PHIL: The Unauthorized Biography

Mickelson is playing in the US Amateur match play. First hole. He gives the guy a 20-footer for par because he's taking so long to line it up. Of course Phil the Great is stiff and rams in the birdie. Next hole, please. He wins in a rout.

lol is this real?

The wind...my god

Basically on SM the Venn Diagram of LIV supports and MAGAts is a perfect circle.

I think it's generally dummies that want to be contrarian because they think it makes them interesting or smart

There currently aren't 3 competitive relevant players on LIV

this is basically sg data, only issue is it's impossible to compare golfers who compete vs a separate group as not all par 4s are equal etc etc

i'm already tremendously stressed out about this, i built a profitable pga h2h betting model, spent hundreds of hours on it, but it will possibly lose a bit of value with so many people fleeing to LIV and bringing in fresh blood as i'll be forced to deal with much smaller sample sizes of data for future pga tour event projections - silver lining is that linemakers will have the same problem i have but it's still super frustrating to spend years building something, finally succeeding at finding a formula that works and realizing it may cease being valuable quite soon

It might be an opportunity. There is LIV betting as well, although I'msure you would need to "tweak" your models.

Chamblee caught lying when he tried to assert Schwartzel did not get his winners check free and clear but instead was drawn from his contract.

I don't mind Chambleee havng a strong take on the LIV matter but lying trying to make a point makes him look foolish. I would advise him his job is not exactly set in stone.

It would be hilarious if Norman made up a story saying Brandel asked for a commentating job but then wanted too much money and became bitter when they couldn’t reach an agreement.

a list of talking points distributed to Pumpkin Ridge staff

Those talking points don't seem too crazy.

It was kinda funny seeing Bryson, Koepka, and Pat Perez up on stage together the other day. Liv certainly seems to have a (d-bag) type.

Very little talk in the media about Liv doing business with Trump even after the PGA pulled their tournaments from his courses. I guess it's good marketing synergy since Trump is a fan of dictators and brutal regimes.

Yeah I am a bit surprised by the MAGAts embracing this exhibition tour so emphatically given that most of them are such staunch “patriots”. Or at least proclaim that they are. And the Saudis were so instrumental in 9/11.

Yes but this from your earlier post sums up a large contingent of MAGAs also:

This league is portraying itself as the cool league for cool people, the one that doesn't worry about being PC. If it was a car it would be a Hummer. It's all about the big $$$$$ and eff anyone who has a problem with that. I suspect this type of marketing will appeal to a certain segment of golf fans.

Dylan Dethier from Golf.com wrote a really good piece about the Liv event in Portland, and how it feels on the ground. The Liv players all seem happy, it's like a big fraternity without pesky things like competition or fans.

https://golf.com/news/liv-golf-american-debut-portland/

what again does Liv have to do with MAGAs?

Trump and Brybaby for starters



oh and Norman choosing Fox News as his media go to

I know a bunch of guys that you'd probably consider MAGAs and the general consensus on Bryson is "douche" and the general reply to the news of someone joining LIV is F*** him.

I will say the LIV field is more appealing than the John Deere which I'm currently watching (yawn).

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How would you know till they actually get a Tv Deal

Baffles me still how we want golfers to be our morality while the President is heading to SA to beg them for oil and the PGA tour titles sponsors have no issue with Saudi Arabia. No question these players are taking the cash just like NBA players that turn a blind eye to China.

To say this is a Maga league. Please. Id like to poll all the golfers and big golf figures and see how many voted for Trump. My guess a a a majority including Jack

Talking about supporters of this league on social media. A lot of them are MAGAtards

countries and people are two different things
would you say you represent the entirety of your country with your opinions and actions? doubtful
can you say the public investment fund that's financing LIV is controlled by the crown prince MBS? yes
can you also say that same person is responsible for many other not-so-desirable things? yes

and I'm done with the political talk

My feeling in calling it a MAGA league is that they are having 2 events at Trump courses. There is no way that is just because they happened to think they were the best ones. They are modeling themselves after the Trump brand. Big money, showy, rule-breaking, in your face, unapologetically anti-PC, etc.

And especially in light of the Jan 6 hearings, having the events at Trump courses (after the PGA refused to do business with him), is an obvious anti-PC middle finger. It would be naive to think otherwise, no matter how you happen to feel about Trump personally.

I may be making it political, but come on the controversy surrounding Liv is all because of their political connection to a brutal regime. The entire subject of Liv is political. No one is talking about the actual golf being played, because it is meaningless and no one cares.

I just made an observation that on SM I have noticed a correlation between MAGAs and LIV supporters. Ofc SM isn’t real life but never said it was.

Edit: also all of Revots points are accurate and not really debatable IMO

Yeah, that was an interesting perspective, and it certainly shows the draw to certain players: those who want to make a bunch of money playing golf, but don't really care about competition or legacy. And I don't really mean that in a bad way. There are clearly some players who care about being part of the "legacy" aspects of golf.

I wonder though whether the reasons the players like it (fewer fans, easier commitments, more "frat" atmosphere) will translate to a product that can survive. There's some novelty in watching at this point, but other than majors and a select other tournaments/venues, I only tend to watch golf on Sundays when it's looking like a good finish. In other words, it's the competition that drives me. I admit it's probably too early to say whether there will be "good competition" in these events, but I have a hard time seeing it being INTERESTING competition.

Only watched three holes today, but boy, saw some bad golf, and the commentators remain horrible. They are trying REALLY hard to make this cool, and unique, and "special."

I haven't seen anything about number of tickets available vs. sold/attendance, but it looked pretty damn light out there.

Ending on a positive I guess: it was fun seeing big names play on a course I've played several times.

I threw it up on the laptop muted and .. it’s pro golf. Just with annoying graphics. Picture quality is good tho.