That odor coming from Miami emanates from the carcass of the Defector-In-Chief — Phil Mickelson himself.
Good thing the Infidels had the bad judgement to pad Lefty’s pockets to the tune of $200 million (pre-tax) because he didn’t break an egg in seven events on that circus/exhibition/54-hole member-member known as the LIV.
In seven events, Mickelson earned a whopping $1,575,350 — and truth be known, that wouldn’t cover Lefty’s losses after a bad weekend of NFL betting.
How bad was it? Consider that if you finished LAST in every one of those exhibitions, you’d have won $840,000. So you can see the Defector-In-Chief really tore it up on a bunch of not-so-difficult LIV courses. Truth of the matter is that Lefty’s incredible performance, or lack thereof, landed him at a lowly No. 37 on the LIV earnings list.
Lefty’s now a lofty No. 149 in the world and of course he’s the most unmotivated guy at the circus — he’s got the fat payoff — practice? Someone cue Allen Iverson talking about “practice.”
Seems a few of our LIV lovers out there (you know who you are) believe this is a quality tour.
Well, for them, we offer the likes of Oliver Bekker, Richard Bland, Itthipat Buranatanyarat (say that one 10 times really fast), Laurie Canter, T.K. Chantananuwat (he’s an amateur), Hennie Du Plessis, Oliver Fisher, Justin Harding, Yuki Inmuri, Sadom Kaewkanjana, Prachard Khongwatmi, Shiwan Kim, Ryosuke Kinoshita, Jinichiro Kozuma, Shergo Al Kuedi, Anirban Lahiri, Vuraj Madappa, J.C. Ritchie, David Puig, Turk Pettit, James Piot and who wouldn’t love to go out and see Jediah Morgan?
Okay, here’s one for you. Chase Koepka couldn’t earn a PGA Tour card. Brother Brooks got him some sponsor’s exemptions into a handful of PGA Tour events but Chase had problems with that 36-hole cut business. Now, Chase earned $4.3 million on the LIV — pretty good for a guy who couldn’t even make it as a PGA Tour outlier.
Truth of the matter is that there’s a reason LIV is totally impatient and simply doesn’t want to go through the normal process to gain world rankings points — by the time they figure out that they need to go to 72 holes, they MIGHT have a few guys in the world’s top 50. Maybe.
As for other defectors — I haven’t heard anyone missing Kevin Na or Charles Howell III or Pat Perez or even the boy wonder — Matt Wolff — another non-factor on the LIV circus. And they thought they bagged a young super-star. Other non-factors? Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Patrick Reed.
No, at the end of the day, these LIV events amount to perhaps a 15-player field at best.
Maybe.
The Open Championship Will Be Very Open:
Fear not, LIV lovers, the R&A will not be banning anyone next July for the 151st Open Championship.
“We’re not banning anyone,” sad Martin Slumbers, CEO of the Royal and Ancient.
“If you want a guide, go back to what I said in July: We’re not banning anyone,” Slumbers said. “We are not going to betray 150 years of history and have the Open not be open. The name says it all, and that’s important. What we will do is ensure that there are appropriate pathways and ways to qualify. I’m looking forward to seeing (150th Open champion) Cam Smith tee-up around 9:40 a.m. on the first day of the Open next year.
“The Open needs to set itself aside from what’s going in terms of disagreements and make sure we stay true to our principle, which is to have the best players in the world competing.”
Slumbers said as much at St. Andrews, though he noted that he viewed the Saudi-backed league as “entirely driven by money” and undermining “the merit-based culture and the spirit of open competition that makes golf so special.” He also said that the R&A would be reviewing its exemption and qualification criteria for future Open Championships.
Love how Slumbers made that declaration that LIV is “entirely driven by money and basically trashes “the merit-based culture of open competition that makes golf so special.”
So very true. But that being said, there’s one less organization that The Lamest Commissioner In All The Land can accuse of “colluding” with the PGA Tour.
Meritocracy in golf — what a great concept — play well and you succeed. Play poorly and well, you look for another line of work.
Except on LIV.
Play poorly and earn $840,000.
Golf’s version of welfare.
6 Comments
forky76
That is indeed an impressive list of no name liv golfers. But as usual, lets not let the truth get in the way of a good story. 80% of those names only played in the first couple of events before many of liv’s big names signings jumped over from the pga tour.
And in other fact checking, you claim Patrick Reed was a ‘non-factor’. He finished 4th (actually tied 2nd) in liv’s season standings.
Tom Edrington
Never saw Reed’s name in the winner’s circle……that’s what happens when you’re non-motivated…..truth be known, so many of those LIV participants are ranked so low, they would actually drag down the whole thing if they were getting OWGR points…..sorry FOrky, but you won’t win any argument with me
forky76
I didn’t realise we were in a contest with a winner and loser.
Tom Edrington
When I say a “factor” it means someone who actually contends, you know, for WINNING the tournament….Reed was no factor, didn’t come close to the winner’s circle, which is why he left the PGA Tour, he was going nowhere and pretty much banished from the Ryder CUp team due to his problems with the rules.
baxter cepeda
First I’ll say I’m totally with Tom on the importance of actually winning (as opposed to contending). I also agree with asking “what winning have you done for me lately?”
But we also know golf is a very complicated game with lots of small victories along the way.
Sure everyone who is not the winner is a loser including second being the first loser. Totally agree.
But any second probably has more of the small victories than anyone but first.
The point is second is better than third which is better than 4th.
Reed is a proven winner. Reed won the Masters in 2017. He contends regularly despite being in an out of form run, which continued this week. But his short game and grind game are still absolutely sublime so he will continue being close until his game clicks; as has happened with DJ and Brooks lately.
Phil is on his way back. It was a tough year to focus on golf to say the least. But he has shown signs of late and his role in the team championship, albeit only one day, almost beating cam after playing some reverse psychology, was classic Phil.
Chase is much improved which brings up the other point I lost. LIv boys are motivated by their teams as well as the money they can make moving forward and the need to stay on the tour.
Tom Edrington
As with a lot of social issues these days, the minority screams the loudest but is still the minority, which, as a LIV supporter, that’s what you are. The majority does not see things your way, they see this entire venture as part of the Sport-Washing by an oppressive regime.