Thought for the Day
Life is like an onion; you peel off one layer at a time and sometimes you weep
Was Phil Mickelson right all along?
Leftie has been rightly criticised for the way he left the PGA Tour but when he said that LIV Golf might be good for his alma mater (or at least, many of the players on it), he might have hit the nail on the head
It’s difficult to think of anyone in professional sport whose reputation has sunk lower than Phil Mickelson’s over the last year or so. Convicted rapist footballers, perhaps, or the many former American football players found guilty of drug trafficking, but no-one in golf comes remotely close to Big Phil. In our sport, failing to mark your ball properly on the green could lead to you being blackballed from polite society.
I’m not talking about how, in the twilight of his career, he elected to jump ship for a barrel full of dollars. That’s perfectly understandable but it was the manner in which he did it that rankled then and rankles still. Having called the Saudi Arabians ‘Scary motherfuckers’; who execute people for being gay, and referencing the country’s murder and dismemberment of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, he then revealed, in a particularly stupid way (to a journalist, no less), that he had no intention of jumping ship and was simply trying to put pressure on the PGA Tour to pay people like him more money.
His position on his home circuit became untenable and his only option was to accept the bloodstained embrace of the country about which he had been so scathing. It, of course, ignored his damning remarks and welcomed him like the prodigal son returning, because what LIV Golf craved above all else was for big-name stars to defect to their series of exhibition matches in order to raise their profile.
During this sorry saga and throughout his career, Phil has often opened his mouth only to change feet – his list of inane utterances are far too many to enumerate here – but one thing he seems to be right about is that the emergence of LIV Golf has benefited many PGA Tour players. Admittedly, it’s mostly about making extremely wealthy men even wealthier but others lower down the pecking order are benefitting, too.
In September last year Phil said: ‘I think the fans are getting a lot of benefit out of this, and all golfers, all professional golfers are getting a lot of benefit. The guys on the Tour are playing for a lot more money. It’s great that they [the PGA Tour] magically found a couple hundred million; that’s awesome. Everybody is, I think, in a better position now than they were a year ago.’
With the exception of fans, who seem not to embrace the LIV product in any great numbers, he’s absolutely right. The PGA Tour has dug deep and added several hundred million dollars’ worth of prize and other money to its already deep pots. The most notable recent announcement concerns the 2024 schedule, in which it is proposed to have 11 ‘designated events,’ most of which will have prize funds of £20 million, involving limited fields and potentially having no 36-hole cut. That sounds awfully like an LIV Golf tournament and does make you wonder if the best way to scare off a potentially threatening rival is to mimic it.
Still on the subject of money, I have been watching the Netflix series Full Swing which, despite having inside access to one of the most momentous seasons in golf, still makes watching paint dry a fun-filled alternative. Conspicuous consumption is never a good look, especially at a time of global hardship for many, so watching Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas, on their private jet, trying to guess a card for a $1,000 bet doesn’t go down too well.
And then there’s the sight of Ian Poulter, who signed on with LIV because he wanted to provide for his family, in either his Florida or Milton Keynes mansions, selecting his outfits for the following week’s tournament. It took place in a dressing room that looked bigger than my house, with more clothes in it than most of us would own in several lifetimes.
It has always seemed to be the case that rich people never have enough but it’s not a good look to see them casually wasting a tiny portion of what they already have or scrabbling after even more.
Quote of the Week
You’d think a guy who has broken 35 bones in his body would have a high pain threshold but mine is pretty low. I got hit in the shin with a golf ball once and it almost brought tears to my eyes. I’ve had broken bones that didn’t hurt as bad.
Evel Knievel