In which:
LIV accuse the OWGR of being mean, yet announce themselves to be MENA, ...and Sergio Garcia finally explains why he left last month's BMW Championship in such a hurry.
This weekend LIV Golf returned 'home'.
To Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The Royal Greens - Golf & Country Club
There at least, the players, tour Execs and in-house commentary team are being treated like royalty. God knows they're all as rich as kings.
But outside the LIV bubble, the battle with the wider world of professional golf continues.
Spoiler Alert.
I'm not a LIV fan.
I've a number of objections to it.
The obvious one being that LIV Golf is just the latest example of Sportswashing by the Saudi's.
But let's assume you've all got your own views on that particular issue.
Unless of course you live in Saudi and are a woman..., or homosexual..., or a child..., or a foreign worker..., or Jewish...., or Shia Muslim...
Then your own view would be illegal. Obviously.
So, let's leave that there.
The focus of this week's post is simply this.
Is anyone else getting bored with LIV's endless bleating that some of the world's richest sportsmen are being 'hard done by'?
This week the carping has been about Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points.
Could LIV have some please.
It's not fair they say.
They, some of the best players in the world, are dropping down the world rankings because LIV sits outside the recognized 'golf eco-system'.
(No. I don't really understand that term either, but Greg Norman uses it a lot, and Greg's always right).
Well yes. Good point.
I mean if no ranking points are on offer why would 48 millionaires submit themselves to the rigours of 'no-cut', 54-hole golf?
Almost once a month.
When a last place finish guarantees only a paltry $120,000.
Hardly seems worth it, no?
Mind you, the players don't always speak with 'one voice'.
Take a look at this press clipping involving Graeme McDowell, Dustin Johnson and Harrold Varner III.
It's not the full interview so let me fill you in.
Graeme thinks the OWGR don't know what they're doing because if DJ's world ranking is inaccurate the whole 'golf eco-system' might come crashing down.
They at LIV are all about fairness and transparency so why can't everyone else play nicely.
DJ, in an effort to reassure Graeme, made light of the consequences of joining the breakaway tour.
Although obviously playing fewer events these days he said he was just about managing to scrape a LIVing.
At some point, the OWGR would grant LIV ranking points, but it would probably be too late to make any difference.
By then all of their world rankings will have tanked further than the Pound.
For now, he would have to get by on the $160million he's made in signing on and win bonuses since June.
Harrold thinks that Graeme should drink less coffee before going in front of a microphone.
Harrold's refreshing view is this.
Ranking points, no ranking points, all the LIV players knew what they signed up for.
Don't bitch we're getting rich.
And in any event, Greg has come up with a master stroke.
He's formed a 'strategic alliance' with the little known, Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Tour.
LIV golfers are now also members of the MENA Tour, whose events do attract world ranking points.
Now, I'll wager that MENA is a tour many LIV golfers hadn't heard of before last week.
Bubba Watson probably still hasn't got a scoobies.
But no doubt Greg has reassured them that it's definitely an integral part of the 'golf eco-system'.
And, who among them won't be thrilled to tee it up in the Newgiza Open next February?
Ok, so the money's not quite the same.
It offered a first prize of just $13,500 last time played.
Which is about what the players' caddies earn for a last placed finish at a LIV event.
But, on the upside, MENA only play 54-hole tournaments too.
Phew.
...And Sergio's early exit from Wentworth?
Well, he was fined an undisclosed sum this week for not providing the DP World Tour with any medical evidence as to why he departed the tournament after an opening round 76.
And this is what Segio has now said to the press:
“I want to play where they want me; I like to feel loved and sincerely on the European Tour I don’t feel loved right now. When Thomas Bjorn came up to us at the BMW and said, ‘We don’t want any of you here and all the players say the same’, well I’m at an age to not bother putting up with rubbish like that."
That all makes sense now.
If the Great Dane lumbered over and told you to #### off, you would, wouldn't you.