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Subpar’s Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz are joined by 2-time PGA Tour winner D.J. Trahan who talks being paired with Fred Couples and Arnold Palmer at the same Masters.

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The post Why a reigning Masters champ was denied a round at an exclusive club appeared first on Golf.

The post Why a reigning Masters champ was denied a round at an exclusive club appeared first on Golf.

Billy Ray Brown made a name for himself as a pro with three PGA Tour wins in the ’90s. But these days, he might be better known as a broadcaster, covering the action on both the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions for Golf Channel and CBS.

One of Brown’s great attributes as a media personality is the fact that he is a contemporary of many of the players he covers on the Champions Tour, and knows many of them personally from his own playing days.

That means Brown has some pretty entertaining stories from his early career, including one particular time when he was denied a tee time at an exclusive club, despite the fact that he arrived with reigning Masters champion Fred Couples.

On this week’s episode of Subpar, he broke down how the situation transpired to hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz.

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“Fred Couples and I went out to Vegas to watch a good buddy of ours, [college basketball coach] Rollie Massimino, had just taken the UNLV job, and he was playing John Thompson from Georgetown in the opening, at the Thomas & Mack center, the first game,” Brown began. “So we went out there. And of course [Jim] Nantz was there.”

Brown explained that he, Couples, Nantz and college basketball broadcaster Billy Packer went to Shadow Creek to play a round golf.

“We come to the gate to go play, and basically the guard says, [to] the reigning Masters champion (Couples), since you’re not staying at the Mirage, you’re not allowed to come out here.

“We had to change plans and go out to Spanish Trails to play golf because Fred was not staying at the Mirage. So they wouldn’t let him in to Shadow Creek. The Masters champion!”

“The green jacket only goes so far,” Stoltz quipped. “Eventually you gotta book a room at the Mirage.”

Shadow Creek, which opened in 1990, remains ultra-exclusive to this day. Tee times cost upward of $600, and in order to play, you still have to be a guest at an MGM resort property.

Guess some things never change.

For more from Brown, including what it’s like to face off against Tiger Woods (and experience an embarrassing moment in front of him), check out the full interview below.

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The post This epic Fred Couples prank left Tiger Woods in disbelief — for two years! appeared first on Golf.

The post This epic Fred Couples prank left Tiger Woods in disbelief — for two years! appeared first on Golf.

There’s an old, rarely needed rule in Presidents Cups and Ryder Cups that always brims with curiosity. Before the 12-man teams kick off the competition, each captain puts the name of one of their players in an envelope.

It’s a secretive process that has fairness in mind. If in the first few days of competition a player is injured, there would be an imbalance on the rosters. If, say, Max Homa were to get hurt next week at the Presidents Cup, the Americans would not be able to field a full roster for the 12 singles matches that take place on the final day. 

So each captain, aware they could be on the unfortunate end of a random injury, writes the name of one of their players and sticks it in an envelope. In the event of an injury to one of their opponents, that player would sit out the singles matches. The rule is so rarely required that the secret of the submitted names is almost never made public, even years after the fact.

But if you’re Fred Couples and your 2009 U.S. team just won the Presidents Cup for a third straight time, perhaps you can lighten the mood even more by revealing the secret. At the end of that week at Harding Park, Couples told his team that he had put Tiger Woods’ name into the envelope.

Woods was the No. 1 player in the world at the time and still at the peak of his powers. Under no circumstances would Couples voluntarily sit Woods, especially during a singles match, just because an opponent was hurt. Unless, of course, he was performing an elite prank. 

Couples retold the story in detail recently, in a video posted by the PGA Tour Champions.

“I’m the captain, first-time captain. We’ve got Tiger Woods on the team,” Couples began.

“At the beginning of the week, in case of injury, you put a name in an envelope. I’m the only guy in the room with Norman. He puts a name in, I put a name in and we give them to the head official Steve Carman. So anyway, as the story goes, we go on and we go on and we win Sunday night. 

“Steve Carman comes in and he has to give the envelope back to the captain. We’re in the room hootin’ and hollerin’. He pulls me aside and I know what he’s gonna say: ‘Here’s you’re envelope.’ I said, ‘Why don’t you open it up in front of everyone and read the name in there?’

“So he tears it open and he reads it and it’s Tiger Woods. The whole room went silent. They thought I was such a clown that I put Tiger Woods in there as the guy who wouldn’t play on Sunday in case of an injury.”

But wait, there’s more. 

“So I didn’t tell the story for two full years,” Couples continued. “So we somehow unhooked the envelope and I took the name out of the there. It was someone who was a [captain’s] pick, and I put Tiger’s name in there. He texted me for weeks: ‘Dude, you’ve got the biggest balls of anyone I’ve ever seen.’

“I went, ‘You know what? Why not put your name in. I thought I’d stir things up.’ So that went for years. I finally told the story. I took a lot of heck for it but for two years I had everyone thinking I put Tiger Woods’ name in the envelope.”

Fred Couples, the prank-master! We seriously applaud anyone who can pull the wool over Tiger Woods’ eyes, and especially for multiple years. In the case of Justin Thomas, Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth and Phil Mickelson, usually it’s Woods who gets the last word, the last needle, the last laugh. Not this time.

As for Couples’ actual selection to sit out in case of injury, that was was either Lucas Glover or Hunter Mahan, the two Americans who made the team as captain’s picks. That is if Couples is indeed telling the truth this time. 

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The post GOLF’s Subpar: Why a reigning Masters champ was denied a round at an exclusive club appeared first on Golf.

The post GOLF’s Subpar: Why a reigning Masters champ was denied a round at an exclusive club appeared first on Golf.

Subpar’s Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz are joined by 3-time PGA Tour winner Billy Ray Brown who explains why he and Fred Couples were denied a round at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas.

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The post Fred Couples’ LIV attack continues with thought on … birthdays and weddings  appeared first on Golf.

The post Fred Couples’ LIV attack continues with thought on … birthdays and weddings  appeared first on Golf.

Fred Couples, who has celebrated after decisions have gone against LIV Golf players, and questioned the upstart league’s money and those who have taken it, and blasted its CEO, now wants to share with you a thought on birthdays and weddings. 

Yes, Couples had held little back over the past few months in his comments on the Saud-backed series, though, if you’ve seen or heard the thoughts of those in the pro-PGA Tour camp, he’s not exactly on an island here. Still, his skill to shoot low — World Golf Hall of Famer, green jacket wearer, owner of one of the more enviable swings ever — and be a straight shooter may make you want to listen to him more than some others. And that brings us to Thursday, where, two days after six Tour members jumped to LIV, and one day before the series plays its fourth-ever event, he had a word on the schedule and the format. 

To provide background, LIV is playing eight events this season and 14 next year; it plays without a cut, while the PGA Tour often does; and LIV plays 54-hole tournaments, while the Tour often plays 72. 

“To all my friends who I missed birthdays & weddings …… so sorry, I was busy earning a living on the @pgatour and in my line of work the goal is to EARN your way to work weekends,” Couples wrote on Twitter. “And by weekends i mean 72 holes. Sorry not sorry .”

The 47-word blast no doubt came in light of both the six signings, and changes made last week by the Tour in an effort to stop others from leaving. Both are significant. Playing this week for LIV for the first time are Cameron Smith, this year’s Open Championship and Players Championship winner; Joaquin Niemann; Harold Varner III; Marc Leishman; Cameron Tringale and Anirban Lahiri; and Smith, at No. 2, and Niemann, at No. 19, now become LIV’s highest-ranked players. On the PGA Tour side, Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said that 20 players will be defined as “top players” starting next year; the device in which the Tour will define those players will be a reimagine Player Impact Program, and it will receive a purse bump, from $50 million to $100 million, to reward those players; four more tournaments, in addition to eight announced in June, will be tabbed as “elevated events” with purses worth at least $20 million; the 20 players will play in those events, the Players Championship, the majors and three other tournaments; all fully exempt players will start the season with a $500,000 stipend; and players will receive a $5,000 travel stipend. And … all of this starts soon: The PGA Tour season ended Sunday, and the next one kicks off next week.  

As we noted, Thursday was also not the first time Couples has stood atop his soapbox. 

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Since the middle of February, when LIV Golf started to create headlines, Couples has tweeted 31 times, and 10 of the tweets have been on LIV Golf. In February, he tweeted three times after various players recommitted to playing on the PGA Tour. In May, he tweeted after the Tour denied players a waiver to play in the first LIV event — ”DENIED …. DENIED …. DENIED,” he wrote — and tweeted the same three words, though lowercase, after a court ruled early last month that three LIV golfers could not play in the Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs. In June, Couples tweeted three times as the Tour and LIV went head to head for the first time, with the Tour in Canada and LIV in London. 

Couples’ most pointed comments, though, may have come in an interview with GOLF’s Alan Bastable. Talking as the American captain in the Icons Series, a new match-play event that pitted 12 athletes from the U.S. against their counterparts from across the world, Couples commented both on the source of LIV’s funding, and the players who have taken it, among other topics.    

“These guys — you’ve seen their interviews, right?” Couples said. “Have you ever seen Phil [Mickelson] look so stupid in his life? They know it’s a joke.”

Then in early August, ahead of the Shaw Charity Classic on the PGA Tour Champions circuit, Couples provided two lengthy thoughts on LIV, though neither question mentioned the series by name. Among the items he brought up were an antitrust lawsuit against the Tour filed by LIV players; LIV’s CEO, Greg Norman; and another comment Couples made to Bastable, in which he said this of LIV player Pat Perez: “I heard of all people Perez was a little confrontational. He’s a grain of sand in this Tour. He should be soft and kind, but he’s, like, raising his voice. I’m done with it.” 

This is the exchange at the Shaw Charity Classic:

“Did you ever imagine in your life that the world of golf would be in such disarray as it is now?” a reporter asked. 

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“It’s not really in disarray in my life, but I have laughed quite a bit the last couple months, and even myself, kind of made a comment, I just find it hard to imagine,” Couples said. “When I talked about something, I mentioned that I’m a peon from Seattle, which I really am. I’ve done a lot of great things in golf, maybe got people to watch the game, but I’m not changing the game. Now all these guys think they’re changing the game and to me it’s comical, it’s really comical. To have music on every tee and have people drinking beers and think that’s cool, yeah, it’s cool, they do it at my club, but I’m a part of it. I play in member-guests all the time, people drinking all the time. I’m happy for them, but I never thought the cast and crew that would do that would be the guys doing it.

“And now they’re suing us, which is just another thing. If they win or lose, I don’t really care. I’m 62, I play the Champions Tour, but it’s a little heartbreaking. Go do what you’re doing. Suing the Tour, 11 guys when there’s probably 200 guys on the Tour, I just find it really, really weird.

“And I have a funny feeling I know where it’s coming and it’s coming from their leader, who no one’s liked for 25 years. And that’s not being mean, that’s just — that’s the truth. He’s not a friend of mine, but he never would be because we don’t get along. But he’s running a tour that he thinks is incredible. I’ve listened to everybody, Davis Love and Justin Thomas. We text every night. They’re really suing us, you know, and J.T.’s finally got that picture. I won’t put his name too much deeper, but now he gets it that they’re suing him and it’s offensive.

“But again, I love that Charl Schwartzl won, I love that [Branden] Grace won, because they’re very quiet guys over there. Brooks [Koepka] is the same. I’m glad they’re gone, but stop trashing the PGA Tour. If you don’t want to be a part of it, you’re suing it? Just go away and make your millions and play golf just like I’m going to do this week.”

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A reporter then asked: “Do you take it personally?”

“Well, it sounds like I am because I’m picking on a few spots, but there’s nothing else to pick on because I have so much respect for Dustin Johnson,” Couples said. “I have a ton of respect.

“What I don’t have respect for is I’ve texted Pat Perez for 20 years on his golf game. I don’t know Pat that well, but I’ve always tried to help him, and I in a comment said Pat shouldn’t be one of the guys, he’s like a grain of sand on that tour, and the text he wrote me back, you would think I had put him in jail.

“So it’s offensive, that’s offensive. Doesn’t bother me. I still like Pat Perez a lot. I’m glad he’s winning money out there because that’s what he chose to do and that makes him happy.

But for me personally, I appreciate the guys more that stand up for the PGA Tour because I’ve got 42 years invested. … I will say this, that there’s no Saudi money on the Champions Tour. We won’t take it; we won’t accept it.”

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If you were to compile a list of the most popular golfers of the last 40 years, Fred Couples would be somewhere near the top. Fans lap up his silky swing, movie-star good looks and smooth, what-me-worry demeanor. His proclivity for playing well during the most watched tournament of the year, the Masters, hasn’t hurt his appeal, either. Then there’s the name, Freddie. It just works.

But though Couples has slipped on a green jacket, signed his share of visors and helped bring eyeballs to the PGA Tour, he has no inflated illusions about his impact on the professional game beyond that.  

“I’ve done a lot of great things in golf, maybe got people to watch the game, but I’m not changing the game,” he said the other day from the PGA Tour Champions event in Calgary.

Couples was responding to a question about the rise of LIV Golf, which with its nightclub vibe, “Golf, but louder” tagline and 54-hole, shotgun-start events has positioned itself as what Uber has been to the taxi industry: a bold-faced disruptor. Couples doesn’t see it. In fact, he sees little merit at all in the Saudi-backed league. A few weeks ago, the Hall of Famer shared his feelings about the new tour with GOLF.com, but last week, in remarks to reporters at the Shaw Charity Classic, he added even more color.   

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“All these guys think they’re changing the game and to me it’s comical, it’s really comical,” Couples said. “To have music on every tee and have people drinking beers and think that’s cool.” He added, “I never thought the cast and crew that would do that would be the guys doing it.”

Among that group are players with whom Couples has grown close over the years through not only schmooze sessions on the range but also his many captaincies and assistant captaincies of U.S. Ryder Cup and President Cup teams. Guys like Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka. “One of my all-time favorite players,” Couples said of DJ, who one could argue is the Freddie of his generation: an uber-talented bomber who never seems to get too flustered.       

“And now they’re suing us,” Couples said.

Well, Johnson and Koepka aren’t. But 11 other former PGA Tour players are, as revealed last week in a 105-page complaint in which the plaintiffs laid out a case, in painstaking detail, for their right to play on the PGA Tour, from which they are currently suspended.   

“If they win or lose, I don’t really care,” Couples said. “I’m 62, I play the Champions Tour, but it’s a little heartbreaking. Go do what you’re doing. Suing the Tour, 11 guys when there’s probably 200 guys on the Tour, I just find it really, really weird.

“And I have a funny feeling I know where it’s coming and it’s coming from their leader, who no one’s liked for 25 years. And that’s not being mean, that’s just — that’s the truth. He’s not a friend of mine, but he never would be because we don’t get along. But he’s running a tour that he thinks is incredible.”

Couples was referring to LIV Golf CEO and commissioner Greg Norman. Twenty-five years ago takes you roughly to the period when Norman first tried to defy the PGA Tour by launching a breakaway global league. Tour loyalists like Couples weren’t impressed by Norman’s vision then, and they’re still not all these years later. The suit, filed last week in a Northern California court, has only added fuel to the fire. The PGA Tour is a member-based organization, which means the LIV players, as Justin Thomas pointed out recently, are, in effect, suing their former colleagues.       

“I’ve listened to everybody, Davis Love and Justin Thomas,” Couples went on. “We text every night. They’re really suing us, you know, and J.T.’s finally got that picture. … Now he gets it, that they’re suing him, and it’s offensive.”

When Couples vents about LIV, you can hear the disdain in his voice, but it’s also clear that he reserves most of his resentment for the LIV players who are out there shouting about their cause and airing grievances about the PGA Tour. He has more tolerance for the players who simply took the money and ran.

“I love that Charl Schwartzel won, I love that [Branden] Grace won,” Couples said of two of the first three LIV winners, “because they’re very quiet guys over there. Brooks is the same.” Couples added of the more vocal Tour critics: “I’m glad they’re gone, but stop trashing the PGA Tour. If you don’t want to be a part of it, you’re suing it? Just go away and make your millions and play golf just like I’m going to do this week.”

When Couples spoke to GOLF.com, some of his most pointed comments were aimed at LIV signee Pat Perez, who has not been shy about lobbying criticisms at the PGA Tour.

Perez said in June: “It’s upsetting that the players didn’t even get a chance to have Jay [Monahan, the PGA Tour commissioner] take a meeting and at least have something to come to the players with and say this has been offered. Why is it only up to him to make the decision? I think that’s why a lot of players are mad.”

Of Perez’s agitation, Couples told GOLF.com: “He’s a grain of sand in this Tour. He should be soft and kind, but he’s, like, raising his voice. I’m done with it.”

Last week, Couples said Perez did not take kindly to his dig.

“What I don’t have respect for is I’ve texted Pat Perez for 20 years on his golf game,” Couples said. “I don’t know Pat that well, but I’ve always tried to help him, and in a comment I said Pat shouldn’t be one of the guys, he’s like a grain of sand on that tour, and the text he wrote back me, you would think I had put him in jail. So, it’s offensive, that’s offensive. Doesn’t bother me. I still like Pat Perez a lot. I’m glad he’s winning money out there, because that’s what he chose to do and that makes him happy. But for me personally, I appreciate the guys more that stand up for the PGA Tour because I’ve got 42 years invested.”

Couples isn’t the only player who feels that way. Many Tour loyalists have said that they don’t mind so much that players have taken huge sums to sign with LIV — they just want those players to be honest about why they’ve fled, i.e., for the paydays.

At the very least, Couples and others have added, don’t throw shade on the PGA Tour on the way out the door, as Sergio Garcia did in May.

At the Wells Fargo Championship, Garcia showed his LIV hand when a rules official gave Garcia what the Spaniard interpreted to be an unfavorable ruling during a lost-ball search. “I can’t wait to leave this tour,” Garcia could be heard saying on the Tour’s live stream. “Can’t wait to get out of here. Just a couple more weeks until I don’t have to deal with you anymore.”

That episode didn’t sit well with Couples. “Don’t sit there on TV because he hits a ball out of bounds, I can’t wait to leave this,” Couples said. “It’s cheesy, it’s, like, childish.”

Bouncing from stop to stop on the low-key senior circuit, Couples has been somewhat shielded from the LIV drama, other than what he reads and hears, or sees in texts from his younger Tour pals. It’s a nice life out there. A few days in Western Canada last week followed by a home game this week at the Boeing Classic, about 30 miles west of Seattle. Couples’ earnings this season: $219,851. Life-changing money it is not, but it’s nothing to sniff at, either.   

“I’m glad I’m here in Calgary,” Couples said. “I will say this, that there’s no Saudi money on the Champions Tour. We won’t take it, we won’t accept it.”

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JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Fred Couples, who has captained three U.S. Presidents Cup teams to victory, is leading a different kind of team this week at Liberty National, hard against the Hudson River across from Lower Manhattan. His charge this time around: the U.S. squad at the Icons Series, a new match-play event that pits 12 golf-mad athletes from the U.S. against their counterparts from across the world.   

Couples has some strategizing to do before the matches begin in earnest Thursday morning: Should he pair up former NFL running backs Reggie Bush and Marshall Faulk, for example, or would he be better off cross-pollinating athletes from different sports, matching, say, ex-MLB pitcher John Smoltz with hoopster-turned-college golfer J.R. Smith. Decisions, decisions…

Alas, as Couples paced the property with a reporter on Wednesday, the former Masters champion was mulling another decision, one that has dominated the golf-news cycle in recent weeks: the choice many of his fellow PGA Tour players have made to sever ties with the PGA Tour and sign lucrative deals with the upstart Saudi-funded LIV Golf series.

As Couples strolled to the range under sun-splashed skies one of his Icons players caught up to him: 28-time Olympic medalist and avowed golf nut Michael Phelps.

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“Let me ask you a question,” Couples said to the swimming legend. “You win the L.A. Open or a LIV [event] — L.A., you get a million-nine, LIV you get four [million]. What trophy would you rather have in your house?”

“For me,” Phelps said, “I want to go out there and be a part of history, and try to recreate history. That’s what I was all about.”

“You know what,” Couples said, “here’s a guy who’s won a million [swimming] events and he just said it right on the button.”

Couples, as you’ve probably deduced by now, is a PGA Tour loyalist, a legacy guy. He’s not opposed to change or improvement, but he is “disappointed,” he says, that players have jumped ship for LIV. He has made that clear in a few tweets he’s posted over the past two months — “Great to see some real and exciting golf being played in Canada this weekend,” he tweeted in the wake of the Canadian Open last month, a cheeky shot at that week’s LIV Golf event in London — but on Wednesday Couples expounded in no uncertain terms on his feelings about the rival tour and the PGA Tour stars who have contracted with it, at least a few of whom Couples has captained, or captained against, in past team events.   

First and foremost, Couples said, he is uncomfortable with LIV’s financial backers: the Saudi government, which has been accused of various human-rights atrocities.   

“I think this is a family thing for me,” Couples said. “I’m a little peon from Seattle, but I know where the money’s coming from, and I think my family would disown me if I went. Of course, that’s easy for me to say because I’m not going, so I can actually tell you whatever I want to tell you.”

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The same cannot be said of players who have signed with LIV, Couples said. They’ve essentially been muzzled, he said, which has been apparent in press conferences.   

“These guys — you’ve seen their interviews, right?” Couples said. “Have you ever seen Phil look so stupid in his life? They know it’s a joke.”

Couples was referring to Phil Mickelson’s two most recent press conferences — one at the debut LIV event in London, the other at the U.S. Open — in which Mickelson, in many observers’ eyes, delivered a series of inadequate answers when trying to explain or rationalize his LIV allegiance.

On Tuesday of this week, at the second LIV event near Portland, Ore., more LIV signees faced the press, including a trio of the newest big-name commits: Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed and Pat Perez. Seated together at a dais in a joint press conference, the players faced a predictable line of questioning from the assembled reporters, including queries about Saudi human-rights issues, what convinced the players to join LIV and if the PGA Tour could have done anything to keep the players from leaving. As the questions kept coming, the mood in the room grew more and more tense.   

“I heard of all people Perez was a little confrontational,” Couples said of the three-time PGA Tour winner. “He’s a grain of sand in this Tour. He should be soft and kind, but he’s, like, raising his voice. I’m done with it.”

Couples also questioned the long-term viability of LIV. He said he understands that the tour’s organizers are not seeking a quick profit but still is confounded by the huge sums they’re offering players.

“I cannot believe they can pay a guy $150 million for that,” Couples said; LIV players are obligated to play only eight 54-hole events in 2022 with plans to expand the schedule in ’23 and beyond. “What, Phil wouldn’t have gone for 100 and Dustin [Johnson] for 70? Then what does that tell you right there?”

The reasons players have cited for signing with LIV also ring hollow to Couples. Many players have said the lighter schedule is a draw; some have admitted the life-changing payday was too tempting to resist; others have said they’re simply trying to help “grow the game.”  

“They’re all saying they want to change golf, they’re doing it for the better of golf,” Couples said. “No one has said, ‘Hey, when I look back 50 years from now … we’ll have made this tour [what it is].’ No one has said that. You know why? Because they’re not going to be around in three years.”

For his part, Mickelson has said that he is committed to LIV for at least two years. At that point, he’ll be nearly 54 and presumably still a big attraction. If his largely positive reception at the U.S. Open last month was any indication, Mickelson is still in golf fans’ good graces. Less clear is whether Mickelson’s peer group on Tour feels the same way.

Couples is 10 years older than Mickelson, but they have battled one another in hundreds of tournaments while establishing themselves as two of the most beloved players of their generation. In 2006, they played together in the final pairing at the Masters; when Mickelson won his second green jacket that Sunday, he and Couples embraced on the 18th green. Just last year, Couples and Mickelson were vice-captains on Steve Stricker’s winning U.S. Ryder Cup team at Whistling Straits. They have had some good times together.

Had.

“I don’t think I’ll ever to talk to him again,” Couples said. “What for? I’m not in the same boat as him anymore, and probably never will play golf with him again. I’m not saying that to be mean. We’re just in different orbits.”

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The post Inside the Icons Series: New golf event to pit sports stars in match-play battle appeared first on Golf.

The post Inside the Icons Series: New golf event to pit sports stars in match-play battle appeared first on Golf.

Looking for something new in the world of golf? Who isn’t these days?

Fred Couples, Ernie Els and a host of world-class athletes from sports other than golf are looking to deliver just that next week with the debut event of the Icons Series, June 30-July 1, at Liberty National GC, just across the Hudson River from downtown Manhattan.  

The Icons Series is a Presidents Cup-style event, pitting a mix of 12 active and former brand-name athletes from the U.S. against their international counterparts in a six-session clash. Couples and Els will captain each squad. 

Who’s in the field?

Team USA: Michael Phelps (former Olympic swimmer), Michael Strahan (former NFL defensive end), Ben Roethlisberger (NFL quarterback), J.R. Smith (former NBA guard), John Smoltz (former MLB pitcher), Andrew Whitworth (former NFL tackle), Ivan Rodriguez (former MLB catcher), Reggie Bush (former NFL running back), Robbie Gould (NFL kicker), Marshall Faulk (former NFL running back), Golden Tate (former NFL receiver turned minor-league baseball player)

Team Rest of the World: Harry Kane (Premier League soccer player), Canelo Alvarez (Mexican boxer), Ash Barty (Australian tennis player), Pep Guardiola (Premier League manager), Ab De Villiers (South African cricketer), Brian Lara (former Trinidadian cricketer), Ricky Ponting (former Australian cricketer), James Milner (Premier League soccer player), George Gregan (Australian rugby player), Yuvraj Singh (former Indian cricketer)

Shrewd observers will note just 11 players named on the U.S. team and 10 on the International side. The remaining players will be added to each team in the coming days.

“These guys are all really good golfers,” Els told Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz this week, in an interview that will appear on next week’s episode of Subpar. “Some of these guys are scratch golfers. We’ll see how serious they take it. Being so competitive in their sports field, I think the competitiveness is going to come through as the tournament goes on. I don’t think anyone wants to lose in this thing.”

Where will it take place? 

Liberty National. The 2017 Presidents Cup host site, which has also been the venue for FedEx Cup playoff events, is back hosting a team competition. Will this one be as big of a blowout as the U.S.-dominated ’17 Cup was? Unlikely! But we’ll have to see how Freddie’s team handles the pressure. The event will take place June 30 and July 1, with a practice day on June 29.

What’s the format? 

The six-session series will take place over two days, with three 10-hole match play sessions per day and the event culminating in head-to-head singles clashes. You read that correctly: 10-hole match-play sessions. That means the squads won’t be competing on the Liberty National layout as we know it. Check out the adjusted course map below:

Day 1 will begin and end with five matches of fourballs, where the best score from each tandem of players is their team score. Sandwiched in between the fourball sessions will be a greensomes session, which is similar to foursomes. The difference with greensomes is that each player hits a tee shot, and the two-player teams select their favorite tee ball and play alternate-shot from there in. Day 2 will follow the same format with the exception of the third session, which will feature 12 decisive singles matches.

How can I watch it?

Viewers at home can tune in to the action on the second day of the matches — that’s Friday, July 1 — when the broadcast will stream on NBC’s Peacock app from 2-6:30 p.m. ET. 

SIGN UP FOR PEACOCK PREMIUM TO WATCH EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE OF THE ICONS SERIES

May I attend?

You may indeed. New York City-area fans who would like to see the action in person can do so with grounds tickets that are $25 per day or $40 for a two-day pass. Spectators 17 and under will be allowed in for free with a paying ticket-holder.

Why should I watch?

Umm, did you see the lineups? There are athletes representing nearly every major sport: NFL, MLB, NBA, tennis, boxing, Premier League soccer, even cricket! Also, the match-play format changes things a bit. We’re used to sporting figures and celebs competing in pro-ams under stroke play. Now, we’ll see them competing as teammates in a match-play format, in front of fans and cameras on a playing field that is much different from the ones they’ve dominated for years. The nerves alone should be enough of reason to tune in.

Is this the start of something bigger?

That’s the plan. The Icons Series is aiming to host future events in Australia, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. No dates have been announced for those sites, but they’re coming.

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The post How to watch the Icons Series: Streaming schedule for athlete-driven event at Liberty National appeared first on Golf.

The post How to watch the Icons Series: Streaming schedule for athlete-driven event at Liberty National appeared first on Golf.

The Icons Series, a Presidents Cup-style event pitting 12 brand-name athletes from the U.S. vs. their counterparts from the rest of the world, will make its debut on June 30-July 1 at Liberty National Golf Club, in Jersey City, N.J.

Here’s everything you need to know about how to watch the athletes testing their golf games in a competitive environment.

How to watch the Icons Series

The Icons Series brings together the best components from many formats of golf entertainment at Liberty National, a four-time PGA Tour and 2017 Presidents Cup venue. Captaining the teams are Fred Couples (U.S.) and Ernie Els (International). The format will be ​​fourball and greensome (select drive alternate-shot), with Day 2 culminating in head-to-head singles matches. This is the first of several planned Icons events, with intentions for others in Australia, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

This week’s event at Liberty National is open to the public with grounds tickets that are $25 per day or $40 for a two-day pass. Spectators 17 and under will be allowed in for free with a paying ticket-holder.

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Team USA

With such a diverse field of athletes, you can’t help but wonder which sports fundamentals will translate into strong golf games. Other than 23-time gold medalist Michael Phelps, who plays at a 10 handicap, the rest of the U.S. team are single-digits, highlighted by Hall of Fame Braves pitcher John Smoltz who is a +1.5. J.R. Smith, the former NBA player, just wrapped up his first year as a collegiate golfer at North Carolina A&T. 

Full U.S. team: Michael Phelps (former Olympic swimmer), Michael Strahan (former NFL defensive end), Ben Roethlisberger (NFL quarterback), J.R. Smith (former NBA guard), John Smoltz (former MLB pitcher), Andrew Whitworth (former NFL tackle), Ivan Rodriguez (former MLB catcher), Reggie Bush (former NFL running back), Robbie Gould (NFL kicker), Marshall Faulk (former NFL running back), Golden Tate (former NFL receiver turned minor-league baseball player), Michael Vick (former NFL quarterback)

Team ROTW

Els’ team is at a slight disadvantage with two double-digit team members and none better than scratch. Star Tottenham striker Harry Kane will be a player to watch as the lone scratch golfer. Australian cricket star Ricky Ponting should also keep things competitive with his 2 handicap. With the world’s best athletes teeing it up as their second or third sport, it will be interesting to see which players stand up to the pressure. 

Full ROTW team: Harry Kane (Premier League soccer player), Canelo Alvarez (Mexican boxer), Ash Barty (Australian tennis player), Pep Guardiola (Premier League manager), Ab De Villiers (South African cricketer), Brian Lara (former Trinidadian cricketer), Ricky Ponting (former Australian cricketer), James Milner (Premier League soccer player), George Gregan (Australian rugby player), Yuvraj Singh (former Indian cricketer).

*The two final ROTW players will be named this week.

Icons Series basics

What: Icons Series

Where: Liberty National Golf Club, Jersey City, N.J.

When: Thursday-Friday, June 30-July 1

How to watch the Icons Series

Viewers can watch the action on the second day of the matches — that’s Friday, July 1 — when the broadcast will stream on NBC’s Peacock app from 2-6:30 p.m. ET. 

SIGN UP FOR PEACOCK PREMIUM TO WATCH EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE OF THE ICONS SERIES

Icons Series tee times: Round 1 (ET) & Round 2 (ET)

We will update team pairings and starting times when they become available later this week.

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The post ‘DENIED’: Fred Couples celebrates PGA Tour’s decision to reject LIV Golf releases appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘DENIED’: Fred Couples celebrates PGA Tour’s decision to reject LIV Golf releases appeared first on Golf.

In case you missed the major golf news that dropped last night, the PGA Tour announced it would not permit Tour pros to play in the first LIV Golf event next month, and Greg Norman fired his own volley right back at the Tour soon after.

But one quick-drawing World Golf Hall of Famer and Tour legend beat the Shark to the punch: Fred Couples.

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Over the past few weeks, some pros have officially requested releases from the PGA Tour to allow them to compete in the rival upstart LIV Invitational Series’ first tournament in London in June (according to Norman, 19 of the top 100 players requested releases). On Tuesday evening, the Tour made the decision to take the reject those requests entirely, ratcheting up the intensity of the battle between the two organizations.

Norman is the CEO of LIV Golf, which is largely funded by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, another major source of controversy for the league the PGA Tour sees as a direct threat. He did not hold back when he responded to the Tour’s decision in a statement, calling the Tour “anti-golfer, anti-fan, and anti-competitive” and an “illegal monopoly.”

But back to Fred Couples. Couples won 15 PGA Tour events over his Hall of Fame career, and he’s captained three U.S. Presidents Cup teams to victory. The Presidents Cup is partly run by the Tour, so it’s no surprise that Couples sides with the Tour in this debate. But he made his feelings public on Tuesday night.

At 6:57 p.m. ET, within an hour of the first reports surfacing about the Tour’s decision, Couples tweeted: “DENIED… .DENIED… .DENIED”

The fact that some Tour backers see LIV Golf as an existential threat help to explain the gleeful nature of Couples brief statement.

While some older pros have tried to strike a delicate balance on the subject, Couples is far from alone in choosing the Tour’s side. Superstars such as Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa and many more have vocally thrown their support to the Tour over the past few months.

We know what those players’ plans are. The real decision is for the players who had their requests denied: stay away from LIV Golf events and keeping plugging away on Tour or play in the London event and risk never playing a PGA Tour event again.

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