In this Issue

1.  🍻Golf’s Weekend Bender

   • PGAT: Things get wild in Phoenix

   • LIV: DJ wins in Sin City

2.  🍴Quick Bites

   • More details of the SSG deal released

   • Tiger’s new apparel line

   • LIV moves to open up betting markets

   • Meronk on Ryder Cup snub

3.  📅 Schedule for the Week

🍻Golf’s Weekend Bender

PGAT: Things get wild in Phoenix

Party golf certainly reached peak levels this weekend, especially in Phoenix for the WM Open where things became a little bonkers at times. The first 3 days of the tournament were plagued by poor weather, unruly crowd behaviour and a weak leaderboard. In fact, during the 3rd round, crowd entry was suspended and the venue stopped serving alcohol on ground as attendees ran wild across the course.

The PGAT and local organisers of the WM Phoenix Open have leaned into the party vibe of the event over many years now. It has produced some great spectacles, especially on the par 3 16th which has now become a colosseum of sorts for the players with massive grandstands surrounding the hole. But the actual golf this year was (to some extent) overshadowed by some questionable crowd behaviour. We saw it all, including:

• using the course as a slip and slide by half naked beefy boys

• one spectator jumping the ropes and swan diving into a bunker (which he actually thought was water) and then doing a snow angel in the sand

• another spectator fell from height in one of the grandstands seriously injuring herself

• multiple attendees slipping and falling (hard) on the sloped grass as they moved around the course

• fans urinating on themselves and the course

• players (specifically Billy Horshel and Ryder Cup Captain Zach Johnson) chastising and arguing with rowdy fans

• fights between spectators requiring tournament volunteers to restrain and subdue drunken louts.

Despite the crowd issues, the cream of the field eventually rose to the top come Sunday. World number 1 Scottie Scheffler, along with Sahith Thegala and Sam Burns were all within 2 shots of the lead early in the final round. Scheffler was chasing 3 WM Phoenix Opens in a row, and Thegala was looking for redemption after capitulating on the 17th hole in 2022. But it was veteran Charlie “Chuck” Hoffman who surprised everyone by taking a 4-shot lead on the back 9. This would have thrilled event sponsor WM who also happen to be Chuck’s main personal sponsor.

This left Scheffler and Canadian Nick Taylor in pursuit of Hoffman’s clubhouse lead of -21. Ultimately, it was Taylor who reeled in Chuck by birdieing 4 of his last 5 holes to force a playoff (pushing the TV coverage beyond the Super Bowl kick off). After both players birdied the first playoff hole, Hoffman was out of position off the tee as they played the 18th again, opening the door for Taylor to birdie the last hole 3 times in a row to take the win. It was Taylor’s 4th PGAT title and a devastating blow to Hoffman, who at 47 years of age, would have been desperate to get the 2-year exemption a win would have secured him.

Adam Scott fared best of the Aussies, finishing T8 at -13, whilst Aaron Baddeley ground his way to T28. Min Woo Lee had a disappointing week on the scoreboard (T71) but was still a star of the event - the “let him cook” Chef schtick is really catching on, and his new sponsor Lululemon is certainly leaning into things.

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LIV: DJ wins in Sin City

LIV also had a big week holding their first event in Las Vegas, coinciding with the biggest sporting show on earth, the Super Bowl. Sensibly, LIV decided to run with a Thursday start/Saturday finish to ensure there was no clash with Super Bowl Sunday. The crowds grew progressively over the 3 days and were pretty impressive come the final round, especially given this was LIV’s first time in Sin City.

The event had a stacked leaderboard with the likes of Dustin Johnson, Bryson Dechambeau and Jon Rahm all in contention. It was also good to see Matt Wolff mixing it up with the leaders given the tough season he had at Smash GC last year with Brooks Koepka publicly berating him for less than satisfactory form. In fact, Wolffy took the lead with 5 holes to play, but unfortunately for him, it was short-lived as he faded coming down the stretch.

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LIV would have been thrilled with the final stanza of the event with 6 players tied for the lead at -10 with only 4 holes to play. The course played much harder than anticipated, mainly due to the cold and windy conditions, especially in the final round. A clutch birdie by DJ on the 17th hole edged him into the solo lead at -12, but he then sliced his tee shot on 18 into the right rough, giving himself a particularly tough approach to the final green. This led to a questionable ruling from Chief Rules Official, Slugger White (formerly the PGAT rules official), who deemed the greenside scoreboard was in the line of DJ’s intended play, allowing DJ a free drop and a much-improved line to the pin. DJ then produced a towering 7-iron approach to slam the door shut on Peter Uhlein and Talor Gooch who both finished T2. Smithy was again the best of the Aussies in the individual standings at T15 (-5)

In the team event, Smash GC (Brooks Koepka, Graeme McDowell, Jason Kokrak and Talor Gooch) finished first by nine shots, ahead of the 4 Aces and the Range Goats. Aussie team Ripper GC finished a disappointing 10th.

🍴 Quick Bites

Here are some golf quick bites for you to snack on:

• More details of the SSG deal released - more specifics have emerged on how the $1.5bn investment in the PGAT from SSG will be deployed. Almost $1bn of funds will be directed to “player equity” for past achievements and current performance. Various bandings have been established to divvy up the money, with the bulk of the equity likely to be taken by Tiger and Rory.

• Tiger’s new apparel line - Tiger has released his new self-branded clothing and accessories line, called Sun Day Red. Take a look…

• LIV moves to open up betting markets - LIV recently announced its “any shot, any time” coverage which aligns nicely to sports betting. Gambling on LIV is now permitted in over 22 US states, and the leadership of LIV are clearly paving the way to boost revenue streams from sports betting - Yasir and the PIF looking to bolster the league’s return on investment.

• Meronk on Ryder Cup snub - New member of the Cleeks, Adrian Meronk, is reported to have said that, if he was picked in the Ryder Cup team last year, he would not have made the move to LIV this year. You can read about it here.

📅 Schedule for the Week

Tiger Woods will make his golfing debut for the year this week at Riviera Country Club where he will host the Genesis Invitational. It is sure to be a great week of golf - this is one of the events of the year (PGAT Signature Event) held on a superb course that always produces entertaining golf.

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

• PGAT: Genesis Invitational - Riviera Country Club (Los Angeles), $20m purse, Friday 16/2 to Monday 19/2 - Coverage on Foxtel & Kayo, Main Coverage starts 7am AEST Friday, Featured Groups from 2.00am.

• LIV: no event

• DPWT: no event

• LPGA: no event

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