| November 30, 2022
Good Wednesday morning, golf fans, with Tiger Woods stealing the show on Tuesday with a fascinating press conference at the Hero covering a number of topics. |
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1. Tiger: Greg Norman has to go
SkySports report…“Tiger Woods has echoed Rory McIlroy’s call for Greg Norman to quit as LIV Golf CEO to allow a peace settlement to be negotiated in golf’s civil war.”
- “Speaking on Tuesday at a press conference ahead of the Hero World Challenge, which he has pulled out of due to injury, Woods said: “I see that there’s an opportunity out there if both organisations put a stay on their litigation, but that’s the problem, they’ve got to put a stay on it.”
- “And whether or not they do that or not, there’s no willingness to negotiate if you have a litigation against you. So if they both have a stay and then have a break and then they can meet and figure something out, then maybe there is something to be had.
- “But I think Greg has to go, first of all, and then obviously litigation against us and then our countersuit against them, those would then have to be at a stay as well.
- “So then we can talk, we can all talk freely.”
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2. Woods the dealmaker?
Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard…”Woods has been content to let McIlroy stand for the Tour, and he appreciates how the Northern Irishman has been able to juggle being the frontman in a global divide and remain the game’s top-ranked player. But Woods’ relative silence on the issue, at least compared to McIlroy, shouldn’t be confused for indifference. He understands better than anyone that change is needed and that he’s the most likely conduit for that change.”
- “I don’t know whether it’s going to be me, Rory, or the Tour, or other players being, I wouldn’t necessarily say a peacemaker, but I just think that there’s a window of opportunity for us from both tours to figure this out shortly,” Woods said. “That window’s closing just because the majors are coming up now, and they’re going to have their own criteria for the majors.”
- “If all politics is local, then Woods proved how dedicated he was to the Tour’s cause by flying to Delaware in August for a player’s-only meeting. Along with McIlroy, Tiger laid out a future that would allow the game’s best players to remain loyal to the Tour and earn guaranteed money…”
- “For a player who has largely stayed out of the Tour’s decision-making process, it was a crucial moment. His tone on Tuesday in Albany was just as crucial. In this case, in this moment, the status quo of saying much without saying anything at all just wouldn’t work.”
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3. Woods on OWGR
Golf Digest’s Joel Beall…”Speaking to the media Tuesday at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, Woods was asked his thoughts about the OWGR, which released a modernized formula for its weekly calculations this past summer. The 15-time major winner didn’t mince words when giving his opinion on the matter.”
- “It’s a flawed system. That’s something we all here recognize,” Woods said. “The field at Dubai [the DP World Tour Championship] got less points than Sea Island [RSM Classic] and more of the top players were there in Dubai, so obviously there’s a flawed system…”
- “How do you fix it? You know, those are meetings we’re going to have to have,” Woods continued. “We’re going to have to have it with the World Golf committee and as well as our—the main tours that are involved in it, somehow [need] to] come up with a better system than is in place now. I remember in my career, when I … I had a big lead in my career, I didn’t have to play a single tournament the next year, and I still would be ranked No. 1. We changed that system then. So it has been changed in the past and I’m sure this will be changed hopefully soon.”
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4. Tiger’s plans
Cameron Morfit for PGATour.com…”For Woods, the winner of 82 PGA TOUR events, including 15 majors, this is the new normal.”
- “The goal is to play just the major championships and maybe one or two more,” he said. “That’s it. I mean, physically that’s all I can do. … I don’t have much left in this leg.”
- “When he does play, he continued, he’ll just hope to catch lightning in a bottle and remember how to close. It will be hard, he added, relegating himself to tournament hosting duties this week.”
- “When I was at home,” he said, “I was shooting 4, 5, 6, 7 under par like it was nothing, but I was in a cart. Now you add in walking and that goes away.”
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5. Tiger’s health
ESPN’s Mark Schlabach…”Tiger Woods on Tuesday said he had two additional surgeries this year and that the plantar fasciitis in his right foot that will prevent him from playing this week is related to his ongoing recovery from serious injuries suffered in a car wreck outside Los Angeles in February 2021.”
- “Woods, 46, declined to disclose details about the two surgeries or the specific dates of the procedures while talking to reporters at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas.”
- “Woods said he began to suffer from plantar fasciitis, inflammation that causes heel pain, while ramping up to play in the Hero World Challenge, a tournament that benefits his charity, TGR Foundation.”
- “It was a tough decision just because I want to play,” Woods said. “I like playing, I like competing, but unfortunately, I can hit the golf ball and hit whatever shot you want, I just can’t walk. And so I’ve had a few setbacks during the year that I still was able to somehow play through, but this one I just can’t. Only time can heal this one, and stay off my feet and get a lot of treatment done.”
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6. Westwood’s son to make pro debut
Mike Hall for Golf Monthly…“Lee Westwood is in Jakarta this week as he aims for his fourth Indonesian Masters title as the Asian Tour season concludes.”
- “However, while much of the attention will be on the 49-year-old as he attempts to replicate his successes at Royale Jakarta Golf Club in 2011, 2012 and 2015, for another member of the Westwood family, it will be a memorable occasion too.”
- “Westwood’s son, Samuel, is making his pro debut in the tournament – which is also part of the International Series – but his father explained he’s keen not to put too much expectation on his son. He said: “He started playing the game very late. He only took up the game seriously at age 16 and he is 21 now. I don’t really have any expectations for him this week. I just want him to enjoy himself.”
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7. Smith slams OWGR
Our Matt Vincenzi…”Fresh off a victory at the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship, the current world number 3 will likely see a freefall in the rankings as time goes by. As it stands, golfers playing on the LIV Tour won’t receive OWGR points for the foreseeable future.”
- “Smith told media at the Australian Open:”
- “I’m still third on the list somehow, but as time goes on, I think those rankings become more and more irrelevant, especially with not getting world ranking points in those LIV events.”
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8. Mickelson responds to Tiger’s ‘loan’ claim
Mike Hall for Golf Monthly…”Earlier in the year, Phil Mickelson suggested the PGA Tour could offer greater financial incentives to its players, and claimed the organisation has plenty of money at its disposal. Then, after LIV Golf was launched, the Tour appeared to prove his point by introducing a series of changes, including purses of at least $20m in several of its newly elevated events.”
- However, Tiger Woods, who is in the Bahamas to host the Hero World Challenge, has refuted the notion that the PGA Tour is flush with money – which has inadvertently drawn a response from one of his great rivals.
- When asked if the likes of Mickelson, who were criticised for joining LIV Golf, were owed an apology given the extra money their actions have ensured for PGA Tour players, he said: “No, absolutely not, no. 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.”
- That led to CBS Sports golf writer Kyle Porter tweeting: “Phil: “They’re sitting on $800M.” Tiger: “We took out an enormous loan during the pandemic.””
- It didn’t take long for Mickelson to respond. He wrote: “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.”
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9. Izzy Stricker chooses Wisconsin
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Cameron Jourdan for Golfweek… “Last month, Izzy Stricker, the youngest daughter of Steve Stricker, came from behind to win an individual state championship for Waunakee High School, outside of Madison.
- Now, she’s made her college decision and will be staying close to home. Stricker committed to the Wisconsin women’s golf program earlier this month, according to Wisconsin Golf, following a family tradition with the Badgers.
- “I sort of always knew I wanted to go to Wisconsin so I didn’t have any other schools in mind,” Stricker told Wisconsin.Golf. “It’s always been a dream to follow my mom and sister’s footsteps and go to Wisconsin and I’ve always loved attending the football and basketball games as a kid. The university feels like home, and I could never imagine myself anywhere else.”
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