Cut Line: Thumbs up to LACC, thumbs down to events being overshadowed
In this week’s edition, we praise the U.S. Open’s return to Los Angeles, question lawmaker interest in the PGA Tour’s “framework” agreement with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia and agree that, for now, patience is the best course of action.
Made Cut
L.A. Opens. The crowds might not have been what many desired for a national championship – and, to be clear, the galleries last week were distinctly LA – but nearly every other aspect of this year’s U.S. Open was worth celebrating.
The most telling accolade from last week was a glorious split on social media between those who thought the North Course was playing too easy and those who complained it was too hard. In the fine balance of golf course set up, it’s a 10-out-of-10.
Los Angeles also proved to be a better host than some imagined. While the traffic was awful, by comparison to the annual Genesis at Riviera it wasn’t a deal-breaker. And by many accounts, the championship was one of the most profitable, thanks to soaring skybox prices.
The U.S. Open is set to return to the North Course in 2039 and the USGA announced this week the championship will head to Riviera in 2031. Los Angeles wasn’t the perfect venue for a U.S. Open, but for the USGA, it checked enough of the right boxes.
From LA to the Low Country. Lost in June’s frantic news cycle was a tournament that didn’t feature a primetime East Coast finish, record corporate revenues or an international audience – but it did make history.
The AJGA Junior at Parris Island was held June 8 at The Legends Golf Course on Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island. Full disclosure, your scribe went to bootcamp on Parris Island and was a regular at The Legends during his time in the U.S. Marine Corps, but what made the event special was that it was the first AJGA tournament played on an active military instillation.
“Why the AJGA? The nexus between the Marine Corps and AJGA is two organizations who pride themselves in deliberate and purposeful development of young men and women of lofty character and unquestioned integrity,” said Brig. Gen. Walker Field, commanding general of Parris Island. “Golf, more so than any other sport, teaches personal accountability and responsibility. Both traits have forever been the hallmark of a disciplined Marine.”
There’s been an outsized amount of virtue signaling about growing the game in recent times, with alarmingly few details. Let the AJGA event at The Legends, which was literally built for the rank and file, be an example of how it’s done.
Made Cut-Did Not Finish (MDF)
Scrutiny. While it’s certainly understandable that the Justice Department would take interest in the “framework” agreement between the Tour and the PIF, it is curious that some lawmakers are now demanding answers.
Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) have requested Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan and LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman to attend a hearing on July 11 in Washington, D.C., to discuss the agreement.
While the broad scope of the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which Blumenthal chairs, would have authority to examine the agreement, the Tour and Monahan recently pointed out in a letter to Congress that the sudden interest in the circuit’s business is interesting given the Tour’s repeated requests for government assistance as it battled both LIV Golf and the PIF over the last 18 months.
“While we are grateful for the written declarations of support we received from certain [congressional] members, we were largely left on our own to fend off the attacks, ostensibly due to the United States’ complex geopolitical alliance with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” Monahan wrote.
It’s also worth noting that those same geopolitical concerns that Monahan claims made some lawmakers reluctant to step in and assist the Tour, could also impact the government’s growing interest in the agreement.
Tweet of the week: Davis Love III: “If we are patient and work together we will achieve the best result for our Tour, and our partners and fans. As always, you, the players and the Policy Board, have my full support.”
Actually, Love never managed to post his “open letter” to Monahan and the Tour membership because he’s not great at Twitter (and his “granddaughter isn’t around to help”), but the message is still valid. Given the monsoon of things we don’t know about the “framework” agreement it’s probably best to be patient until we do.
Missed Cut
Designated doubt. Distractions have become the status quo in professional golf and this week’s Travelers Championship endured more than its share of diversions.
In its first year as a designated event, the conversation this week at TPC River Highlands fixated on everything but the golf – from the historic “framework” agreement that promises to reshape the game to ongoing concerns over Monahan’s health.
On Monday there was a meeting of the Player Advisory Council and Tuesday featured a player meeting that touched on all the hot-button topics. Eventually, the conversation turned to golf, but the best field ever assembled at the event was still overshadowed by the mounting distractions.
Travelers has been a model title sponsor for the Tour, engaged with the local community and the players and committed to the event through 2030. To be fair, the situation is not entirely of the Tour’s making but sponsors like Travelers deserve better.
Meet and groan. The first player meeting following the announcement of the “framework” agreement was filled with an unprecedented level of anger and vitriol directed at Monahan and Tour officials. Tuesday’s follow-up gathering at TPC River Highlands was tame, by comparison.
According to one player who attended the meeting, there were no new details about the agreement and the level of anger appeared to have been turned down. Tour officials attempted to change the narrative, stressing that the agreement calls for the Tour to maintain leadership of both of the PGA Tour’s tax-exempt assets as well as the for-profit entity that will be born from the agreement.
One interesting note, according to multiple players in the meeting it was the “the Jimmy Dunne show.” Dunne is the Tour Policy Board member who helped negotiate the agreement with the PIF and appears to have taken over as front man for the deal in Monahan’s absence.