuff, but no one’s talked about what do the fans enjoy more?”

“People want something that’s going to be more exciting. And I personally think that the 54 holes is more exciting for the fans.”

After Gooch’s comments, I decided to get some fan feedback for myself, making a poll on X. With about 4,500 votes in at the time of writing this, roughly 84% of voters in the poll indicated they’d prefer 72 holes to just 16% saying they’d prefer 54.

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Brandel Chamblee has ‘no doubt’ who started the McIlroy/LIV rumor and why

Published

1 day ago

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Apr 17, 2024

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Earlier this week, rumors began to fly that Rory McIlroy could be making a shock switch to LIV Golf which caused quite the stir on social media.

However, on Tuesday, McIlroy emphatically shut down those rumors, telling Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis at the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town:

“I honestly don’t know how these things get started. I’ve never been offered a number from LIV and I’ve never contemplated going to LIV. Again I think I’ve made it clear over the past two years that I don’t think it’s something for me.

It’s unfortunate that we have to deal with it and this is the state that our game’s in. I’m obviously here today and I’m playing this PGA Tour event next week and I will play the PGA Tour for the rest of my career.”

Golf Channel analyst and longtime LIV critic, Brandel Chamblee, took to social media before McIlroy’s statement to point the finger at “Saudis/LIV,” who he believes started the rumor:

When one user pushed back on Chamblee’s claim that LIV golfers had a poor showing at the Masters, Brandel went further into why he believes the opening major of the year was a failure for the breakaway tour.

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