Stu1961 The fact that they have recently upped their “partnership” with the PGA only heightens that skepticism.
Same here.
Plus, he already asked for special permission tp play the event and maybe they see him as pushing his luck.
He would bring the circus with him for sure though. The LIV players not so much.
I understand the why as they put it, but the media/fans arent present at the champions celebration, now the 4 hole play, well thats has more visibility.
Trying to avoid a distraction at the expense of a 2 time champion who hasnt done anything wrong.? This borders on kissing up to the PGA, R&R is better than that.
Thought I read where the denial to play was done months ago, which seems reasonable for who they want to play in their tournament.
darpar I didn’t even know they were ever married. Looks like both have strolled 3 times.
Mcllroy seems to be having problems with his messaging, In 4 days he sort of did a flip flop. Wonder what this week will bring from him and Justin Thomas, as who knows who they might get partnered with.
"McIlroy told BBC Sport Northern Ireland he believed the DP World Tour, PGA Tour and LIV Golf needed to come together to resolve their “messy” situation, signaling a possible shift in his stance against the upstart tour. When presented with an opportunity to further clarify his remarks, however, McIlroy said Saturday that he remains opposed to LIV Golf and the league’s place in the sport.
“There’s no room in the golf world for LIV Golf,” McIlroy told Porter. “I don’t agree with what LIV is doing. If LIV went away tomorrow I’d be super happy.”
Stu1961 Life of a puppet ... can be tough to keep the messaging straight when the hand is removed.
Agree. Just because you're a star player doesn't make you a good spokesman. There's a reason DJ never speaks a word in those commercials where he hits the hole in one with his driver. Just gives a steely glare.
I think Rory's a good dude, but the flip flopping is likely him saying something then getting an earful from the powers that be to get him back in line
Maybe Rory was angling for a Phil sized deal and it fell through 
. I wouldn't know since I don't do anything at his level, but it would seem prudent for him to set aside the non-Open related stuff and focus on winning a major. I like Rory and, if whoever I picked in the contest isn't in the running, I root for him to win some more big ones.
They were only married for about a minute and a half. 
All lovey-dovey publicly and then boom it was over. Two huge egos colliding. lol
Justice Dept. has opened an anti-trust investigation into the PGA Tour…
Report: U.S. Justice Department investigating PGA Tour for antitrust violations against Saudi-backed LIV Golf
Imagine the howling if that happened five years ago. No, really.
"Noted in the report, in 1994 the Federal Trade Commission looked into two Tour rules regarding golfers playing in non-PGA events without the commissioner’s permission and their appearance on televised golf programs, but stood down a year later."
“This was not unexpected,” said a PGA Tour spokesman to the Journal. “We went through this in 1994, and we are confident in a similar outcome.”
If the DOJ does go forward with the anti trust , I would expect the PGA to then say OK that's fine, but we still have a rule where you have to play 15 PGA Tour events a year per the rules.
Then we'll see how many play the 15 PGA Tour events plus the 14 LIV events. lol
As read the 1994/5 FTC article, the PGA did a masterfully job of lobbying the right people, from big bussinesses to congressmen.
Not so sure the PGA rules will stand, I believe the playing of 15 plus playing in a one off the beaten track tournaments every 4 years or so is relaxed after a players having competed in a number of tournaments/years (20 wins/15 yrs) and age might also be a factor as well., Take a few of the players who play the Champion tour and the PGA tour, not sure they are playing 15 or either, Age might also be a factor as well, Also in that count of 15 can be the majors, exemptions for non-pga, and wgc.
Evidently once Lifetime member is achieved, if the pro only plays a few, he could lose his voting rights but nothing else. Looking for 2nd source to verify the Lifetime member
"Under PGA Tour rules, a member must compete in a minimum of 15 PGA Tour events each season as a condition of their membership voting rights. It can be any 15 events co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour, including the four majors and four World Golf Championships, as well any of the FedEx Cup playoff events. So long as a player competes in 15 events."
Also again, the PGA Tour has another rule where they only grant 3 releases a year and none for North America. So, given LIV has tournaments in the U.S. they were never going to grant releases for LIV tournaments that are held here.
So the players who did not resign were in violation of the rules.
The NFL, MLB, NBA etc. all have rules. If you break the rules then there's consequences. Athletes have been banned before. Pete Rose comes to mind. He was banned from baseball for gambling. That was against MLB's rules.
Prominent names who've received lifetime bans from their sports are Tonya Harding and Lance Armstrong. And there are several others as well.
PGA Tour players are 'independent contractors', but they play in an organization that has rules. The wheels of justice at DOJ are usually slow moving. So, this could take some time.
Meantime we have Walter Sobchak talking about rules.
