“For Falling on his Sword”

ORLANDO – Golf legend Greg Norman, the CEO of LIV Golf, said he is grateful to Rory McIlroy for taking a step toward acceptance of the fledgling tour.

McIlroy has been one of LIV’s harshest critics, but on the “Stick to Football” podcast on Tuesday, McIlroy conceded to being overly “judgmental of the guys who went to LIV Golf at the start”.

“I’ve got to be honest with you, I’m very appreciative of what Rory said,” Norman said on the LIV Golf Podcast. “It’s been a painful couple of years.

“The reason I say I appreciate Rory to fall on his sword to some degree is the fact that he did judge us by not knowing the facts. He judged us on other people’s thoughts and opinions. I say, ‘Hey, thank you Rory’. This is a significant turning point for everybody.”

Phil Mickelson, one of the early defectors to LIV Golf, also acknowledged McIlroy’s new stance, saying on social media this week: “It’s time for me and others to let go of our hostilities and work towards a positive future.”

McIlroy, a four-time major champion, blasted PGA Tour members who jumped ship for the financially greener pastures of LIV for “betrayal” and accusing them of “tearing the game apart.”

“I think it was a bit of a mistake on my part because I now realize that not everyone is in my position or in Tiger Woods’ position,” McIlroy said on the podcast.

“We all turn professional to make a living playing the sports that we do, and I think that’s what I realized over the last two years. I can’t judge people for making that decision,” he added.

Meanwhile, the PGA Tour is continuing negotiations to finalize an alliance with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which bankrolls LIV. The deadline was Dec. 31 before it was extended.

The PGA Tour revealed a so-called framework agreement to merge interests with the PIF, which finances LIV Golf, in a surprise announcement on June 6.

A news release posted to the PGA Tour’s website over the weekend said the tour’s goal was to bring on the PIF, Strategic Sports Group and the DP World Tour (formerly the European Tour) as minority co-investors in PGA Tour Enterprises — the tour’s new for-profit organization — in 2024.

–Field Level Media

The post PGA Tour: Greg Norman Thanks Rory McIlroy appeared first on Digital Sports Desk.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH –  (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Claiming negotiations were “active and productive,” commissioner Jay Monahan told his PGA Tour members in a memo Sunday that the tour was working to extend the deadline to finalize a merger with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

The PGA Tour revealed a so-called framework agreement to merge interests with the PIF, which finances LIV Golf, in a surprise announcement on June 6. Sunday marked the deadline the two sides originally set for a final agreement.

Monahan previously called New Year’s Eve a “firm target” to complete the deal, but The Telegraph reported this week that the target had been moved to early April before the Masters is played.

A news release posted to the PGA Tour’s website said the tour’s goal was to bring on the PIF, Strategic Sports Group and the DP World Tour (formerly the European Tour) as minority co-investors in PGA Tour Enterprises — the tour’s new for-profit organization — in 2024.

“These partnerships will allow us to unify, innovate and invest in the game for the benefit of the players, fans and sponsors,” Monahan said in the memo.

Monahan told members that the tour had made “meaningful progress” in negotiating with Strategic Sports Group (SSG), a consortium of U.S.-based professional sports owners led by Fenway Sports Group and including figures like the New York Mets’ Steve Cohen and the Atlanta Falcons’ Arthur Blank.

“As we move forward in our discussions (with SSG), we are focused on the finalization of terms and drafts of necessary documents,” Monahan said in the memo, according to ESPN and the Associated Press, as both media outlets obtained a full copy.

–Field Level Media

The post PGA Tour, LIV Extend Negotiations appeared first on Digital Sports Desk.

MIAMI – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Bryson DeChambeau rolled in eight birdies on his way to a 5-under 67, powering his Crushers GC to the LIV Golf Team Championship title at Trump National Doral on Sunday in South Florida.

DeChambeau’s top teammate was Anirban Lahiri of India, who posted the round of the day with a 7-under 65 that featured an eagle, five birdies and no bogeys. Charles Howell III (even-par 72) and Englishman Paul Casey (1-over 73) rounded out the Crushers’ final score of 11-under 277.

That was two better than RangeGoats GC, who finished second at 9-under 279 behind captain Bubba Watson’s 5-under 67.

“We’ve been wanting to win this for a long time,” DeChambeau told the TV broadcast. “Last year really left us a sour taste in our mouth and I can’t be happier with this team of mine. … They worked their butts off.”

The top four seeds — 4Aces GC, Crushers GC, Torque GC and RangeGoats GC — won in Saturday’s match-play semifinals to advance to the final round. Every player’s score counted in the final round as the four squads faced off in stroke play.

Torque, captained by Joaquin Niemann of Chile, finished third at 6-under 282. Niemann did the heavy lifting with a 6-under 66, but his three teammates averaged out to even par.

Defending champion 4Aces fell flat with a team score of even-par 288 to finish fourth. Captain Dustin Johnson had five bogeys and just two birdies for his team’s highest score, a 3-over 75. Peter Uihlein led the 4Aces with a 3-under 69.

Lahiri had an early birdie-birdie-eagle stretch at Nos. 4-6 to kickstart his round.

“I wasn’t tense at all,” Lahiri said. “I was actually really pumped up. I had a couple of Sundays (this season) where I let myself down, but I wasn’t going let them down today.”

Watson concluded his first season with LIV by going bogey-free with three birdies and an eagle for his round.

“The RangeGoats came out of nowhere,” Watson said of his team. “We played great. We gotta improve a little bit, but gosh, (to) finish second for the year, it’s a great place.”

The Team Championship concluded the second season of the Saudi-funded LIV Golf circuit. LIV’s future entering 2024 remains unclear amid the Saudi Public Investment Fund’s framework agreement with the PGA Tour and DP World Tour.

–Field Level Media

The post DeChambeau, Crushers Take LIV appeared first on Digital Sports Desk.

MIAMI – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – LIV Golf CEO and commissioner Greg Norman broke his months-long silence on Thursday, expressing optimism about the future of the circuit and asserting that his role will remain unchanged.

Norman hadn’t spoken since the PGA Tour announced on June 6 a preliminary agreement with LIV that would see the two organizations and the DP World Tour form a partnership.

LIV’s existence beyond this year was called into question, as was Norman’s position — especially since Norman was unaware that Yasir Al-Rumayyan, head of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund that bankrolls LIV, and its then-competitors were discussing an alliance.

Speaking on Thursday in Miami ahead of the season-ending LIV Golf Team Championship at Doral’s Blue Monster Course, Norman told reporters, “All indications are showing that the position of LIV has never been stronger and that the success of our players and our brand has never been in a better place.

“And as we look forward into 2024, we’ve got a full schedule. We’ve got some places we’ve been to before, but we’ve got some new venues as well and we’re reaching different regions.”

Norman added, “With each year that goes by, this is really going to (be) even more exciting for us. I’m definitely seeing a lot of FOMO (fear of missing out) out there. I know, personally I’m speaking to numerous players who want to come to LIV.”

As for his own position, Norman said he was never concerned, even when PGA Tour chief operating officer Ron Price told Congress in July, “If we reach a definitive agreement (with LIV), we would not have a requirement for that type of position (that Norman holds).”

Norman said, “I knew it wasn’t true. There is so much white noise out there. I pay zero attention to because I know sitting in this seat today, I know every step I’ve made has been for the right reasons, right reasons for the game of golf. …

“I knew LIV was always going to exist. I didn’t need to be involved in the framework agreement because the success was happening here. … “I don’t see LIV going anywhere but up. That’s all I can tell you.”

–Field Level Media

The post Greg Norman Resurfaces and Optimistic appeared first on Digital Sports Desk.

HOYLAKE – Amateur Christo Lamprecht made quite an impression in Liverpool and it wasn’t at 10 Mathew Street. Lamprecht – an amateur who will enter his senior year at Georgia Tech this Fall – accomplished a lot in Round 1 of The Open at Royal Liverpool. Here’s a brief go of it:

• First amateur to hold the lead/co-lead after any round on TOUR sincePaul Dunne at the 2015 Open Championship (R3)
• First amateur to hold the 18-hole lead/co-lead on TOUR since Tom Lewis at the 2011 Open Championship
• First player to hold the 18-hole lead/co-lead in his PGA TOUR debut since Sepp Straka at the 2018 Fortinet Championship
• First player to hold the 18-hole lead/co-lead in his major championship debut since Andrew Landry at the 2016 U.S. Open
• Lowest first-round score (66) by an amateur in a major championship since Lewis carded a 65 at the 2011 Open Championship
• Lowest score by an amateur in any round of a major championship since Matti Schmid carded a 65 in the second round of the 2021 Open Championship

As you’d expect in a major professional golf tournament, Lamprecht wasn’t alone. Popular Brit, Tommy Fleetwood posted his fourth 18-hole lead/co-lead on TOUR and second of the current season. Fleetwood is one of nine players with multiple 18-hole leads/co-leads this season.

• It’s Fleetwood’s second career lead/co-lead after any round in a major (2017 U.S. Open; finished fourth)
• Fleetwood’s opening-round 66 is his 11th score of 66 or better in majors

The Open | Leaderboard After 18 Holes

T1 Christo Lamprecht (a) 66 (-5)

T1 Tommy Fleetwood 66 (-5)

T1 Emiliano Grillo 66 (-5)

T4 Antoine Rozner 67 (-4)

T4 Adrian Otaegui 67 (-4)

T4 Brian Harman 67 (-4)

The post Round 2 at The Open appeared first on Digital Sports Desk.

No Merger Deal is Done, According to PGA Tour Officials

WASH DC – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – PGA Tour officials painted a bleak outlook during a contentious Senate hearing Tuesday, sharing they felt no other choice was left but to merge with Saudi-backed LIV Golf in order for the tour to survive.

“The PGA Tour is not that big in terms of players,” PGA Tour board member Jimmy Dunne said during sworn testimony Tuesday before the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations in Washington, D.C. “If (LIV) takes five players a year, in five years they can gut us. They’ve got a management team that wants to destroy the Tour. And even though (LIV) could take five or six players a year, they have an unlimited horizon and an unlimited amount of money.

“So it isn’t like the (LIV) product is better. It’s just that there’s a lot more money that will make people move.”

Several Senators cited accusations of Saudi Arabia’s human rights abuses as reason to question the May 30 framework agreement between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.

“Today’s hearing is about much more than the game of golf,” Senator Richard Blumenthal said. “It’s about how a brutal, repressive regime can buy influence, and indeed even take over a cherished American institution to cleanse its public image.”

Dunne and Ron Price, the chief operating officer of the PGA Tour, testified on behalf of the tour with CEO Jay Monahan on medical leave. They said the framework of the planned merger is the best opportunity to allow the PGA Tour to continue to have some degree of control over the sport despite the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia’s involvement.

When pressed on the details of the financial involvement of the Saudis, Price said, “There’s been discussions. It would be a significant amount. North of $1 billion.”

Along with other Senators, Blumenthal offered harsh criticism of the financial aspects of the decision to merge.

“There is something that stinks about this path that you’re on right now,” Blumenthal said, “because it is a surrender, and it is all about the money and that’s the reason for the backlash that you see.”

Blumenthal asked Price what his options are if the PGA Tour doesn’t execute the merger with LIV Golf.

“We would still be facing a real threat that LIV Golf would continue to recruit our top players,” Price said.

Blumenthal responded, “These players that stood by you are heroes.”

Dunne testified that he shares some of the concerns Blumenthal raised in the hearing.

“I really understand Sen. Blumenthal’s concern about having them take over,” Dunne said. “…I’m concerned with what the senator is worried about. But I’m concerned if we do nothing, we’re going to end up there, they’re going to end up owning golf. They can do it.”

The proposed merger could face blockage from the Justice Department, which has been investigating the PGA Tour for its attempt to keep its players from leaving for LIV, as well as a review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a Treasury-led committee that assesses mergers for national security purposes.

Price and Dunne stressed during Tuesday’s hearing that final details of the merger are undetermined.

The post PGA Tour Officials Testify Before Senate appeared first on Digital Sports Desk.

LOS ANGELES – Defending champion Matt Fitzpatrick earned his first PGA TOUR title at the 2022 U.S. Open, becoming the first player to do so in a major since Danny Willett at the 2016 Masters Tournament. The last player to successfully defend a major championship title was Brooks Koepka at the 2019 PGA Championship.

Koepka is also the last player to win the U.S. Open in back-to-back years (2017, 2018). Fitzpatrick, who won the RBC Heritage earlier this season, enters the week at No. 28 in the FedEx Cup standings.

The 2023 U.S. Open is the first major championship held at The Los Angeles Country Club and will be contested on the North Course. The first edition of the Los Angeles Open, now known as The Genesis Invitational, was held at LACC (North) in 1926, and the event has been held there a total of five times (1926, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1940). The last major championship played in the Los Angeles area was the 1995 PGA Championship, held at The Riviera Country Club, the host venue of The Genesis Invitational.

2021 U.S. Open winner Jon Rahm enters the week as the FedExCup leader with four wins this season, including the Masters Tournament. With a win this week, Rahm would become the first player to win five times in a season since Justin Thomas in 2016-17 and the first to win multiple majors in the same year since Jordan Spieth in 2015 (Masters, U.S. Open). With 3,042 FedExCup points so far this season, Rahm has the fifth-highest total in a single FedExCup Regular Season since the inception of the FedExCup in 2007. He is 17 points behind No. 4 (Tiger Woods/2013) and 1,127 behind No. 1 (Jordan Spieth/2014-15).

Embed from Getty Images

The 2011 U.S. Open winner and reigning FedEx Cup Champion Rory McIlroyhas won four majors (2011 U.S. Open, 2012 PGA Championship, 2014 Open Championship, 2014 PGA Championship) but none since the start of the 2014-15 season. McIlroy has 18 Top-10s in majors since his most recent title, the most of any player in that span.

McIlroy is making his 48th start in a major and 33rd since winning the 2014 PGA Championship.

There are four players in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking that have not won a major: No. 4 Patrick Cantlay, No. 5 Viktor Hovland, No. 6 Xander Schauffele and No. 7 Max Homa. Those four players have combined for 25 PGA Tour titles and have all won at least twice since the start of the 2021-22 season.

 

The post U.S. Open: Ready for Hollywood appeared first on Digital Sports Desk.

By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – From the perspective of a present day columnist and former PR practitioner there’s a problem when a press release – dropped out of thin air – has been written by the lawyers.

Yes, this week, the good folks at the PGA Tour and LIV Golf decided to drop a little news on the sports world. They did so with an early morning news release that was grabbed by CNBC News, questioned as to its validity by The Dan Patrick Show a few minutes after 9:00am on the morning of June 6, 2023. It was verified by this publication when the third source was the homepage of PGATour.com itself.

You’d have thought they were trying to bury the story in quick sand.

From this columnists’ viewpoint, the news release had these qualities, of lack thereof:

1. It was a major story but dropped on the global media as if it were a minor story, ready to be put out with the trash.
2. It created more questions than it provided answers.
3. After it was issued, instead of one solid spokesperson (a la PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan), it prompted conflicting commentary from a minimum of six people, including: PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan, players such as Phil Mickelson (LIV), Rory McIlroy (PGA Tour), and PGA TOUR Policy Board member Jimmy Dunne.
4. Every player hitting golf balls at the Pro-Am and practice rounds at the RBC Canadian Open was thrust into a barrage of questions – most Tour members left not knowing exactly what was going down.
5. LIV Golf Commissioner Greg Norman was apparently “caught by surprise” and unavailable.
6. The news release ended with a paragraph that said nothing and everything about the announcement. It read: “All parties will work in the months to come to finalize terms of the agreement, with details to be announced in due course.”

Ya think?

Here are just a few storylines created – including business reporters digging into the Tour’s longtime structure and Congress diving into the study as well – as the story advanced and more and more people felt the need to comment:

1. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund which oversees LIV Golf and dozens of investments in sports and acquiring talent to play in Saudi-based sports interests will potentially invest in the PGA Tour as an exclusive investor. The PGA Tour is currently registered as a charity with separate business arms. The Tour has four related 501(c)(3) organizations—PGA Tour Charitable & Education Fund, PGA Tour Charities Inc, PGA Tour Employees Emergency Relief Fund and Pro Caddies Assistance Foundation—whose assets cannot be transferred to any for-profit entity.
2. According to Laura Neal, Senior Vice President of the PGA Tour, as told to “InsideSources” that the PGA Tour organization “is a membership-based nonprofit” that complies with IRS rules, including making large charitable donations. A securities industry executive called the Tour a walking contradiction as its core business is registered with the IRS as a ‘business league’ but operates under nonprofit status. As has been reported over the years, that status allows the PGA to avoid hundreds of millions in taxes over the last few decades as its stages tournaments in locales where volunteers help stage the tournament and a significant dollar amount is targeted towards local charities in the city of each tournament. That has resulted in the PGA Tour donating some $3.64 billion to charity. (Way back in 2013, Forbes examined the PGA Tour structure – (link)
3. It was said – prominently in the “news” release that “separately, PGA TOUR Inc. will remain in place as a 501(c)(6) tax exempt organization and retains administrative oversight of events for those assets contributed by the PGA TOUR, including the sanctioning of events, the administration of the competition and rules, as well as all other “inside the ropes” responsibilities, with Jay Monahan as Commissioner and Ed Herlihy as PGA TOUR Policy Board Chairman. PIF’s Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan will join the PGA TOUR Policy Board. The DP World Tour and LIV Golf will retain similar administrative oversight of events on their respective Tours.”
4. It was said a few days after the “news” broke that “the loyal” PGA Tour players would “get equity” in the new structure. Seemingly, that would be a “make-good” for the loyal players who turned down the tens of millions and multi-million offers to jump ship and play a year of 54 (LIV) golf.
5. The Wall Street Journal and other media outlets, it was said that the PGA Tour claimed “it could not afford to keep battling the billions of dollars PIF could place behind LIV Golf and its continuing efforts to lure more players to the renegade tour.
6. Commissioner Monahan reportedly told employees of the Tour that they “were outmatched” by the Saudi investments.
7. On Friday, PGA Tour honcho Jimmy Dunne felt it necessary to explain some of the intricacies of the new deal to ESPN.com, stating, “The new [company] would grow, and the [current PGA Tour] players would get a piece of equity that would enhance and increase in value as time went on,” Dunne said. “There would have to be some kind of formulaic decision on how to do that. It would be a process to determine what would be a fair mechanism that would be really beneficial to our players.”
8. Other players started getting into the act, most notably Bryson DeChambeau said, “I do feel bad for the PGA Tour players because they were told one thing and something else happened. On our side, we were told one thing and it’s come to fruition.” DeChambeau went on to address the deepest of issues in the relationship of the sport of golf to the 9/11 Families United, stating to CNN’s Caitlin Collins in a live, two-way interview, “I think we’ll never be able to repay the families back for what exactly happened just over 20 years ago and what happened is definitely horrible,” said DeChambeau. “I think as time has gone on, 20 years has (sic) passed, we’re in a place now where it’s time to start trying to work together to make things better together as a whole. I don’t know exactly what they’re feeling. I can’t ever know what they feel, but I have a huge amount of respect for their position and what they believe. Nor do I ever want anything like that to ever occur again. I think as we move forward from that, we have to look toward the pathway to peace and forgiveness, especially if we’re trying to mend the world and make it a better place. I think this is what they’re trying to accomplish, LIV is trying to accomplish, PIF is trying to accomplish. We’re all trying to accomplish a better world for everybody with entertainment for everybody around the world.
9. DeChambeau was asked by Collins about human rights violations and the CIA verified killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, an act that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered for assassination of the provocative and critical journalist. “It’s unfortunate what has happened and something I can’t necessarily speak on. I’m a golfer,” DeChambeau added. “But what I can say is that what they’re trying to do, what they’re trying to work on is to be better allies because we are allies with them. I’m not going to get into politics, I’m not specialized in that. What I can say is they’re trying to do good for the world and showcase themselves in a light that hasn’t been seen in a while. Nobody’s perfect, but we’re all trying to improve in life,” said the man who pocketed $150 million in a signing bonus to play LIV Golf.
10. Said Vox’ Jonathan Guyer on the overall impact and resulting aspect of the (PGA Tour claims not to call it a) merger: “The golf course is perhaps not the arena that immediately comes to mind when you’re thinking about geopolitics. But with one proposed golf business deal, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS, just hit the geopolitical equivalent of a hole-in-one.”

And, so, the story goes.

See you at next week’s U.S. Open in Los Angeles where there will be more than 100 new spokespeople for the continuing saga of “How the PGA Tour & LIV Worlds Turn.” Surely, the USGA is thrilled with the consequences of staging a major 10 days after the world of professional golf was turned inside out, upside down and sideways without any clear path made public.

After all, nobody’s perfect, right?

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: How about a few Red Sox notes to begin? … Since the start of 2022, 11 of 20 games between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees have been decided by one run, including six of 11 at Yankee Stadium. … Boston 3B Rafael Devers hit his 11th career Home Run at Yankee Stadium Saturday night. The only other Red Sox players to hit as many as nine homers against the Yankees in New York prior to the age of 27 are Babe Ruth (10) and Ted Williams (9). … The Sox are in a stretch of playing 13 games in 12 days from June 3 to June 14, including the scheduled day-night doubleheader against Tampa on June 3. … They are scheduled to play 23 games in 23 days from June 3-to-25.

NEGRO LEAGUE MOTION PICTURE: (Report from Official News Release) – Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Sam Pollard, working with executive producer Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, the Oscar-winner of “Summer of Soul,” Tariq Trotter of Descendant, and produced by RadicalMedia, THE LEAGUE celebrates the dynamic journey of Negro League baseball’s triumphs and challenges through the first half of the twentieth century.

The story is told through previously unseen archival footage and interviews with legendary players like Satchel Paige and Buck O’Neil – whose early careers paved the way for the Jackie Robinson era in Major League Baseball. They all created a platform for celebrated Baseball Hall of Famers Willie Mays and Hank Aaron who started their baseball careers in the Negro Leagues.

From entrepreneurial titans Cumberland Posey and Gus Greenlee, whose intense rivalry fueled the rise of two of the best baseball teams ever to play the game, to Effa Manley, the activist owner of the Newark Eagles and the only woman ever admitted to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, THE LEAGUE explores Black baseball as an economic and social pillar of their local communities and a stage for some of the greatest athletes to ever play the game.

MOST BELOVED USA ATHLETES: The mention of both Hank Aaron and Willie Mays calls for a listing of many of the Most Beloved Athletes to Ever Play Sports:

• Jack Nicklaus
• Jackie Robinson
• Willie Mays
• Michael Jordan
• Arthur Ashe
• Babe Ruth
• Bobby Orr
• Hank Aaron
• Roberto Clemente
• Arnold Palmer
• Jesse Owens
• Julius Erving
• Lou Gehrig
• Joe DiMaggio
• Wilma Rudolph
• John Havlicek
• Muhammad Ali
• Ernie Banks
• Wayne Gretzky *Canada
• Mark Spitz
• Althea Gibson
• Richard Petty
• Eric Heiden
• Chris Evert
• Tiger Woods
• Michael Phelps
• Roger Federer
• “Babe” Didrikson Zaharias
• Reggie White
• Walter Payton
• Jerry Rice
• Cal Ripken, Jr.
• Barry Sanders
• Pele *Brazil
• Serena Williams
• Cathy Rigby
• Guy LaFleur *Canada
• Dorothy Hamill
• Sugar Ray Leonard
• Simone Biles
• Rod Laver *Australia
• Annika Sörenstam
• Kerry Strug
• Olga Korbut *Russia
• Dale Earnhardt, Sr.
• Charles Barkley
• Mickey Mantle
• Kathy Whitworth
• Lee Trevino

TID-BITS: With the recent news of Angel Salcedo being hired by Channel 5 (Boston) as the newest sports reporter in this city, there’s cause to reminisce as we witness the changing of the guard for many of Boston’s local sports anchors. Salcedo fills a slot vacated by longtime anchor/reporter Bob Halloran’s retirement. The WCVB mainstay who recovered from a scary brain aneurysm seven years ago is the latest to retire from the local nightly newscasts. … Joe Amorosino, a sports reporter and anchor with WHDH Channel 7 for 25 years, is leaving the station after his contract expires at the end of June. In a decision entirely made by the 53-year old, Amorosino will focus on his family’s business and real estate interests. … Back in 2014, WCVB-TV’s Mike Dowling moved on after 28 years of sports reporting, many of those riding shotgun with the great Mike Lynch who decided to step-away from the nightly broadcasts in 2019. Lynch, too, suffered a stroke in 2022. He fully recovered from the episode but decided to step aside from the nightly grind after 38 years on the job.

On Friday, Lynch was inducted to the Massachusetts Broadcasting Hall of Fame.

CH-CH-CHANGES: Duke Castiglioni now heads up the sports desk at WCVB-5. The Marshfield High School and Stonehill College grad started at the station in 2018, working weekends. Duke’s father is the long-time voice of the Boston Red Sox, Joe Castiglione. … In January of this year, WBZ-TVwent so far as to run their weekday 6pm newscast without a sports segment. Sports director and anchor Steve Burton had his report nixed for some additional news and weather. Add to the mix the changing of the guard at WEEI-Radio where Glenn Ordway worked afternoon drive-time. Now, FM 98.5 dominates the morning and afternoon radio in Boston.

The post TL’s Sunday Sports Notes: June 11th appeared first on Digital Sports Desk.

By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – From the perspective of a present day columnist and former PR practitioner there’s a problem when a press release – dropped out of thin air – has been written by the lawyers.

Yes, this week, the good folks at the PGA Tour and LIV Golf decided to drop a little news on the sports world. They did so with an early morning news release that was grabbed by CNBC News, questioned as to its validity by The Dan Patrick Show a few minutes after 9:00am on the morning of June 6, 2023. It was verified by this publication when the third source was the homepage of PGATour.com itself.

You’d have thought they were trying to bury the story in quick sand.

From this columnists’ viewpoint, the news release had these qualities, of lack thereof:

1. It was a major story but dropped on the global media as if it were a minor story, ready to be put out with the trash.
2. It created more questions than it provided answers.
3. After it was issued, instead of one solid spokesperson (a la PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan), it prompted conflicting commentary from a minimum of six people, including: PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan, players such as Phil Mickelson (LIV), Rory McIlroy (PGA Tour), and PGA TOUR Policy Board member Jimmy Dunne.
4. Every player hitting golf balls at the Pro-Am and practice rounds at the RBC Canadian Open was thrust into a barrage of questions – most Tour members left not knowing exactly what was going down.
5. LIV Golf Commissioner Greg Norman was apparently “caught by surprise” and unavailable.
6. The news release ended with a paragraph that said nothing and everything about the announcement. It read: “All parties will work in the months to come to finalize terms of the agreement, with details to be announced in due course.”

Ya think?

Here are just a few storylines created – including business reporters digging into the Tour’s longtime structure and Congress diving into the study as well – as the story advanced and more and more people felt the need to comment:

1. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund which oversees LIV Golf and dozens of investments in sports and acquiring talent to play in Saudi-based sports interests will potentially invest in the PGA Tour as an exclusive investor. The PGA Tour is currently registered as a charity with separate business arms. The Tour has four related 501(c)(3) organizations—PGA Tour Charitable & Education Fund, PGA Tour Charities Inc, PGA Tour Employees Emergency Relief Fund and Pro Caddies Assistance Foundation—whose assets cannot be transferred to any for-profit entity.
2. According to Laura Neal, Senior Vice President of the PGA Tour, as told to “InsideSources” that the PGA Tour organization “is a membership-based nonprofit” that complies with IRS rules, including making large charitable donations. A securities industry executive called the Tour a walking contradiction as its core business is registered with the IRS as a ‘business league’ but operates under nonprofit status. As has been reported over the years, that status allows the PGA to avoid hundreds of millions in taxes over the last few decades as its stages tournaments in locales where volunteers help stage the tournament and a significant dollar amount is targeted towards local charities in the city of each tournament. That has resulted in the PGA Tour donating some $3.64 billion to charity. (Way back in 2013, Forbes examined the PGA Tour structure – (link)
3. It was said – prominently in the “news” release that “separately, PGA TOUR Inc. will remain in place as a 501(c)(6) tax exempt organization and retains administrative oversight of events for those assets contributed by the PGA TOUR, including the sanctioning of events, the administration of the competition and rules, as well as all other “inside the ropes” responsibilities, with Jay Monahan as Commissioner and Ed Herlihy as PGA TOUR Policy Board Chairman. PIF’s Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan will join the PGA TOUR Policy Board. The DP World Tour and LIV Golf will retain similar administrative oversight of events on their respective Tours.”
4. It was said a few days after the “news” broke that “the loyal” PGA Tour players would “get equity” in the new structure. Seemingly, that would be a “make-good” for the loyal players who turned down the tens of millions and multi-million offers to jump ship and play a year of 54 (LIV) golf.
5. The Wall Street Journal and other media outlets, it was said that the PGA Tour claimed “it could not afford to keep battling the billions of dollars PIF could place behind LIV Golf and its continuing efforts to lure more players to the renegade tour.
6. Commissioner Monahan reportedly told employees of the Tour that they “were outmatched” by the Saudi investments.
7. On Friday, PGA Tour honcho Jimmy Dunne felt it necessary to explain some of the intricacies of the new deal to ESPN.com, stating, “The new [company] would grow, and the [current PGA Tour] players would get a piece of equity that would enhance and increase in value as time went on,” Dunne said. “There would have to be some kind of formulaic decision on how to do that. It would be a process to determine what would be a fair mechanism that would be really beneficial to our players.”
8. Other players started getting into the act, most notably Bryson DeChambeau said, “I do feel bad for the PGA Tour players because they were told one thing and something else happened. On our side, we were told one thing and it’s come to fruition.” DeChambeau went on to address the deepest of issues in the relationship of the sport of golf to the 9/11 Families United, stating to CNN’s Caitlin Collins in a live, two-way interview, “I think we’ll never be able to repay the families back for what exactly happened just over 20 years ago and what happened is definitely horrible,” said DeChambeau. “I think as time has gone on, 20 years has (sic) passed, we’re in a place now where it’s time to start trying to work together to make things better together as a whole. I don’t know exactly what they’re feeling. I can’t ever know what they feel, but I have a huge amount of respect for their position and what they believe. Nor do I ever want anything like that to ever occur again. I think as we move forward from that, we have to look toward the pathway to peace and forgiveness, especially if we’re trying to mend the world and make it a better place. I think this is what they’re trying to accomplish, LIV is trying to accomplish, PIF is trying to accomplish. We’re all trying to accomplish a better world for everybody with entertainment for everybody around the world.
9. DeChambeau was asked by Collins about human rights violations and the CIA verified killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, an act that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered for assassination of the provocative and critical journalist. “It’s unfortunate what has happened and something I can’t necessarily speak on. I’m a golfer,” DeChambeau added. “But what I can say is that what they’re trying to do, what they’re trying to work on is to be better allies because we are allies with them. I’m not going to get into politics, I’m not specialized in that. What I can say is they’re trying to do good for the world and showcase themselves in a light that hasn’t been seen in a while. Nobody’s perfect, but we’re all trying to improve in life,” said the man who pocketed $150 million in a signing bonus to play LIV Golf.
10. Said Vox’ Jonathan Guyer on the overall impact and resulting aspect of the (PGA Tour claims not to call it a) merger: “The golf course is perhaps not the arena that immediately comes to mind when you’re thinking about geopolitics. But with one proposed golf business deal, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS, just hit the geopolitical equivalent of a hole-in-one.”

And, so, the story goes.

See you at next week’s U.S. Open in Los Angeles where there will be more than 100 new spokespeople for the continuing saga of “How the PGA Tour & LIV Worlds Turn.” Surely, the USGA is thrilled with the consequences of staging a major 10 days after the world of professional golf was turned inside out, upside down and sideways without any clear path made public.

After all, nobody’s perfect, right?

The post PGA Tour & LIV Golf = Partners Forever? appeared first on Digital Sports Desk.

The post Pro Golf: LIV and Let Die appeared first on Digital Sports Desk.