LIV Golf Portland 2022 (*** TOPIC MODERATED ***)

[BottleCap]

I love the mic in the cups, sounds great

[TexasTurf]

I was excited at first, but now it is clear that all these guys sold out. There is zero competition.

[mosesgolf]

Wow are some guys making some big bucks that they never would've sniffed on the PGAT.  Such an exciting finish that I was glued to my seat rooting for B. Grace eek out a win over the young up n comer Ortiz.  Gawd love watching it prerecorded on a Saturday night.  The course must have been really tough for Brooks K to be hovering around even par while Grace and Ortiz were dominating the field at -13 and -10.    I'm still wating for Phil to make his move. Kudos to Phil for hanging in there with Ian Poulter showing that he still got it with both shooting 10 over for the tournament.   Sergio another fantastic tournament at +4.  They must be real hungry to go out there and show their employer their true potential.  Ill be tuning in and clicking on the leaderboard on Saturday nights for the full details.  🤣

[iBanesto]

On 6/29/2022 at 9:45 PM, iBanesto said:

I hope Smash GC wins the team event.

 

They are my absolute favourite team!

 

 

We finished 6th this week and only 20 shots behind the winners. 

 

2nd top 10 finish for Smash GC.

 

Great performance from the boys.

 

 

 

[JRS1939]

2 hours ago, bobfoster said:

Did someone win? (Did anyone care who - or only care how much they won, and how terrible the PGAT is? In truth, I'd probably rather watch commercials than watch Perez or Gooch or Phachara Khongwatmai - whoever the heck that is - are people actually taking this thing seriously?) They were probably very excited. Pretty sure they are contractually obligated to be excited. More importantly, did you get to see the winner's tweets about being excited to win (apparently that's a thing on LIV)?

 

Did they talk about how much the winner won? 'Cause really, LIV is far more about money than golf, so I'm kinda presuming they did. 

 

'Kay, sorry, watched about the first 10 minutes (how terrible, apparently I "blinked", even though this is supposed to be so breathlessly exciting that I shouldn't blink - though I'm not sure I missed much). Prolly should look at the final scores before commenting. Give me a sec. 

 

Okay, really? So in a dramatic finish, Brandon Grace managed to hold off Carlos Ortiz in a nail biter (though I'm sure they were both very excited). I think I've actually heard of both of those guys before. Slightly unfortunate that Phil "Mr. $200MM" Mickelson finished +10, but hey, he's a Big Name, and got A Lot Of Money. And some other Big Names also made a Lot of Money. Westwood, Kaymer, and (one of the) Koepka's at E (the other brother Koepka shot +3 - only old guys that watched Newhart will get this reference). Sergio at +4. The (appropriately named) Richard Bland at +5.

 

The Saudis bought names mostly on the downhill side of their PGAT days, but they didn't buy good golf. 

 

Is now clear who is going LIV. Guys that don't think they have what it takes to risk the actual competition of the PGAT, and will take guaranteed paychecks instead. I'll watch collegiate golf before I watch LIV again. 

 

Bottom line - to put it in the vernacular of the LIV? #Losers.

 

 

Yeah Patrick Reed just won more money today for 3rd place than he did for winning the masters 4 years ago 😂😂😂

[Htk084]

That was one of the best tournaments I’ve ever watched in my life.  Wow!  So good

[sociojeje]

would like to see more top tracer with distances. They have some long hitters... I think it was better than the first event. First event wasn't bad but this one was with more drama. LIV on Sat and PGA on Sun 😄

[aenemated]

2 hours ago, iBanesto said:

 

We finished 6th this week and only 20 shots behind the winners. 

 

2nd top 10 finish for Smash GC.

 

Great performance from the boys.

 

 

 

 

Pat Perez's 80 was worth every dollar 😂😂😂

 

 

[Short Pete]

5 hours ago, bobfoster said:

Did someone win? (Did anyone care who - or only care how much they won, and how terrible the PGAT is? In truth, I'd probably rather watch commercials than watch Perez or Gooch or Phachara Khongwatmai - whoever the heck that is - are people actually taking this thing seriously?) They were probably very excited. Pretty sure they are contractually obligated to be excited. More importantly, did you get to see the winner's tweets about being excited to win (apparently that's a thing on LIV)?

 

Did they talk about how much the winner won? 'Cause really, LIV is far more about money than golf, so I'm kinda presuming they did. 

 

'Kay, sorry, watched about the first 10 minutes (how terrible, apparently I "blinked", even though this is supposed to be so breathlessly exciting that I shouldn't blink - though I'm not sure I missed much). Prolly should look at the final scores before commenting. Give me a sec. 

 

Okay, really? So in a dramatic finish, Brandon Grace managed to hold off Carlos Ortiz in a nail biter (though I'm sure they were both very excited). I think I've actually heard of both of those guys before. Slightly unfortunate that Phil "Mr. $200MM" Mickelson finished +10, but hey, he's a Big Name, and got A Lot Of Money. And some other Big Names also made a Lot of Money. Westwood, Kaymer, and (one of the) Koepka's at E (the other brother Koepka shot +3 - only old guys that watched Newhart will get this reference). Sergio at +4. The (appropriately named) Richard Bland at +5.

 

The Saudis bought names mostly on the downhill side of their PGAT days, but they didn't buy good golf. 

 

Is now clear who is going LIV. Guys that don't think they have what it takes to risk the actual competition of the PGAT, and will take guaranteed paychecks instead. I'll watch collegiate golf before I watch LIV again. 

 

Bottom line - to put it in the vernacular of the LIV? #Losers.

 

 

Oh yes it was pretty exciting! I mean Grace vs. Ortiz, cmon! Sounds like the bantamweight WBC title fight. And wasn’t it exciting to watch Phil give thumbs up to the fans after his long putt. Gee, and the Team competition was exciting! Especially the great Pat Perez put on a fantastic round to help his team. This guy takes home 900 grand for playing bad and being best buddies with Johnson. Life is good for some…

 

I hope next time the Pumpkins play a little better so they can beat the Teddy Bears. Looks good, because LIV signed Joe Shlabotnik, who turned to golf after a great baseball career. By the way, who put the teams together? Poor Martin Kaymer will never see a single dollar from the team competition, his guys finish in the last quarter of the field every time. 
 

Anyway, in three weeks it‘s off to Bedminster. Not only will this be exciting, it will be GREAT! It‘s played on a Trump course, maybe ex-POTUS gives himself a Wildcard and joins the Team of Perez. They signed another up-and-coming player in Paul Casey, be sure to watch, it‘s going to be exciting. LIV-Golf, but older! 

[Gregakin]

4 hours ago, JRS1939 said:

Yeah Patrick Reed just won more money today for 3rd place than he did for winning the masters 4 years ago 😂😂😂

Lot has changed in 4 years. Compare it to this years winner for a reference, but your point is understood.  LIV bank account is undeniable and assuming no heads roll, will draw attention. 

[Noles]

8 hours ago, tw_focus said:

 

4Aces won a hard-fought victory over Stingers GC to deny them back to back victories. Which team won on the PGAT this week? Oh that's right, the PGAT doesn't even have teams, how quaint.

Thank goodness they don't.  It's a stupid idea.

[kasting333]

The normal individual stoke-play format does not create much interest outside of who is the eventual winner. The weekly teams seem silly now, but I do think the direction they are going will create more interest beyond the winners when teams  become permanent. 
 

Year 2 LIV should have set teams put together based on countries/regions. 

 

[kasting333]

1 hour ago, Gregakin said:

Lot has changed in 4 years. Compare it to this years winner for a reference, but your point is understood.  LIV bank account is undeniable and assuming no heads roll, will draw attention. 

The purse increases came bc of the new threat. Previous purse increases were tiny compared to what we are seeing now. 

[Fuscinator]

9 hours ago, Zitlow said:

The coverage would be a lot better if they get Morgan Pressel as an announcer. 🤣

Even when I hit the mute button, I can still hear her. She'd probably make a great fire spotter for the Forest Service.

[Airjenks]

On 7/2/2022 at 5:22 AM, rizzo66 said:

Has anybody on this board been at the event ? There's all this applause and  cheering , plus a few bababooeys  but when they pan the crowd doesn't look like they are that excited. It almost seemed like piped in cheers, but I could be wrong. 

I went Friday and Saturday. Definitely not piping in music. It was a really good atmosphere and I could tell Patrick Reed was surprised a few times hearing roars all over the golf course. There’s a lot of trees and you could hear yelling from a good distance away. 

[Airjenks]

5 hours ago, Short Pete said:

Oh yes it was pretty exciting! I mean Grace vs. Ortiz, cmon! Sounds like the bantamweight WBC title fight. And wasn’t it exciting to watch Phil give thumbs up to the fans after his long putt. Gee, and the Team competition was exciting! Especially the great Pat Perez put on a fantastic round to help his team. This guy takes home 900 grand for playing bad and being best buddies with Johnson. Life is good for some…

 

I hope next time the Pumpkins play a little better so they can beat the Teddy Bears. Looks good, because LIV signed Joe Shlabotnik, who turned to golf after a great baseball career. By the way, who put the teams together? Poor Martin Kaymer will never see a single dollar from the team competition, his guys finish in the last quarter of the field every time. 
 

Anyway, in three weeks it‘s off to Bedminster. Not only will this be exciting, it will be GREAT! It‘s played on a Trump course, maybe ex-POTUS gives himself a Wildcard and joins the Team of Perez. They signed another up-and-coming player in Paul Casey, be sure to watch, it‘s going to be exciting. LIV-Golf, but older! 

koepka, Reed and DJ were all in the mix on the final day. I don’t think your Bantamweight argument holds much merit. Not to mention Pumpkin played extremely long (like 7600 yards, I think).
 

I think you don’t understand the team format. It’s 2 or 3 scores per team per day. Pat Perez was playing great and contributed big time for his team. Just had a bad day the final round. That’s the beauty of the format, when someone has a bad round at anytime, they can’t mail it in and go home. They’ve got to bring it the next day and give a crap.

 

the shotgun start allowed a more balanced crowd throughout the course and didn’t have all the mass panic of following one group. It was thoroughly enjoyable. Not too mention we didn’t have to be at the course for 12 hours, which was nice too. 

[JRS1939]

43 minutes ago, Airjenks said:

koepka, Reed and DJ were all in the mix on the final day. I don’t think your Bantamweight argument holds much merit. Not to mention Pumpkin played extremely long (like 7600 yards, I think).
 

I think you don’t understand the team format. It’s 2 or 3 scores per team per day. Pat Perez was playing great and contributed big time for his team. Just had a bad day the final round. That’s the beauty of the format, when someone has a bad round at anytime, they can’t mail it in and go home. They’ve got to bring it the next day and give a crap.

 

the shotgun start allowed a more balanced crowd throughout the course and didn’t have all the mass panic of following one group. It was thoroughly enjoyable. Not too mention we didn’t have to be at the course for 12 hours, which was nice too. 

I think a lot of people under estimate the team aspect in the fact that every shot counts. There is no mailing it in bc every stroke counts towards another 3 million. 

[bobfoster]

1 hour ago, kasting333 said:

The purse increases came bc of the new threat. Previous purse increases were tiny compared to what we are seeing now. 

Um ... the PGAT - this March - just signed new, ten year long media contracts w/ major broadcast networks (and their cable affiliates), worth around $700MM per year. A huge increase - previous ones were worth around $400MM annually. (Gosh, imagine that - the horrible, greedy PGAT actually very successfully negotiating on behalf of the PGAT players).

 

Did LIV have some affect? Of course. But saying the purse increases were only because of LIV is just wrong.

 

Note that these are 10 year contracts. Anyone that stays good enough to keep their card has a chance at good purses for the foreseeable future. LIV doesn't operate based on merit - it operates on the whims of nameless, faceless Saudis. There were 48 in the first tourney, and 48 in this one. But in this one a few new PGAT players with names joined. Anyone wondering who they kicked out? How that choice was made?

 

Or what the letter said? "Hey, thanks for helping us get started - but we got BD, and don't need you anymore. Buh-bye." 

 

Is this really what anyone wants "the future" of pro golf to be? That this is good for the sport and its players? Seriously?

[thed0n]

To think that LIV golfers playing for $4.0m paydays is “exhibition” is silly.   This is life-changing money for these guys.  Any criticism that anyone has about LIV this week can be equally applied to the PGAT this week.

 

I do think it would be cool if each team played together for the first 2 rounds, to help each other.  They can putt out of turn to give each other reads, etc.  It would add to the team element.  They don’t really need to play by tournament play rules if they aren’t receiving World Golf Ranking points anyway.
 

Then the last round goes back to traditional parings based on leaderboard position.

Edited July 3, 2022 by thed0n

[smashdn]

10 hours ago, seth514 said:

Thursday and Friday's coverage was nonsense for 99% of it. Every approach shot shown, hit to within 5-6ft of the pin. Watching this one would assume these guys were gonna shoot 61. Reminiscent of old golf TV footage only showing the great shots. They seriously need some media/coverage help.

 

Saturday coverage was only mildly better. They actually aired some bad shots, interspersed with a ton of darts thrown to 5 ft again. Ridiculous, through and through. 

 

Oh, and the "team" nonsense is... well, nonsense. No one cares, except the hacks shooting +8 and cashing out. 

Didn't see this as you say.  Saw plenty of fore left and airmailing the green.

 

Watched all three rounds. They show lots of golf shots. With fewer players you see a higher percentage of the shots hit.  I didn't see only cherry-picked good shots.

[macteago]

People straight up dismissing this tour 2 events in are in denial, there is definitely competition here for the PGA.  I would say I was far more interested in this weekend's LIV event versus the John Deere Classic.  First the LIV field dramatically improved from event 1 to event 2.  Let's see what the field looks like post this FedEx tourney, could certainly see a lot more defections. 

 

While things in LIV need a lot of tweaking there is elements there that are interesting components the PGA could learn from.  PGA tour coverage is awful, the US Open was disgrace with the constant barrage of commercials, USGA ads, meaningless corporate side interviews.  Let's see how the team atmosphere pays out as the season begins to conclude, purses swell, field improves.  

 

As a patron of the event you actually get to see play, aren't stiffed for $18 a beer, only there for 4-5 hours.  

 

PGA needs to take a hard look and polish up there event.  

[orr444]

13 hours ago, Str8Putt said:

I wouldn't be surprised if Rickie joins next year. Can't keep missing cuts, won't be able to make those Corona commercials. 

He's still a big enough name that he'd bring in people to watch him. May even have some success. .

I think in year 3 you're going to see a top 10 player that has won a major and or a handful of tournaments say he'll never be none as one of the greats and is going to see guys on LIV cutting up having fun and making money and will say why not me, I can beat most of those guys and will leave to join the LIV.

If that happens, you're going to start seeing some in the top 20-10 look toward the LIV also. 

Could not disagree more,!!

[pmang]

2 hours ago, Airjenks said:

koepka, Reed and DJ were all in the mix on the final day. I don’t think your Bantamweight argument holds much merit. Not to mention Pumpkin played extremely long (like 7600 yards, I think).
 

I think you don’t understand the team format. It’s 2 or 3 scores per team per day. Pat Perez was playing great and contributed big time for his team. Just had a bad day the final round. That’s the beauty of the format, when someone has a bad round at anytime, they can’t mail it in and go home. They’ve got to bring it the next day and give a crap.

 

the shotgun start allowed a more balanced crowd throughout the course and didn’t have all the mass panic of following one group. It was thoroughly enjoyable. Not too mention we didn’t have to be at the course for 12 hours, which was nice too. 

I’ve enjoyed watch LIV along with what seems to be a happier more relaxed atmosphere. All the bashing on LIV has kind of turned me away from the PGA Tour. Everything/Everyone has positive and negative things about them. Sports are simply entertainment and nothing else. 

[Titleist99]

2 hours ago, thed0n said:

To think that LIV golfers playing for $4.0m paydays is “exhibition” is silly.   This is life-changing money for these guys.  Any criticism that anyone has about LIV this week can be equally applied to the PGAT this week.

 

I do think it would be cool if each team played together for the first 2 rounds, to help each other.  They can putt out of turn to give each other reads, etc.  It would add to the team element.  They don’t really need to play by tournament play rules if they aren’t receiving World Golf Ranking points anyway.
 

Then the last round goes back to traditional parings based on leaderboard position.

Saudi golf is no different than "The Match"....."Shell Wonderful World of golf" or "The Harlem Globe Trotters".......dressing it up with money changes nothing ....it's still exhibition golf.....IMO

Edited July 3, 2022 by Titleist99

[Fairways_and_Greens]

On par 3s I’d love it if they gave full club speed, launch, spin, and landing angle data to show how the different guys play the same hole. 

[Gxgolfer]

Any comments politically connected will not be approved or will be removed if inadvertently approved moving forward. No explanations will be given. Attacks on players and other members stop now. There is a difference between respectful commentary and hate speech. There is no definitive definition and posts will be removed one considers fair game. 
 

The moderators have final authority on these matters and no explanation on actions will be given. This is the warning. 

[leezer99]

Does anyone know where the players are on the year end points list? IIRC, only the top 24 go to the finals at Doral.

[BlackDiamondPar5]

Fair enough mods. I'm not the first to suggest this but can there be a sub forum for LIV? LIV is not Tour golf so it would seem misplaced here. Also the continuous creation of new LIV threads is dominating the tour forum. Would be kind of disappointing to have The Open discussions constantly getting pushed down the list by LIV threads. 

 

I know your work isn't easy in this highly controversial time of golf, so thank you. 

Edited July 3, 2022 by BlackDiamondPar5

[Gxgolfer]

15 minutes ago, BlackDiamondPar5 said:

Fair enough mods. I'm not the first to suggest this but can there be a sub forum for LIV? LIV is not Tour golf so it would seem misplaced here. Also the continuous creation of new LIV threads is dominating the tour forum. Would be kind of disappointing to have The Open discussions constantly getting pushed down the list by LIV threads. 

 

I know your work isn't easy in this highly controversial time of golf, so thank you. 

No but members need to be part of the solution, not the problem. There is no basis on your observation of domination other than those overtly posting in threads to push a position. That stops now as warned. 

[Str8Putt]

1 hour ago, orr444 said:

Could not disagree more,!!

So what do you disagree with?

Rickie? Maybe it won't be next year but the year after if he wants to continue playing. Can't keep missing cuts and going to qualifiers. His name still has some weight to it, his game doesn't. Perfect time for him to cash in. He may actual thrive on LIV

 

Don't agree about some top player taking a wait and see? Guess we'll both have to wait and see. Doubt it'll be a Top 5 guy but in the top 15/10 yeah I can definitely see some guy saying why not me. Right now the uncertainty of if LIV will be around more than 2yrs. Again if one of those guys go. Others will follow.