Golf Wars – LIV Golf’s Bitter Battle For Power
We’re talking with Iain Carter about his new book, Golf Wars and the turbulent world of professional golf. The battle for the future of professional golf has been blazing. The Saudi-backed organisation LIV Golf has struck at the very heart of the golfing establishment, setting up rival tournaments with enormous prize pots and pitting the game’s most famous players against each other.
Led by legend Greg Norman, it has enticed the likes of Sergio García, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Jon Rahm, parking its tanks on the manicured greens of the traditional game. Its tagline: Golf but louder.With LIV now in its season and little sign of the struggle abating, BBC Golf Correspondent Iain Carter delivers the fascinating – and ongoing – account of a sporting upheaval.Golf Wars spotlights the key players, both on the course and in the boardroom, exploring how the PGA Tour and other traditional organisations are fighting back.
Carter covers every twist and turn, hearing from influential figures including Rory McIlroy, Jay Monahan, Greg Norman, Keith Pelley and Tiger Woods.Through expert and up-to-date analysis of all sides of this bitter conflict, Carter reveals how the saga is unfolding and what it means for golf’s future. Has the controversial Saudi Arabian state essentially bought the game?
Is LIV just a sportwashing series of glitzy exhibition tournaments? Or is it a welcome challenge to the golfing hegemony and a long-awaited refresh of tired traditions?This epic tale of fierce internal warfare has shaken golf to its core and marks a seminal moment in sporting
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The world of professional golf is as turbulent as it has ever been and today on the podcast we’re talking with the author of a brand new book called golf Wars I kind of feel like I should be holding a lightsaber Ian Carter joins us straight ahead you know the world of professional golf
Has been turbulent to say the least but I have to be careful using the word turbulent because our guest Ian Carter has been living on an airplane here recently and I don’t want to wish any turbulence into your world so you were just in the states for The Players
Championship now back home I’m sure you’ll be crossing the Atlantic again at some point soon how’s the how’s the jet lag treating you it’s uh it’s it’s not great I I I must admit I slept very well last night I think that was just general fatigue from a really busy week at the
Players Championship Bill thanks for asking and it was a pretty bumpy flight home actually uh funny enough but uh it got us home on time because we had 150 mph winds behind us or something so um so not all bad um and you know let’s face it it’s it’s a small sacrifice to
Be able to uh fly across the across the pond as we say to to go and um watch events like the PLAYERS Championship that we just had which uh was fantastic and then I’m going to be heading back at the start of April uh I’m actually going
To go to the live event at Miami then on to the Masters then on to the Chevron uh championship in Texas so looking forward to a a three-week road trip uh back in the States at the start of next month you know we could probably do a pretty interesting podcast on travel tips
Because you have covering some serious miles but you’re also straddling between these these two professional tour worlds so the players Championship is as opulent as pristine um and as celebrated as any tournament that we have that wouldn’t be you know held in Augusta Georgia and
Then on the Liv side it’s it’s still in that I think that phase of trying to prove that we belong and that we’re real we’re just going to turn the music up a little bit louder and uh it’s all kind of brought together really well by by
Ean in his new book called golf Wars and I’m going to like cue the Star Wars music under it just because the theme um what what led you to to try to bring some sense to all of this nonsensical jousting that’s going on well well one thing let’s clarify from the word go
Here bill is if you’re playing that music right now you need to know I’ve never seen Star Wars which is one of my biggest um biggest Confessions on our on our podcast the chipping forecast no one can quite believe I’ve not seen Star Wars but anyway that’s by the by flights
You’re taking how do you not just throw it on the iPad once and watch it well by the way I’m not expert I’m not exper I probably should we’ll give it a go yeah I might I might just do that but then whenever I have this conversation and we’re
Digressing now but that’s what you do on pods that’s right um I whenever this conversation people say yes but you you you’ve got there’s there’s only certain Star Wars films that you should watch you can’t you know you’ve got to go you’ve got to go with the original and
Then someone will say no but the best thing to do is not to watch them in order and I’m like well you know what am I supposed to do so I’ll stick to the goal fors instead well two thoughts one I’m actually not rolling in the theme music because YouTube would strike it
Down and our nobody would see the video version of our of our podcast conversation and number two the first movie I ever saw in a theater was the very first one that was released I know it’s episode three or but so that holds a special spot in my heart uh back to
Golf for a moment yes what what what led you into trying to capture this bizarre spin cycle of a golf world that we’re in well it’s funny a a literary agent with whom I I did some work uh 14 years ago might the very first book that I ever
Wrote um she helped me on on that and she got in touch and said hey this live this live thing’s very interesting you should you should write a book on it um and it hadn’t really occurred to me at that at that stage and then the more I
Thought about it um I you know realized that this was this was a generational story um for anybody who follows the game of golf the way that the sport has been ripped apart and we still don’t have any idea how it’s going to be put back together is is just fascinating and
What the driv forces behind it were and there are a myriad of driving forces behind all of this and and also behind you know the responses and some would say the lack of responses from the established tours when these threats came in to try and modernize the game to
Try and take it in a New Direction and the resistance of the established tours was as much a part of what have been euphemistically called Gulf Civil War or the the the gulf Wars and so there was just so much you know that I was certainly curious about and I think you
Know the purpose of the book really was to in many respects just look at at the last golfing season the 2023 season and just see how it had been colored by what was going on an unprecedented set of of circumstances and to delve into why and how those circumstances came apart uh
Came came about yeah the full title of the book by the way is golf Wars live and golf’s bitter battle for power and identity um I want to focus on that identity concept for a moment in your research for the book what if what have you come away uh with as the definition
For what live wants its identity to be that’s a very good question I think I think live the words that just kept coming out from from me and from people talking about Liv was bold and Brash and to to to modernize the game and and Global as well was another key part of
Liv’s identity that that was at at the heart of of what they’re they’re trying to to achieve they’re looking to take the biggest names around the world they’re doing it with their music pumping they’re doing it obviously with their shotgun starts um with creating a a very tightly packaged television
Product or streamed product is probably a more accurate way of putting it and I think it’s fascinating I think it’s too early to say whether or not it’s it’s ever going to to catch on and of course there’s the team aspect to it as well so
It’s a I I think their identity is modern uh is modern thinking is trying um different ways to to package something that had been pretty successfully packaged in its traditional form by the traditional tools I remember talking a bit with Alan shipnuck before his book came out and one of the things
That he said was so difficult in this process of trying to capture this moment in history is that the headlines keep changing every day you can you can hardly go to print and now all of a sudden you know here’s Ian with his book that officially drops by the way on
April 11th but you all can pre-order it right now um meanwhile Tiger’s on a private flight to I don’t know the Bahamas to meet with the overlords of the Star Wars dark Sith world and you know Darth Vader comes and so who knows what’s going on there besides perhaps
Part of a round of golf which given the egos involved perhaps that’s one of the primary goals from the Saudis I don’t really know how have you how have you managed to to kind of temper your your own patience level to get this book out while you see headlines changing almost daily
Well like Alan you know I found that the biggest the biggest challenge that you you’re you’re writing a book and you don’t know how it finishes and the plot the pl yeah just sort of changes changes you know in in an instant and you obviously the most dramatic change was
Was on June the 6th because up to that point I was writing a book about uh deadly enmity between the PGA Tour the gulf establishment and Saudi Arabia and then all of a sudden J Monahan sitting on a sofa with yaser Al Roman in the NB MN I always get the the letters
The wrong M NBC isn’t it that the the the anyway they’re in the TV studio together and and you know it’s peace in our time and then very quickly you know and and certainly you know someone who I was working with on on on the book said
Look the one thing we don’t want is peace here in the course of the in the course of this book we don’t want peace because it’s all about the the the disputes and and you know one of my very first thoughts were hang on a minute they’re they’re partnering it’s all
Over maybe this book is dead you know maybe maybe we’re not there’s nothing to to see here and then within an hour you knew that this story had just taken the most dramatic turn and there was nowhere near piece as the players realized they’d been blindsided and were finding
Out on social media that boss who had told them that they by being PJ tour players have never had any cause to AP apologize to anyone and bringing in the 911 families and all of that and all and now he has turned around and he’s doing
A deal and then and why is he doing a deal is it is this just to keep the the both both parties out of out of court and legal Discovery or is it to to solve the the issue of mounting legal costs or is is it you know simply because the
Plans that have been put in place as they stand as they stood at that moment were completely unaffordable so there was all of that that just you know suddenly changed on June the 6th and the whole tenor of the book and then of course you suddenly get the the dump of
Documents with the Senate hearings and you start reading through those and you go through every page of that and you suddenly realize where motives lie and how things have have started to to to sort of bubble up as far as um the the the whole framework agreement is
Concerned and then and then you get SSG coming in right I don’t know and and Saudi seemingly going away and then and you know as as for the time frame of the book to answer that question I decided that the ark would be around the rder
Cup because that was the focal point of the of that golfing year it and the tours were being colored by what was happening with Liv and how was it going to be affected and from a sporting idealistic perform point of view I really wanted to highlight that there
Are events in golf that are not all about the money and the Ryder Cup is is the biggest and the best example of that and you know my conclusion in in the book was that it proved itself Priceless in that regard which isting given how commercialized the Ryder Cup has become
Totally but I know what you mean and I’m also wondering as you started to examine the hostilities that exist throughout the formative stages of these two now rival leagues I think at first the hostilities were largely the the US golf fan versus whoever would dare come in and upset the
Apple cart but then when Monahan stepped in with his gross incompetence and his incredible deception to his own employers uh the hostilities I mean it turned big made him perhaps the least popular commissioner in all of sports which is saying a lot because we still have Roger Goodell
So where are those hostilities now as it pertains to the PGA tour players and the man who I’m still very surprised is still their commissioner yeah I mean it’s interesting isn’t it like Jay Monahan at the prize presentation for the world number one golfer winning his biggest
Tournament got booed oh Big Time weekend you know um that’s that’s an extraordinary State of Affairs in a sport like golf um then again you know the whole he he can turn around to his members and he said he can say to them well you you don’t have to make a
Cut and you’re guaranteed half a million dollars this year you are playing for $20 million tournaments $25 million tournaments you’re paying for more playing for more money than you’ve ever you’ve never had it so good so and and you know Rory maroy made that that point
That that week um but so much of this has been spurred by Greg Norman you know who is another paral polarizing figure in in all of this and and I do think that a lot of what he has done has been driven by what he tried to do in 1994
And failed and Tim finchum thwarted the world tour uh that that Norman wanted to to launch there and that’s you know that’s a powerful driver for him undoubtedly so I’m not sure if I’ve answered your question because I can’t quite remember what it was well we’re talking about the
Antipathy of the players towards jam manahan and if you’re surprised he’s still the commissioner yeah um I I I am I am quite surprised not that he’s still the commissioner but he’s been able to double down on so many other things you know PGA Tour Enterprises has
Entered as an entity and he’s the chief executive of that as well he sits on the Bo he sits on the yeah he sits on the board of the DP World Tour he sits on the board of DP World Tour Enterprise um produ c as well
Um so he keep you know he’s still got massive influence there um but then he’s bolstered by some pretty powerful guys you know the Ed hes and the Jimmy duns and people like that who are influential figures in other areas of elite golf as
Well so and and you know if you talk to Keith p uh the outgoing uh chief executive of the of the DP World Tour who I did uh last year uh last week um you know he could not speak higher of Jay Monahan and for to his
Integrity to his business Acumen and and all that that he has achieved so you know I think that’s that’s interesting I think it’s you know from from the side lines we in the media have been able to lob in our our H grenade we have been able to feed off players being showing
Antipathy towards the tours management like never before Xander shof he said it in in Sor grass last week but he said it also at the Scottish open last summer that you know Monahan had to earn an awful lot of of trust still and that that trust had had
Evaporated and and so did Scotty sheffron so did Jordan SP um I remember that day vividly and and wrote about it in the book at the at the Scottish open where you’re thinking wow this guy this guy is under serious pressure but he’s yeah he’s still there
He is there and um I will put myself in the camp of those who are surprised that that’s the case obviously I’m not in the rooms I’m not in the meetings but it’s been interesting to watch uh for instance Rory um who’s one of my favorite characters and personal
Ities in the world of golf obviously a fantastic player I think a very well spoken guy who’s who’s very thoughtful sometimes he talks himself into corners but I guess in some ways we all do from time to time it’s just not always in front of a a room full of cameras but
Rory was the leading Ambassador defender of PGA Tour and was dropping some pretty direct commentary about players who had gone and you’d see some of those um sneak out on social media or if you watched season one of full swing you’d see a few things especially about Phil and then Jay’s betrayal comes
Through and I don’t know if there was another player who was as directly impacted by that sudden heel turn but since then it it seems from at least my vantage point that Rory has done a little bit of a gentle change of direction of the cruise ship it’s no
Longer heading due north it might be going a little bit you know Northeast because he started to say some things about the potential of the future about unifying maybe welcoming back where where is Europe’s favorite son these days with all of this and um and
Is Rory is is he going to pull back from the spotlight because he got so badly burned by it when he was in it no he loves he loves the the spotlight and uh he will continue uh I think to to occupy that I think the only thing that is going to sort
Of influence that is is how he goes at the Masters because that’s the most important thing to him um I think he’s not sailing I don’t think he’s just deviated slightly off course I mean this is this has been a dramatic about turn from Rory maroy and I think
Recognition that one Saudi Arabia needs Saudi Arabian money needs to come into the into the sport because if it doesn’t come into the sport then it uh will go elsewhere and it might as well come into the sport that’s you know maroy is very pragmatic on that I think he still
Dislikes Liv I think that’s the only thing that that that remains but he recognizes that he was a bit too judgmental um of the players who went um he didn’t factor in that they didn’t have the same size of wealth as him and so they were much more likely you know as
Much more attractive to take the offers from from Liv and I think the fact that he said that publicly is him trying to to build Bridges but most significantly is his recognition that you know John Ram going to live means that they are going to have to find a way to make sure
That John Ram is still a European Rider cut player and you know in the past it was well I mean he said it at the rider cup he said he said um the guys that aren’t there are going to miss it more than we’re going to miss them yep and um
And and now he’s changed his tune massively on that and there was a point there was a point about three weeks ago where the about turn was so great that you were thinking hang on a minute is he going to is is he going to end up on
Live and and you know the PO the point was put to him and he didn’t he didn’t dispute it initially um and I think that’s him just saying to the tour listen don’t take me for for granted because I took you for granted and you went and did what you did and blindsided
Me um it’s very clear now that he’s no interest in in leaving the PJ tour and going going to live um and you know there’s not really a sum of money that could make a big difference to his to his life he’s he’s got plenty of it um
But I do think that he was serving on the policy board and he was finding that his global vision if you like uh was was not shared by the other people on that on that board and and I’ve he heard very clearly that the players on that board are are the big stumbling
Block to getting a deal done and you know the mroy had got a much better appreciation of world golf than several of the others on there and um and I think that’s why he left the policy board and I think that is why he is um
Now free to say what he’s been saying because he’s left that board and that’s why we’re hearing so much from him there there was a key moment again this is over a year ago but there was a key moment when the golf world waited for the decisions of the major championships
On how they were going to handle um their fields how you know their their um eligibility to play in the Masters the US Open the Open Championship the PGA Championship and of course everybody waits for Augusta to go first and when Augusta said hey if you’ve already
Qualified you’re in um you know it freed up up some things for some of those uh you know uh Phil well not Phil was already gone but for for Rah for instance to go and yet since that all happened and we’ve been through a season of major championships and now we are rolling
Back around here for kind of full year maybe year one or year two depending on your definitions rarely have I watched a player and I’ve watched a few rounds of of live competition rarely have I watched a player look more sad and depressed while earning one two three nine figures than John
Ron and it it I’m not trying to be an amateur psychologist but it just leads me to believe as I watch him if the money is fantastic sets his family up for Generations but I wonder if there are are moments like at the Players when he wasn’t there when he kind of wondered
Man did I screw this up and will there ever be a pathway back um from from the story of John ROM what are you learning what have you seen and is my read on it close to Accurate I think I think it’s definitely got some some um Merit certainly um you know and
He he said that he had a a media call uh ahead of the Masters earlier this week uh in which he said you know it really hurt not to be able to defend those titles in the early season and you know he said how much he he hopes that one
Day he can teared up at Sor grass again because he doesn’t want his final appearance to be to be withdrawing through illness right um last as as he did 12 months ago um he knew he he knew what the consequences were when he went and he also you know has said that you
Know it’s amazing what a Big W of money slapping around you slapped around your chops can can do to you in terms of your your decision making I think your observation is very interesting you know um I I think it’s it’s hard to to judge a player on their body language on a
Golf course because there are there are many many things to piss you off onf course you know uh there’s that you know there’s that element uh to it but I can’t help feeling I in the book I describe a conversation I had with um a former Ridder cup uh player and I
Happened to be giving him a lift after the first days play at the Ridder cup and you’ll remember had an extraordinary climax to the day when Justin Rose hold that Putt and made sure that Europe were unbeaten for the entire first day and he turned to his team and he shook his
Fists and celebrated like I’ve never seen nobody’s seen Justin Rose have a moment like that on the golf course with just unbr bridled sporting joy and this guy that I was giving a lift to said you know I wonder what if the if the live guys were watching that who could have
Been part of this Rider cup yeah what were they thinking at that moment because there is no money in the world that can buy that moment there is no money in the world that can do that um you know that that’s just pure sport
And You by going to live I feel that you know this is me as a sporting idealist I feel that those guys have by and large sold those moments for a very Hefty price but they have sold them and you know what value do you put on that
Um as a as a human being um so I yeah I I think that I think what is going to be so interesting to see is how competitive the live guys are in the majors you know last year last year they proved themselves very competitive at
The Masters but we know the Masters is a kind of horses for courses Place Y kker is a a brilliant talent and he I think sharpened by his performance at the Masters was in great form obviously at the US PJ and won that brilliantly but
By the time you got to Mid June and July those Live players had just played exclusively a diet of 54 hole golf you know on the live format through the the heart of the Season whereas their Rivals had been playing 72 hole and picking and choosing their schedule as they wanted which Live
Players can’t do and they were nowhere I think Henrik Stenson was the highest place but never never in In Contention at the Open Championship so if it if it turns out that they are no longer as competitive in the biggest tournaments that to me would be that
Would that would that would make John Ram very very sad you know he’s a history guy he’s a legacy guy you you brought up the name of Henrik Stenson and while watching rer cup for some reason his face was the one that came to my mind about uh you you cannot buy what
Just took place here I mean this is the guy who was the captain and had it ripped away from him because of his own decisions but I have to think it was brutal watching the champagne spray on that bridge realizing that you’re you’re supposed to be in
There could him couldn’t it yeah and at the yeah very well could have been and at the same time you know he’s not he’s not playing very well so I guess forever all of those players and all of us who comment on the game for a living will have this raging
Debate about whether or not it was worth it whether you should have gone and if you’re a player that was maybe past your Peak and somebody offered you $150 million that’s a serious discussion to take part in uh but you end your book uh the last chapter was called massive
Disconnect H what’s the massive disconnect as we kind of wind down our time what’s uh what’s that telling us well that that was taken from a quote from a a very senior figure in the world game who said you know unless we’re very very careful there is a massive disconnect
Going on here and the disconnect is is in terms of financial sustainability you know can the majors keep keep up to Pace in terms of price funds do they need to or are their trophies just good enough anyway um and I think there’s a big argument to say
Yes the the trophies are enough and the titles are enough for the majors but you know can the PGA Tour sustain the price priz funds that it feels it has to pay to remain competitive in a live environment can live afford to keep shelling out the money at the rate that
They are with no huge sign of a significant return as yet and not much interest so far in setting up viable franchises that are going to yield massive investment that will provide a return on their investment and ultimately the Saudi public investment fund is an investment fund it’s not it’s
Not about you know spending all all the money it’s about investing the money to make more money in the future so but it’s also about soft power and things like that as well so um so the disconnect there is you know and is is how damaging could all of these these
Different aspects be for the game and the game is fractured the game is split Liv are not generating huge audiences the audiences in America for golf are falling uh there is no Tiger Woods now in terms of the the the the alpha figure that is going to bring people into the sport from
Elsewhere um and the European tour while bolstered by the agreement that it’s got with the PGA Tour that guarantees priz funds in the medium term what’s its long-term future as well in an an environment where golfers are now suddenly expecting to be paid three or4 million do to to win a
Tournament yeah three or four I mean you know that’s just extraordinary money and that’s the final part of the disconnect that I think could easily happen and that is between the fans and the player you know what why why is a fan invested in an already fantastically wealthy athlete
Getting a bit more wealthy as a result of what they do on a Sunday afternoon yeah and it’s funny because we know we we we are such a um NFL a football crazy country here I I know football is different where you are but football here is helmets and pads and and an
Oblong object and ever increasing salary cap numbers so each team this year gets a bump to the team salary cap of like $50 million and so we start to see another layer put on the already mindboggling Monopoly money salaries that are being doled out because there’s there’s an agreement in
Place that the players receive X percentage of the overall pot and so good for them they’re getting crazy amounts of money but it it’s so unrelatable from the fans standpoint that at some point and now you see college kids who are demanding a bag of cash before they will leave high school
To go to your University to play football or not or not play you know we’ll give it a try we don’t even know if this kid’s any good but he wants wants the Corvette he wants the bag of money um fans are being turned off to me
That’s one of the great disconnects fans are being off from all this and for so long one of the great threads of fan appeal throughout professional golf was if you don’t play well you’re not getting paid yeah and that’s gone too right so now the the no cut events both
On live and there are several now on the PGA tour so now it’s another layer of this Elite barrier between if I didn’t go to work I’m not getting paid and that kind of thing u in the world of golf now saying it’s it’s good we got you covered
It’s all fine because the money is so big my long- winded question Ian is is there a point at which somebody says no we’re not going to keep feeding the Beast golf has already has has invested or taken on debt for so much more dough than its valuation would Merit that something’s
Got to give you cannot just deficit spend your way into relevance and at some point you you might as a player you might want to prepare yourself for this jarring frightening scene out of the horror movie where instead of playing for $4 million this week it’s only for 1.5
Million perish the thought no but it’s well maybe you know that’s that’s what they call a correction isn’t it yeah if that if that were to happen and you know I I do Wonder um you know I talked to um Josh Carpenter from The Wall Street
Journal in the book and he was making the point that you know the golf agents now they’re expecting as I say the the the players to be receiving Millions for for winning tournaments and he saidou know a NASCAR driver gets more Spectators in the United States
Watching a race on a Sunday and is not getting anywhere near the same amount of money so I you know I think that’s where Gulf has to be very very careful going forward and Jay Monahan talks about the importance of the fans but the big problem that the game has is that every
Constituency is there to look after itself and the tours that means looking after the players looking after the members whether it’s DP World Tour over here or the PJ tour in America that is their priority it’s not looking after the fans right Masters is there to look
After Augusta National the RNA is there for the for the open and and to to administer in a rule making kind of uh capacity and that sort of thing likewise the USGA the PGA of America has its own agenda but there is no body over seeing everything and saying whoa hang on
Guys just can’t you see what’s going on here and you know to the extent that you know NBC and CBS and the the TV rights holders in America they are put putting their billions in because they want the tournaments to be in their airtime so how do you then do a global
Tour how’ you then take it around the world and how do you continue as you’re a a division head at one of the networks and you’re in charge of Sports Programming how do you go to your boss and your board and justify throwing another couple billion dollars at golf
When one of the board members old Jim over here is sitting here in between eating croissants and he pulls up the ratings summaries and he looks he looks at the trends of the last few years and whether you’re in a live broadcast meeting or a PGA Tour broadcast meeting
You’re seeing the arrow point in the wrong direction whatever whatever the starting point was it’s going towards the the basement as opposed to the penthouse and at some point some Network executive is going to say hey I know that it’s a legacy get for us I get I
Understand that and I know that it’s providing us programming on Saturday afternoon from 3:00 to 6:00 and Sunday but except for these maybe six times a year I don’t want it anymore I don’t care it’s too stinking expensive we’ll sell infomercials for the chopp and the bullet so people can make a new
Protein shake and we’ll make more money off of it than we are right now I don’t think we’re that far away from a from that part of an adjustment no I mean but how does it compare with the overall American Sports market in terms of of
Broadcasting I mean we know that NFL is is is humongous there ratings going up and up and up or are they have they plateaued and what about other sports other sports that would be competing tennis um I don’t know hockey basketball you know those those other because you know for
Me one of the the most jarring statistics to come out of all of this was that the Master’s final day was the most watched golf in America yeah but it was only the 131st most watched sporting event in America I’ve said that for years y I said if if um if Phil and
Tiger were coming down the stretch at Augusta on a beautiful sundrenched Sunday afternoon it would develop a rating it would create a rating that is golf’s all-time biggest rating and if it was a sitcom it would be in danger of cancellation so it’s and that’s probably a little exaggeration but not too much
Because the numbers are not are not where the rest of like if you put the NFL up against golf sorry I mean I’m a golf guy but the NFL is going to win 10 times out of 10 it seems like one of the great disconnections at least from where I’m
Sitting is that the expectation of the players has been outsized when you look at what they’re actually delivering from an impact standpoint the game is as popular more popular maybe than at any time in a generation you can’t get a tea time in America pretty much anywhere ever since
And during covid and the in the Resurgence of the popularity of getting outside and all the great things about golf that we love that’s as strong as ever equipment sales are strong every every bit of it but people are I mean you just have to monitor social media
You can see people are publicly declaring I don’t want nothing to do I’m not going to watch any wake me up when it’s time for the Masters I’ll watch that but otherwise if you’re the if you’re the midweek normal uh run-of-the-mill schedule on the pga2 or tournament uh if I’m the tournament
Director and I’m having to knock on the door of my title sponsors and say Hey you know you kind of tug at your tie a little bit little nervous you got the flop sweat coming down like you’re trying to sell them encyclopedias and you’re talking to them about having to almost double their
Sponsorship investment for an audience that is approaching half of where it was not that long ago that is what I would call a tough sales pitch yeah no I agree and you can see why you can see see why J Monahan pivoted and thought some Saudi money might be useful
Here um you know it’s I but I just think that that the big problem is the potential as you say the the the turnoff factor of of all of this you know I in my work as the BBC’s golf correspondent I’ve never been busier the sport has never been more newsworthy um
And the players have not carried you have never carried as much notoriety as they as they have right now and the Ridder cup uh enjoyed record viewing figures this side of the pond our listening Figures were incredible um I mean genuinely transcending and extraordinary so the potential is
There for the sport that’s the that’s the point but it’s got to be so careful and and who is going to administer the due care and attention that is needed is is one of the great questions for golf right now because everyone has got their own level of Interest involved well here
I promised you a few moments ago that we were winding down and then I went off on a long ramble so I will that was M was engaging I will wind it down now and remind everybody that the book is called golf Wars live in golf’s bitter battle
For power and identity you can pre-order it right now and it officially comes out everywhere books are sold on April 11 seems like it’s well timed April 11 somewhere there’s something else happening in the world of golf hey thank you so much for your time
And uh for the work you put into this it’s a great read and hopefully folks will dive into it and kind of get that behind the scenes look at what’s happening behind the scenes that’s very kind Bill thank you very much indeed oh
