Potential World Tour Takes Aim At PGA Tour With Lucrative Individual And Team Concept

[bullie76]

Eddie gets it.

[tungstenplug]

 

Shiels interviews the man behind the PGL

 

[Holy Moses]

The Paulsons on “Inside the Ropes” and Katrek from K&M On Tap” think that the OWGR board will have to give the PGL OWGR points if a number of big names leave for it. They will have no other choice but to recognize the talent. I think they could threaten not to give points before the league starts, but if the PGL gets 15 top 30 players it will be difficult not to.

Michael Collins from “Out of Bounds” talked to one CEO of a tournament sponsor and he said they have an out clause if a number of PGA Tour stars leave. Now we know why the PGA Tour was trying to get their TV deal done early, before the news of the PGL really got out. Obviously the major broadcast partners are waiting to sign on the dotted line.

[grm24]

The PGA Of America and the PGA Tour are two different groups.

[bscinstnct]

 

 

[grm24]

Don't play dumb. You know exactly what and who I'm talking about.

[OrangeGravy]

I don't think the OWGR or the 4 majors would have a choice if the right group of top players went to the PGL. The risk to their own institutions would be too great not to. Now, I don't think the "right" group of top players would leave, but stranger things have happened. I mean as is now, regular tournaments get much less attention from fans than the majors and other big tournaments like the players. In the above scenario, the entire tour would be relegated to a regular tour event. I could see sponsors forcing the tour and OWGR's hands IF that "right" group of players left.

[Holy Moses]

The PGA Tour and European Tours are OWGR board members. There is a huge risk to their Tours if they do in fact award the PGL OWGR points. There is a huge risk for the USGA and PGA if they don’t award points. Conflicting interests.

[gvogel]

Would Patrick Reed be a team captain?

If so, would anybody play for his team?

[ibradley]

I don’t even want to guess what the chances of the PGL becoming reality are. I do think they have come up with a very intriguing formula though. We have had periods of great rivalries but as fans have not gotten to see the match ups very often.

With the PGL we could have seen Duval versus Tiger every week. Tiger versus Phil, Tiger versus VJ. Rory versus Koepka.

Also the team aspect leads itself to more storylines and intrigue.

 

[dcmidnight]

I didnt realize before reading one of these interviews that 17 of the events "only" have $10M purses and only one has a big purse $40M for the final event.

So basically, exactly how the PGA Tour is setup. PGA this year has 16 events with purses over $9M and the official Tour Championship purse is $45M with $15M to the winner. And thats before the increase in purses that is coming with the new TV contract - Jay Monahan has already said this.

So what are we talking about here? You think guys that have grown up their whole lives setting their own schedule, playing where they want and when they want - are giving all that up? Giving up their pursuit of PGA Tour wins and majors? Someone brought up a great point, what if they hate the captain on their "team" - they're giving up their cushy life on the big tour to play for a guy they hate? So a guy they hate now sets their schedule, says who hes playing with and - in this format you only count two scores - so he may get told oh yeah your score doesnt even count today. Doing all that just to play in 54 hole team events, with shotgun starts, on who knows what courses?

SMH.

[cdnglf]

PGL: The Pretend Golf League

[ibradley]

Players will make way more money on the PGL. Purses are larger and split amongst a smaller pool of players. Also, and this is big, there will be appearance money. Top stars will likely be given equity in the teams.

Each event is team and individual, so even if not picked to count your score still counts for you. There will be trades amongst teams, if you hate your captain demand a trade.

The courses will likely be great, regardless, they will be known before a player has to commit.

Players will still be playing in the majors.

PGL wins could one day be seen as more prestigious than PGA tour wins.

[Holy Moses]

As of now I think they will win on average 10-20% more than on the PGA Tour. Tiger was also rumored to be offered $200-250 million to join. Rory was offered $100 million - and he turned it down for now. That's before the PGA Tour decides to strengthen their own purses which will eat into that 10-20% if not overcome it. The PGA Tour is going to start getting $300-400 million a year more in TV revenue and they are not going to lose half of their top-30 players without significantly strengthening their purses to keep their players from leaving. Even if they aren't paid more, if they can never play on the PGA Tour again if they leave and if they aren't given OWGR points and might miss majors as a result, I'm not sure 10-20% more money is going to sway many players. The PGL is going to have to come up with a lot more money for this to work unless their players will be getting a 6-7 figures in appearance money. We've heard about how much money the PGL is going to pay, but we haven't heard details on appearance money yet.

[dcmidnight]

I didnt think it was possible but after reading this post I actually think its an even dumber sounding idea than I did ten minutes ago.

And I legitimately didnt think that was possible.

[CasualLie]

And the more money they come up with to lure players, the worse the end product. A guy shows up a little rusty, starts out with a couple of bogeys, then what? Oh, f it, I got my $1M to be here, I'm good. We already saw what a snooze fest it is watching the two top names playing for $9M.

Even as competitive as some of these guys are, I'm just not seeing them get fired up for the $5M win of the PGL PXG Invitational vs the $4M second place. They will act fired up, but really just how upset would anyone get for making bogey on the 54th hole after collecting a fat check?

Still not seeing what problem is this new tour idea solving?

[dcmidnight]

Still not seeing what problem is this new tour idea solving?

Its helping the Saudi government dump billions in cash into a legitimate sporting endeavor, this amount of money is nothing to them. Sportswashing at its finest.

And basically, thats the only way you can invent "team equity" - just forking over more cash. Otherwise...thats not really the way equity works. You cant just say, Tiger, we're offering you $250M in team equity. Based on...what? You cant invent equity out of thin air. Well you can but we usually call those things Ponzi schemes or something along that line.

Great Eamon Lynch article on this: 19th hole: Premier Golf League is big on promises, short on substance

 

[CasualLie]

Thanks for the link... Like you said, a bad idea getting worse.

The real money grab it's not so much the players as it is this loser Gardiner. What does he cares if the league succeeds as long as the Saudis are paying him? Should be deeply ashamed of himself.

[Holy Moses]

“At a recent meeting of the Players Advisory Council, McIlroy told players in the room that they can be about legacy or they can be about money. In choosing legacy, he has exposed just how large that leap of faith will be for others who might go overboard hoping there’s an alternative that can actually float.“

Legacy is what the best of the best are interested in because they are already unbelievably rich. The others won’t be winning many majors, so they care about money. Rory has different priorities than most Tour players.

[dcmidnight]

Rory has different priorities than most Tour players.

I'd absolutely agree with this - but I'd modify it to say that the top dogs, the Top 25 or 30 players may have different priorities than the guys in the 80-100 slot.

So if you only end up with the guys who want to go after the money, how does this tour look if the 50 players they end up with are 50 guys picked out of the 50-150 bucket? Looks like the Korn Ferry Tour with really deep pockets.

 

[cdnglf]

 

[bscinstnct]

 

First, I don’t play dumb, I just am ; )

Second....What the heck are you talking about? Shack? The only Shack I been in is like

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bscinstnct]

PGL potential recruits be like,

 

[ibradley]

I of course have no idea if the PGL will launch. There are challenges to overcome. For starters it needs to draw most of the top 30 players.

Does the PGL solve some current PGA problems? Sure.

This new PGA tour TV contract will be worth big bucks because of the stars. Maybe 20 or 30 guys. They are guaranteed none of that money. PGL pays appearance money. With the PGA TOUR we rarely see the stars battling each other. With smaller fields we will see great match ups often.Thursday and Friday PGA tour events have half the stars in the morning and half in the afternoon. PGL with a shotgun start will have the entire field on the course. Far more interesting.The Ryder and Presidents cups have become some of the best golf we see. Team golf is interesting. PGL will create some interesting storylines.If most of the top 30 players moved to the PGL the OWGR would be forced to give ranking points. They would lose all credibility if they didn’t. Regardless, the majors would find a way to get exemptions for the top PGL players.

Also, the PGA cannot ban players that leave for the PGL.

 

[bscinstnct]

 

 

Rory said it very well,

 

“The one thing as a professional golfer in my position that I value is the fact that I have autonomy and freedom over everything that I do,” McIlroy said. “This (week) is a perfect example. Some guys made the choice this week to not come to Mexico. If you go and play this other golf league you’re not going to have that choice.”

 

Add that if this is truly going to be an international league, the big players, including ex-euros, live in the US and only seem to want limited long travel during the “off season” and there doesn’t seem to be good potential of getting the best players.

 

Catch 22 is that the guys in the top 30 are obsessed with one thing,

 

Winning Majors.

 

Sure, they can try to throw money at them, maybe a couple would jump *if it’s guaranteed up front, but most guys at this level are making 5, 10MM a year at least. Most coming from....endorsements

 

Who do sponsors pay? Major winners.

 

Except Rickie. They just throw money at him to be his Rickie self.

 

 

 

 

 

[cdnglf]

PGL business plan

[grm24]

"First, I don’t play dumb, I just am"

The most honest words ever spoken here. Geoff Shackelford would agree with you.

[Hawkeye77]

Surprise, it has shills.

[Sean2]

I am guessing here, but for a lot of the better players it's not so much about the money, but establishing some kind of legacy...winning majors, and what not. The PGL could not offer that.

[dcmidnight]

I wish people would stop trying to tell me how interesting this will be.

One of the things I love about golf is it is NOT a team sport. We get one event a year now on tour and a Presidents or Ryder Cup. Thats more than enough for me.

I also wonder in their rush to be "interesting" if they have thought about hot godawful this shotgun start will be from a paractical sense. I know everyone wants things faster and quicker these days. But you think golf coverage is bad now? Ten minutes after the event starts you will already have 15-20 good shots you will never see. And how about coming down the stretch? If there are 5 or 6 guys in contention, you will what, have to watch all 5 or 6 holes at the same time? Network coverage can barely follow an event now. Sounds fun to be a fan at one of these events too.