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The post Confused by the first LIV golfer court hearing? It hinged on these 5 keys appeared first on Golf.

The first hearing between LIV golfers and the PGA tour took place this week, and left in its wake plenty of confusion.

Does the PGA Tour maintaining the status quo mean anything for the greater lawsuit? Maybe a little.

Will it reach a trial? Perhaps, but not until September 2023 at the earliest. 

So what are we left with? We are left with Judge Beth Freeman’s opinions on particular items presented by both sides. Freeman is a golfer herself, if no maven of the men’s professional game, which is totally fine. That keeps her unbiased and helps us understand this case better through her gut instincts and interpretation of precedents and law.

Below, we’ve spelled out a number of the important points of consequence from the first hearing, which was simply a request for a temporary restraining order that would have allowed three plaintiffs to play in the FedEx Cup. As you may know, Judge Freeman denied the request, and we can understand some of it through her written order.

1. Tricky Tour regulations phrasing

A major differentiation of opinion in the TRO hearing was whether or not Talor Gooch, Hudson Swafford and Matt Jones deserved a “stay” of sanctions because their appeals were still processing. Or what constituted the exact suspensions under the trio’s appeal. If their appeals were still being handled, PGA Tour regulations would grant a stay, and would thus allow them into the Playoffs.

The issue at hand is any ambiguity in the wording of the Tour’s regulations, particularly Section E, Article VII. The plaintiffs view it one way — Gooch even contacted a Tour representative on Aug. 1 to ask if he would earn a stay — while the Tour had its own interpretation. 

On that matter, Judge Freeman said, “The court must give proper deference to a private organization’s interpretation and application of its disciplinary rules.” She considered the Tour’s interpretation “not unreasonable,” and that was that.

2. LIV’s stable of top golfers

Interestingly, it was the PGA Tour providing information about how successful LIV Golf has become. The Tour used the top 10 ranking from its inaugural Player Impact Program to show that half of the players listed had signed with LIV.

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“That’s remarkable,” Judge Freeman said during the hearing.

It is remarkable, but does the PIP reward the best golfers? Not exactly. It rewards the most “impactful,” to use Tour messaging, which is why Tiger Woods took the top spot despite not hitting a single shot in Tour competition all year. 

As you can see in Judge Freeman’s written order, there may be a slight misunderstanding or misinterpretation of best vs. most impactful. Included as a footnote in the order, the PIP players are listed as the “top PGA Tour players in 2021,” which, again, could be an issue of semantics. Look for the definition of that evidence’s value to be more plainly decided in future hearings. Only two golfers from the year-end world golf ranking were included in the PIP (Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau). 

3. LIV’s need to establish its validity

As a means of establishing its place in the golf ecosystem, plaintiffs introduce LIV Golf as a “fan-friendly alternative to the PGA Tour,” in which it describes the ways the Tour’s product has gone stale. Judge Freeman seized upon that reasoning, saying that it undermined the plaintiffs’ position. 

How exactly? 

By comparison, LIV being discussed as the future of the game de-emphasizes the importance for players to play both tours right now. In her order, Freeman was rather dismissive, saying “If LIV Golf is elite golf’s future, what do TRO Plaintiffs care about the dust-collecting trophies of a bygone era?”

That interpretation may end up being massaged as the proceedings move forward, but it’s still an insight into Judge Freeman’s thinking. 

4. The quantifiable value of FedEx Cup earnings

Proving “irreparable harm” is one of the four defined facets of earning a temporary restraining order. The plaintiffs needed to argue that they would be irreparably harmed by not being allowed into the FedEx Cup, in which they had rightfully earned a place. Gooch, for example, had earned enough FedEx Cup points to rank 20th. But Judge Freeman did not think the plaintiffs counsel sufficiently argued for irreparable harm.

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They did argue, via a consultant, that there were extreme potential losses by not being allowed to play. Every year the FedEx Cup is a gigantic money grab for competitors. But beyond that, the theoretical harm was not well argued, Freeman said. And since the FedEx Cup is distinctly quantifiable, those funds are extremely reparable. So much so that missing out on the FedEx Cup was clearly factored into “their calculus” as Judge Freeman put it:

“In fact, the evidence shows almost without a doubt that they will be earning significantly more money with LIV Golf than they could reasonably
have expected to make through Tour play over the same time period.” If the “harm” in this case was strictly money lost by missing the FedEx Cup, it was more than gained back via LIV Golf contracts.

5. Per se vs. Rule of Reason

This one is for the true legal nerds, but could feature in future proceedings. In terms of anticompetitive movements, perhaps the strongest case the larger group of plaintiffs still holds is arguing for a “group boycott” under the Sherman Act, which Congress passed in 1890 as a “comprehensive charter of economic liberty aimed at preserving free and unfettered competition as the rule of trade.” 

LIV Golf plaintiffs will lean on that law to argue that the PGA Tour unlawfully joined into an alliance with the DP World Tour to keep LIV Golf from establishing itself in the ecosystem. That complaint will go so far as to allege the Tour has convinced the governing bodies — hosts of the major championships — of doing the same.

The plaintiffs argued that the PGA Tour has committed a “per se” violation of the Sherman Act, rather than a “rule of reason” violation. The PGA Tour quickly argued that “per se” violations only take place with engagement between horizontal competitors, and evidence presented by the plaintiffs suggests the competitors at hand are not at all horizontal. Indeed, the PGA Tour and DP World Tour exist on very different levels of the pro golf atmosphere.

Is there potential for the plaintiffs to argue in the future for a “group boycott” under the “rule of reason”? Certainly. Judge Freeman even acknowledged that truth in her order, admitting that the plaintiffs’ “rule of reason” arguments were limited to footnotes. And as she so plainly said during the proceeding, she does not read footnotes.

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Talor Gooch, Matt Jones and Hudson Swafford want to compete in the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

Beth Labson Freeman will decide if they can.

Freeman is a federal judge in Northern California, and at a hearing scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, she will weigh a request from the three players for a temporary restraining order that would allow their participation in the PGA Tour’s season-ending playoff series, which begins this week in Memphis, Tenn.

Gooch, Jones and Swafford all qualified for the playoffs based on FedEx Cup points, but they have since been suspended by the Tour for signing on with competitor LIV Golf.

With their petition for a temporary restraining order, or TRO, the three are asking to have their suspensions lifted.

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Gooch, Jones and Swafford are also part of a group of 11 LIV pros who filed suit against PGA Tour last week, alleging that the Tour is acting unlawfully in levying suspensions against golfers who have joined the rival Saudi-backed circuit.

That case has the prospect of dragging on for years.

Gooch, Jones and Swafford are seeking government intervention now, through a petition that amounts to a request for “extraordinary action,” according to Craig Seebald, a partner and antitrust specialist with international law firm Vinson & Elkins.

“Asking a judge to step in and stop something while a case is playing out is not an everyday request,” Seebald says. “For them to seek something like this on day six of a lawsuit is pretty extraordinary.”

For their request to be granted, the plaintiffs will have to meet a robust legal standard, Seebald said. For starters, they will need to show that their case has the likelihood of succeeding on its merits. They will also have to demonstrate that they will suffer “immediate” and “irreparable” injury without relief, and that the harm they stand to endure outweighs any injury a TRO would inflict on the Tour. Lastly, they will have to show that a TRO is in the public interest.

Proving immediate and irreparable harm is a high bar to begin with, Seebald said.

“With a TRO, you’re basically saying, ‘the patient is on life support, and if we don’t do something now, something dire is going to happen,’” Seebald said.

Examples of recent federal cases that have triggered TROs have included such front-page headline issues as vaccine mandates in the military and bans on specific immigrant groups.

In general, Seebald said, issues like “immigration, health care and abortion generate TROs. Not rich golfers.”

In the United Kingdom last month, Ian Poulter and two other LIV golfers who’d been suspended by the DP World Tour, had their suspensions lifted by a non-profit appeals board, allowing them to compete in the Genesis Scottish Open. But the legal landscape is different across the pond, and, Seebald said, a judge here “will not care what happened in Scotland.”

Whether the golfers’ larger antitrust suit against the Tour is likely to succeed is another matter, one that the judge would likely rather see resolved over time in the courts, Seebald said.

“I think what’s she likely to say is, ‘It seems like there are reasonable arguments on both sides, so let’s take this to discovery,’” Seebald said. “She’s going to be balancing a number of factors, but I think where she is going to come down is, ‘You’re basically asking me to clear the way for you to play in a couple of more events, and I have a hard time getting involved.’”

Seebald said the judge is also likely to question the timing of the players’ request.

“I can see her saying, you’ve known about these suspensions for a while now, why are you just coming to me now?” Seebald said.

That same point was hammered home by the Tour on Monday in its own court filing responding to last week’s lawsuit. With its request for a TRO, the Tour’s filing read, the plaintiffs “have waited nearly two full months to seek relief from the Court, fabricating an ‘emergency’ they now maintain requires immediate action.”

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Also on Monday, LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman issued a statement reiterating LIV’s position that the players, as independent contractors, should have a right to compete where and when they choose.

“I believe all players — whether they choose to play with LIV or the PGA Tour — understand and appreciate the purpose and importance of the players legal actions, across the globe. The PGA Tour is trying to cast this as ‘us’ against ‘them.’ The players know better.”

Norman has said that LIV will support the players in what are almost certain to be protracted court battles. As for the TRO, that matter should be resolved much sooner, according to Josh Davis, a professor at the University of California, Hastings College of Law, and a leading scholar on antitrust procedure. Davis said he expects the judge to issue a decision quickly, either from the bench at the close of the hearing, or shortly after.

Like Seebald, Davis believes the chance of a TRO being granted is slim.

“The general rule is, Any chance? Anything’s possible,” Davis said.

“Realistic chance? Nope.”

Tuesday’s hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m. PT at the U.S. District Court for California’s Northern District, in San Jose. If Gooch, Jones and Swafford hope to be on the course in Memphis this week, they’ll have to beat long odds in the courthouse first.

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The post Pro moves ball 10 yards away from tree — thanks to clever use of this rule appeared first on Golf.

Talor Gooch didn’t see a forest through the tree. Just a tent.  

And because he did, he was soon looking at birdie. 

“This is a massive break,” analyst John Maginnes said on PGA Tour Live. 

Indeed. It all began after Gooch’s second shot on Thursday on the par-5 11th at the PGA West Stadium Course, which sailed right and into a patch that was nearly equidistant away from his fairway and the adjacent 16th’s, and about 60 yards from his hole. About 8 feet in front of his ball was a tree that branched upward and to the right. In other words, he was dead.  

And about 20 yards in front of the tree was a tent used by the Tour for the broadcast of the American Express tournament. Or put another way, he had new life. 

Rules

Pro denied one type of rules relief — then cleverly asks for another, makes birdie

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While the tree was in his line of sight between him and the hole, so was the tent. And because the temporary immovable object was, he unlocked relief under Model Local Rule F-23a (2), which states: “Line of sight interference exists when: The TIO is on the player’s line of sight to the hole (that is, the TIO is located on the straight line between the ball and the hole).” In addition, Gooch proved to an official he was allowed relief under the circumstances under F-23a (3), which states: “There is no relief when it is clearly unreasonable for a player to play the ball far enough that the ball will reach the TIO, and There is no relief when the player cannot show that there is a stroke that he or she could reasonably play that would both (a) have the TIO (including the corridor) on the line of that stroke, and (b) result in the ball finishing on a direct line to the hole.”

So, after a discussion with the official, he dropped about 10 yards to the right, which put the tent no longer in his line. Nor the tree. (The USGA has also published a pamphlet that describes the rule, and it can be found here.)

“He’s going to get relief completely away from that tree,” Maginnes said on the broadcast. “… Ten yards closer to the green than the tree is one of these — they have little cameras on top of them. Technology towers. That can’t be moved. And when you have one of those directly between you and the hole, it’s a player option whether to go to the right or the left, because they don’t belong obviously. He’s still going to have a tight lie, with very little green to work with, the pin right toward the water. But at least he’s going to get it on the green.”

Rules

Rules Guy: Is it a penalty if I break a tree branch with my backswing?

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Said an announcer: “Taking advantage of the rules, there’s no question, because as John described, it’s a little camera that shows the grid of the green and they have these wires that propel out from it that are anchored into the ground and so you can’t move that and even though he was behind a tree, that was still in the path of his shot, John, so, wow, what a fortunate break for him.”

After his drop, Gooch pitched on to about 15 feet from the hole, and he rolled in the putt for a birdie four. Entering Saturday’s third round, he’s 13 shots behind leader Patrick Cantlay. 

“It would be like he snuck away with one,” an announcer on the broadcast said before Gooch’s putt.  

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The post Wall-to-Wall Equipment: This unknown Odyssey putter is already catching fire on Tour appeared first on Golf.

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Welcome to Wall-to-Wall Equipment, the Monday morning gear wrap-up in which GOLF equipment editor Jonathan Wall takes you through the latest trends, rumors and breaking news.

She’s a keeper

Talor Gooch can stop the putter search. After a dominant three-shot win at the RSM Classic, it’s safe to say Odyssey’s Tri-Hot 5K putter has earned a spot in the bag.

On the heels of a mediocre performance in Houston, Gooch took to the Sea Island practice putting green to find a solution. The 30-year-old was one of several players in the field who went through the on-site Odyssey Lab to test a prototype called “Tri-Hot 5K.” During the testing session, Gooch saw a noticeable improvement in off-center strike performance that led to the switch.

“I had a couple of opportunities where things could have taken a turn for the worse and I was able to make some clutch putts,” Gooch said after a final round 64. “At the beginning of the week, I got with Callaway and we got a new putter in the bag and it worked out pretty good for the week. I made a few putts this week.”

Gooch made more than a few putts. He racked up 20 birdies and ranked 6th in SG: Putting for the week with the new wand. In fact, Gooch wasn’t the only pro in the field who gave Tri-Hot a shot. Five players, Gooch included, put Tri-Hot 5K in play the first week it was available to pros.

It’s unclear when Tri-Hot 5K will be available to the masses, but according to GOLF.com’s Andrew Tursky, who was on-site at the RSM Classic, the putters appear to be a blast from the past.

In the early 2000s, Odyssey released a line of “Tri Hot” putters that combined three different materials; a steel body, Tungsten weighting, and a White Hot face insert. Although the company is staying quiet on design details for the 2021-22 versions, it appears Odyssey is returning to a similar tri-material design.

Tour pellets

Matt Kuchar made the jump to Bridgestone’s 2022 Tour B X Prototype ball following extensive testing with the company’s R&D department.

“This new prototype ball, what I’ve seen with my testing, it’s faster off the driver, and with the chip shots — as a tour pro, when you get that right feeling, that right trajectory, even off of a little pitch shot, you get excited, and this new golf ball has got me excited off the tee and around the greens,” Kuchar told GOLF.com.

Kuchar finished T37 in his first week with the new ball.

Free agent finds

The beauty of being a gear free agent is having the freedom to make changes whenever an issue arises — without having to sweat the brand in the bag.

For Justin Rose, that meant shaking things up with the driver and putter grip prior to the final PGA Tour event of 2021. The former U.S. Open champion switched to a 9-degree Titleist TSi4 driver with a Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black 70 shaft, and replaced the Lamkin grip on his Axis1 Rose putter with a SuperStroke Traxion Claw model.

Rose is considered to be one of the most detailed-oriented players on Tour, so the changes likely weren’t made on a whim. Both paid off as Rose finished T12 — his best showing in three starts this season — while ranking 8th in SG: Off-the-tee and 25th in SG: Putting.

Quick-hitters: Rory McIlroy added two high-bounce TaylorMade MG3 wedges (54 and 58 degrees) in Dubai. … Danielle Kang picked up “probably 20, 30 yards” simply by switching to lower lofted Titleist TSi3 driver (8 degrees). … Rory Sabbatini was disqualified for unknowingly playing a fairway wood with a small Foresight fiducial sticker on the face. … TaylorMade released custom TP5 golf balls that will make Matthew Wolff and Rickie Fowler happy. … Check out Titleist’s Tour-only black irons.

Want to overhaul your bag for 2022? Find a fitting location near you at GOLF’s affiliate company True Spec Golf. For more on the latest gear news and information, check out our latest Fully Equipped podcast below.

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Talor Gooch won the 2021 RSM Classic on Sunday at Sea Island, capturing his first ever PGA Tour victory. The 30-year-old Callaway staffer used a bag full of Callaway equipment in his breakthrough win.

Check out the full specifications of his clubs below!

Driver: Callaway Epic Speed (Fujikura Atmos Blue 7X shaft), 9 degrees

3 Wood: Callaway Rogue (Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 80TX shaft), 15 degrees

Hybrid: Callaway Big Bertha Alpha 815 (Aldila Tour Blue Hybrid 105TX shaft), 20 degrees

Irons: Callaway X Forged CB (4-6; Nippon Pro Modus3 125X shafts), Callaway Apex MB (7-9; Nippon Pro Modus3 125X shafts)

Wedges: Callaway Jaws MD5 (46, 52, 56 and 60 degrees; True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 shafts)

Putter: Odyssey Tri-Hot 5K Two prototype

Golf Ball: Titleist Pro V1

Want to overhaul your bag for 2021? Find a fitting location near you at GOLF’s affiliate company True Spec Golf. For more on the latest gear news and information, check out our latest Fully Equipped podcast below!

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Pressure, Talor Gooch says, is Best Buy. 

And it wouldn’t be Sunday, he said Saturday night, after finishing the third round of the RSM Classic with a three-shot lead. The 30-year-old was 18 holes from his first PGA Tour victory, but the nerves ahead had nothing on the thought of wearing a name tag for a living. 

“I always go back to Q-School,” he said. “It’s funny, it’s like when this feels [like] pressure, I just think back to I was playing TPC Craig Ranch my third time of going through Q-School in 2016 and I was in second stage at TPC Craig Ranch. I was on the number going to the third round and I didn’t have any more money and I was three-over through four walking off the par-3 and I thought to myself, I don’t know why this came up, but Best Buy, I’m going to have to go work at Best Buy; I’m going to have to go do something to make a few bucks unless you like get it together.

“Fortunately I got it together and I got through second stage, but I always fall back on Q-School.”

Gooch didn’t blink then. And he opened eyes on Sunday. Gooch birdied six holes on the Seaside Course at the Sea Island Resort and bogeyed none for a six-under 64, a 22-under total and a three-shot win, his first in five seasons on the PGA Tour. Mackenzie Hughes, after a 62, finished second, and Sebastian Munoz was third.   

Gooch had been trending toward this. Since the start of the 2021-22 Tour season in September, he had four top 15 finishes — and two top fives — in five events, and he opened the RSM with rounds of 64, 65 and 67. On Sunday, his lead had dropped to two at one point, only for him to birdie four of his first six holes on the back nine to pull away.  

On the 426-yard, par-4 10th, Gooch hit his approach to 5 feet, and he birdied. On the 420-yard, par-4 11th, Gooch hit his approach to 9 feet, and he birdied. On the 414-yard, par-4 13th, Gooch rolled in a 16-foot putt and birdied. And on the 559-yard, par-5 15th, after hitting his second shot to 15 feet, he birdied again, and the event was over, if it hadn’t been already.

“Obviously I was playing really well this week and I was playing really well today so when you’re playing like that the game is coming easy and the stress levels go down,” Gooch said on Golf Channel afterward. “But I was pumped today the few times where things could have taken a different turn and I was able to use those past experiences and step up and execute.” 

The big takeaway

Gooch has enough game to where this first win could snowball. Stay tuned. 

The 10 big shots 

— Talor Gooch begins the final round with a three-shot lead over Seamus Power and Sebastian Munoz, and a four-shot lead over Tom Hoge. Gooch is at 16-under. 

— Gooch birdies the 383-yard, par-4 2nd after hitting his approach shot to 4 feet, and he maintains a three-shot advantage. 

— Gooch birdies the 429-yard, par-4 4th after hitting his approach to 9 feet, and he builds his lead to four shots. Gooch is at 18-under, and Mackenzie Hughes and Munoz are at 14-under, and John Huh, Luke List, Hoge and Power are at 13-under. 

— Tyler McCumber shoots a 10-under 60, narrowly missing a historic 59, and he finishes at 15-under. 

— Gooch birdies the 426-yard, par-4 10th after hitting his approach to 5 feet, and his lead is three shots. He’s at 19-under, and Hughes is at 16-under. 

— Gooch birdies the 420-yard, par-4 11th after hitting his approach to 9 feet, and his lead grows to four shots. He’s at 20-under, and Hughes and Power are at 16-under. 

— Gooch birdies the 414-yard, par-4 13th on a 16-foot birdie putt, and his lead balloons to five shots. He’s at 21-under, and Hughes and Power are at 16-under. 

— Gooch birdies the 559-yard, par-5 15th after hitting his second shot to 15 feet, and his lead is five shots. He’s at 22-under, and Munoz, Hughes and Power are at 17-under.

— Gooch, in a play that wins tournaments, punched out from a waste area on his second shot on the 392-yard, par-4 16th instead of trying to go for the green, then hits his third shot to 3 feet and pars. 

— Gooch pars the 470-yard, par-4 18th, and he pumps his fist after his three-shot win, his first on the PGA Tour. 

The final word 

“He’s shown a good mental toughness to me as well this weekend. A lot of people with a lot of game, but not everybody has exactly what it takes to be able to grab a tournament by the scruff of the neck like he has done today.” — analyst Trevor Immelman on the Golf Channel broadcast on Gooch. 

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Thursday in this space, we noted that one pro called the first-round conditions in Sea Island, Ga., a “Chamber of Commerce” day. Friday? It was like a trip to the dentist. The winds picked up, and the scores soared. Here are three things you need to know after the second round of the RSM Classic, played on the Seaside and Plantation Courses at Sea Island Resort. 

Complete leaderboard here.

Talor Gooch leads

Navigating the winds best was Talor Gooch, who followed up his first-round 64 on the Plantation Course with a second-round 65 on the Seaside Course. He’s at 13-under overall, one stroke ahead of round-one leader Sebastian Munoz and John Huh, and two shots in front of Taylor Moore and Mackenzie Hughes. 

On Friday, Gooch went on a four-under-through-three-hole stretch on the front nine — he birdied the 368-yard, par-4 5th and the 172-yard, par-3 6th, then eagled the 583-yard, par-5 7th after dropping a 66-foot putt — and he added two more birdies on the back.  

“I think my game has made a turn for some good stuff in some ways,” said Gooch, winless in now his fifth season on the PGA Tour. “And I’ve been working my butt off for years, but especially the last six, eight months with driving the ball and working my butt off with putting. For my game, if I can get in the fairway, as simple as it sounds, if I can get in the fairway, it’s just a matter of how many putts I’m going to make. Hopefully we can keep making putts and see if we can do some good this weekend.”

What a difference a day makes 

Just how much did things flip from Thursday to Friday? During the first round, players were a combined 542-under par; in the second, they were 126-over. And according to the PGA Tour, the difference in scoring average between the first and second rounds on the Seaside Course was 4.65, the third-largest difference from round one to round two in a Tour event since 1983, when records began being kept. (The largest difference was 5.00, at the 1987 Shriners Children’s Open.)

Perhaps no player was cooled off by the wind more than Munoz, who opened with a 10-under 60 on the Seaside Course, then shot a two-under 70 on the Plantation Course. In all, among the 71 players who made the cut, only eight shot better than the day before. 

“Ten strokes worse than yesterday, but it felt really good,” Munoz said. 

Harris English misses the cut 

Among the players who missed the cut, which was four-under, were Ryder Cupper Harris English, former world No. 1 Jason Day, Max Homa, Harry Higgs, Joaquin Niemann, Stewart Cink and Keegan Bradley. 

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The post ‘It’s all fun and games til commas get involved:’ Pro fires back at heckler appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘It’s all fun and games til commas get involved:’ Pro fires back at heckler appeared first on Golf.

Talor Gooch, in Palm Harbor, Fla., heard a heckler in Long Island, N.Y.

“3 bogeys in a row u are so bad @TalorGooch,” tweeted @VinkolaJokic.

A heckler in Long Island, N.Y., then heard back from Talor Gooch, in Palm Harbor, Fla. 

“Did you bet on me?” tweeted @TalorGooch.

For the next six hours, @VinkolaJokic continued to hear from Gooch. Until Gooch no longer heard from @VinkolaJokic. 

To begin, @VinkolaJokic was right — Gooch had bogeyed three holes in a row during Friday’s second round of the Valspar Championship. He’d finish with a three-over 74 and missed the cut at the Valspar Championship by six shots — and then was reminded on his iPhone that he shot a three-over 74 and missed the cut at the Valspar Championship by six shots. Gooch’s round and tournament were finished. Soon, a troll would also be.

The epic exchange (shown over 13 photos) — which would feature a mini-golf bet, a flight to JFK and Venmo payments:

Proof never came. 

Other tweets did. A few folks who had gambled on Gooch took him up on his Venmo offer — and Gooch paid up (shown over nine photos).

One person even gave the money back. It didn’t go unnoticed. 

But Gooch stressed that none of this — the mini-golf bet, the flight to JFK and the Venmo payments — was meant to boost his profile in the Player Impact Program, which the PGA Tour started at the start of the year to reward its most popular players. 

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