Golf World Golf thread - Foreign and Domestic

[Maybe Tomorrow]

I don't think you can be that hard and fast. Especially if a number of countries have their national opens included in the world tour. Imagine an AUS Open with only 6 or 7 Aussies, or even worse a Scottish open with one. There are some great tournaments around the world that don't have many, if any local players in the top 100. Some of those locals that would miss out might be extremely popular, for example Japanese or Thai golfers if a tournament went to either of those countries.

Having the flexibility for tournaments to include locals/ past winners/ drawcards guys like Phil, Bubba/ all timers etc would maintain the profile of those tournaments.

Yeah fair enough, maybe 10-20 at the discretion of the individual tournament.

But if you want a genuinely top-tier competition (with the $$$ and interest that goes with it) you have to make a choice I guess.

Using the Aussie Open as an example, do you want the best 100 players in the world playing serious big boy golf at Royal Melbourne (even if that means only 5 Aussies) or a whole bunch of hometown players playing and Min Woo Lee and Cam Smith being the only players of much interest?

Whatever way it's done, it won't be perfect, but I'd rather see the best players going at it, at the best courses around the world, than some of the best and some hometown ring-ins.

 

[iDon]

He's obviously been reading BF, as a number of us have been saying there should be a global tour.
Most interesting thing he's said in a while...

2 tourney's in Aus a must.

Yeah but you and a few others like the mickey mouse exhibition golf, so not sure it's the same same

 

[ITCHY EYEBALLS]

Yeah but you and a few others like the mickey mouse exhibition golf, so not sure it's the same same

No, like the fact that someone else has taken it up to the PGA tour….as they have destroyed most tours around the world.

 

[scoman]

Yeah fair enough, maybe 10-20 at the discretion of the individual tournament.

But if you want a genuinely top-tier competition (with the $$$ and interest that goes with it) you have to make a choice I guess.

Using the Aussie Open as an example, do you want the best 100 players in the world playing serious big boy golf at Royal Melbourne (even if that means only 5 Aussies) or a whole bunch of hometown players playing and Min Woo Lee and Cam Smith being the only players of much interest?

Whatever way it's done, it won't be perfect, but I'd rather see the best players going at it, at the best courses around the world, than some of the best and some hometown ring-ins.

Full fields allow for about 144 - 156 (I think), so it does give some flexibility, which I think would be needed and wouldn't detract from the tournament. In fact I think it adds value.

If the top 100 players were selected right now based on world ranking and adjusting to include the top 20 from LIV last year it would look like this:

Scheffler	USA
McIlroy	IRE
Rahm	SPA
Hovland	NOR
Cantalay	USA
Schauffele	USA
Homa	USA
Fitzpatrick	ENG
Harmon	USA
Clark	USA
Morikawa	USA
Tom Kim	KOR
Spieth	USA
Hatton	ENG
Fleetwood	ENG
Bradley	USA
Straka	AUT
Day	AUS
Koepka	USA
Theegala	USA
Finau	USA
Burns	USA
Young	USA
Fowler	USA
Kirk	USA
Im	KOR
Henley	USA
Smith	AUS
Thomas	USA
Aberg	NOR
Glover	USA
Fox	NZ
Kitayama	USA
MW Lee	AUS
Grillo	ARG
McCarthy	USA
English	USA
Conners	CAN
Cole	USA
Rose	ENG
Poston	USA
Lowry	IRE
Zalatoris	USA
Davis	AUS
Schenk	USA
Kim	KOR
Scott	AUS
Hadwin	CAN
Meronk	POL
Matsuyama	JAP
N Hojgaard	DEN
Hun An	KOR
Moore	USA
Taylor	USA
Kuchar	USA
Noren	SWE
Svensson	CAN
Macintyre	SCO
Todd	USA
Hodges	USA
Hoge	USA
Putnam	USA
Hughes	CAN
Rai	ENG
Horschel	USA
Niemann	CHI
Wallace	ENG
Suh	USA
Herbet	AUS
Perez	FRA
Norrman	SWE
Burmester	SA
Smith	ENG
Hisatsune	JAP
Reed	USA
Bjork	SWE
Mitchell	USA
Lee	KOR
Hossler	USA
Olesen	DEN
Lawrence	SA
List	USA
Van Rooyen	SA
Smalley	USA
Power	IRE
Gooch	USA
Dechambeau	USA
Johnson	USA
Pereira	CHI
Varner	USA
Howell III	USA
Lahiri	IND
Munoz	COL
Grace	SA
Uihlein	USA
Garcia	SPA
Ortiz	MEX
Leishman	AUS
Puig	SPA
Oosthuizen	SA

Now for the Australian Open you could then include the next ten ranked Aussies:

Baddeley	AUS
Smyth	AUS
Scriviner	AUS
Luck	AUS
Kennedy	AUS
Jones	AUS
Micheluzzi	AUS
Endycott	AUS
Percy	AUS
Ghibson	AUS

Add Australian Open winners from the past 20 years not already qualified:

Ancer	MEX
Senior	AUS
Chalmers	AUS
Ogilvy	AUS
Clark	SA
Parry	AUS
Senden	AUS
Allenby	AUS
Leonard	AUS

Add Major Champions of the last 10 years not already qualified:

B Watson	USA
M Kaymer	GER
Z Johnson	USA
H Stenson	SWE
Walker	USA
Willett	ENG
Molinari	ITA
Woodland	USA

Next might be a couple of Amateur champions:

Australian Am	Kazuma Kobori	NZ
Asia Pacific Am	Jasper Stubbs	AUS

Add some all timers on invitation:

Woods	USA
Mickelson	USA
Els	SA
Furyk	USA
Singh	FIJI

Then fill out the field with the next ranked guys from the Australasian Region:

Nakajima	JAP
Hoshino	JAP
Semikawa	JAP
Kanaya	JAP
Kim	KOR
D Hillier	NZ
PAN	CTAI
Inamori	JAP
Yuan	CHI
Sharma	IND

Thats 144

Obviously not all would come. So you could fill in gaps with other categories or fill from the next 10 from the region:

Bhullar	IND
Imahira	JAP
Park	Korea
Song	Korea
Khongwatmai	THA
Otsuki	JAP
Zecheng	CHI
Kaewkanjana	THA
Higa	JAP
B Campbell	NZ

Tournaments also have sponsors exemptions, winners exemptions, medical exemptions, not to mention limited status for guys who may have finished just outside season OOM. The flexibility needs to be there. So I like the idea of a top 100, but tournaments have the ability to set their own exemptions beyond that point. Much like the majors.

 

[Pres]

It's complete fantasy stuff to think that Australia could generate the sponsorship levels required for 2 world tour events (circa $20M per event).

Literally the only sponsors for golf tournaments out here are at present are the governments.

 

[BobbyMorri]

I prefer one big tournament than 2 medium ones.

In tennis, you have different level of tournaments. For example, Adelaide this week is a WTA 500, while Hobart is smaller at 250. Different points,

You need to make it worth while for a pro golfer to come to this country, regardless of money and rank. One event probably doesnt do that. Say, we have a tournament in Sydney the week before, have it as a warm up event. less points and money overall but gives you a chance to qualify for the Melbourne 1000.

Some top top golfers would only be interested in the big one in Melbourne, while those around the 50-150 rank would play Sydney to make it worth while to come down here and a chance to qualify for Melbourne. You could easily have this cycle all over the world to save travel costs and make it regional. Say Sydney would be part of a restructured Euro World Tour or US PGA or similar, like in Tennis, the lower levels are ITF run, with the ATP/WTA only for the top 100(mostly, it depends week on week).

as you can tell, I come from a tennis follower guideline. Tennis does a lot wrong, but its world tour, while imperfect, is the thing Golf should learn from.

 

[sideswipe]

Full fields allow for about 144 - 156 (I think), so it does give some flexibility, which I think would be needed and wouldn't detract from the tournament. In fact I think it adds value.

If the top 100 players were selected right now based on world ranking and adjusting to include the top 20 from LIV last year it would look like this:

Scheffler	USA
McIlroy	IRE
Rahm	SPA
Hovland	NOR
Cantalay	USA
Schauffele	USA
Homa	USA
Fitzpatrick	ENG
Harmon	USA
Clark	USA
Morikawa	USA
Tom Kim	KOR
Spieth	USA
Hatton	ENG
Fleetwood	ENG
Bradley	USA
Straka	AUT
Day	AUS
Koepka	USA
Theegala	USA
Finau	USA
Burns	USA
Young	USA
Fowler	USA
Kirk	USA
Im	KOR
Henley	USA
Smith	AUS
Thomas	USA
Aberg	NOR
Glover	USA
Fox	NZ
Kitayama	USA
MW Lee	AUS
Grillo	ARG
McCarthy	USA
English	USA
Conners	CAN
Cole	USA
Rose	ENG
Poston	USA
Lowry	IRE
Zalatoris	USA
Davis	AUS
Schenk	USA
Kim	KOR
Scott	AUS
Hadwin	CAN
Meronk	POL
Matsuyama	JAP
N Hojgaard	DEN
Hun An	KOR
Moore	USA
Taylor	USA
Kuchar	USA
Noren	SWE
Svensson	CAN
Macintyre	SCO
Todd	USA
Hodges	USA
Hoge	USA
Putnam	USA
Hughes	CAN
Rai	ENG
Horschel	USA
Niemann	CHI
Wallace	ENG
Suh	USA
Herbet	AUS
Perez	FRA
Norrman	SWE
Burmester	SA
Smith	ENG
Hisatsune	JAP
Reed	USA
Bjork	SWE
Mitchell	USA
Lee	KOR
Hossler	USA
Olesen	DEN
Lawrence	SA
List	USA
Van Rooyen	SA
Smalley	USA
Power	IRE
Gooch	USA
Dechambeau	USA
Johnson	USA
Pereira	CHI
Varner	USA
Howell III	USA
Lahiri	IND
Munoz	COL
Grace	SA
Uihlein	USA
Garcia	SPA
Ortiz	MEX
Leishman	AUS
Puig	SPA
Oosthuizen	SA

Now for the Australian Open you could then include the next ten ranked Aussies:

Baddeley	AUS
Smyth	AUS
Scriviner	AUS
Luck	AUS
Kennedy	AUS
Jones	AUS
Micheluzzi	AUS
Endycott	AUS
Percy	AUS
Ghibson	AUS

Add Australian Open winners from the past 20 years not already qualified:

Ancer	MEX
Senior	AUS
Chalmers	AUS
Ogilvy	AUS
Clark	SA
Parry	AUS
Senden	AUS
Allenby	AUS
Leonard	AUS

Add Major Champions of the last 10 years not already qualified:

B Watson	USA
M Kaymer	GER
Z Johnson	USA
H Stenson	SWE
Walker	USA
Willett	ENG
Molinari	ITA
Woodland	USA

Next might be a couple of Amateur champions:

Australian Am	Kazuma Kobori	NZ
Asia Pacific Am	Jasper Stubbs	AUS

Add some all timers on invitation:

Woods	USA
Mickelson	USA
Els	SA
Furyk	USA
Singh	FIJI

Then fill out the field with the next ranked guys from the Australasian Region:

Nakajima	JAP
Hoshino	JAP
Semikawa	JAP
Kanaya	JAP
Kim	KOR
D Hillier	NZ
PAN	CTAI
Inamori	JAP
Yuan	CHI
Sharma	IND

Thats 144

Obviously not all would come. So you could fill in gaps with other categories or fill from the next 10 from the region:

Bhullar	IND
Imahira	JAP
Park	Korea
Song	Korea
Khongwatmai	THA
Otsuki	JAP
Zecheng	CHI
Kaewkanjana	THA
Higa	JAP
B Campbell	NZ

Tournaments also have sponsors exemptions, winners exemptions, medical exemptions, not to mention limited status for guys who may have finished just outside season OOM. The flexibility needs to be there. So I like the idea of a top 100, but tournaments have the ability to set their own exemptions beyond that point. Much like the majors.

Lots of options for fields - but your open field needs room for qualifiers. It ain’t an open without them.

As Rory pointed out, the PGA Tour still needs US Corporate dollars as its base.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

I prefer one big tournament than 2 medium ones.

In tennis, you have different level of tournaments. For example, Adelaide this week is a WTA 500, while Hobart is smaller at 250. Different points,

You need to make it worth while for a pro golfer to come to this country, regardless of money and rank. One event probably doesnt do that. Say, we have a tournament in Sydney the week before, have it as a warm up event. less points and money overall but gives you a chance to qualify for the Melbourne 1000.

Some top top golfers would only be interested in the big one in Melbourne, while those around the 50-150 rank would play Sydney to make it worth while to come down here and a chance to qualify for Melbourne. You could easily have this cycle all over the world to save travel costs and make it regional. Say Sydney would be part of a restructured Euro World Tour or US PGA or similar, like in Tennis, the lower levels are ITF run, with the ATP/WTA only for the top 100(mostly, it depends week on week).

as you can tell, I come from a tennis follower guideline. Tennis does a lot wrong, but its world tour, while imperfect, is the thing Golf should learn from.

Came here to post this.

Take the best 10/15 tournaments from each of the PGA/European Tour plus the Majors and that’s the ‘elite’ tour. The equivalent being the Masters 1000 series events. As golf isn’t as physical, you can have more high level tournaments.

Then you have the ‘challenger’ level tournaments. An amalgamation of the lesser PGA, European, Korn Ferry, Asian tour tournaments.

 

[sideswipe]

Came here to post this.

Take the best 10/15 tournaments from each of the PGA/European Tour plus the Majors and that’s the ‘elite’ tour. The equivalent being the Masters 1000 series events. As golf isn’t as physical, you can have more high level tournaments.

Then you have the ‘challenger’ level tournaments. An amalgamation of the lesser PGA, European, Korn Ferry, Asian tour tournaments.

Something like that would be nice - but the Tour still needs most of its tournaments in the States - that’s where the money is. To replace a Travellers/John Deere/RSM, etc., they need a new sponsor willing to pay up as much as they were to have a tournament elsewhere. Not that simple.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Livonski]

It's complete fantasy stuff to think that Australia could generate the sponsorship levels required for 2 world tour events (circa $20M per event).

Literally the only sponsors for golf tournaments out here are at present are the governments.

1. Tennis can do it. Global sport, global sponsors.
2. This is what it means to "grow the game". Easy for these clowns to say it but it requires some sacrifice to achieve it. The USA and the PGA need to realise there's a world out there that can grow this game significantly in 10, 20..50 years time.
3. Asia is all but ignored (including Aus). How many Asians are there? (squillions). What happens when China ramps up? India?
4. This how monopolies get attacked. They become arrogant. Jeez if the Saudis can disrupt wait til the Chinese get interested.

 

[Maybe Tomorrow]

It's complete fantasy stuff to think that Australia could generate the sponsorship levels required for 2 world tour events (circa $20M per event).

Literally the only sponsors for golf tournaments out here are at present are the governments.

The Aussie Open could be turned into a big event imo, there are enough good courses and you have the sporting culture to make it attractive.

If it was part of a world tour it could be paired with an event in Asia over two weeks and there would be no reason most of the big names couldn't come to both.

 

[greatwhiteshark]

Sookilroy and our now the golden Bear changing their tune in regards to LIV golf, the media should bash the hell out of these guys but nope they just let them off the hook for being knobs for 2 years.
Clearly they are getting close to an agreement, wonder what the hold up was?
Who has the power?

 

[Planet14]

Sookilroy

You're such a child.

 

[greatwhiteshark]

The Aussie Open could be turned into a big event imo, there are enough good courses and you have the sporting culture to make it attractive.

If it was part of a world tour it could be paired with an event in Asia over two weeks and there would be no reason most of the big names couldn't come to both.

Agree that it would be no issue having the Aussie open as an elevated event.

 

[greatwhiteshark]

You're such a child.

'What he hasn't sooked for 2 years? You been hiding under a rock?

 

[Planet14]

'What he hasn't sooked for 2 years? You been hiding under a rock?

Mate keep doing your bit for sports washing. You truly are a loyal acolyte.

 

[greatwhiteshark]

Mate keep doing your bit for sports washing. You truly are a loyal acolyte.

Hahaha, you are hilarious. Can we just have the adults in the room please.

 

[iDon]

Hahaha, you are hilarious. Can we just have the adults in the room please.

Oh dear.

 

[Planet14]

Can we just have the adults in the room please.

Sure. You’ve already given us Sookilroy. What order cutting put downs have you have? Jay “Dunderhead” Monaghan? Tiger “poopy pants” Woods?

 

[greatwhiteshark]

Sure. You’ve already given us Sookilroy. What order cutting put downs have you have? Jay “Dunderhead” Monaghan? Tiger “poopy pants” Woods?

Your new contributions are great. I can only claim Sookilroy.
Never seen a sportsman sook more in my life. Such a shame as he is a great golfer.

 

[ITCHY EYEBALLS]

1st pairing for BF Golf day
greatwhiteshark and Planet14

 

[iDon]

Well McIlroy has gone ahead and taken some of the fire from greatwhiteshark , -7 after 13.

 

[ITCHY EYEBALLS]

It's complete fantasy stuff to think that Australia could generate the sponsorship levels required for 2 world tour events (circa $20M per event).

Literally the only sponsors for golf tournaments out here are at present are the governments.

I don’t think you need 2 x $20 m events. A $10m and $6m or thereabouts would be plenty and allocate extra ranking points……that’s how you attract the talent.
What is the purse for the AO atm?
Aside from the Joker and Tsisipas….no one knows who the rest of other players are, or can pronounce their names….even more so on the women’s side….except for Camilla Georgi who I have a passing interest in

 

[Planet14]

1st pairing for BF Golf day
greatwhiteshark and Planet14

Golf or MMA?

 

[ITCHY EYEBALLS]

Golf or MMA?

Jelly wrestling?