Meeting Revelations: So Much For The Proverbial “Blood Oath”

So much for the player who attended the double-top secret meeting at the Hotel du Pont in Wilmington last week, yeah, you know, the one conducted by Tiger his own-self with Rickie Fowler as his note-taking sidekick.

“We basically signed a blood oath,” was the declaration by one attendee.

“I think I’d be pretty unhappy if I saw one of those guys from last night just blabbering to you guys what we talked about,” Xander Schauffele said. “That would be really frowned upon, and you probably wouldn’t get invited back to the meeting. Yeah, there’s a bit of a code there.”

So are we to assume that Xander is “pretty unhappy” with what’s come out?

“I don’t think that’s for a public forum right now,” proclaimed Rory McIlroy.  “I think that’s between the players and between the executives at the Tour to try to sort of manage a way forward.”

Well, much to the dismay of all the lads in Tiger’s double-secret pow-wow, seems Phil Mickelson’s Tormentor-In-Chief, and that would be one Alan Shipnuck from the clever band of scribes that form The Fire Pit Collective, says he knows what everyone in the room heard.  “We have all the details on what was said at Tiger’s secret meeting…..” is how Shipnuck’s revelation begins.

The gist of Shipnuck’s story is this:  The meeting threw out the idea of taking current PGA Tour stops and making some of them “must-play” offerings for the game’s top players.  We do know that Rory hinted that the top players want to square off against the other top players more often than they do now.

The Tour already elevated some events such at the Arnold Palmer Invitational into a new, large purse category.

So what the fellas are suggesting is a new series for a to-be-determined number of players.  The summations from said secret meeting have supposedly been written up (by Rickie?) and sent to PGA Tour commish Jay Monahan (aka The Sheriff Of Nottingham).

So things continue to be fluid as the LIV continues with its traveling circus/free-beer-giveaway, political-rally-on-site, heavy-metal music-blasting, free-ticket, sparsely-attended exhibitions.

Yes, so much for the top-secret stuff.  You can read everything that Shipnuck has by clicking on this Fire Pit Collective link.

Tiger, Rory Form New Venture:

Seems Tiger and Rory are now in business together.

The two high-profile stars have formed a technology-focused company named TMRW Sports that will venture into “progressive approaches to sports, media and entertainment.”

In addition the star power of Woods and McIlroy, former president of NBC Sports golf Mike McCarley is a co-founder and will be the CEO.  NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol is one of the venture’s initial investors.

Korn Ferry Finals Continue At Ohio State University’s Scarlet Course:

The second of three Korn Ferry Tour finals events will be played this week in the hometown of Jack Nicklaus and his college course will the host.

The Nationwide Childrens Hospital championship will be played on the Scarlet course at Ohio State University.

Twenty five Korn Ferry players have already earned their cards and another 25 are available through the three-tournament finals.

Champions Tour Plays At Old Buick Open Site:

The Champions Tour heads to Warwick Hills, outside Detroit this week for the Ally Championship.  Warwick Hills is a familiar spot for the over-50 set as it was the long-standing site of the old  Buick Open tournament on the PGA Tour.

Joe Durant is the defending champion.  Paddy Harrington was the winner last week of the Dick’s Sporting Goods event at En-Joie Country Club, site of the old B.C. Open.

PGA Tour Attorneys Fire First Volley At LIV:

It’s called “discovery” folks.

When someone is suing you for anti-trust violations — well that’s a big deal and, in the process, LIV may have to show stuff it basically doesn’t want to show.

A motion was filed on Monday by attorneys for the PGA Tour that outlined why the LIV contracts should be made public.

“Plaintiffs have come nowhere close to establishing ‘compelling reasons’ to seal this information,” the motion reads. “Many of the provisions (the suspended players) seek to seal are highly relevant to the core issues in this litigation.”

The Tour’s motion also argues that LIV event rules and regulations, which were also submitted during an earlier hearing for a temporary restraining order, should be unsealed.

“Nothing in ([the players’) supporting declarations suggests that basic tournament rules and regulations amount to trade secrets,” the motion read. “On the contrary, (the players) filed the PGA Tour’s player handbook and regulations on this court’s public docket as part of their complaint, and the Tour has not sought to redact or otherwise seal the material.”