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Report: Despite rumblings of LIV’s demise, a meeting took place yesterday that tells a different story

Published

4 months ago

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After the shocking PGA Tour/DP World Tour/PIF merger, there was plenty of speculation that the deal would put an end to LIV Golf in the near future.

In the PGA Tour meeting Tuesday, commissioner Jay Monahan said “that a full review of LIV’s commercial viability would be conducted at season’s end”. Those who were in the meeting took that as a bad sign for the future of LIV, including Rory, who spoke about LIV in his press conference on Wednesday.

As for Rory McIlroy:

“I still hate LIV,” the four-time major winner said. “I hope it goes away. And I would fully expect that it does. And I think that’s where the distinction here is. This is the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour and the PIF. Very different from LIV.”

Despite the rumors of its demise, Alan Shipnuck of the Firepit Collective wrote on Thursday morning that the feeling after Greg Norman’s press conference with LIV employees that isn’t going anywhere.

Shipnuck, who’s had his ear to the ground for almost two years on everything LIV Golf, shared the feeling he got when watching the Norman-led meeting.

“By way of an opening, he said, ‘Congratulations, you changed golf, and you did it in less than a year.’ The employees on the call had taken huge professional risks to join LIV and were understandably jittery. Norman radiated confidence, saying that the 2024 LIV schedule was nearly finalized. “There will be no operational changes in 2023, 2024, 2025 and into the future,” he said. Then came the mic drop: ‘LIV is a stand-alone entity and will continue to be that moving forward. And that comes right from the top.’

The author of “LIV and Let Die” then explained who is really calling the shots in the world of golf going forward: Yasir Al-Rumayyan.

“The man at the top is not Monahan. Or Rory McIlroy or Tiger Woods. Or the the lords of the Seminole grill room, Jimmy Dunne and Ed Herlihy, who brokered the truce with LIV in their roles as PGA Tour board members. No, Norman was referring to the new boss of all of them, His Excellency Yasir Al-Rumayyan. H.E., as he is referred to around LIV, is the governor of the Saudi Public Investment Fund, which can alter economies and disrupt industries with its $650 billion warchest. He is also the chairman of the board of Aramco, the state oil company, making H.E. easily the most powerful person in the world who is not a head of state. His latest title is chairman of the board of the new PIF-Tour entity.”

“That means Monahan reports to him”.

Per Shipnuck, a high ranking LIV executive describes LIV as “Al-Rumayyan’s baby” and find it hard to believe he would let it disintegrate so quickly after how much effort he put into the venture.

“What people fail to understand is that LIV is H.E.’s baby,” said the LIV executive. “He has poured his heart into its creation.” This included numerous meetings in which Al-Rumayyan fussed over every detail, down to the look of the LIV logo.”

“We all went into the call with our heads hanging low, feeling so defeated,” says the LIV executive. “Then it became like in The Wolf Of Wall Street when Leonardo DiCaprio gives that speech and the whole room goes crazy. When His Excellency finished speaking we were all high-5’ing. It was like, Let’s fucking go! We’re gonna fucking do this!”

Time will tell how it will play out, but as Shipnuck describes, the future of golf is in the hands of Yasir Al-Rumayyan.

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‘It was devastating’ – Keegan Bradley reveals the call he got that made him believe he was on Ryder Cup team

Published

10 hours ago

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Sep 21, 2023

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This week, Keegan Bradley was a guest on the Foreplay Podcast. The 37-year-old was one of the players who seemingly narrowly missed a spot on the Ryder Cup team, and shared a heart wrenching story of how it all went down.

Apparently, Zach Johnson texted all of the players in consideration for a Captain’s pick that they’d be getting a call the following day about whether or not they’ve made the team.

When the next day arrived, Keegan got a call from Netflix, who said “Keegan, we got a camera crew five minutes from your house.”

At that moment, Bradley let himself believe that meant he was going to be heading to Rome for the Ryder Cup.

“Why would they be sending a camera crew if I’m not to get picked? For the first time, I let my brain think I did it.”

He then said he knew immediately by the tone of Zach’s voice that he wasn’t going to be picked.

“It was devastating.”

You can catch the full episode here.

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Brooks Koepka explains why he understood the case for and against picking Dustin Johnson for the Ryder Cup

Published

18 hours ago

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Sep 21, 2023

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Brooks Koepka is the lone LIV golfer in next week’s Ryder Cup. This will be the 33-year-old’s fourth Ryder Cup, and second in Europe. In his three prior Ryder Cups, Koepka is 6-5-1 overall, including 2-0-1 in singles matches.

Koepka was extremely close to being an automatic qualifier but slipped out of the final spot during the FedEx Cup playoffs.

The five-time major champion spoke about his Ryder Cup preparation prior to this week’s LIV Chicago event, in which he will be taking a flight to Rome directly after.

“My whole mindset has been to practice for (the Ryder Cup) the last few weeks. I mean, look, I think it’s one of the top six, seven biggest sporting events you can have. It’s a little bit more eyeballs, a little bit more pressure.”

When asked if he “plays for legacy” now after all he’s accomplished, Koepka said “I think everybody remembers their record”.

“I think everybody remembers their record, or that’s kind of what you’re known by, wins, losses. Poulter has pretty much made a career on that. Yeah, I think you can.”

While speaking with Sports Illustrated this week, Brooks was asked about the fact that Dustin Johnson, who went 5-0 at Whistling Straits in 2021, was not chosen as a captains pick this time around.

“I get the case for DJ. He played great the last time, played great last year. Hasn’t really played that great this year … or hasn’t played to DJ’s standard. That’s a better way to put that. And he didn’t play well in the majors. So I can see why he didn’t get a pick. But if they had picked him, it’s DJ and I could see that one as well.”

Although there will be no other LIV players in Rome, Koepka said he’s not worried about who he plays with and can “play with anybody”.

“I can play with anybody, and I will play with anybody.”

It will be interesting to see who Koepka is paired with next week at Marco Simone.

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Free agent Matt Fitzpatrick explains why he can’t play golf clubs made by these two manufacturers

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18 hours ago

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Sep 21, 2023

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The 2022 U.S. Open Champion, Matt Fitzpatrick, is currently an equipment free agent. He recently sat down with GolfMagic to discuss why he isn’t tied down with a manufacturer and what his outlook is going forward.

“I struggle with TaylorMade and Callaway clubs because of the way their woods and hybrids are designed. The soles aren’t very good for me so my interaction with the turf is terrible with those. Until that changes, I’d never be able to get on with them. PING and Titleist have always been a little bit better for me.”

With TaylorMade and Callaway off the table, Fitzpatrick is currently using Titleist TSi3 and is also experimenting with a Titleist TSR3.

According to the photos captured by GolfMagic, Fitz is still using his Bettinardi BB1 Fitz, but also has a different Bettinardi prototype he’s experimenting with in Rome.

With tight fairways at Marco Simone, the Englishman will be hoping that whichever driver he chooses keeps him in the fairway at next week’s Ryder Cup.

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