This is turning into Duke vs. North Carolina. Red Sox vs. Yankees. All at odds with each other.
NORTH PLAINS, Ore. — Whether you believe the first shot was fired when Phil Mickelson said the PGA Tour uses “manipulative, coercive, strong-arm tactics” and its commissioner, Jay Monahan, won’t do what’s right “unless you have leverage … ”
Or it was when Monahan revoked playing privileges for those who jumped to LIV Golf and labeled Greg Norman’s venture “an irrational threat” and one “not concerned with the return on investment or true growth of the game,” this has gotten juicy…
And not above some good ol’ fashioned pettiness.
As the LIV Golf Series’ inaugural event in the United States starts Thursday at the Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club outside of Portland, Oregon, the traditional league vs. the wild child continue to trade insults and strategically-timed announcements.
Monahan upstaged the start of the first LIV event in London by announcing those playing in the Saudi-backed series were suspended from the PGA Tour. That ruling came as the entire field was teeing off in LIV’s shotgun-start format.
LIV countered by welcoming Brooks Koepka to its team minutes into Monahan’s news conference at the Travelers Championship a week ago to announce the PGA Tour was raising the purse at several tournaments.
On Tuesday, as LIV was introducing three of its newer members, Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed and Matthew Wolff, at Pumpkin Ridge, Monahan was revealing the PGA Tour and DP World Tour are expanding and strengthening their alliance.
This is turning into Duke vs. North Carolina. Red Sox vs. Yankees. All at odds with each other.
And make no mistake, LIV Golf certainly has gotten the attention of the PGA Tour.
So what did some of those players who decided to walk away from the PGA Tour do? They started firing back.
Like Pat Perez, the 46-year-old who is unapologetic for seeking more money while working less after 20 years and 515 starts on the PGA Tour.
Perez took a look at the field of this week’s PGA Tour event, the John Deere Classic, and it was like chum in the water.
“The Tour has tried to strong-arm us all year and come with bans and suspensions and all that,” he said. “And how’d that work? Look how many guys are here. That didn’t work at all. So the top threats and all that kind of stuff, and how many major winners do you have here compared to John Deere? It’s not even close.
“The Tour wants to keep talking about strength of field … the strength of field is here. So whether everybody wants to talk about it or not, that’s what it is. Facts are facts.”
For this week, anyway, Perez is right. And it’s not close. The John Deere lost its only top 50 player, No. 25 Daniel Berger, who withdrew Monday because of back issues that have plagued him most of this year. The event has just six of the top 100, led by No. 58 Webb Simpson.
But, Perez needs to pump the brakes. The LIV event features eight players in the top 50, including No. 17 Dustin Johnson and No. 19 Koepka. Certainly not stellar to this point. But, to Perez’s point, it does put the John Deere field to shame.
Some players no longer are hiding their disgust for the PGA Tour and how it has handled LIV’s threat. Some have reacted by resigning from the tour; Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia, Patrick Reed, Lee Westwood, Charl Schwartzel among them.
Several were asked what the Tour could have done, if anything, to stop players from defecting.
“Listen to the players for once,” Reed said.
“Could have at least taken the call from the LIV Group,” Perez said. “At least take a meeting, see what it’s all about. Monahan just shut it out from the start. Didn’t want to take a meeting, didn’t want to listen to anybody. Maybe (it) would have been a little different. … He doesn’t listen to the players.”
Wednesday’s word of the day for Garcia, Westwood and Martin Kaymer: Communication.
“Transparency is a big thing,” Kaymer said. “It would have been great to evaluate all the options that all the tours have and that we can all decide together, that we can sit down at the table as adults, find a solution that is not only good for individuals, for the whole tour, for all the members.”
Still, nobody knows what LIV Golf will look like in three years. Is this the AFL, which forced a merger with the NFL? Or is this the original USFL, which died after three seasons? (In a related item, the next U.S. stop for LIV Golf is at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster.)
Some of those taking shots at the PGA Tour now, have not closed the door on returning to the tour if allowed.
“I want to play the PGA Tour,” DeChambeau said. “It’s not my decision for me if I can or can’t play, but I would love to continue to play. We’ll see how it plays out.”
Tom D’Angelo is a journalist at the Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at tdangelo@pbpost.com.
Pat Perez, 46, said he’s “been on the road longer than Matt Wolff has been alive … I’m tired of being on the road.”
NORTH PLAINS, Oregon — You can say this much for LIV Golf: The new Saudi-backed organization and its players certainly know how to generate headlines — and controversy.
The tour, which makes its U.S. debut Thursday at Pumpkin Ridge outside of Portland, has quickly become known for contentious exchanges between media asking about Saudi Arabia’s horrendous track record on human rights and players who mostly refuse to acknowledge said track record.
That continued Tuesday afternoon, as Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed and Pat Perez attended the day’s second news conference and proceeded to get visibly annoyed with every non-golf question.
When asked about various local politicians who have voiced opposition to LIV being in Oregon given who’s funding the tournament, Perez said, “I understand the topics you’re trying to bring up and they’re horrible events. But I’m here to play golf.”
Perez did not clarify what he meant by “horrible events,” though it’s likely the 2018 death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed inside the Saudi consulate, would be included.
To more general concerns about LIV’s connection with Saudi Arabia, Koepka said people are “allowed to have their opinions, we’ve heard it, everybody has. Our only job is to play golf. We’re trying to grow the game.”
But Koepka and Perez didn’t care for the question about if, in aligning themselves with Saudi Arabia, were they actually alienating fans and potentially harming growth of the game?
“We haven’t asked them (the fans),” Perez snapped. “We don’t know. You go ask them.”
Koepka argued that more golf on TV and the internet in general — whether people are getting it via TikTok, Instagram or Twitter — is ultimately good for growing the sport. And clearly, Reed said, the PGA Tour considers LIV an organization that will do exactly that.
“Seeing how miraculously the purses went skyrocketing back up on the PGA Tour, it just shows they obviously believe not only is this a true threat, but a great tour, if they’re copying what we’re doing,” Reed said. “I believe this is a tour that’s going to be around forever.”
Patrick Reed reacts to his shot on the sixth hole during a practice round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at The Country Club. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports
On topics related to the actual playing of golf, Koepka, Perez and Reed all expressed frustration with the PGA Tour, fed up with what they said is a punishing, unrealistic schedule. They said the PGA Tour created division by not listening to players when they complained about a packed schedule that didn’t allow them proper rest. Koepka said he returned to playing three weeks after major knee surgery, even though doctors had advised him to not play for six months. What other option did he have?
“If you took off any period of time because your body needed it, now you’re behind,” said Reed, who won the 2018 Masters.
Perez, 46, said he’s “been on the road longer than (newest LIV golfer) Matt Wolff has been alive. The bottom line is, I’m tired of being on the road. This (LIV) is like winning the lottery.”
All players who have signed contracts with LIV have been suspended from PGA Tour events, though only a handful, including Reed, have actually resigned their membership.
“I’m not resigning,” Perez said. “I don’t think I did anything wrong.”
As for continuing to have access to the majors, no one seems very worried.
“Obviously we don’t really know where they all stand,” Reed said. “Being a past champion at Augusta and having a green jacket, I would think I’d be able to play there the rest of my life. At the end of the day, it’s going to be up to them.”
Added Koepka: “You play well anywhere in the world, you’ll be just fine. I’ve made my decision, I’m happy with it and whatever comes of it, I’ll live with it.”
“I think Jon Rahm is the guy (to beat) for the next 10 years…He hasn’t even started to get going yet.” — Pat Perez
Just days after his 20th birthday, Jon Rahm made his PGA Tour debut as an amateur at the 2014 World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba and missed the cut. He said he owes that experience to the resort’s owner, who shares Rahm’s Spanish roots, and despite not living up to his high expectations, it provided an important learning experience.
“I didn’t have my best showing,” he recalled during a press conference ahead of the Mexico Open at Vidanta. “Unfortunate that I got a penalty stroke on my ninth hole Friday, only time in my life where I made a practice swing chipping and the ball moved and I think that cost me, ended up missing by one or two. Since then I came back and played good golf, but that start gave me so much info and so much to learn from the next time I played, which was the next February in Phoenix, I ended up finishing fifth, right, so I took a lot from it.”
Indeed, he did. Rahm became the first amateur to finish in the top five in a Tour event (the 2015 WM Phoenix Open) in seven years. This week, Rahm, now 27, returns to Mexico’s Pacific Coast and the resort town of Puerto Vallarta with its white sandy beaches to play a Greg Norman-designed par-71 layout that measures 7,156 yards.
Rahm has grown into a world-beater, a player whose game travels and fits any style of course. What the World No. 2 – and top-ranked player in this week’s field – hasn’t done of late is hoist a trophy. He’s winless since the U.S. Open last June, a span of 17 tournaments worldwide. For most mere mortals that would hardly constitute a victory drought, but for Rahm, who counts six Tour titles among his 13 worldwide wins to his name since 2017, his lips are parched. He has been winning at a clip of approximately once every 10 times he tees it up.
Rahm is making his 11th start of the season and first since the Masters, where he finished T-27. He has four top-10 finishes this season, but none in his last four stroke-play events. But to hear Rahm tell it, he is none too concerned and expressed confidence that his best golf is still to come this season.
“Actually, golf is like life,” he said. “Sometimes you just don’t get the results you want. I keep putting in the work so very positive about the future. I’m happy with where the state of my game’s at right now.”
Jon Rahm of Spain hits a tee shot on the 6th hole during the first round of the OHL Classic at Mayakoba on November 13, 2014, in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. (Photo by Justin Heiman/Getty Images)
And why shouldn’t he be? Rahm ranks first in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee (+1.30 per round), first in greens in regulation (73.5 percent) and second in SG: Tee-to-Green (+1.69 per round) this season. But his short game has kept him out of the winner’s circle: he ranks 173rd in SG: Around-the-Green and 132nd in SG: Putting, a dip of 90 spots from last season.
Another person who isn’t too worried about Rahm’s recent performance is Tour veteran Pat Perez, who said on the Golf Subpar podcast, “I think Jon Rahm is the guy (to beat) for the next 10 years… He hasn’t even started to get going yet.”
Perez, who plays practice rounds at home with Rahm at Silverleaf Country Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., predicted Rahm would win between 8-10 majors during his career, but that total, which would put him between fourth and sixth on the all-time majors list in golf, would be a far cry from Rahm’s lofty goal of surpassing Jack Nicklaus, who leads with 18.
“I’m not done until I win 19 majors,” Rahm told Perez.
“He doesn’t want to lose. Michael Jordan didn’t want to lose. Tom Brady didn’t want to lose. Tiger Woods didn’t want to lose,” Perez said. “That’s the way their mindset is. I see that in Jon more than anybody.”
That mindset was on full display when Rahm was asked what advice would he give to the up-and-coming Mexican players being given a shot to play in a PGA Tour event this week?
“I always give the same and, you know, there’s no trick: You have to go out there and try to win,” he said. “Don’t come trying to make the cut. If you’re playing, play to win. If not, don’t play. I think that is the mindset they should have. If they’re invited, they’re probably good enough to be out here, so just believe what you can do and try to win.”
Rory McIlroy was watching every shot from Northern Ireland.
Jason Day was waking up at 3 a.m. to catch every round in Australia.
Pat Perez was peeking in on the action from Arizona.
Millions of others around the world were sitting in awe, as well.
On TV sets before them was Tiger Woods pulverizing the revered, opulent Augusta National Golf Club’s grounds and demoralizing, as we would come to learn, his peers en route to a ground-shattering romp in the 1997 Masters.
On the silver anniversary of the historic triumph, those who witnessed Woods’ momentous domination of the golf course and his sport continues to resonate.
Twenty-five years ago, Woods was an unrelenting Goliath who crushed all the outmatched Davids. Over 72 holes at Augusta National, where no black man was allowed to join the club until 1990 and all the caddies were black until 1982, Woods changed the landscape, style and future of the game nearly 50 years to the day after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in major league baseball.
Woods forced a significant rewrite of the record books; led golfers worldwide into the weight room; changed the perception of the pasty, stale game; powered the Neilson ratings to new heights; forced Madison Avenue to turn a discerning eye toward golf; altered the fashion of a sport; and ignited a generation of hopefuls who wanted to be like Tiger.
All in 270 magnificent strokes.
Tiger Woods gets his green jacket from 1996 champ Nick Faldo after winning the 61st Masters Tournament in 1997 at Augusta National Golf Club. (Photo: Porter Binks/USA TODAY)
“He’s Michael Jordan in long pants,” Paul Azinger said that day as Woods wrapped up rounds of 70-66-65-69 to finish at a record 18 under; the field average that year was 74.31. Woods, who was 21 when he slipped on the green jacket and remains the youngest to win the Masters, won by a preposterous 12 strokes, a record that still stands and marks the worst annihilation in a major championship since Old Tom Morris won the British Open by 13 when Abraham Lincoln was president of the Unites States.
“I beat all of us mortals,” said Tom Kite, who finished second.
And no less an authority than Jack Nicklaus put it this way after watching the first Black man win the green jacket in the 61st edition of the Masters.
“He’s more dominant over the guys he’s playing against than I ever was over the ones I played against,” Nicklaus said after he saw a 6-foot-2, 155-pounder with a 30-inch waist break his 17-under Masters record of 271 that stood for 32 years.
And to think, Woods began his first major as a pro alongside defending champion Nick Faldo looking more like a deer caught in the headlights than a tiger hunting prey. He bogeyed holes 1, 4, 8 and 9 on the outward nine in the first round, his 4-over 40 two shots worse than any first nine played by a Masters winner.
But the mixed-race kid with a middle-class background who grew up on a municipal course in the sprawl of Los Angeles resoundingly rebounded with a back-nine 30 to sign for a 70 and stand three shots out of the lead.
“The way he fought, hung in there after a terrible start with expectations on him to perform and to win and he opens up with a 40 on the front nine, he didn’t back down,” three-time Masters champion Phil Mickelson, who missed the cut that year, once said. “He didn’t wilt, he came out and brought his best golf on the back nine and shot 30 to open with a 70 and ultimately won by 12 shots or so.
“It was one of the most impressive performances ever in the game.”
Tiger Woods is surrounded by patrons at Augusta National on the 18th hole during the final round of the 1997 Masters Tournament. (Photo: Robert Sullivan/AFP via Getty Images)
Woods’s assault continued on Friday.
As CBS’ Jim Nantz announced when Woods eagled the 13th: “Let the record show, a little after 5:30 on this Friday, April the 11th, Tiger Woods takes the lead for the first time in the Masters.”
He never relinquished the advantage. Instead, he built on it.
The sea of change had arrived and his 66 was the finest round of the second day. His lead had grown to three over Colin Montgomerie, the top player in Europe and the No. 2 player in the world; Woods was ranked 13th.
“The pressure will be mounting on Mr. Woods,” Montgomerie said after his second round. “I have a lot more experience in major golf than he has. Hopefully, I can prove that through the weekend.”
Oops. Game over.
Woods tripled his lead from three to nine with a bogey-free 65 while Montgomerie finished with a 74. The last round was basically a coronation parade, which ended with a bear hug with his father, Earl, who was six weeks removed from heart-bypass surgery. Also on hand was Lee Elder, who in 1975 became the first Black golfer to play in the Masters.
Tiger Woods hugs his his father, Earl, after winning the 1997 Masters Tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, on April 13, 1997. (Photo: Dave Martin/Associated Press)
“When he won the Masters by 12, that’s when I knew he was getting ready to take over the frickin’ world,” said Perez, who defeated Woods by eight shots to win the 1993 Junior World Championships. “It was unreal to watch, and then I watched it for another 20, 25 years.”
Woods set off Augusta National’s alarm bells with his shocking power. He averaged 323 yards off the tee on the measured holes – 25 yards longer than the next player. The longest iron he hit into a par-4 the entire week was 7-iron. He twice hit wedge into the green on the 500-yard, par-5 15th – for his second shot. He hit 9-iron into the green on the 555-yard, downhill par-5 second hole – for his second shot. He hit sand wedge into the green on uphill, 405-yard, par-4 18th – for his second shot.
Thus began the club’s alterations to the course – better known as Tiger-proofing. In his first Masters, the course was 6,925 yards from the first tee through the 18th green. This year it will play 7,510 yards.
Woods also didn’t have a single three-putt over 72 holes.
“I had a poster of Tiger in my bedroom,” McIlroy said. “I had a picture of Tiger winning the ’97 Masters and everything that went along with it – the 270 strokes, 40-30 the first day, all the records. I can even tell you who finished second that day. Tom Kite.
“The win made me want to get a Scotty Cameron putter. And Nike golf balls and all that sort of stuff. I wanted to wear a red shirt the last day of a tournament. I got a tiger headcover. He made me practice more. He made me dream.”
The same was true for Day.
“I wanted to go out and play golf every day and do everything I could to play golf for a living after I watched what Tiger did,” he said. “He really got me into the game with the 1997 Masters. He made me wake up and hit golf balls, made me work harder, made he want it more.”
Here is what Woods did to others and what he did for the sport.
Paul Azinger
“(CBS sportscaster) Jim Nantz summed it up on the last green, ‘It was a win for the ages.’ And the ages were the past and the future. And the future has been nothing but bright since Tiger showed up. The money’s quadrupled, or maybe more. And the interest in the sport probably is five to 10 times greater than it was. Nobody has ever attracted more non-golfers to a sport really than him.
“I had a guy tell me the other day that his mom only watched golf when she was alive because of Tiger. She never watched golf until 1997. And there are thousands and thousands of people like that. And so his impact was monumental.
“He pushed players to get into the gym. He had a significant influence on players feeling the need to work out to keep up because he was out-preparing them and his fitness gave him an edge. And he definitely pushed the players to be better in every aspect of their game.
“He looked like a middle linebacker and he wore tight shirts and his reactions were great in a sport that’s so subdued. He was a showman. I would have to say that there will never ever be anything like it again because Tiger just had it all. He didn’t have a weakness. He’s the only player I ever hit balls next to where, after watching and hearing his shots, I scooped up my balls and moved away because he was causing me to lose confidence.”
Rory McIlroy
“He’s been massively important to the game and sport. He’s meant everything. Just start with the prize money, which went way up because of his popularity when he was in his prime and it kept going up. We are still benefitting 20, 25 years later because of Tiger. Every time you see Tiger we should thank him for the life we live because he made the game popular for the masses, made the game cool, brought in more minorities into a sport that is still predominately white. He broke barriers to at least give hope to minorities that golf is a game for you.
Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods shake hands after completing the final round of the 2015 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club. (Photo: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports)
“He’s a guy you can try to emulate, associate with and identify with, and that’s really important. There really aren’t enough accolades for Tiger.”
Brandt Snedeker
“I remember watching him on ESPN and win all those U.S. Amateurs. Seeing how different he was. Just unbelievable talent and being able to do what he did. I remember seeing him burst on the scene in 1996 when he won Vegas and Disney that year. He came out dominating. It was just a different ballgame.
“What he’s done for the Tour is undeniable. The Tour wouldn’t be in the position it’s in without him. He’s been an unbelievable icon of sport, and to have him in golf has been extremely important for the sport’s growth. He pushed everybody out here. He made you reevaluate what you were doing, to make sure you were working as hard as you could. He was doing unbelievable stuff out on the Tour, his physical tools were undeniable, and his work ethic was second to none.”
Pat Perez
“We had a boring sport. And he took it and brought in the entire world and now everybody wanted to be involved in the game or be around him. I don’t think in my life there’s going to be another moment like the 1997 Masters where somebody can take over the game of golf the way that he did. I don’t think anybody would be close enough to do what he did.
“He has influenced everybody that’s ever played in the last 25 years. Anybody in the last 25 years tried to be him or tried to do something he did. And he made the best players in the world work harder and try to get better.”
Pat Perez, Part II
“We had lovely shirts and tan slacks and ugly shoes and visors back then. And Tiger wore Nike. It was so brilliant by Nike to get him. Nike was basketball with Michael Jordan and baseball with Bo Jackson. And now Nike was golf with Tiger. The clothes started to look cool because he was wearing awesome Nike shirts and then he had his own shoes, and it was a cool shoe. Everybody wanted Nike this or Nike that because of Tiger. And MJ, too. And Bo.”
Max Homa
“I’m serious about this: I don’t know if I would be playing golf if it wasn’t for Tiger and how cool he made the game back when I was growing up. The whole landscape of the sport changed because of him. More athletic sport, much bigger sport. He still is the driving force of the game. For me personally, I know a lot of the guys around my age, he was like the reason we played. It was cool to say you played golf because Tiger Woods was playing golf.”
Max Homa poses with the winners trophy with event host Tiger Woods following his playoff victory in the final round of The Genesis Invitational golf tournament at Riviera Country Club. (Photo: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports)
Graeme McDowell
“I was 16 when he won the 1997 Masters. It was at the turning point in my career. I was really just starting to find my competitive feet, you know, and really starting to believe that I could be a good college player and potentially a tour player as well. And so watching him dominate the sport the way did in the late 90s, that was inspiring to me. He was certainly one of my heroes and a guy that really made golf cool and athletic and sexy and just all the things you wanted to be a part of. He made me work my tail off at a very important time in my life.”
Viktor Hovland
“The earliest memories I kind of have that he had an impact on me was just kind of sitting in class and we had school computers, and I would just watch his highlights all day. That’s kind of how his influence has kind of affected me. I was probably 12. It was kind of just an overall motivator, just like seeing what he did on the course, and he had such charisma, the way he did it, the fist pumps, and obviously hitting the shots out of the rough and slicing around trees. It just motivated me just to play golf and have fun essentially.”
Billy Horschel
“He’s done everything for the game. Jack and Arnie did so much, but Tiger made golf cool. He made people think of a golfer as an athlete instead of a fat, chubby guy who drinks a lot and smokes a lot and likes to party. There are still guys who like to drink, who like to party, but there are more athletic guys now than there’s ever been in this game of golf. And he did so much more. There isn’t one aspect of the game that he hasn’t had his hand in in changing.”
Harris English
“I grew up playing all sports and watching him do what he was doing made me want to be the greatest athlete of all time. He brought that course in 1997 to its knees. There have some guys that have done that to courses but they didn’t have the touch. They didn’t have the shot making skills, the wedge game, the iron game, the putting. He meant a lot to me and he’s meant everything to this game. He kind of brought in fitness; he really took it to the next level. He made guys work hard. I was like a lot of kids back then who grew up watching Tiger and we all wanted to be like him and he pushed the best players in the game to a level that’s never been seen before. Think about that. He did all that. That’s something.”
Brooks Koepka
“The only reason I’m playing golf is because Tiger made the game cool. Seeing him do what he did when I was growing up, how he dominated the game, how he made it cool for anyone to play, how cool he was, that made me want that. Growing up you want to be the best and you want to play the best and I do that now because of Tiger.”
Tiger Woods and Brooks Koepka during the second round of The Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club. (Photo: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports)
Bubba Watson
“There are so many memories of Tiger but 1997 stands out and I remember that huge red sweater he was wearing. And the fist pumps. And all those shots he hit that no one else could hit. I was just about to graduate high school. And I’m thinking, I want to be there one day. I want to do what he’s doing. I want to be a professional, I want to be a guy that has a chance to play the Masters. That’s what Tiger did to me. That was the first time I really started working hard on my game.
“I learned by watching him. I never hit a cut until I turned so called pro and a lot was because of Tiger. I’d go out to the range and try to emulate what he was doing. As far as golf, there are only a handful of people in our history, and in all the sports, for that matter, who make people be glued to the TV, and Tiger was one of those guys. Because he did and does things that people can’t do. He inspired so many others. How many people can say they did that?”
Among all the big names, there are several sleepers to keep an eye on in Tampa.
After a wild week in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, at the Players, the PGA Tour heads to Tampa for the Valspar Championship.
Sam Burns enters the week as the defending champion and sits at +2000.
Despite a late finish at TPC Sawgrass, some of the best players in the world are still in the field to tee it up at the Copperhead Course at the Innisbrook Resort.
Justin Thomas, Viktor Hovland, and Collin Morikawa all sit at +1000 to win.
Despite numerous big names, there are several players further down the odds list that have a great chance of hoisting the hardware come Sunday afternoon (or at least we can hope it’ll be Sunday afternoon).
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“He’s made darn near a billion dollars. Why is he so desperate for another 100 million and change so fast?”
ORLANDO – Pat Perez teed off on Phil Mickelson.
Speaking recently with former PGA Tour pro Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz on GOLF’s Subpar podcast, Perez, as is his nature, didn’t hold back as he addressed Mickelson’s involvement with the Saudi Arabia-backed Super Golf League and his disparaging remarks about both the repressive regime in Saudi Arabia and the PGA Tour.
Mickelson, a World Golf Hall of Fame member and six-time major champion, has been embroiled in controversy for comments he made to Golf Digest and Alan Shipnuck, author of the soon-to-be-released “Phil: The Rip-Roaring (and Unauthorized!) Biography of Golf’s Most Colorful Superstar.”
In a statement posted to social media last Tuesday, Mickelson, who has been the most high-profile golfer to support the SGL, which would pay exorbitant amounts of guaranteed money, siphon off players from the PGA Tour, and be a direct rival to the Tour, apologized for his remarks and said he was taking a leave of absence from the PGA Tour.
“I used words I sincerely regret,” Mickelson wrote. “It was reckless, I offended people, and I am deeply sorry for my choice of words.”
Perez, a 21-year veteran on the PGA Tour, wasn’t having any of it.
“His apology was such horseshit,” Perez said. “In the fact that he thought he was trying to make it better for the players,” Perez said. “He was in it for one reason. If anybody thinks he wasn’t in it for his own pocket, and his pocket only, is (blanking) high. They are (blanking) crazy.
“He was in it for himself. Why he went down two different avenues and basically buried himself on both, I can’t figure it out.”
Mickelson said of the Saudi regime: “They’re scary mother——- to get involved with. We know they killed (Washington Post reporter and US resident Jamal) Khashoggi and have a horrible record on human rights. They execute people over there for being gay.
“Knowing all of this, why would I even consider it? Because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates. They’ve been able to get by with manipulative, coercive, strong-arm tactics because we, the players, had no recourse. As nice a guy as (PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan) comes across as, unless you have leverage, he won’t do what’s right.
“And the Saudi money has finally given us that leverage.”
Earlier this year, Mickelson told Golf Digest that the PGA Tour’s “greed” was “beyond obnoxious.” He also likened the PGA Tour to a “dictatorship.”
Pat Perez plays his shot on the seventeenth fairway during the second round of the Genesis Invitational golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
“If he was actually trying to help the players, and this and that, he did it completely wrong,” Perez said of Mickelson. “You were trying to fill your pockets. You were trying behind everyone’s back to get players to sign so you could get your big, golden paycheck in the end and then take off.”
Perez, a winner of three PGA Tour titles, said he doesn’t think the SGL will happen. He has not been approached about playing in the league. And Perez, without naming names, said he knows players who have signed with the league.
“(Mickelson) could have done this in such a different way. He could have gone, ‘You know what? I made a fortune on the PGA Tour, god bless the PGA Tour for taking care of me and giving me a place to play and this and that, but I feel I want to go down another route to kind of close out my career. Thank you, everybody. It’s been phenomenal. Goodbye.’ That would have been very easy,” Perez said. “He was not doing it for a guy like me, to put money in my pocket. He doesn’t give a (blank) if I live or die. He doesn’t care if I play on the Tour or not.
“He did this solely for himself to make more money. He’s made darn near a billion dollars. Why is he so desperate for another 100 million and change so fast?”
Last year, Mickelson tweeted that he was the winner of the $40 million ($50 million) program that rewards the top-10 players who have the most impact on the game. Wonder what Perez would say about that?
Hovland had not missed a cut in his previous five starts during this season.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — With the chaos that accompanies Saturday at the WM Phoenix Open, it’s often easy to make up lost ground. Just getting to the weekend puts a player in contention.
So while Sahith Theegala ran out to a lead during the second round at TPC Scottsdale and others like Patrick Cantlay kept humming along, there’s plenty of golf to be played at a tournament known for seeing wild swings in the third and final rounds.
Leading the list of those who missed the cut on Friday was World No. 3 Viktor Hovland, who looked like he might just squeeze in late Friday, but then he knocked two consecutive shots in the water. Hovland had not missed a cut in his previous five starts during this PGA season and already has a pair of victories — winning the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba and the Hero World Challenge. He also captured the title at the DP World Tour’s Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic just two weeks ago.
The cutline is the top 65 players plus those tied at the end of that group, and the number settled early at 2 under. Here’s a look at the biggest names who didn’t make it to the weekend.
Pat Perez is driving it better. And he’s driving in style.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Pat Perez is driving it better. And he’s driving in style.
The former Arizona State standout started the PGA Tour season with a missed cut, a withdrawal, and a T-44 before three straight missed cuts at Mayakoba, Houston and La Quinta.
That skid ended after back-to-back top-10 finishes: a T-6 at Torrey Pines and a T-9 at Pebble Beach. He’s back at it again this week, playing a “home game” in Scottsdale, although on a course where he’s seen limited success.
“I’ve never played well here so I don’t expect much,” Perez said Tuesday. This will mark his 21st appearance. Over the years, he has seven missed cuts, a disqualification, and a withdrawal. His best finish is a tie for 11th in 2014. After 16 consecutive appearances, he didn’t even play three years in a row (2018-20).
He says he mostly plays nearby Silverleaf but TPC Scottsdale is close enough for him drive. Tuesday, he got there in one of his favorites, a 2009 GT-R. He says after ordering it he waited nine months for delivery from Japan following a tsunami.
A look through the hood of the car owned by PGA Tour golf Pat Perez, who played in college at Arizona State. (Photo: Todd Kelly/Golfweek)
Over the years, he’s invested heavily into the vehicle. The body is a dark gray carbonfiber. The hood has a see-through panel that shows off a maroon engine block with gold ASU pitchforks.
“I got about almost 400 into it,” he said, meaning $400,000. The hood was a no-brainer. “If I spend that much on the engine, might as well be able to see it.”
Lightly driven for a 13-year-old car, “it’s only got 20,000 miles on it.
“But it’s been in the shop more than I’ve driven, getting it upgraded, making it as fast as I want.”
How fast?
“It can go up to 3,000 horsepower,” Perez said, “but that’s a little much.”
The souped-up GT-R isn’t the only motorized toy in his garage.
“I’ve got seven cars, four scooters, two quads, a can-am, just a bunch of stuff to drive around.”
Is the GT-R his favorite?
“It is. This and my Hummer,” he said. “I have a convertible H1 Hummer that I love. I’m going to bring that tomorrow. These are my two favorites to drive.”
Meanwhile, work on his golf swing continues, particular with the driver, which started getting better at the Farmers Insurance Open.
Pat Perez hits a tee shot on the second hole during the final round of the 2022 Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in San Diego. (Photo: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports)
“I worked with Claude [Harmon III] a lot at Torrey. I just made some minor adjustments. I have to try to not hit it far. I shortened my swing. You gotta hit it far out here but the way I do it is wrong, so I have to change my action and try to hit it down and running,” Perez said. “Fortunately, the last couple of courses have been running fast so I can get it down and running and this (TPC Scottsdale) is no different so. I feel like if I can hit it straight here I should be able to play well.”
As for the short game, he said that’s dialed in.
“Putter’s been good. I didn’t make a lot of putts last week but yeah, chipping’s great, putting’s great.”
Does Pat Perez owe Si Woo Kim $100,000? We’ll let you decide.
LA QUINTA, Calif. – Does Pat Perez owe Si Woo Kim $100,000?
We’ll let you decide.
Kim, the defending champion this week at the American Express, has a longstanding reputation for losing his cool and snapping clubs in anger. For instance, in April, Kim was in the thick of contention at the Masters when he bent his putter shaft slamming it into the ground in frustration on the 15th hole. He managed to make four closing pars using a fairway wood on Augusta National’s wicked greens, which should be worth some FedEx Points considering how hard that is to do.
But Kim has been there. done that. A week earlier, at the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio, Kim snapped a putter and had to borrow one from Perez.
“He was breaking a club every damn week,” said Perez, who famously was a hothead known to break a club or two himself when he was Kim’s age.
And with that backstory, Perez proposed a bet. As detailed in a story on PGA Tour.com, the two pros wagered $100,000 that Kim couldn’t stop snapping clubs.
From PGA Tour.com: “But he has, which begs the question: When does Perez have to pay up? Kim’s caddie, former Tour player Brian Vranesh, figured the end date should have been the turn of the calendar. But the two players didn’t make it clear, so Perez is technically still alive in the wager. That hasn’t stopped Kim from reminding the veteran Perez, always with a big smile, that he hasn’t forgotten about the $100K.”
When Golfweek asked Perez when he’d be paying up, Perez fired back.
“I’m not paying him anything,” he said. “Are you kidding me?”
Perez isn’t welshing on the bet, in fact, he claims victory, noting that Kim threw a club into the canyon at Torrey Pines during the U.S. Open.
“He didn’t finish with 14 clubs so technically he lost,” Perez said.
Perez hasn’t attempted to collect his winnings but said Kim already had treated him to a dinner for losing his temper.
“It’s all for fun,” Perez said. “Funny kid, I like him a lot.”
This year, Hovland will have to fight off a solid field to repeat as champion. Former world No. 1s Justin Thomas and Brooks Koepka are making the trip, both looking to jump-start their 2021-22 campaign with a win. Thomas finished T-12 at this event last season, while Koepka missed the cut. The four-time major champion hasn’t finished inside the top 35 yet this season.
El Camaleón Golf Course will play as a par 71, hovering around 7,017 yards throughout the week as the yardage is subject to change.
2021 World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba: Fantasy Golf Top 10
Pat Perez (+9000)
Starting with Perez, this pick would give you some extra cap space to work with for the rest of your roster and is a bit of a flyer. This is a pure “horses for courses” play – in his last five starts here Perez has a win, two other top 10s, and hasn’t missed a cut.
Billy Horschel (+3000)
Horschel hasn’t played on the PGA Tour since the Tour Championship but won on the European Tour at the BMW PGA Championship. He’s played in this event the last three seasons, improving his finish each time: T-21 (2018), T-8 (2019), T-5 (2020). Horschel also owns the lowest cumulative score at this golf course over the last three years (43 under).
Aaron Wise (+3000)
Aaron Wise tees off on the 4th hole during the third round of the Honda Classic. (Photo: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports)
Wise’s last three starts on the PGA Tour: T-26, T-8, T-5. He’s played well here in the past finishing solo second to Hovland last season, as well as a T-10 in 2018. In an event where the winning score will likely be around 20 under, Wise ranks ninth on Tour this season in birdie average (5.5).
Justin Thomas (+1200)
With Paspalum greens this week, Strokes Gained: Approach will cause more variation than SG: Putting – AKA the best-case scenario for Thomas. He finished inside the top 20 a few weeks ago in Vegas at a low-scoring event and tied for 12th last season at Mayakoba. He hasn’t won since the Players, but four of his 14 Tour wins have come during the short “wrap-around” season. Shouldn’t surprise anyone if he captures No. 15 this weekend.
Scottie Scheffler (+3000)
The Texan is giving himself a lot of chances to put circles on the scorecard, hitting 75 percent of greens this season. In turn, he ranks sixth in birdies per round (5.83), but is 175th in scoring average (72.12). In laymen’s turns, he’s making too many mistakes. If he keeps the bogeys to a minimum this week, watch out for Scheffler to earn his first win.
Viktor Hovland (+2000)
Impossible to keep the defending champion off this list. Hovland, over his last 24 rounds on courses shorter than 7,200 yards, ranks 23rd in SG: Approach. Going back to last season, Hovland ranked sixth in birdie average, again something that will come in handy this week.
Cameron Tringale (+3000)
Talk about a guy who’s due. Despite earning over $15 million over his career, he’s yet to win. In five starts this season, Tringale has three finishes of T-22 or better including a runner-up in his last start (Zozo Championship). In his last 24 rounds on the PGA Tour on courses measuring under 7,200 yards, Tringale ranks 19th in SG: Approach, and seventh in SG: Total. Could this finally be the week for the native Californian?
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Patrick Reed (+4000)
Reed struggled in his first few starts this season missing the cut at the Shriners, and finishing nearly last at the CJ Cup. But, last week he bounced back in a big way finishing in a tie for second in Bermuda. Reed ranks eighth in SG: Total over his last 24 rounds on courses shorter than 7,200 yards. In 2017, the Texan missed the cut at this event.
Russell Henley (+5000)
Henley has missed the cut in his last two appearances at this event but scored a T-29 finish in 2017. However, his stats so far this season point to a solid week. First in driving accuracy, first in greens in regulation, and ninth in birdie average. Some may worry about his length off the tee, but at El Camaleón, it shouldn’t hurt him. Finally, over his last 24 rounds on the PGA Tour on courses less than 7,200 yards, Henley is third in SG: Approach, and seventh in SG: Tee to Green.
Harold Varner III (+5000)
Varner has played great golf to start the new season: T-16 (Fortinet), T-11 (Sanderson Farms), T-32 (CJ Cup). He’s made three straight cuts at this event, highlighted by a T-6 finish back in 2018. Over his last 24 rounds on courses shorter than 7,200 yards, Varner ranks 12th in SG: Approach. If he can get it going on the greens, Varner may win for the first time on Tour.
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