19th Hole

Phil Mickelson and the PGA Tour respond to Tiger’s ‘enormous loan’ claim

Published

2 years ago

Nov 30, 2022

During Phil Mickelson’s now infamous conversation with Alan Shipnuck, “Lefty” implied that the PGA Tour was holding out on it’s players and had more money to give.

“They are sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of digital content we could be using for our social media feeds. The players need to own all of that. We played those shots, we created those moments, we should be the ones to profit. The Tour doesn’t need that money. They are already sitting on an $800 million cash stockpile. How do you think they’re funding the PIP? Or investing $200 million in the European Tour? The Tour is supposed to be a nonprofit that distributes money to charity. How the f**k is it legal for them to have that much cash on hand? The answer is, it’s not. But they always want more and more. They have to control everything. Their ego won’t allow them to make the concessions they need to.”

In the meantime, the PGA Tour’s purses and prize money have skyrocketed. The Player Impact Program was increased to $100 million this season. The Sentry Tournament of Champions (January 2-8) will have a purse of $15 million, up from $8.2 million in 2022. The Genesis Invitational (February 13-19), the Arnold Palmer Invitational (February 27-March 5) and the Memorial Tournament will see purses increase from $12 million to $20 million.

Yesterday, Tiger Woods touched on numerous topics while speaking with the media during his press conference prior to hosting this week’s Hero World Challenge.

At one point during the riveting interview, Woods was asked about Phil Mickelson’s previous comments, and if all of the money being added to the prize pool and extra bonus money is proof that he was right all along.

Tiger was quick to shut it down, saying that the Tour had to take out loans during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“No, absolutely not, no,” he said. “We took out an enormous loan during the pandemic in which that, if we had another year of the pandemic, our Tour would only be sustained for another year. So we took out an enormous loan. It worked, it paid off in our benefit, hence we were able to use that money to make the increases that we’ve made.”

Bob Harig of Sports Illustrated spoke with the Tour about Tiger’s comments, who clarified that the money was not a loan, but in fact reserves and “mitigating actions”.

The PGA Tour clarified today that it did not take out a loan to deal with the pandemic in 2020 as Tiger said during his news conference.. . The Tour used reserves and "mitigating actions'' and would have seen a significant reduction in reserves w/o a return to golf in June 2020

— Bob Harig (@BobHarig) November 29, 2022

The Tour also clarified that Tiger might have been referencing the fact that reserves would have dipped below $100m without a return to golf in 2020.

— Bob Harig (@BobHarig) November 29, 2022

Mickelson then took to Twitter to add more context to the situation.

Pga tour IRS 990 form from 2018
1.6 billion in stocks
700 million in cash
1.15 billion in non liquid assets.
This is from the non profit section. The for profit section hasn’t been stated since 2012 but was more than the non profit part at that time.
This can all be googled

— Phil Mickelson (@PhilMickelson) November 29, 2022

Your Reaction?

LIKE88
LEGIT13
WOW12
LOL9
IDHT3
FLOP4
OB0
SHANK22

19th Hole

The Open TV ratings don’t make for pretty reading

Published

2 days ago

Jul 24, 2024

Matt Vincenzi

According to Josh Carpenter of Sports Business Journal, last week’s Open Championship suffered its lowest television rating in almost a decade.

NBC and Peacock drew 3.39M viewers on Sunday for Xander Schauffele’s two-shot win in @TheOpen, down 4% from last year and Brian Harman.

That’s the lowest number for the final round since Zach Johnson’s win in 2015, which finished on a Monday on ESPN (cable) pic.twitter.com/9r7guxnfx1

— Josh Carpenter (@JoshACarpenter) July 23, 2024

The final round was down four percent from Brian Harman’s win in 2023 at Royal Liverpool, which offered very little drama down the stretch. It was the lowest-rated final round since Zach Johnson’s win in 2015 at St. Andrews: and that was a Monday finish.

Stars such as Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau, Ludvig Aberg, Viktor Hovland all missed the cut, which may have contributed to the lack of interest from casual golf fans.

This year, the Masters and The Open have decreased in ratings while the PGA Championship and U.S. Open saw an uptick. It’s fair to speculate whether the inclusion of Bryson DeChambeau deep into contention had an impact.

New here?

Find out more about GolfWRX and the GolfWRX forums.

While you’re here, check out BK’s look at Xander’s Open-winning WITB.

Your Reaction?

LIKE4
LEGIT2
WOW0
LOL3
IDHT0
FLOP1
OB0
SHANK3

19th Hole

‘That looks brutal’ – First photo of Tiger Woods’ leg without sleeve shows depth of injury

Published

3 days ago

Jul 23, 2024

Matt Vincenzi

It’s been a struggle of late for Tiger Woods on the golf course. The 15-time major champion has only teed it up five times in 2024, finishing 60th in The Masters and missing the cut in the other three majors. He also played in the Genesis Invitational and was forced to withdraw.

Woods has many ailments, but none as debilitating as his surgically repaired leg. Since his car accident three years ago, the 48-year-old has rarely been seen without wearing a leg sleeve. However, on Monday, a fan was able to take a photograph of Woods’ leg without the sleeve.

@blakebunkersgolf IG

??? #LOOK: A photo has emerged of Tiger Woods without his leg sleeve @TWlegion

(Via: blakebunkersgolf/IG) pic.twitter.com/ppaGLdXg8X

— NUCLR GOLF (@NUCLRGOLF) July 22, 2024

The photo was taken at an event Tiger’s son, Charlie, was playing in by “blakebunkersgolf” on Instagram, and one of the top responses on X towards the photo was simply “That looks brutal.”

Woods has struggled with the lack of reps on the course but hasn’t given any indication as to whether his schedule will look any different come 2025.

New here?

Find out more about GolfWRX and the GolfWRX forums.

While you’re here, check out BK’s look at Xander Schauffele’s winning WITB.

Your Reaction?

LIKE14
LEGIT14
WOW24
LOL0
IDHT3
FLOP3
OB0
SHANK5

19th Hole

John Daly says this is the best golf course in Scotland…and it’s not St. Andrews

Published

3 days ago

Jul 23, 2024

Matt Vincenzi

John Daly withdrew at last week’s Open Championship with a knee injury, but the 58-year-old was back on the links this week showcasing one of the most famous golf courses in the world for his fans.

While at Trump Turnberry, John Daly recorded a video of the 18th green.

In the video, the 1995 Open Champion shared his opinion that Turnberry is the best golf course in Scotland, even better than St. Andrews.

?????????? #BEST OF THE BEST — John Daly says Trump Turnberry beats out St Andrews for the title of best golf course in Scotland.

Do you agree?

(Via: @LGlick1) pic.twitter.com/Ya7FIJEfp2

— NUCLR GOLF (@NUCLRGOLF) July 22, 2024

“Hey everybody, John Daly here. I’m at Trump Turnberry today. I went out and tried to play a little bit. This place is amazing. It is the best golf course in Scotland, I think. St. Andrews is my baby, but I think I just found my new baby. I’m at the 18th green right here, this thing is unreal.”

Turnberry hosted its first Open Championship in 1977, which was dubbed “The Duel in the Sun” when Tom Watson beat Jack Nicklaus by a single stroke. The most recent Open the course hosted was 2009, where Watson almost won again, but lost to Stewart Cink in a playoff.

The course is not slated to host any Open Championships in the foreseeable future.