The Grill Room: LIV and let live?

Writing from Chicago

Thursday, June 9, 2022

This morning at 8:15 Central time, the bell rings on a new concept in world professional golf: Competition for the players who compete.

It has never been the case before. The American PGA Tour and the European circuit, these days called the DP World Tour after a sponsor, has always cooperated in allowing their charges to play on the opposite side of the pond. Releases were granted after a player made a certain number of starts on his home tour.

At 2:15 p.m. London time, all that changes. Dustin Johnson, Scott Vincent and Phil Mickelson, a pair of most familiar names sandwiching a 30-year-old from the co-sponsoring Asian Tour, will go off the first tee in the LIV Tour Invitational London tournament, the first in the long-held dream of Greg Norman to create a world tour.

Three decades ago, he came up with the idea, got fellow Australian native Rupert Murdoch to back him with Fox television money, but never saw his ship leave port. It was scuttled by the threats of then-PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem of lifetime bans for those who dared essay a shot in the new venture.

Nobody left the Tour island.

This time, threatened with lifetime bans by current commissioner Jay Monahan, but lured by guaranteed millions from the Saudi Arabian exchequer, Johnson, Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Kevin Na and a host of European Tour regulars, including Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter, have made the move. Of the American tourists, all but Mickelson have resigned their PGA Tour membership, itself a move with more legal than symbolic meaning.

They’ll be allowed to play in the upcoming U.S. Open if already eligible, but what if the LIV Tour doesn’t get accepted into the cozy family of tours awarded world ranking points? A family controlled by the tours players are leaving, by the way. It would be interesting to see Johnson or Mickelson trying to qualify.

For the moment, more players are to come. Monday, Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed, a pair who have become known as much as malcontents as major championship winners, declared they’ll be in Portland, Ore., in a few weeks rather than at the John Deere Classic in sylvan Silvis. DeChambeau, it may be recalled, won the Deere in 2018, and previously had been the beneficiary of a sponsor’s exemption, and Reed had a good showing there before he was discovered to be a mope.

Even more name players may follow. The Rickie Fowler rumor has not been refuted by the fan favorite and former Players winner. After that, who knows?

Once upon a time, the Chicago-born lawyer-agent Mark McCormack dreamed of accomplishing what Norman and his oil-rich backers are pulling off. On Labor Day weekend of 1963, he found a company willing to put up a $50,000 purse, a course willing to open its doors – Glen Flora Country Club in Waukegan – and so assembled Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player on the first tee for a 36-hole Holiday Classic. This, against the regular Tour’s Denver Open.

It may have been a holiday, but it wasn’t a classic. From 4,000 to 6,000 fans turned out across the two days. Player scored 4-under 136, Nicklaus 138 and Palmer 141. No records were broken, and while Player collected the $20,000 first prize – compared to $5,300 for first-time winner Chi Chi Rodriguez in Denver – the idea didn’t set the world on fire. The Holiday Classic turned out to be the first and only that McCormack would stage. (Longer-lasting was the World Series of Golf, which began in 1962 and was eventually subsumed by the Tour.)

McCormack had visions of his trio teeing it up here, there and everywhere, watched by adoring multitudes. Maybe it was the $7 ticket – pricey in 1963 – that turned out the crowds. Maybe it was everything else on a holiday weekend, but the idea of a challenger to the circuit died at the Glen Flora box office.

Reports from London are similar, that discounts for tickets abound, that Westwood and Poulter couldn’t give them away from websites, that the Centurion Club might not need crowd control because there will be no crowd. We’ll see, though we’ll have to watch via the LIV website, Facebook or YouTube. (As of now, only one television station in North America, CHCH-TV in Hamilton, Ont., is picking up the coverage, and only Saturday’s final round, at that. Canadians can watch on cable, as CHCH is a superstation as WGN used to be in the U.S.)

While only Norman has been speaking, the Saudis, through their Public Investment Fund, seem to be in it for the long haul. McCormack had a sporting goods operation backing him. Norman has oil – and for all the understandable hand-wringing about the sordid Saudi resume, it’s worth noting that FedEx, sponsor of the PGA Tour’s annual pot of gold, last year announced a 10-year $400 million commitment to build out delivery operations in Saudi Arabia. Money makes the world go around, no matter who one must deal with.

The players who have made the move – accounting for 14 major championship titles in the London field, incidentally – had better hope this lasts. If the venture falters, the establish tours would undoubtedly welcome the refugees back or risk a legal tangle, but the locker room might be a bit chilly.

Speaking of legal tangles, the big surprise so far is that so far, the lawyers have been kept on the sidelines. That may not be the case by this afternoon.

If players continue to jump, Monahan’s hand will be forced. Sponsors will howl that their stars are disappearing, so why should they write the big check that helps fund the purse? CBS and NBC/Golf Channel, in the first year of new contracts, will be lighting up his phone. Nobody in charge will be happy.

In 1960, when the American Football League first took the field, some NFL owners laughed, though the old league tried to sabotage the new circuit by luring Max Winter over for a franchise in Minnesota and other tactics. The AFL countered by signing seniors literally under the goal posts at bowl games as they finished their college careers. In 1966, the NFL sued for peace, so to speak, and Pete Rozelle and Lamar Hunt figured out how to merge the leagues to first save money via a common draft and then mint it via the Super Bowl and ever-expanding television deals.

We can see a similar scenario in golf if the exodus of notables continues. The question is, when will Monahan decide it’s 1966? We know this: He cannot unring the bell.

– Tim Cronin

Chris Nieto makes dynamic first impression

Writing from Elgin, Illinois

Thursday, May 12, 2022

Until November 1, Chris Nieto was a member of the Mid-Atlantic PGA Section, so ensconced because he was working at Congressional Country Club.

On November 1, he became the head pro at Exmoor Country Club in Highland Park. When a pro moves, so does his section affiliation.

Thursday afternoon, he became the man to beat in the Illinois PGA. In his first Illinois major, Nieto swept through the field to win the Illinois PGA Match Play Championship at Elgin Country Club.

Nieto, 34, trailed in several of his five matches prior to the final, but not when the big trophy was on the line against Brian Carroll of The Hawk. Then, Nieto opened with a birdie to win the first hole, was 2 up after three, remained there at the turn, parred No. 10 for a 3 up advantage, and then withstood Carroll’s best golf of the afternoon to hang on for the 1 up victory.

“This week was a grind, and it didn’t come easy,” Nieto said. “It felt like in a lot of matches I was down a couple at the turn or all square. I knew once I got to the back nine I’d have more fun.”

Not in the final.

“It was uncharted territory,” Nieto said of holding the lead. “Then the wind picked up and golf got a little harder.”

Elgin is a 121-year old Tom Bendelow layout that has been expanded from nine to 18 holes over the years, but feels old-timey. It features rolling fairways, sidehill lies, greens shaped like potato chips, and swirling wind when it blows. Smart golf, rather than power golf, wins the day, and both Nieto and Carroll are smart golfers.

Carroll dropped his tee shot four feet from the cup on the 163-yard par-3 16th for a birdie to narrow Nieto’s lead to a hole, then nearly holed out from an impossible sidehill lie on the 17th for eagle. Instead, they matched birdies and walked to the tee of the 404-yard uphill 18th.

Carroll used a hybrid and drove to the edge of a dropoff, Nieto went down the hill and had a delicate 65-yard pitch, effectively to the roof of a small building. He dropped it about four feet away, and when Carroll missed his curling 18-footer, it was time to shake hands.

“It’s match play, so you never know what’s going to happen,” Nieto said. “He came in firing and I knew I had to make a couple birdies and hold him off at the end.”

For Carroll, it was the fourth runner-up placing in a state major, including the 2019 Match Play and last year’s Players Championship. Thus it was a bit of a bitter pill to swallow.

“I certainly had better play in the first match today than the second, just did what I had to do in that one,” Carroll said of his defeat of David Krzepicki of Eagle Brook Country Club 6 and 4 in the morning. “Birdied the par-5s, which are reachable out here.”

Carroll was 3-under across 14 holes. But in Nieto, who didn’t have time to play at all in 2021 thanks to his workload as associate head pro at Congressional, he met a solid campaigner.

“Too many poor shots,” Carroll said. “I got myself in tree trouble where I couldn’t attack on shorter holes; had to play defensive instead of giving myself birdie looks.”

Nieto had scored 2-over 74 on the hilly 6,450-yard layout to tie for sixth and thus set his seeding. After that, he chugged along, knocking off Jami Brighty 5 and 4 in the Round of 32, beating the unrelated Jamie Nieto of The Preserve at Oak Meadows 3 and 2 in the Round of 16 – and opening with an eagle to establish who was boss – taking out Hinsdale’s Matt Slowinski in the quarterfinals, and beating Tim Streng of the Wildcat Golf Academy 2 and 1 in Thursday morning’s semifinal.

The match of the week was the quarterfinal between Streng and Mistwood’s Andy Mickelson. The duo combined for 14 birdies and an eagle in 17 holes, Streng winning 2 and 1 with an aggregate 8-under 60 in 17 holes, including the usual concessions, to Mickelson’s 62. Streng’s eagle 2 on the 270-yard par-4 11th gave him a 3 up lead that Mickelson couldn’t erase completely.

– Tim Cronin

Copeland low am in U.S. Women's Open qualifying

Writing from Aurora, Illinois

Monday, May 9, 2022

Lisa Copeland came into the 36-hole U.S. Women’s Open qualifier at Stonebridge Country Club just hoping to break 80 twice.

That was before she knew the wind would blow a hoolie.

The southwest gale brought warmth – it hit 81 degrees – but with afternoon gusts to 41 mph and a steady zephyr of 28 mph.

Copeland, a 13-year-old who adds a year next month, nearly blew over on one putt, but played lights out to capture low amateur honors with a total of 3-over-par 147, five strokes off the medalist and sole qualifier for Pine Needles, Ingrid Guiterrez Nunez of Cuautla, Mexico, whose even-par 72 in the afternoon included four birdies in her last nine holes and brought her to 2-under 142 for the day.

Wind? What wind?

“That played a part,” Copeland admitted. “I’m a shorter ball-hitter, so I’m coming in with longer clubs and it’s penetrating into the wind.”

Before the wind went off the rails, Copeland was the leader, having birdied the second, third and fourth holes. She remained in or tied for the lead for over an hour.

“I was kind of surprised,” Copeland said. “My dad (Jeff, who caddied) was reminding me just to breathe. And I was putting great and taking it one shot at a time.”

She kept breathing and, while she didn’t know she was in the lead, knew she was playing well.

“I wanted to make sure I didn’t change anything in my routine, especially in putting, because I was putting so well. I didn’t want to go too fast or too slow.”

Copeland, who finished third in her division of the Drive, Chip and Putt Championship last month at Augusta National, scored six birdies across the day, but only two in the afternoon round, which was offset by a double-bogey. Count the wind a contributing party to that. She went up two clubs on the par-3 third, dead into the teeth of the gale, and still flew the green, landing in the gunch instead.

Gutierrez Nunez, on her fourth year on the Epson Tour, the LPGA’s developmental circuit, has seen her share of windy days. She opened with a birdie in the morning en route to an opening 2-under 70, the day’s best round, and closed with a 3-under 33 on Stonebridge’s front nine, including the aforementioned quartet of birds.

Finishing about an hour ahead of Jillian Hollis, that burst brought her the title and the ticket to Pine Needles. Hollis, a former Women’s Western Amateur champion from Rocky River, Ohio, scored 71-72–143 to Gutierrez Nunez’s 142 for first alternate status. Katherine Hamski of Durham, N.C., was third, and second alternate, at 73-71–144.

Then came Copeland, whose future is off the charts.

At Cantigny Golf, 2000 Illinois Open champion Bryce Emory of Aurora scored 1-under-par 71 to grab medalist honors and lead five players advancing to the 36-hole sectional test. Others advancing are Timothy Lim (72), Hoffman Estates; Kyle Kochevar (73), Glen Ellyn; Varun Chopra (73), Champaign, and Daniel Hudson (73), Chicago. Playing in the same wind that buffeted the ladies, Hudson survived a double-bogey and triple-bogey to advance thanks to five birdies. Chopra and Kochevar also had doubles and lived to tell about it.

– Tim Cronin

Rich Harvest lands Saudi-backed LIV Tour – with a thud

The Grill Room – by Tim Cronin

Writing from Chicago

Wednesday, March 16, 2022

updated Thursday, March 17, 2022

Here’s everything you need to know about Rich Harvest Farms hosting the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf Invitation Tour in mid-September:

1. Today's word of landing the tournament came complete with a one-page “Memo” with six reasons why, noting that groups ranging from the ultra-private club’s caddies to Ukrainian refugees would benefit from the proceeds – i.e., the rent of the facility – to be had.

2. Rich Harvest Farms founder-owner Jerry Rich was not quoted. Nor does he want to speak on the topic, we were informed, but Thursday morning on his personal e-mail list, he forwarded the LIV tour release and added the following: "Hope to see a big turn out from all you golf fans! This will be huge for Illinois and the Chicagoland area."

Before that, it was pay no attention to the man who is not only behind the curtain, but owns it.

The money for bringing in the upstart tour must be good, because it’s not like Rich doesn’t have it. He built his fortune on coming up with the consolidated quote machine for Wall Street, the fortune big enough for him to buy thousands of acres outside of Sugar Grove – several times the size of Monaco, though no sea view – and plant his own mostly self-designed golf course on it.

Rich doesn’t need the dough, but he does love the attention. That’s why he’s spent lavishly over the years to have not just 18 holes, but a pair of world-class practice facilities, a  series of buildings that serve as clubhouses, pro shops, residence halls and an indoor practice center, the latter as much for Northern Illinois University’s golf team – he’s a proud alum – as for himself.

That’s why he’s hosted the Solheim Cup, the Western Amateur, the NCAA Championship, the Western Junior, and sundry other amateur championships since the course, which started as a few reversible practice holes, was expanded to a full 18.

Like anyone, Rich would prefer receiving bouquets than brickbats. He’s a decent guy. A few years ago, he donated the land and the funding for a new Catholic parish adjacent to his property after his wife died. He has a pet project to grow the game, the Kids Golf Foundation of Illinois, that since 1998 has seen 250,000 children learn the fundamentals of the game for free. The foundation is the first item on the list that will benefit from the LIV weekend.

The memo, of course, was issued because Saudi Arabia, which through crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and his government-owned investment operation is backing Greg Norman’s long-held dream of a world golf tour, is one of the world’s more repressive regimes. The gruesome murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi only reinforced that. Just the other day, the Saudi government killed 81 people for various crimes, supposedly ranging from murder to terrorism. It was the first mass execution by Saudi Arabia in six years.

Much like Al Capone’s gang once ran soup kitchens in Chicago in an effort to cleanse his reputation, such “sportswashing” generally backfires, drawing more attention to the tawdry exploits of countries involved in suppressing freedom.

This is not new. Witness the Olympics in Moscow, Beijing and Sarajevo, to name three garden spots, plus the granddaddy of them all, in Nazi-controlled Berlin in 1936. The Formula One racing circuit has several stops in non-democratic countries, including Saudi Arabia at the end of the year, like-minded neighbor Bahrain for its opener this week, plus China and, until the recent invasion of Ukraine made it untenable, Russia, at a course around the Winter Olympic sites in Sochi.

Golf has been no different. The PGA Tour would prefer you pay no mind to its stalled tournament series in China. South Africa was a popular destination for name pros in a million-dollar tournament during apartheid. Now come the Saudis, not only hosting but bankrolling a tour and offering bonuses – so far shunned – for name players to come along for the ride.

The Rich Harvest tournament will be the sixth of eight 54-hole weekends and the fourth of four in the United States. The purse of $25 million – $20 million for up to 48 individuals, $5 million for a team concept nobody will pay the slightest attention to – is standard for the LIV circuit, which will award $255 million in Saudi oil money across those eight weekends.

Who the 48 players will be – and if the series will get to that number – is as yet unknown. Many offers have been name, none accepted, partly because the PGA Tour threatens to ban those who sign with the Saudis – the lawyers will love that – and partly because Phil Mickelson managed to blurt out the truth about using the new group for leverage in pressing different demands with the PGA Tour, and ripped the Saudis for killing Khashoggi at the same time.

Where the tournaments will be televised is also undecided. It won’t be with any of the Tour-affiliated outlets, which leaves Fox or a streaming service unless C-SPAN jumps in.

But the courses are there and the money is there. Where there is money, golfers eventually follow. Even when one of the hosts doesn’t want to say a word about the group coming in to dirty his towels.

Medinah approves No. 3 renovation

Saturday, December 18, 2021

By Tim Cronin

Medinah Country Club, which values its heritage, is going in a different direction with its famed No. 3 course.

If the plan approved today by the membership is fully implemented, a largely new back nine will greet the membership well in advance of the 2026 Presidents Cup.

A trio of Australians led by 2006 U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy was hired in 2020 to propose a renovation of the course designed by Tom Bendelow and since renovated by Larry Packard, son Roger Packard and Rees Jones. The goal was to toughen the back nine – members were chagrined by Justin Thomas’ 25-under-par 263 in the 2019 BMW Championship, as well as the record 11-under 61 posted by him in the third round and a scoring average of 69.928 – and reduce the number of par-3 holes played over the stream running from Lake Kadijah.

The plan approved by the membership this morning apparently does that. As described to Illinois Golfer, the last six holes, as envisioned by Ogilvy, Ashley Mead and Mike Cocking, will be radically different from the current rotation, which came into play with the Packard-led renovation of 1985 in advance of the 1988 U.S. Senior Open and 1990 U.S. Open.

Among the holes expected to be eliminated are the par-3 13th and 17th, both of which play to the north across the stream. The 13th originally was the 17th in Bendelow’s design, a dramatic hole which played a key role in both the 1949 and 1975 U.S. Opens – the former when Sam Snead missed the green and took a bogey in his quest for the title, and the latter when Ben Crenshaw plunked a 2-iron into the water, missing dry land by a foot.

The current 17th, which has been changed twice since Roger Packard concocted it, played a vital role in the 2012 Ryder Cup. It was there that Justin Rose drained a 45-footer to square his Sunday match with Phil Mickelson, and where Jim Furyk missed a critical putt of shorter length while playing Sergio Garcia. Both Rose and Garcia scored 1-up victories, helping Europe to its dramatic comeback victory.

The current 18th will also disappear in favor of a hole essentially on the original corridor for the 18th, used for corporate tents in recent tournaments. The dislike of the United States Golf Association for the original 18th, a severe dogleg right with little room for spectators, was the original reason for the changes to the No. 3 course in the first place. Officials told the club the USGA wouldn’t bring the U.S. Open back unless the hole was changed, and that prompted a contentious vote – two votes on the same day, actually – to bring in the bulldozers in the first place.

Now, they’ll return. Two of the new holes will run along the stream that the par 3s now cross, one on each side. Depending on their configuration, that could cause some to say they look as alike to each other as the par-3 13th and 17th do now.

Medinah No. 3 has always been controversial. In the 1949 U.S. Open, players were daunted by the length, and not every back tee was used. There’s never been a routine championship played there, either because of difficult conditions or the pressure of the moment. The course may change, but that will not.