Premier Golf League

Netflix's third season of F1: Drive to Survive was released last week and continues to capture the attention of sports fans that may not have been familiar with Formula1 Racing. For me, it didn't just capture my attention, it also captured my imagination.

I got tipped off on the Netflix series last summer by golf's media darlings No Laying Up, who discussed their interest in the show, and the parallels with the sport of their primary focus (...golf). F1, like professional golf, is based on fans love and support (or disdain) of individuals, 20 to be exact, all participating in races around the globe from Austria to Azerbaijan and everywhere in between.

So, when people in the media got wind of the Premiere Golf League, it seemed like the embodiment of what I had been seeing on Drive to Survive. Press releases from the PGL even mention F1 as a model of how they would operate. It would involve 48 players divided up onto twelve 4-man teams; players would play 18 tournaments annually, 10 of which would be in the US. To my understanding, the 18 tournament schedule would NOTE include the four majors, but would allow room in the schedule for players to play these, which they would obviously want to. The PGL whispers came out over a year ago, and I encourage you to read more if you are not already in the know. Link: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/jul/24/premier-golf-league-expected-to-go-ahead-despite-coronavirus-pandemic

Upon hearing about the PGL, I was instantly intrigued by the potential to deal with some of professional golf's biggest burdens (IMO). If you are deep into the golf world, you'll be familiar with the gripes of today's golf fan:

- too many guys competing that the fan doesn't care about

- the guys fans do care about don't play enough

- many of the course settups are similar, making for boring TV viewing

I feel the PGA Tour could remain an option for the other players lacking the talent/juice to get on a PGL team. What I think is key is to have two different spaces - one for entertainment, and one to allow other top top players be able to make a good living. Note that the PGA Tour originated out of this latter purpose; it was not for the biggest stars, who could perform in challenge matches and make enough money doing that.

As far as the PGA Tour goes, I want to make clear I am not forgetting the 100+ guys with Tour cards every year trying to grind it out (not to mention everyone on lower tours trying to ascend to the top). My hope and belief is that the money on the regular PGA Tour would remain in the same stratosphere it currently resides. The PGL does not aim to play every week, unlike the PGA Tour, so there would still be ample television slots open on the networks. The TV money is key in keeping the prize money up, despite not having the big names. Ultimately, the PGL will provide a place where the best players are in the same spot and trim a lot of the fat of many PGA tour events, such as this past weekend's Honda Classic.

Courses

As far as host courses go, the Tournament Players Club (TPC) circuit of courses played on the Tour is quite monotonous and I think a global tour, if done right, could be a big improvement. Now, to be fair, I like that the tour goes to a lot of different markets, including spots like the Quad Cities (Illinois & Iowa) Minnesota, Mississippi; having a tour event is a big deal to all of these spots, and many more. Unfortunately for the viewer, though, the courses in these markets (small or otherwise) leave a lot to be desired.

The word is that the PGL would have an 18 event season, where 10 of the tournaments would take place in the USA. This would allow for a much more even distribution of golf played around the world. There is definitely a fear that they would be playing on TPC-ish courses, just all over the world, like they already have been in Dubai, China, Saudi, etc. My hope is that courses fans get to see once every 20 years could become a more regular tradition. Here are a few courses that have me salivating.

Country Course

Australia Royal Melbourne, Metropolitan, anything really

Canada St George's, Cabot Links/Cliffs

England Sunningdale (Old)

Ireland Royal County Down

New Zealand Tara Iti

USA Chambers Bay

Figure 1: Australia's Royal Melbourne is as far from the average TPC track as you can get.

Watching the Presidents Cup Team event in December 2019 shows how great the PGL could be and also how much we the viewer are robbed of seeing golf played on sand-based courses more often. I would hope they would get it right, but I honestly doubt they would.

Team Component

Now, what I feel is the most intriguing possibility of the PGL is the team component it presents. Having played some team golf in high school and university, I know two things to be true:

1) It's a hell of a lot of fun. Imagine winning the US Open. You played great and you're able to share the win with your caddie, swing coach, mental coach, close family, maybe a few others. Awesome. Now imagine winning the Ryder Cup and you share the moment with 11 other guys, the caddies, the captains, family. The highs are multiplied.

2) It's a lot more stressful. Consider having a nice year on a school team and then the following year, there's a crop of freshmen that come up and your spot on the team is suddenly in jeopardy. If you do get a shot to play, you've got to perform or else you might not get another chance. The stress on each player in the PGL, and their role on their respective team, will do a lot for drama the viewer tunes in to experience.

The beauty of F1, aside from the actual driving, is the speculation of driver movement between teams. Like other team sports, drivers are under contract for varying lengths of time with teams and upon their contract being up, they may re-sign or go elsewhere. I love the thought of a struggling Jordan Spieth not getting re-signed by, say, UnderArmour, and then getting his game back on the PGA tour (Aside: Jordan is winning The Masters). In sum, I would love the daily discussion and speculation on where a player (young or old) would sign. This is essentially how the NBA has taken over the sporting discussion every summer.

Another cool parallel between racing and golf: the importance of the equipment. Look now further than Justin Rose securing the bag with Honma, then having his game fall off before crawling back to the Taylormade. The importance of equipment in F1 is perhaps even greater. The gaps in budget and resources between teams are cavernous, leading to some teams producing Dump Trucks, while others make cars closely resembling the Bat Mobile (in both effectiveness and swag). What's more, some teams rely on parts made by other competing teams (See Drive to Survive Season 1 Feud between RedBull and Renault). Things could get spicy! Imagine a Nike Team, whose players play clubs manufactured by Taylormade and the guys are complaining about wonky SIM drivers! Gosh, I can hear the takes already!

Here are the guys we know have been approached by the PGL: Rory, Phil, Rose, Adam Scott, Brooks, Henrik Stenson, Rickie, and Paul Casey. I'm going to fill in some gaps to produce 12 4-man teams that would complete the PGL. I will also be including (read: creating) the teams on which they would be participating.

Figure 2: 12 teams conjured up by yours truly. I really wanted to have a Monster Energy Team featuring The Cat, but I think Nike would have first dibs. I also had to put in the villain team (PXG). As I've written before, golf needs to lean in to it's villains, and having them sponsored by a Saudi company would be the chief's kiss.

*Note: I came up with these teams before Justin Thomas got dropped by Ralph Lauren after using a homophobic slur on TV. He would be a free agent and possibly bump someone from Titleist.

Conclusion

Now, i've probably buried the lede here in the biggest way as the PGL is being backed by Saudi money. Saudi Arabia is a county rich in oil deposits and controversy. The country's track record in human right's cases is not good, to say the least. Exemplifying this was the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the aftermath that saw the United Nations attribute the murder to the State of Saudi Arabia. The country is also marred by it's history with women's rights. It's a lot to wade into in a golf blog, so I'm largely going to abstain. Suffice it to say that the source of the money backing the PGL, and to what end, has me feeling NOT GREAT.

Ultimately, I like the idea of the PGL and the benefit it would provide players and fans. The player movement potential would put the tour on par with other associations, like F1 and the NBA, and be the most fun part of having a team-based structure; there would be tons of drama and tons of TAKES. The PGA Tour is in a really good place right now. I think it's okay that some tournament lack the juice because it provides opportunities to the lesser player and, to be honest, allows the fan to take time away from the game. I'm not sure all of the benefits of the PGL would be worth it if it meant benefitting the Saudi government; it would of course be ideal to have backers be from a morally sound institution, but until then, it's fun to dream.