One of the main reasons given by players moving from the PGA Tour to the LIV series was to allow more time between events, to be at home more often, and to have the freedom to choose which events to play throughout the season.
In the last week or so, we have seen 11 LIV golfers serve a lawsuit on the PGA Tour and subsequently receive an in-depth reply and denial of charges. Three of the 11 – Talor Gooch, Matt Jones and Hudson Swafford – have since seen their application for a Temporary Restraining Order denied by the courts, therefore being unable to play in the first (or following) FedEx play-off events, starting on Thursday.
2018 Masters champion, Patrick Reed, has had his many controversies over the years and after agreeing to sign for the LIV series, spoke of how it allowed him more free time.
“On top of it, just the quality of life for us as players now, having less events, being able to spend more time at home with the family,” was an admirable take by Reed.
“If you have kids, being able to spend time with your children, and not sitting there and having to play three, four weeks in a row, then have a week off, and during that week off you’re preparing, trying to get ready for the next week.”
Great, hard to argue with that notion.
Yet, here he is, just a couple of months later, playing the LIV-backed International Series Singapore before taking in a similar event in Korea, just a few days later, surely not giving much time to jet home and spend more time with Justine and the kids.
Having dropped to #46 in the world rankings, and with no OWGR points currently awarded to LIV events, Reed is in danger of slipping out of the top-50 and losing the considerable privileges that come with it – that is if the leading organizations do eventually allow all LIV players to compete.
With the backing of LIV Golf, but not an exclusive event, the Asian Tour events do carry OWGR points. However, as the official world ranking site shows, winning here will not make a tremendous deal of difference to the standings, the eventual champion receiving around 7.5 points compared with 69 points for the winner at St. Jude and nearly 15 at the DP World Tour event in Northern Ireland.
Reed doesn’t see that as an issue, saying that, “World ranking points always help, but at the end of the day, for me, coming over here, I’d heard great things about this place.
“And coming in, I knew I wanted to play a little bit after the last event we played in Bedminster, and it fit the schedule.
“For me, it’s more about travelling and playing golf and trying to grow the game around the world–and not just staying at home and playing at home. I have always loved traveling and playing, so to play an event like this is a dream for me.”
Once out in the mainstream, there was, of course, plenty of social media reaction.
Responding to a tweet by @BunkeredOnline, one user commented, “Wow….that seems strange, given his reasons for joining LIV. “He asserted that being on the road and away from his kids, the possibility that he wasn’t being a good dad, was beginning to affect his play.” Hopefully, sometime in Asia will help with those issues!”
Opinions come and go. What the majority are calling for is the honest answer to why the players are making the choices they are.
With the legal moves in process and still to come, this could get even nastier than it has already.
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Another talking point from the regime? Enjoy the extra time home with the family.
Pingback: Billy Horschel goes in hard again on ‘brainwashed’ LIV rebels – GolfWRX
Who cares what that cheat has to say about anything.
Apparently you do Joe, or you wouldn’t have taken the time to click on a headline about Patrick Reed and then taken even more time to comment. Seems like he’s living rent-free in your empty shell of a brain.
You must be Parick Reed’s dad. Oh, wait a minute, he has no relationship with Mom and Dad.
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Rory McIlroy has been one of the most outspoken critics of the LIV Golf Series since the breakaway tour’s inception.
The Northern Irishman has slammed many of the recent defectors to LIV, calling them ‘duplicitous’, and after winning the Canadian Open back in June, McIlroy set his sights on LIV’s CEO Greg Norman.
Speaking to Amanda Balionis after his victory in Canada, Rory talked about how much the win meant to him:
“Yeah, this is a day I’ll remember for a long, long time…my 21st PGA Tour win..one more than someone else…that gave me a bit extra incentive today.”
That ‘someone else’ could only have been one man – LIV chairman Greg Norman.
Unsurprisingly, that jibe did not go unnoticed by Greg Norman, and in a recent interview with Australian Golf Digest, the multiple major champion hit back with a slick response.
“I respect Rory, but I am somewhat confused by his approach. But then, he is paid to sit on the PGA Tour’s Player Advisory Council, so he is obviously going to support the tour. I do know he has asked for sizeable appearance fees to play in Saudi Arabia. His comments also show competition is a wonderful thing.
“So, I take it as a compliment that he wanted to beat my 20 PGA Tour wins. His next goal should be to win more than 91 tournaments globally or to maintain No.1 in the world for more than 331 weeks.”
We’ll see if Rory has a response for Greg should he grab a victory in the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
It’s been quite the summer for Cam Smith, with the Aussie capturing his maiden major at the Home of Golf before almost instantly being heavily linked with a move to LIV Golf.
After unconvincingly dodging the question of whether he was joining the breakaway tour or not following his Open win, the Telegraph reported that the Aussie had signed a deal with LIV worth north of $100 million.
Per the Telegraph, Smith will likely make his LIV debut next month in Boston, but it still hasn’t stopped the Aussie from teeing it up at the FedEx Cup playoffs, with his eye very much on capturing the $15 million bonus.
Asked on Tuesday to confirm or deny the report, Smith responded with an auspicious “no comment,” which stoked plenty of response from golf fans and those in the media.
Following his opening round at the FedEx Cup Playoff opener in Memphis, Sky Sports reporter Nick Dougherty asked Smith if he understood how journalists “read between the lines of those sorts of comments “, and the Aussie offered an interesting response:
“Yeah, it’s just their job, mate. That’s what they’re there to do, they’re there to sell stories, and I’m sure they’ve had a few looks at it the past few days. You know, I’m ready to cop some heat.
I understand what I’ve said, but like I said, I’m here to play to win the FedEx Cup Playoffs. That’s my number one goal, and whatever happens after that will come from me.”
Smith began his charge at the FedEx Cup title with a round of three under par in Memphis to sit just five back of the early lead.
When the pros face a greenside bunker situation, they are usually very adept at getting up and down.
However, take the wedge option away, and that success rate obviously drops quite significantly.
In recent times we’ve seen players try and get out of horrible spots in the sand with a putter, with usually poor results. Back in February, at the 15th hole at PGA National, Lee Hodges attempted just that, with a disastrous result, putting the ball from sand to the hazard.
The 15th will make you do crazy things. pic.twitter.com/e27h6pFrsR
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 27, 2022
So, how about removing wedges and the putter as options?
That was the dilemma facing Leona Maguire at the opening round of the ISPS Handa World Invitational, with the Irish woman choosing to play a HYBRID from a nightmare spot at the back of the bunker.
What happened next showcased the 27-year-old’s immense talent, knocking her hybrid bunker shot to inside 10 feet and then drilling the putt.
What a way to save par ?@leona_maguire uses her hybrid to get out of the bunker.
Watch now on @GolfChannel! pic.twitter.com/p3HYqK2Pix
“One of the greats,” and “imagination at its best” , declared the announcer. Agreed.
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