Welcome to LIVbreathegolf the newsletter that holds up a 1 Iron in a lightning storm and yells “BRING IT ON”

What we’re teeing up for you today:

• LIV Golf and OWGR Points - Small Fields and No Cuts

• Player Profile - Richard Bland

• Going Down Under (Par)

• The Range Guy’s Worst Nightmare

LIV Golf and OWGR Points - There’s More to Unpack

We wrote about Official World Golf Ranking’s (OWGR) a few days ago, but since then some new developments have taken place.

Namely - The PGA TOUR announcing a move to more small field, no cut tournaments in 2024.

There’s a lot of noise right now. Let’s see if we can unpack it.

Phil’s Concerns:

In the tweet above Mickelson basically says if LIV players are ranked high, PGA TOUR sponsorship money will go down.

He admits he doesn’t fully know how this works. But the general idea makes sense.

LIV does have some of the top golfers in the world right now (Mickelson might not be one of them, but still…). Sponsors, for any event, want the best players at that event. They will draw the biggest crowds and create the best product - which in turn lines their pockets.

Mickelson is insinuating that if, say, 1/5th of the top 100 are playing for LIV, they are not playing in most of the PGA TOUR tournaments. Sponsors are going to see that and say - Well, you don’t have 4, 7, 23, etc… here. I think that’s only worth a 15 million dollar sponsorship. (I just made up those numbers)

Makes sense form a business standpoint. But a lot of the top 100 will still be at the PGA TOUR events no matter what. They will still draw a crowd. And that is pretty collusive to think that the PGA TOUR would purposefully ignore some of the best players in the world to increase sponsorship money. That may further the money… but not the game.

No Cuts is the Big One

For the longest time the argument for not awarding points to LIV Golf events was that there were no cuts. That format was seen as less competitive and so different that many people did not think that format warranted points. It was too easy.

On Wednesday the PGA TOUR announce a 2024 change with 8 designated events featuring - you guessed it - NO CUTS!

Uh - oh.

Well… Hold On.

While the two systems look pretty similar from the outside now there are still a few important differences.

Peter Malnati on the NoLayingUp podcast explained that the TOUR is moving to no cuts. But to get into those no cuts is now even harder than it was to qualify in the old format. Only 70 are getting in now instead of 120. Basically 50 are cut before the weekend even starts.

On the LIV side, they recruited their players. They didn’t play in (technically). Yes, they recruited some of the best and they got a lot of top talent. But those guys are still not fighting to make cuts to get into their limited fields every week.

Churn is a good way to describe it. PGA TOUR still has a lot of churn in each event. LIV does not.

LIV Still Has Good Players Though

All the guys that are playing for LIV right now got there because they were playing some pretty dang good golf. Also, they had OWGR rankings going into it.

From the first LIV tournament it would have technically been possible to rank the strength of that field and compare it to a limited field in the PGA TOUR. We could have said this is how the LIV field stacks up. Recruited or not this is how good they are at this point and time and this is how good they guys they are playing against are.

Of course, the more rounds these guys play without points the harder that gets to do. How do each of the LIV golfers stack up to others around the world now? Kind of hard to tell. (Although we will get an exciting look during the Majors).

A Relegation System Should Help

LIV also has announce their new relegation system coming into place for 2024. At this point one cannot argue that the players were just recruited and might not be that good, because they will have to earn their spots.

That still leaves the question of churn in the OWGR points and how important that is to evaluating players. But that will be one more thing they have to figure out as they go.

What Do You Think?

There’s the arguments. Both sides have some arguments and, to me, it is pretty obvious they do not have a good answer.

Reply to this email and let us know what you think about these arguments or if there is an angle we’re missing.

Player Profile - Richard Bland

A lot of sports earn followings from loyalty to geographic locations, colleges, etc… This is your chance to learn about the LIV golfers and find who you connect with.

Our guy today is named Bland, but he is more like a full english breakfast than some old white rice. Bland became the oldest first-time winner at the British Masters in 2021 proving he brings more than just wisdom to the Cleeks. (Although I hope he’s not the one who picked that name because oof…)

• Age - 50

• Birthplace - Burton upon Trent, England

• Plays From - England

• Turned Pro - 1996

• Joined LIV - 2022

• LIV Team - Cleeks GC

• OWGR - 102nd

Chart

Are you Australian mate? Because you are way down under (par)

These guys are obviously killing it. Let’s dive a little deeper into just what this means.

LIV Golf plays a 3 day, 54 hole format.

Let’s start with Howell III. 19 birdies or better is a whopping 35% of the holes that he played in Mayakoba. For comparison - you would have to birdie or better on 6.3 of your 18 holes this weekend. If you can do that, congrats. Play on through.

Breakfast Balls

Ever drop a ball in the parking lot and just watch as it bounces down the hill without a chance in the world of you catching it? This guy is living that nightmare on steroids…

Have a nice trip!: We’ve all had an embarrassing moment when we look around to see if anyone saw. They saw.

Uihlein or Gooch?: Twitter could argue that Gooch leaving 4Aces was a downgrade. Uihlein is aiming to prove them wrong (and doesn’t have a bad start)

Meme of the Day

Don’t golf alone, Share LIVbreathegolf and get more people on the course

Or copy and past this referral link: https://livbreathegolf.beehiiv.com/subscribe

For sharing you get…something???

Is my undying gratitude enough? If people actually start reading this maybe you will get a sticker or a trip to the LIV Golf finals or something… who knows. For now, just know that I love you.

How’s my swing?

Have you ever tried to critique your own swing? Most likely you were sure you had the answer until you the next hole when you’re walking around in the woods looking for your ball you sliced again. Please help me out so I can perfect my practice and start hitting ‘em long and straight.

Bogey, bogey, par, birdie, par, par, bogey, birdie, par...