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Good Friday morning, golf fans, and a big thank you to our friends at Golf Guru for sponsoring today’s Morning 9.

1. McIlroy’s epic drive to clinch win

AP Report…”Rory McIlroy had every reason to love the long ball Thursday.”

• “Taken to the 18th hole in the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, McIlroy unleashed the shot of the tournament. He smashed a drive on the 375-yard closing hole so magnificently that it pitched on the green and rolled out to just inside 4 feet.”

• “That all but clinched his 2-up victory over Denny McCarthy as McIlroy led a parade of top seeds into the final round of group play at Austin Country Club.”

• “It was good,” McIlroy said with a smile, which was like saying Michelangelo did a good job on the Sistine Chapel.”

2. Survey: “Serious” golfers oppose ball rollback

E. Michael Johnson for Golf Digest…”Golf Datatech a research firm based in Kissimmee, Fla., fits that description and has released the results of its first survey related to the proposed ball rollback.”

• …”The survey was conducted of 1,250 “serious golfers” (an opt-in group identified by company). The group was asked a series of multiple choice and open-ended questions regarding the MLR. While the opinions are predictably varied, those opposed outnumber those in favor by more than two to one.”

3. More Rory on rollback

Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard…”One player, however, had a different take on the proposed model local rule — Rory McIlroy.”

• “The Northern Irishman, who has limited his availability to the media this week at Austin Country Club, outlined his thoughts on the proposed rule in a lengthy interview with No Laying Up.”

• “I think my opinion differs from my peers, and probably the PGA Tour as a whole,” McIlroy said in the interview. “This is just my opinion and I’m only one voice. But honestly, if I’m taking my PGA Tour hat off here, the major championships are already such a big deal in the game of golf, and if the major championships somehow adopt this ball change, and the PGA Tour doesn’t, I think it widens that gap between PGA Tour golf and major championship golf. Which, if anything, the PGA Tour is trying to make up some sort of market share, or trying to get a little closer to the major championships in terms of the interest that we create within our tournaments.”

4. Changes for Augusta

Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard…”Of course, he wants to play well this week at Austin Country Club and his opening 3-and-1 victory over Scott Stallings was an encouraging start. McIlroy would also like to put his missed cut at The Players Championship out of his mind and dial in a driver that hasn’t felt right since he traded in his previous gamer last month in Los Angeles.”

• “It’s hard because you look at strokes gained: off the tee and you would think that I’m driving the ball well or I have been driving the ball well. Then you look at my driving accuracy and it’s down around 50 percent, which is quite low for me,” he explained. “I’m hitting the ball a long way, so strokes gained maybe overvalues length sometimes, depending on the course.”

• “…In addition to his change off the tee, he also made one on the greens, switching to a Scotty Cameron Newport-style putter, similar to the one he used to win the 2011 U.S. Open.”

• “I just think what I’m trying to do with lining the ball up, the line on the top instead of on the flange matches up a little bit better for me,” he said.

5. LIV lawsuit latest: LIV claims Tour squashed media deal

Joel Beall for Golf Digest…”Attorneys for LIV Golf claim the Saudi-backed circuit had a signed contract with a broadcast network only for the network to back out once the PGA Tour intervened, according to the latest court filings in the antitrust lawsuit between the two leagues.”

• “Documents submitted late Wednesday night in U.S. District Court that were made available Thursday morning concern the deposition of PGA Tour executive Thierry Pascal, who is the managing director for the tour’s international media division. “Based on tour documents and other sources, LIV believes Mr. Pascal used illegal means to dissuade numerous broadcasters in international markets from signing broadcast contracts with LIV and even from reporting about LIV events in their news content,” LIV’s lawyers say in the filing.”

• “…LIV Golf claims that because of the interference it had to sign “with a secondary network, with LIV being its first sporting event.” The network being referred to is the CW Network, LIV’s only U.S. media partner.”

6. Why Justin Suh has been using the same putter model since eighth grade

Our Andrew Tursky writing for PGATour.com…”Justin Suh is not one of those players. He’s been using the same model of Nike putter since his freshman year in high school.”

• “The reigning Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year has been a Nike Method Core Mod-4w putter since grabbing the $50 club off the rack before a junior tournament.”

• “I rolled in every putt. I was like, ‘Dad, I need this,’” Suh told golfchannel.com in 2019. Suh shot 64 the next day.

• “Now that old Nike putter will be in use at the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play after Suh snuck in as the 63rd seed. A strong stretch of recent play, including a T5 at The Honda Classic and T6 at THE PLAYERS earned Suh a spot at Austin Country Club.”

• “Suh retired the original after Nike sent him the same model with slight modifications. With Nike no longer making equipment, he also bought a third Method putter on eBay a few years ago.”

7. Average driving distance for golfers (via Arccos)

8. LPGA Taiwan event canceled

Beth Ann Nichols for Golfweek…”The LPGA and Swinging Skirts Golf Foundation announced late Thursday they mutually agreed to cancel the 2023 Taiwan Swinging Skirts LPGA, scheduled for Oct. 26-29, due to operational factors.”

• “The tournament hasn’t been held since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

9. Photos from the WGC Match Play

• Check out all of our galleries here!

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Good Thursday morning, golf fans, and a big thank you to our friends at Golf Guru for sponsoring today’s Morning 9.

1. Rory on rollback

Our Matt Vincenzi…In a surprising turn of events, Rory McIlroy has stated that he believes the controversial proposal that would result in the bifurcation of the golf ball would be a good thing for the game of golf.

• The four-time major champion appeared on the “No Laying Up” Podcast this week, and talked about the potential changes.

• “I’ve been pretty adamant that I don’t really want the governing bodies to touch the recreational golfer because we need to make this game as not intimidating and as much fun as possible, just to try to keep the participation levels at an all-time high,” he said.

• “So, I’m glad in this new proposal that they haven’t touched the recreational golfer. But for elite level play, I really like it. I really do. I know that’s a really unpopular opinion amongst my peers, but I think it’s going to help identify who the best players are a bit easier.”

• “I think you’re going to see people with more well-rounded games succeed easier than what the game has become, which is a bit bomb and gouge over these last few years.”

• “Selfishly, I think it helps me. I think this is only going to help the better player. You know, it might help the longer player, too, in some ways. But I think it’s going to help the overall professional game.

• “I think making guys hit some long irons again, and some mid irons, and being able to hit every club in your bag in a round of golf. I can’t remember the last time when I’ve had to do that. I don’t know if this change in the ball will make us do that, but it certainly is a step closer to that.”

• “I was once of the opinion that, you know, they don’t try to make Formula 1 cars go slower. Innovation is a part of every sport. It’s a part of every industry. But whenever that innovation outgrows the footprint of the game, that’s when I think we have a problem.”

Listen to the full NLU pod here.

2. More on LIV ratings

Adam Woodard for Golfweek…”The viewership reports are starting to roll through for the second LIV Golf League event of the season, and early numbers aren’t great for the Saudi Arabia-backed circuit.”

• “The Sports Business Journal, citing a source with numbers from Nielsen, reported last week’s LIV Golf Tucson event had an average of 274,000 viewers on the CW for Sunday’s final round from Gallery Golf Club in Marana, Arizona, after an average of 284,000 viewers for Saturday’s second round. At LIV Golf Mayakoba, the season opener last month, the CW averaged 286,000 viewers for Saturday’s second round and 291,000 for Sunday’s final round. Friday’s opening rounds are only available via the CW app and other digital streams.”

• “Outside of the viewership, the SBJ report also claimed that 24 percent of homes – or 29 million – in the United States were unable to watch LIV Golf Tucson on television because their local CW affiliate did not carry the coverage in the 1-6 p.m. ET window.”

3. Busbee on LIV

Golfweek’s Jay Busbee…”LIV Golf’s first season comprised 10 no-cut, high-purse events. The result was so successful — from an attention-grabbing standpoint, at least — that LIV executed its 2024 plans in 2023, upping the schedule from 10 to 14 events. At the same time, LIV has been increasing the focus and emphasis on its four-man teams.”

• “Combined, those two forces have LIV’s players a bit concerned, as the Fire Pit Collective reported from the tour’s second event in Tucson. Players have expressed some concern that their contracts were for 10 events and they’re now expected to play 14, and that money won by the team goes back into the team, rather than directly to the players themselves.”

• “Although LIV is backed by the virtually limitless resources of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the stream of those resources to LIV apparently isn’t limitless. The Fire Pit noted the newly cost-conscious approaches to daily tour life, from travel expense cutbacks to small amenities like snacks.”

4. RIP WGC

From Rex Hoggard’s eulogy for the series…”For most, this week is the end of an era that began in 1999, when then-commissioner Tim Finchem’s plan for what he originally called “world championship events” began with the Match Play in February at La Costa, just north of San Diego. Jeff Maggert won that first WGC, cashing a princely $1 million winner’s check, followed by Tiger Woods’ victory six months later at the WGC-NEC Invitational at Firestone and again later that fall at the WGC-American Express Championship in Spain. Woods played 46 WGCs in his career and won 18 of them, which is the most efficient way to assess the relative success of the World Golf Championships. Top players competing more often for large purses – check, check and check.”

• “Finchem’s grand plan to gather the game’s best more often at big-budget events (again, sound familiar?) was, with notable distinctions, a 2 ½-decade success, but the more pressing question as the WGCs inch toward their ultimate demise is how they arrived at this ending.”

5. Chasing dreams, trailers in tow

Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols…”If Rob Rennell has one regret, it’s that he didn’t buy a fifth wheel sooner. Rennell estimates that traveling the junior golf circuit by trailer with daughter Riley would’ve cut the family’s expenses in half. Rob and Riley have been practicing in Scottsdale, Arizona, for the past three months while their 42-foot trailer is parked at Eagle View RV Resort at Fort McDowell.”

• “It’s almost like an apartment,” said Riley of the setup, which includes two bedrooms and two bathrooms. RV life allows Riley to bring her dog Alex and kitten Frankie on tour.

• “The Rennells also have a 40-acre farm in Columbia, Tennessee, which supplies hay for the cattle ranches that surround. Kendra Rennell, who was back home overseeing roof repairs at the farm, recently made her way out west to watch Riley make her LPGA debut this week at the Drive On Championship at Superstition Mountain Golf and Country Club in Gold Canyon, Arizona.”

6. Captain Catriona Matthew to make history

Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols…”For those who don’t follow the Curtis Cup closely, the appointment of Catriona Matthew as captain of the 2024 Great Britain and Ireland team at Sunningdale might seem like a no-brainer. Of course she’s qualified for such a position as the three-time Curtis Cupper and major champion became the first captain to lead Europe to back-to-back Solheim Cup victories in 2019 and 2021.”

• “What’s historic about the appointment, however, is that a professional player has never captained a Curtis Cup team. Matthew will be the first LPGA pro to lead the team of eight in the biennial competition against Team USA. GB&I last won the Curtis Cup in 2016 at Dun Laoghaire.”

7. New Tom Watson designed Augusta course

Michael McEwan for Bunkered…”If you’re an avid user of golf Twitter, you’ll likely have heard rumours of a new golf course coming to Augusta.

• “…Say hello to Cypress Shoals, a brand-new development in the north of the city, bordering the Savannah River and the Sumter National Forest, just four-and-a-half miles from Masters host venue Augusta National”

• “First spotted by the Eureka Earth Twitter account, the “multi-generational, mixed-use development” is positioning itself as “America’s Next Great Masterpiece.”

• “Designed for outdoor enthusiasts that enjoy active lifestyles, Cypress Shoals is the perfect combination of luxury and ease of access without compromising the tranquility of exclusivity, the privacy of seclusion as well as absolute security.”

• “The development will include two 18-hole golf courses, one of which will be designed by two-time Masters champ Tom Watson.”

8. Rory’s 19-putt Augusta National round

Cameron Jourdan for Golfweek…”The Masters is two weeks away, and plenty of players have made their way to Augusta, Georgia, in recent weeks to get some practice in.”

• “World No. 3 Rory McIlroy is one of those players. He went last week between missing the cut at the Players Championship and ahead of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. And one of his rounds seems to have been pretty special.”

• “After beating Scott Stallings 3 and 1 in his first match Wednesday at Austin Country Club, McIlroy was asked about a rumor he had 19 putts during one of his practice rounds, and he didn’t exactly shoot that statement down.”

• “Yeah, look, I had two good days,” McIlroy said. “We played 54 holes in two days, and it was good. I was really happy with where my game was.”

9. Photos from the WGC Match Play

• Check out all of our galleries here!