Nick Faldo’s judgement on Tiger Woods:
Quotes from the Telegram article by James Corrigan.
Sir Nick Faldo: “Tiger Woods should not be welcomed back with open arms.”
The Englishman also believes that the 15-time major-winner should not be “welcomed back [to the sport] with open arms”.
Faldo is perturbed by the manner in which golf’s authorities responded – Augusta National sent out a similarly fawning statement after revealing Woods had withdrawn from next week’s Masters. The Englishman is concerned that, as in his previous scandals, the incident will ultimately be brushed under the carpet.
The Tour will look after him, as they always have done. But then you’ve got Jack [Nicklaus] saying it has tarnished the entire sport. There has to be some accountability. Forget about golf. We are not meant to be on the streets with two pills in our pocket.”
Faldo believes there should also be some sort of recrimination from within the sport.
“Our sport is based on discipline. You rule yourself, you police yourself. I would have thought the PGA Tour – behind closed doors – must be very disappointed that they pay Tiger tens of millions to be on the course and off the course with this business role he has got [as chairman of the player-driven Future Competitions Committee].
“He has only finished nine tournaments in the last five years, yet they feel he is the future on the golf course and the future in the decision-making and they must say… ‘oh boy, what do we get out of that?’ In the normal walk of life, there would be some accountability.”
@MLBNetwork needs to be in sync with @CBSSports app. You’re killing me smalls! Getting updates on the score before the plays are shown on TV @Reds vs @Twins
Some big golf news: Three sources tell me the PGA Tour is expected to “sunset” Jay Monahan as commissioner after a transition period with new CEO Brian Rolapp.
Monahan could leave his post as soon as the end of this year, and as late as the end of next, sources said.
The PGA Tour reached out to creators involved with LIV Golf’s “The Duels” and threatened them with potential future suspensions if they participated in the unsanctioned event, inline with the rules for non members who play full LIV Golf League tournaments. The creators pushed back however and now the threats of sanctions have been dropped.
These kinds of actions are a terrible look for the tour. It’s bad enough that they’re suspending players like Eugenio Chacarra and Laurie Canter, who have never been a member of the PGA Tour or commited to any of their rules, for a full 12 months for playing an unsanctioned event. But attempting to apply the same punishments for YouTubers playing a simple creator event is just shameful.
Ponte Vedra has made significant efforts recently to control players and the media, but now influencers are an obvious target too. They have already officially partnered with several independent media and influencer outlets via the creator council and creator classics. And they have also invested heavily in Pro Shop Holdings, who owns Skratch, meaning they now have direct financial partnerships with journalists, large social media platforms and major influencers via that enterprise too. Not to mention the enormous merchandise collaborations at several tournaments in partnership with independent media and influencer outlet Barstool Sports who owns Fore Play.
Golf media and golf writing has died a death over the last decade or so and it’s not hard to see why. When allegedly independent media have significant financial partnerships and rely heavily on granted access from the organisations they’re supposed to critically cover, we may have a problem within the sport.
This current power struggle goes far beyond what is happening on the course and it is causing serious damage that professional golf may never fully recover from. It’s time fans start pushing back and putting the blame firmly on those who are persisting to maintain and further exacerbate this divide for their own financial benefits.