19th Hole
Report: LIV Golf in discussions to ensure ‘guaranteed’ spots at this major championship
LIV Golf recently received bad news that they would not be receiving OWGR points in the foreseeable future, making entry to the four major championships for so many of their professionals nearly impossible.
However, according to James Corrigan of The Telegraph, LIV Golf is in discussions with the R&A to ensure LIV players will be granted spots in the Open Championship.
Last week, the OWGR denied the application from LIV to receive world ranking points for their tournaments, leaving the pathway for LIV golfers to get in major championships in serious doubt.
At last month’s Alfred Dunhill Links, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, who governs the PIF, was paired with Martin Slumbers, who’s the chief executive of the R&A.
The Andrew Waterman pseudonym is hilarious, but aside from that, it feels like Yasir Al-Rumayyan playing alongside Martin Slumbers this week may be of importance.
— Matt Vincenzi (@MattVincenziPGA) October 5, 2023
Clearly, the pairing was no coincidence, and discussions may have begun or continued at St. Andrews.
With only five LIV golfers exempt into all four majors next year, there is clearly a sense of urgency for LIV officials to find a way to get their stars into golf’s biggest events.
After LIV was denied OWGR points, COO Gary Davidson opined that the top-12 golfers on LIV should get an exemption into major championships to ensure the best fields possible.
“The accuracy of the rankings now is having a knock-on effect to the majors, which is as much a shame for them as it is for our players. We’ve spoken in the past about direct exemptions for LIV players through our end-of-season rankings into the majors making sense. And maybe the top 12 would make sense.”
“It is something that would be beneficial for us, but I think also is something that’s probably required for the majors to make sure they retain their strength when the OWGR cannot do that.” The tie-up with the R&A especially, would not stop there, however.
“I think the conversation for us with the R&A would be much broader than that,” Davidson said. “We are investing significant resources into our sustainability programs, as are the R&A. We are going around the world with events looking to inspire people to put a club in their hands and be involved in the sport.
“Of course, the R&A are also involved in global development. So, there’s a lot of different initiatives we can work with them on. Exemptions into the Open would be one of them.”
While it’s early to tell how the situation will unfold, it seems as if LIV could be on track to get players not currently exempt in at least one of the majors in 2024.
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- ‘I know what people want to see’ – Ex-Golf Channel’s Holly Sonders on her new topless sports league
- ‘Is this serious?’ – Jon Rahm hilariously reacts to knee-lock golf swing from Barstool Sports’ Big Cat
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19th Hole
Brandel Chamblee has a surprising new take on the PGA Tour-LIV stand-off
One of the more outspoken analysts throughout the LIV Golf vs. PGA Tour saga has been Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee.
This week, Chamblee reversed course, saying he believes the PGA Tour should strike a deal with Saudi Arabia’s Private Investment Fund (PIF).
Golf Channel Brandel Chamblee in his biggest about-face since the Framework Agreement on June 6, now says that making a deal with the PIF "is the better end of the bargain."
He says:
"The PGA Tour is in this pickle like it or not, but, do you want to compete with someone (LIV… pic.twitter.com/XDZaC1I6B8
— JCAGOLFReport (@JCAGOLFReport) May 10, 2024
“The PGA Tour is in this pickle like it or not, but, do you want to compete with someone who’s not going to go away, who can outspend you”.
“Every move they make that makes their tour better deletes your tour and causes more division within the tour. So the time is now, to Rory’s point about making a deal, I wouldn’t have said that a year ago… but it is the better end of the bargain.”
Chamblee’s new stance seems to be in line with that of Rory McIlroy, who reportedly wanted to rejoin the PGA Tour board with hopes of pushing a deal with the PIF closer to the finish line.
Chamblee will be in the booth for next week’s PGA Championship which has 16 LIV players in the field.
More from the 19th Hole
- Phil Mickelson drops big retirement hint; Says LIV will grow the game “on a much more global basis”
- 2-time major champ announces shock retirement from the sport at age of 33
- Tiger explains why golf has “negative connotations” for daughter Sam
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19th Hole
Xander Schauffele explains free drop ruling during round one of Wells Fargo Championship
During Thursday’s opening round of the Wells Fargo Championship, Xander Schauffele blasted his tee shot in the woods to the right of the fairway on the par-4 8th hole.
The ball was almost not found, but Xander’s group managed to track it down just before the three-minute time limit was reached.
When the ball was found, it was just beyond the penalty area close to a fence. In the moment, it seemed incredibly unlikely that Schauffele would be able to hit the ball through the trees towards the green.
However, through the woods and above the fairway, there was a hanging wire from a ShotLink tower that Xander claimed was in his way. He was then granted relief, and two club lengths from the spot positioned him all the way out of trouble. He played his ball onto the front of the green and two-putted for par.
Here is the full video of the interaction between Schauffele and the rules official.
??? #WATCH — The full video of the Xander Schauffele #DropGate situation ?
— NUCLR GOLF (@NUCLRGOLF) May 9, 2024
After the round, Xander said he “got really lucky.”
“Got really lucky multiple times, on 1 with Wyndham finding it, 2, being able to move the rocks, and 3, the ShotLink tower being in like my only shot line possible. To walk out there with sort of a no breeze 4 with what I thought was almost out was a really good break.”
“Yeah, I hit it in the trees. My ball was probably like a foot, two feet from the fence. If I — ball was here, fence was kind of here, hitting back this direction.
“If I went towards the green, the fence kind of worked this way so I had what I could hit, a 4-iron or something low and just kind of run it through. If it gets stuck, I’ll just kind of hit my next one out. But I brought the rules official in there with me because I was like, you’ve got to be OK with this because this is literally the only shot I can hit.”
“So Austin [Kaiser] and I moved two massive rocks that weren’t embedded and then I got relief out of the junk and then hit a pretty good shot on the green from there. What was a very stressful moment turned into a pretty stressless par.”
Schauffele finished the round at seven under, which gives him a three-shot lead going into Friday’s second round.
More from the 19th Hole
- Phil Mickelson drops big retirement hint; Says LIV will grow the game “on a much more global basis”
- 2-time major champ announces shock retirement from the sport at age of 33
- Tiger explains why golf has “negative connotations” for daughter Sam
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19th Hole
Report: Tiger Woods voted against Rory McIlroy returning to policy board; Will be the only player negotiating directly with Saudis
According to a report from The Telegraph, the relationship between Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy has soured.
Last week, reports surfaced that McIlroy, who was a member of the PGA Tour policy board during most of the past few years, was looking to rejoin the board, presumably taking Webb Simpson’s seat.
However, on Wednesday, McIlroy revealed that he will not be rejoining the policy board, due to people on the board being “uncomfortable” with that “for some reason.”
Here's Rory McIlroy talking about the PGA Tour policy board and the "subset of people on the board that were maybe uncomfortable with me coming back on for some reason." pic.twitter.com/0skNOwtWxz
— Patrick McDonald (@pmcdonaldCBS) May 8, 2024
The Telegraph has reported that Tiger Woods was among the players who voted against McIlroy returning to the policy board.
The divide is apparently due to McIlroy pushing for the game of golf to unify, whereas Woods, reportedly, believes the PGA Tour is in a fine position where it currently stands.
The Associated Press added another wrinkle to the situation, reporting that Woods is the only player who will be negotiating directly with the Saudis.
The other members of the committee are PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, board chairman Joe Gorder, John W. Henry of Fenway Sports Group, and Joe Ogilvie, who was a former PGA Tour player.
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