Tag: Player Directors

Lynch: PGA Tour stars appear to be gaming the system. Is it true? Doesn’t matter

Four of Webb Simpson’s eight PGA Tour starts have come via exemption, all into signature events.

The scorched-earth political strategist Lee Atwater has been dead for more than three decades, but one of his odious aphorisms has never been more alive: “Perception is reality.” One need only skim the scummy surface of social media to realize how many people require no evidence to support fiercely held convictions about the malfeasance of others. The prevalence of that sentiment in every realm of life means it’s unsurprising to see it bubble up in golf, but it does present yet another headache for the PGA Tour, since the problematic perception is emanating from its own board members.

There are numerous arguments why Webb Simpson warrants sponsor’s exemptions into tournaments for which he is not otherwise eligible, the latest of which he has received for next week’s Wells Fargo Championship. He’s a popular former major champion. He’s built sturdy relationships on a reputation for professionalism and keeping things moving on the golf course (OK, that’s only half true). He has been a diligent member of the Tour’s Policy Board as it tries to navigate shark-infested waters. He’s chosen well in the places where he has won (Harbour Town) and where he lives (Quail Hollow, the host venue for the Wells Fargo). You can see why he’d get a special invitation or two.

But four? And all for signature events, the most lucrative stops on Tour with excessively reduced field sizes? That’s half of the eight starts Simpson has made in 2024. There have been 10 non-signature tournaments he chose not to play. Simpson doesn’t traffic much in profanity, so someone ought to explain to him the concept of taking the piss.

He isn’t the only player-director on the Policy Board whose schedule has been scrutinized. Adam Scott received free passes into three signature events this year. Two other player-directors each got one — Peter Malnati and Tiger Woods, who was ushered into the Genesis Invitational, where he was also the tournament host. So generously are golden tickets gifted to board members that one almost expects the panel’s chair, antediluvian attorney Ed Herlihy, to peg it in a signature event, too.

Every invitation extended to player-directors has merit and is defensible, for those who care to defend them. None of those players is acting unethically by requesting and accepting exemptions since regulations permit members to use an unlimited number of them. But the pattern of invitations for player-directors creates a lousy perception that board members are gaming the system for their own benefit. It doesn’t matter if it’s the reality. The mere impression of self-dealing is perilous for an organization already running on fumes when it comes to goodwill among the rank and file.

Sponsors who dispense these exemptions aren’t breaking rules either. In return for anteing up a small fortune, events ought to be given latitude in how they deploy their limited number of invitations, even if it leads to jarring parochialism. Witness Ricky Barnes getting into the 2023 WM Phoenix Open (then a signature tournament) for no apparent reason other than being considered a swell guy by the Thunderbirds who run things. But following applicable guidelines isn’t really enough these days. There are plenty of common practices at the Tour that are no longer fit for purpose. Common sense and awareness of optics need to apply, too.

Rank and file players are seeing their opportunities dwindle, a trend likely to continue as the Tour product is further streamlined in the coming years. There will be fewer tournaments, fewer cards available, fewer chances to make a living. That’s already painfully apparent this season to card-holders who earned status but lack privilege or seniority. It adds insult to injury for them to see sponsor exemptions into the most sought-after tournaments repeatedly used to prop up players who are not sufficiently competitive, whose best days are in the rearview.

Sure, player-directors who express concerns about loose governance on the Tour’s board should be more conscious of their own conduct when it comes to accepting unearned perks, but the onus here is on the Tour’s management and Player Advisory Council to act. The circuit will never be the complete meritocracy it imagines itself to be, in which every player earns his seat at the feast. Exemptions aren’t going anywhere. Imagine Jay Monahan calling a sponsor to tell them that Tiger Woods can’t play their event, even if he says he wants to. But stricter limits are essential.

Unlimited invitations to regular Tour events are fine, but the fast lane into signature events needs to be closed after a couple trips. The elevated events simply count for too much — particularly FedEx Cup points, the most meaningful currency now in determining playing privileges. But go further. For every exemption into a lucrative signature stop, the recipient should be required to enter a regular event that they haven’t supported in recent years. Players who take more from the business ought to have no issue with giving more, since they are now league owners.

Position matters when it comes to how player-directors operate during their terms on the board. Being a nice guy isn’t enough to justify creating an untoward perception. And living at the host venue sure as hell isn’t either.

Giddy after a 66, Peter Malnati goes on a rant (and shares more than he probably should)

Before he finished his rant, Malnati found time to torch LIV’s team-golf concept.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Peter Malnati has been working overtime – on his game so that he can continue living his dream on the PGA Tour, on his role as a Tour player director because he cares about the future of professional golf and feels a responsibility to voice the concerns of the players outside the top 50 and most importantly, as a husband and father of two.

It doesn’t leave much time to talk to the press, but after making eight birdies, including sticking inside 2 feet at 17, and shooting 66 on Saturday during the third round of the 2024 Players Championship, Malnati went on a rant about the state of the professional golf and shared some thoughts on what unification might look like for the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.

“I think something needs to happen for our sport,” he said. “I want to see a unified game where, when we have events like the Players Championship, that we have all the best players in the world and we’re proud to call ’em PGA Tour members. That’s what I want. I don’t know how we get there, but that’s what I want.”

Malnati also voiced what many players surely think but have been reluctant to say about this week’s Players.

“Whoever wins this golf tournament is going to have achieved the most incredible accomplishment, to win on this golf course, against this field, but it would be even better if we had Jon Rahm here. I’ll just say it. It would be even better. It would be an even better win,” he said. “So that’s something that we as a membership and as leaders of the membership, we need to figure that out, how do we make this happen for people to come back, and do it in a way that has some semblance of fairness, some semblance of just, how do we do it in a way that can at least somewhat pass the sniff test and get us to a place where, when we have championships like this, we have a group of the best players – like, we already have a group of the best players in the world – how do we get to a place where we have all of the best players in the world here.”

Players: Leaderboard, tee times, hole-by-hole

Malnati may have best articulated how LIV players would be permitted to return.

“That might be the thing that’s most top of mind for people. You would find opinions that ran the gamut, from guys that just have a line in the sand that say never, and guys – I mean, I think Rory’s been pretty outspoken that he wants to see the best players playing on the PGA Tour – so we’re going to have to net out somewhere in the middle.”

He reiterated what fellow Tour player director Webb Simpson previously told Golfweek – that LIV defectors will have to earn their status back. But then he offered some new insights publicly, suggesting defectors will never be eligible to be part of the equity ownership plan.

“I think there’s certain methods that we’ve been able to establish and put in place that will be really, really good for the PGA Tour and its membership, and our fans, too. This player equity plan, I don’t understand it, it’s a little bit above my head, but I certainly know enough to say that I really do support it. It’s going to make players owners of the Tour, and guys who violated our policies aren’t ever going to be eligible for that. That’s a big deal. Like, that’s a big, big deal,” Malnati said. “So I think, if we do find a pathway for guys to come back, there will certainly be safeguards in place to protect the members of the Tour who stayed here.”

Asked about a potential meeting with the leaders of PIF, which was first reported by Golfweek’s Eamon Lynch on Friday, Malnati said, “I think at this point I probably should have more details because, yeah, there may be a meeting, but I don’t even know, I don’t know where it is or how I’m getting there. I would like to know that information, and I would like to then tell the membership about it before I talk about it.”

Malnati pointed out that when the framework agreement between the Tour and PIF was announced on June 6, he resisted the idea.

“As I’ve learned more, I think I understand better and I’m very open minded to learning what involvement they want, what they want out of this and how they think they can help. I’m very open minded to that now,” he explained. “But, yeah, on the surface, I think there are players who have resistance to that relationship, for sure. So that’s why I do think it’s important that maybe our next step is to meet at some point.”

Malnati also suggested that when it comes to determining the deal, the players should only have so much of a say.

“At its core, like, players have no business running the PGA Tour, but this is a member, this is a members’ organization. Like, we should have input in the direction it goes. For something, some of these monumental changes that are bound to happen as we start up this for-profit company and take on investment, whether it’s from the private sector here or the whatever it is, like, players should have involvement and knowledge of that, and even input.

“Like, players do not need to be running this organization, but we certainly, yeah, we certainly should be a part of decisions like that. I think we’ve almost swung the pendulum too far in the other direction now after what happened on June 6th, where players and the whole organization were left in the dark, the pendulum has swung too far to where players are probably feeling like they have, you know, more input than we should. So I think, as it comes back to sort of neutral, I think we’re going to land in a really sweet spot where we have the leadership of the Tour doing what they should, which they are, and we have a lot of transparency where the players know what’s going on and are able to give their input.”

Before he finished his rant, Malnati found time to torch LIV’s team-golf concept.

“I need to understand better what Yasir is really trying to accomplish there,” he said, adding that he doesn’t see a place for team golf as part of the FedEx Cup schedule. “Are there any fans that care which team won the tournament? And, like, and I don’t know, I don’t know what fans of LIV want or care about, but are there any fans that care about who won it? I mean, that seems so contrived to me.

“I feel like we could also create some contrived team golf something, somewhere outside of the FedEx Cup season, but, like, what does he really want is a question that I want to understand better. Because I don’t think it’s some contrived, fake, add up random guys’ scores and call them a team. I don’t think that’s it. I think what he means is more stuff like the Ryder Cup, I would guess, but I have no clue because I haven’t talked to him.”

That day may come as soon as Monday.

PGA Tour player questions sponsor exemption recipients into signature events: ‘Seems suspect’

Getting into the signature events on the PGA Tour means more now than ever.

Getting into the signature events on the PGA Tour means more now than ever.

Elevated purses. More FedEx Cup points. More chances for someone to have a life-changing victory.

However, trying to get into those events, if you’re on the outside looking in, is difficult.

Sure, a player can play their way in through the Aon Swing 10, the top-10 players not already exempt from the FedExCup standings, or the Aon Swing 5, the top-five FedExCup points earners not already exempt from the swings of full-field events leading up to each signature event. And then there’s sponsor exemptions.

However, the players who have been given sponsor exemptions seem to be ruffling some feathers.

Dylan Wu, a 27-year-old PGA Tour pro who has made three cuts in six starts this season, said the selection process seems suspect for how players get chosen for sponsor exemptions. He posted his thoughts on social media on Saturday in response to a post saying Adam Scott was receiving his third straight exemption into a signature event, and Webb Simpson was receiving one, too.

Both Scott and Simpson are Player Directors for the Tour.

“Great players and major champions,” Wu wrote in his post. “I can’t say much because I missed the cut hard this week but getting more than one sponsor exemption into elevated events doesn’t seem fair. Seems like if you’re a player director, you’ll get an invite into an elevated event. Seems suspect…..

“And trust me, they’re both great players that probably deserve it but this new model is all about meritocracy. Sponsor exemptions going to the same players every elevated event doesn’t seem to follow the “play better” saying. Seems like “be more famous” or “know the right people.”

Scott has made three starts this season, his worst finish being a T-20 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. He finished T-8 at the WM Phoenix Open.

Dating to last March, Simpson in the same span has one finish in the top 30, a T-5 at the Wyndham Championship. He’s ranked 235th in the world.

As Wu mentioned, he hasn’t played well enough this season to play his way into the signature events, but he’s likely not the only PGA Tour pro who has these thoughts, including some who may be just on the verge of possibly receiving an exemption.

There have been plenty of discussions about the Tour trying to serve its stars first and then focusing on those who make up a majority of the Tour.

As Wu states, Scott and Simpson have done enough throughout their careers, and in Scott’s case a strong performance this season, but the question is whether past performance should be awarded more than current form.

For Wu, his thoughts are clear. And it’s likely others in his position think the same way he does.

Tiger Woods, PGA Tour Player Directors address ‘speculation in our game’ in memo to membership

Monahan said a potential agreement with PIF may include at least one additional co-investor.

In an effort to keep the membership loyal during a tumultuous time of change, the PGA Tour player directors sent an update to Tour members late on Friday.

Tiger Woods, who joined the board on Aug. 1, Charley Hoffman, Peter Malnati, Patrick Cantlay, Webb Simpson and Jordan Spieth, who recently replaced Rory McIlroy, (along with Adam Scott, who will replace Hoffman at the start of 2024) – signed a two-page letter that addressed “speculation in our game” and updated the Tour’s ongoing negotiations with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which has a deadline outlined in the framework agreement of the end of the year.

“Since Tiger joined the policy board on Aug. 1, the player directors have been doing everything we can to ensure the PGA Tour is best positioned to thrive for decades to come,” the memo read. “We have learned a lot, and we are encouraged by progress on multiple fronts.”

While not going into specifics, Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan earlier this week mentioned that he would be meeting with PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan next week and noted that the deadline is “a firm target.”

Speaking at The New York Times DealBook Summit in New York City on Wednesday, Monahan acknowledged the Tour is in discussions with multiple parties about potential investment in a new for-profit entity.

“I’ll be with Yasir next week, and we continue to advance our conversations. And I think it’s pretty well known that there’s a large number of other interested parties that we’re also pushing to think about.”

The Tour has also been in discussions with other interested parties, including the Fenway Sports Group. Investment firm KKR & Co. was another group reported to have had discussions with the Tour, but Bloomberg News reported this week that they no longer are under consideration.

Monahan said a potential agreement with PIF may include at least one additional co-investor.

“What’s most important to our players is that they go from the model of being independent contractors to being owners,” Monahan said.

The player director memo said, “These are not traditional ‘private equity’ groups as has been reported, but rather multi-decade oriented, strategic partners,” the memo read.  “Each group is optimistic about the growth opportunities for the PGA Tour and their ability to help drive the growth.”

The memo continued: “We have agreed that we will work to reach a unanimous consensus before voting on any proposal that either creates a for-profit entity or contemplates third-party investment.”

The memo reiterated Monahan’s remarks that there are opportunities for members to receive “equity grants” and the player directors “are committed to providing ownership opportunities to both current and future PGA Tour members.”

In the closing graph of the memo, the player directors admit they “know this has been a frustrating and confusing year,” and welcome feedback and questions. The memo closes by saying, they “are determined to get this right.”