Welcome! Where are you, you ask. I’m calling this weekend 9. Think of it as a place to warm you up for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We will have thoughts. We will have advice. We will have tweets. But only nine in all, though sometimes perhaps more and sometimes perhaps less. But who am I? The following paragraphs tell some of the story. It can be reached at nick.piastowski@golf.com.
It also had all the trimmings. One song (Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate son.”). Some actions. (Singh was shown ‘swinging’ a medicine ball.) Some inspirational messages. (Splattered over the video, one read: “Just a reminder for the new year … Choose the process over the outcome.” And in the post’s description, it read: “Your habits will outweigh your resolutions.”)
He looked ready. Shoot, I felt ready after watching it.
You would expect Singh to be. As first reported by Doug Ferguson of the Associated Press here (and further reviewed by GOLF’s Alan Bastable here), Singh is using a PGA Tour career money exemption this year, which means he can play events, in his early 60s. (He’s 62 now and turns 63 next month.) Why is he doing this? Maybe we’ll learn that, maybe not; Singh is yet to comment on the move. But you think he believes he will be competitive. While there are countless examples of athletes outdoing themselves and downplaying their past heroics in the process, Singh is, by most accounts, a proud man. In short, he certainly wouldn’t do it willingly.
Should he do it? There are sides, of course. Regardless of where you may stand on the merits of the exception, Singh is simply taking advantage of what he’s been given and rules are rules. But that doesn’t mean you have to follow them, and we go back and forth. For this space, however, I’ll leave that conversation there and note that others have thought about the matter. Just write ‘Vijay Singh’ in X and take a look.
There are some beautiful ones. But clearly more angst (which, yes, also says something about the forum and the desire to complain rather than celebrate).
This question was posted on our GOLF Slack channel this week, and the reasoning behind the question is a thought I’ve long been fascinated with – and that is creating likability in athletes through how they come across to others. Couples? He seems approachable – and is almost universally adored. And Singh? For this, here is a paragraph from a few years ago that was written by the well-known journalist Alan Shipnuck and published on this website:
Vijay is actually a good interview, on the rare occasions when you can catch him in the right mood. His high-pitched laugh is one of the low-key pleasures of golf. Sadly, his entire career has been marked by a complicated/confrontational relationship with the press, stemming from the dark cheating incident that preceded him on the PGA Tour. (The last word on this topic will always be John Garrity’s classic for which he traveled to Fiji.) Let’s face it, Vijay never exuded any warmth or charisma between the ropes. Since he wouldn’t let reporters get to know him and tell his story, it was difficult for fans to have a stake in his success, or for companies to want to invest in him the kind of advertising campaigns that could change public opinion. Vijay is one of the biggest baddies to play golf. His run in the early years was epic. He may have earned our respect, but it’s mostly his own fault that he never got the love.
So could something else be at play with the exception usage news? Preferably. Am I digging into this too deeply? Potentially. Then I will decide that the idea is interesting. Fan favorites occasionally get a pass. Others are a little more scrutinized. Nothing new.
Still kind of fascinating.
Besides, the more time spent thinking about it, it takes away from CCR and the gym.
Let’s see if we can find eight more items for the 9th weekend.
A delivery for the weekend
2. Let’s go back to the court of public opinion.
This weekend, we had to get the opening rounds of PGA Tour play up the tournament was announced in September that it was canceling the Sentry event in Hawaii due to drought conditions — and now there are strong whispers that the Tour may not return to the island at all starting next year. While this space will not go further into detail – this story hereby GOLF’s Dylan Dethier, it’s good for that – what I’ve found is mostly love for the tournament. In other words, I haven’t seen or heard much celebrating that it can be hidden.
me? I’ve long liked the idea that shortening the schedule of professional golf creates anticipation and thus adds interest. However, Hawaii screams special.
Seriously though, getting the product on TV screens is good. Playing in a muni is fine. New commissioner Craig Kessler said he would work to create connections between the tournament’s players and fans, and that’s happening.
A tip for the weekend (for LeBron James)
4. I thought of the video below it was good. The PGA Tour had several pros analyze LeBron James’ swing.
A story that interests me
5. Rory McIlroy appeared late last year on the Stick to Football podcast.and I thought the exchange below was good. It came after Jamie Carragher, one of the show’s co-hosts and a former soccer star, asked where McIlroy’s green jacket was.
Said McIlroy: “Just in my wardrobe.”
Said Ian Wright, another co-host and former football star: “Do you have to put it back there or have they got one there?”
Said McIlroy: “So, no. So you have to bring it back. So the champion – the only person allowed to take the green jacket off the premises is the champion for a year. So I’ve enjoyed it. I’ve enjoyed bringing it around the world.”
Gary Neville, another co-host and former football star said: “So you can’t keep the green jacket?”
Said McIlroy: “No, it stays in the clubhouse. So it stays in your locker.”
Said Jill Scott, another co-host and former football star: “You should have worn it today.”
Said McIlroy: “You know, I played in India a few weeks ago and it was the first time a green jacket had been in India.. I brought it to Australia. I’ve brought it all over the globe. And I wore it on Halloween. My daughter wanted to be Galinda from ‘Wicked.’ So I was like, I’m going to be the Wizard of Oz.”
Said Wright: “Are there some things that you can’t — people can’t touch it, nobody else can put it on?”
Said McIlroy: “Yes, there are some. Yes, you have to sign a legal document to remove him from the club. And there are dos and don’ts. You have to wear a certain shirt and you have to wear a club tie and only dress shoes; you can’t wear trainers. It’s too much…”
Said Carragher, laughing: “Just throw it away. Go for a bevy.”
Said Neville: “They don’t mess around at Augusta, do they, with the rules?
Said McIlroy: “No, they are – but that’s what makes it such a great place. It’s like they know who they are and stick to it. And that’s also one of the reasons they have one of the best brands in the sport. It’s because they’re very meticulous and they do everything that way, yeah.”
McIlroy’s appearance on the show can be found below.
6. I thought the picture was related here it was good – and festive. The featured article was created by Sydney Swanson of Wisconsin, and the photo was shared by ironmountaindailynews.com.
An Instagram post I liked
7. I thought Instagram posts below they were good. They were written by Jon Rahm and then shared on X by GOLF’s Subpar podcast after Rahm appeared on the show.
A video that I liked
8. I thought of the video below it was good. Split by Skratch, it features Tiger Woods, Butch Harmon and Kapalua.
What golf is on TV this weekend?
9. Here’s a roundup of golf on TV this weekend:
– Saturday
10:00am-2:00pm ET: LIV Golf Promotions third round, FS1
2-3 p.m. ET: LIV Golf Promotions third round, Fox Sports 2
– Sunday
10am-3pm ET: LIV Golf Promotions fourth round, FS1
2pm-5pm ET: First Round of the Bahamas Golf Classic, Golf Channel
One more thing!
10. Hey! If you’ve made it this far, I appreciate it – and I want to ask you, the loyal reader, a question:
What would you like to see in this space going forward? Or outside of that space, in terms of a great story you’d like told? My email address is nick.piastowski@golf.com Please lie down!
;)
