Phil Mickelson hits a tee shot last July at LIV Golf's event in Spain.
Getty Images
Welcome! Where are you, you ask. I’m calling this the Weekend 9. Think of it as a spot to warm you up for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We’ll have thoughts. We’ll have tips. We’ll have tweets. But just nine in all, though sometimes maybe more and sometimes maybe less. As for who I am? The paragraphs below tell some of the story. Golf writer. Glasses wearer. Bad football picker.
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Angel Yin is as sincere as she is talented, and her answer to my question last November, on whether the LPGA had capitalized on a women’s sports ‘boom,’ was straightforward. She needed just one word.
“No.”
I asked her why.
“Gosh, it just doesn’t feel like it,” Yin said. “It’s an opinion. Like Caitlin Clark coming over to our tournament created a crowd, created a buzz — didn’t feel like it got out there enough. Went out to a certain amount of people. But I don’t know, like I said, to give a detailed answer, I have to like — I want to be more responsible with my answers so I just don’t want to speak.
“But if you have to ask how I feel about that, I don’t really think we’ve capitalized that much. Just riding the wave that other people are doing and we’re just associated with women. Unfortunately, I don’t think we have done enough.”
In the two months since, I’ve thought some about that answer, because the LPGA should be in the same breath as Clark and the WNBA and Simone Biles and on and on. Written simply, the women pros are damn good. But what’s the step between step one (great product) and step three (great recognition)?
Maybe it lies in the words below. They, too, have stuck with me, especially this week, as the LPGA starts its season, its 75th. The thought was shared late last year over Instagram by Jasmine, who’s withheld her last name, but is a host on CNN and is well known as the Jazzy Golfer. To set it up, she said she’d seen a Golf Digest graphic comparing Nelly Korda’s and Scottie Scheffler’s seasons, commented that their pay disparity was unfair, and, in response, she said she was criticized. In a video, she then offered this:
“Some people say that nobody watches women’s golf and the pay gap is just simple economics. But is that actually true? In this post, Scottie Scheffler and Nelly Korda seasons were compared with Nelly earning 86 percent less. I commented that this wasn’t right and was met with hundreds of sexist replies and accusations of not understanding simple economics.
“Well, as somebody with an economics degree and a dissertation on male bias in economic theory, let’s break down the simple economics, shall we? Revenue follows investment, not the other way around. Men’s sports thrive thanks to decades of funding, media coverage and prime time slots. Women’s golf and women’s sports receive far less promotions and sponsorship, creating a cycle — less exposure means fewer viewers and sponsors, which therefore means less revenue.
“Only four percent of sports media coverage goes to women’s sports. Is that fair? With such disparity, how can we expect women’s golf to reach its full potential? Events like the Solheim Cup and AIG Women’s Open prove that millions are eager to watch. So it’s not about lack of interest, it’s about lack of investment.
“Finally, women’s sports have faced decades of underfunding and bias, meaning that they’ve had to play catch-up. So if we’re talking about economics, we have to acknowledge that the playing field has been uneven from the start. So when people say nobody watches women’s golf, they’re not only wrong, but they’re ignoring the bigger picture. The lower viewership figures is a symptom of a system that hasn’t invested fairly in women’s sports, not a lack of interest. Therefore, simple economics is a misguided belief.”
So better investment. So better coverage. And better convincing. Terry Duffy knows it. Who’s he? He’s the CEO of the CME Group who’s continuing to fund the LPGA season-ending event at record levels — and we had the following exchange last November, with my questions in italics.
If you had the chance to tell another business to sponsor like you have, to help the LPGA follow the women’s sports boom, what would you tell those businesses?
“I wouldn’t tell them anything,” Duffy said.
“Here’s what I’m a big believer in: Sometimes visuals are much more important than words. I’d been asked when Mike Whan was still the commissioner of the LPGA — and I talked to Mike yesterday; he’s a great friend — he asked me, he had a sponsor that was thinking about dipping their toes in. And he said, will you talk to them? And I said, no, but I’ll tell you what I’ll do: I’ll host them. And I brought them here and I showed them what we had. And sometimes when you look at it and see it and have a touchy-feely versus just someone telling you, this is really good, your client is going to love it, and you go, it sounds like I’m being pitched by everyone else. That’s not what this is all about. I think this is one of these events that you have to experience.
“I tell people how it is. I tell people how exciting it is for my clients when asked. I tell how good of a benefit it is to my brand. I cherish my brand. I spent years building this brand. … Having it partnered with the LPGA is very important to me. So when you ask about others, I like them to come see that because my brand is that important to me, I just can’t even explain to them. I have to show them.”
Curious: When you brought that person down, what was the reaction?
“They loved it,” said Duffy, adding that they went on to sponsor an event.
Let’s see if we can find eight more items for the Weekend 9.
Best non-GOLF.com read for your weekend
2. What am I reading (besides the thoughtful prose of my colleagues)? This article is worth your click.
Here, Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols dug into an LPGA stunner — the postponement of the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship due to the underwriter’s failure to make payments. Nichols, through sources, also discovered the underwriter.
3. On the PGA Tour, the talk was existential, interestingly so. On the heels of declining ratings and potentially interest, calls have been made — and letters written — for players to be more ‘entertaining.’ But isn’t the product in and of itself ‘entertaining?’ And how exactly does a golfer become an entertainer?
How deep did things get? GOLF’s James Colgan asked one of my favorite questions of the week, to Wyndham Clark.
Is it hard to be actively thinking about being interesting while you’re competing?
Here’s his answer:
“OK, so for TGL, I think the fun thing for me is I treat it more of just when I’m at home playing with my buddies at Whisper Rock where I’m going to talk trash when there’s time to talk trash — I’m going to enjoy things. I might say something that I feel like I put my foot in my mouth, I might say something funny and enjoy, laugh and say man, that was really fun. When you come out here [on the PGA Tour], for me, that actually could be a good way for me to be out here as well. But really when we get inside the ropes on the PGA Tour, I’m really focused on just trying to shoot the lowest score as possible. Because they can’t hear us talk, you’re not as much trying to be entertaining in this way — you’re trying to be entertaining with your golf shots.”
Good points. You should be able to sell world-class golf. But I’ve also been thinking about another recent exchange, on GOLF’s “Subpar,” between host Colt Knost and longtime pro Rocco Mediate.
Said Knost: “You’re one of the best personalities the game of golf has ever seen. And in an age now where we are dying for some of these guys to have a personality, have you always been this way, like since you were a little kid? Like, I’ve known you since I came on Tour in 2007-’08. And you were always this way.”
Said Mediate: “I was not. Well, I was very shy, got over that. I couldn’t look you in the eyes. Mr. [Arnold] Palmer taught me one thing. And I would sit in his office many zillion times. And he said, you look people in the eye. Here’s what he said: If they’re dumb enough to come out and watch you play golf, you better give them something for the money. That’s what he’d say, busting my ass. I’m like, really? He goes, yeah, look at them; say hello, what’s going on; talk to them. I don’t care where you are in the event — say hi. Just give them something. So I learned to do that.”
Rocco Mediate received great advice from Arnold Palmer 🐐
"If they're dumb enough to come out and watch you play golf, you better give them something for their money." pic.twitter.com/lh4KmgRVD8
Another takeaway from the week — and the weeks ahead
4. In light of the Terry Rozier report (which you can read in full here), Golf Digest’s Shane Ryan got me thinking with this tweet:
The Terry Rozier stuff has me thinking about result fixing in golf. Is there any game where it's easier to fix an individual result? Less attention on each player, and so easy to misread a putt or spray a drive OB, plus the fixed result can be far away from leaders/main action
One more takeaway from the week — and is Rory McIlroy reading this column?
5. Last week in this space, it was suggested that pro golf might be best served to not have events seemingly every week — in order to have folks miss its product, much like the NFL or MLB.
On Tuesday, Rory McIlroy then offered a similar view.
“Yeah, I can see when the golf consumer might get a little fatigued of everything that’s sort of available to them,” he said. “So to scale it back a little bit and maybe have a little more scarcity in some of the stuff that we do, like the NFL, I think mightn’t be a bad thing.”
Asked a reporter: “Scarcity in terms of the PGA Tour product?”
Answered McIlroy: “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think 47 or 50 tournaments a year is definitely too many.”
6. Of course, I hope no one read my NFL picks from last week.
One game adjustment — that I really hope I don’t think about
7.Brooke Henderson said she’s going without glasses this year. She even underwent surgery. And why?
“The glasses always seemed to be in the way a little bit,” Henderson said. “Like looking down the line and even on long shots I could always see the frame a little bit, which was a little bit annoying. And I think it might have even changed my swing a little bit unfortunately.
“Now with them off, I feel much more free. I feel like maybe not right away, but I think over time, it’ll definitely be better than wearing glasses.”
Good to hear.
But I wear glasses. And I swear, if this gets in my head …
One tactical move that I keep thinking about
8. Above is the video of the match between the team of Phil Mickelson and YouTube star Grant Horvat and the team of Dustin Johnson and his brother and caddie, Austin, posted to Horvat’s YouTube channel. In it came a story. Over the years, according to Mickelson, Johnson has held an edge over Mickelson in matches — and Johnson shared one of his tactics.
“We’d be warming up, we’d get to drivers, and we’re hitting them and Phil’s just striping it, every one of them,” he said. “So I’d just make sure I’d leave the range first. I’d get over on the first tee, because the first hole, I’d just hit it as hard as I f***king I could. I’d send one because I knew he just couldn’t stand it so he’s going to come out of his shoes. And then he starts hitting them like this. [Here, Johnson gestured left and right with his arms.]
Said Mickelson: “See, DJ plays into this role of like, I don’t know what’s going on and da, da, da. DJ’s a smart, cunning individual. He just plays it off better than anybody I know.”
What live golf is on TV this weekend?
9. Here’s a rundown of live golf on TV this weekend:
— Saturday 4 a.m.-8:30 a.m. ET: Bahrain Championship third round, Golf Channel 1 p.m.-3 p.m. ET: AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am third round, Golf Channel 3 p.m.-5 p.m. ET: Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions third round, NBC 3 p.m.-7 p.m. ET: AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am third round, CBS
— Sunday 3:30 a.m.-8:30 a.m. ET: Bahrain Championship final round, Golf Channel 1 p.m.-3 p.m. ET: AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am final round, Golf Channel 2 p.m.-4 p.m. ET: Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions final round, NBC 3 p.m.-6:30 p.m. ET: AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am final round, CBS
A feel-good moment for your weekend
10. Let’s do 10. This Instagram post, shared earlier this month from the Hero Desert Dubai Classic, popped up on my feed this week and made me smile.
Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf space. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash away his score. You can reach out to him about any of these topics — his stories, his game or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.
