In this Issue

1.  💥 LIV starts with a bang

2. ⛈️ Pebble gets washed out

3.  🤝 PGAT signs PE deal

4.  🍴 Quick Bites

   • PGAT signs PE deal with SSG

   • Brett Colletta wins the VIC Open

   • Full Swing Season 2 announced

   • LIV’s upping its content game

5.  📅 Schedule for the Week

💥 LIV starts with a bang

LIV Golf's season opening tournament at Mayakoba has gone off with a bang. Despite a bought of food poisoning in the player/caddy group threatening to disrupt the start of the first round, the tournament commenced on schedule and after an intriguing three days at El Cameleon Golf Course, Joaquin Neimann secured his first win of the season after defeating Sergio Garcia in a four-hole playoff. It’s Niemann’s first win on the LIV tour, and for it to be against his mentor in Sergio, it was a very special moment for the young Chilean star.

Niemann, Garcia and Jon Rahm were all tied at 12-under with two holes to play. Unfortunately, Rahm finished bogey-bogey to put himself out of contention. Niemann had a 10-footer in regulation to win but slid the putt by the hole on the high side resulting in the playoff with Garcia. Battling against the fading light, Niemann and Garcia traded blows up and down the 19th hole with large crowds gathered to see the result. On the 4th playoff hole, Garcia was out of position following his approach shot to the green, and in almost total darkness, Joaquin sunk a birdie putt from just off the green to win.

Niemann closed out the win after carding a sizzling 12-under round of 59 on Friday. However, he was brought back to the field on Sunday morning when he was issued a 2-shot penalty for an incorrect drop during Saturday’s second round. This opened the door for the likes of Rahm and Garcia, and even Aussie Cam Smith who came out of the gates firing on Sunday with 5 straight birdies. Unfortunately for Smithy, he fizzled out and finished 5 shots back. The final round also had some sizzle from Richard “Dick” Bland as he sunk the first ace of the LIV season.

In the team format, Jon Rahm and Tyrrel Hatton inspired an impressive win for Legion XIII in their debut tournament, holding off a fast-finishing Crushers and Torque. All Aussie team, Ripper GC, looked set for a podium finish, reaching second place during the final round, but unfortunately ran out of steam finishing 4th overall. Legion XIII’s youngest member, Caleb Surratt (19) looked right at home in his first tournament as a professional grinding out a T13 finish and making a big contribution to the team’s performance. Let’s hope he can maintain this level of playing, something which fellow youngster James Piot was unable to do last year, resulting in his relegation from the 2024 season.

All in all, we think LIV will be very happy with the season opener - a 4-hole playoff finish in near darkness was a pretty dramatic way for the tournament to conclude. Also, the wash-out on Sunday for the PGAT event at Pebble Beach (see below) combined with the lack of NFL games this weekend, created the perfect chance for LIV to attract new eyeballs from the lucrative US sporting market. They now have the opportunity to double down on this momentum as they head to Las Vegas this week for their next event, which coincides with the Superbowl (is also in Vegas). Going to be a big weekend ahead!!!

⛈️ Pebble gets washed out

Reigning U.S. Open champion, Wyndham Clark, has won the AT&T Pro-Am at Pebble Beach following a rain affected event on the Monterey Peninsula. Clark, who had been the subject of frothy speculation about moving to LIV, blew the field away with an amazing 12-under par round of 60 on Saturday. Soft greens and gentle conditions certainly helped, but there is no denying that a round of 60 at Pebble Beach is all-time. There was plenty of conjecture over social media about whether the round should count as a course record because it was played under the “lift-clean-replace” rule. Regardless, it was a brilliant score that putt Clark in the drivers’ seat going into Sunday’s final round.

The PGAT was always concerned this week about how much of a factor weather would play. This was caused by an “atmospheric river” or tropical plume impacting the California region. As night fell on Saturday, the nasty weather rolled in and the PGAT announced that the final round would be postponed to a Monday finish. That postponement proved to be too optimistic as the weather was unrelenting, eventually forcing the PGAT to declare the 54-hole leaderboard as the final result. This was quite ironic given all the criticism of LIV for only playing 54 holes (“it’s not real golf”), yet this week, the PGAT played 54 holes whilst LIV punched out 58 holes!

Clark was declared the winner, over Ludvig Aberg in second (who is continuing his good form off the back of his first PGAT win last year) and Mathieu Pavon in third (backing up from his win at the Farmers Insurance Open last week). There was some controversy to Clark’s win as another “stop-gate” scandal arose. Shankers might recall from last week that Pavon was alleged to have stomped down rough near his ball to improve the lie as he prepared to hit his crucial approach shot into the final hole. Similarly, Clark is alleged to have also stomped down some rough on his way to victory. However, the outcry seems to have been far less - and we know that the PGAT are very good at making footage disappear when it poses a risk for their brand.

🍴 Quick Bites

Here are some golf Quick Bites for you to snack on:

• PGAT signs PE deal with SSG - the PGAT has landed a $3bn deal with the private equity consortium, Strategic Sports Group. The investment from SSG will initially be $1.5bn, with up to a further $1.5bn in the future. The deal restructures the PGAT’s operating environment and now provides the opportunity for players to access equity in the tour for the dual purpose of rewarding players for achievements and success (both past and future), but also anchoring those players to the PGAT as the equity will vest over time and only if they are a member of the PGAT in good standing. The elephant in the room is that the deal has been struck in the absence of the PIF. We’ll have more to say about that in future issues.

• Brett Colletta wins the VIC Open - Colletta bagged his 3rd PGA of Australasia Tour win at 13th Beach Golf Club near Torquay, Victoria. Ashley Lau won the women’s format.

• Full Swing Season 2 announced - the second season of Netflix’s docu-series on pro-golf will be released on 6 March 2024. The cast of players will include Rory, DJ, the Fitz brothers, JT and Joel Dahmen just to name a few.

• LIV’s upping its content game - LIV is certainly trying to innovate in the way that it provides content to fans. On top of its big partnership with Google to provide fans access to “any shot any time”, it is also producing content that will help fans develop stronger engagement and connection with LIV players. One such example is this YouTube series by Majesticks GC called Camp Confidential. The series takes you inside the team room providing great access to the players, their thoughts and their struggles. Take a look below.

📅 Schedule for the Week

Certainly a big week coming up with the PGAT holding one of its most boisterous events of the year - the WM Phoenix Open, whilst LIV is going to be centerstage in Las Vegas next to the biggest sporting show on earth, the Superbowl.

Your golfing schedule for the week, and how to watch is below:

• PGAT: WM Phoenix Open - TPC Scottsdale (Ariona), $8.8m purse, Friday 9/2 to Monday 12/2 - Coverage on Foxtel & Kayo, Main Coverage starts 7am AEST Friday, Featured Groups from 1.00am.

• LIV: Las Vegas - Las Vegas Country Club (Nevada), $25m purse, Saturday 10/2 to Monday 12/2 - Coverage on 7+, starts 4.15am AEST Friday.

• DPWT: Qatar Masters - Doha Golf Club (Qatar), $2.5m purse, Thursday 8/2 to Sunday 11/2 - Coverage on Foxtel & Kayo, starts 7pm AEST Thursday.

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Thanks again for your support and readership. We’ll be back next week and leave you with our Shank of the Week…NFL superstar Tom Brady with a cold top at this week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.