Flushing It
@flushingitgolf • 89,792 subscribers
Bridging the gap between established journalism and fan media. Podcast available, search: ‘Flushing It Golf’. Contact Tom Hobbs: [email protected]
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Max Homa says he doesn’t agree with the ruling on Bryson DeChambeau yesterday and says he knows Bryson would “never cheat the game of golf”: “I'm not really, I guess, wanting to be able to decide on fair, because they're the rules officials. I only saw one angle, and in my opinion I didn't agree with the ruling. I know there's another angle that -- side on, it's always hard to tell if it improves anything. “All I know is I've known Bryson for a very long time, and he's an interesting human at times, but I know he would never cheat the game of golf. I don't really love how it happened. It's not that the R&A said that he did it intentionally, but that rule as a professional golfer feels like it's written inherently to protect against people trying to improve their lie. So I just hope that people don't have that -- that doesn't create a narrative because I don't believe that of him. “But again, I'm not going to sit here -- it's really hard to tell anything. So yeah, that one is not up for me to judge. But it's a shame how that ruling feels because it seems like -- we were talking about it this morning. It's like you would try to call somebody out in junior golf because you could tell they were stomping around the ball. It didn't look like that to me. But that's not up to me. I just don't think that's in his character, so it's a shame I think that's kind of how it's being portrayed to some.” The Open
Flushing It1,532,318 Aufrufe • vor 18 Stunden
Rory McIlroy just went off on one about Bryson DeChambeau’s ruling saga last night at The Open, calling him “performative” and said there’s “no doubt that he improved the line of his backswing.” Rory also said he’s “not particularly fond of him” and he thinks Bryson tried to hold “the tournament hostage”.
Flushing It1,288,044 Aufrufe • vor 16 Stunden
Open Championship leader Sam Burns played with Bryson DeChambeau today and he said the fans were very supportive of him after yesterday’s ruling. He also said he didn’t think Bryson deserved the penalty: “I thought the fans were very supportive of Bryson today. We didn't discuss it any. “In my personal opinion, I honestly feel bad for Bryson in the situation that he was in. From my perspective, I didn't feel like maybe there was enough evidence for him to deserve a penalty there. “I feel bad for him. I think he played an incredible round of golf late yesterday, and it's unfortunate to have something kind of like that where they come in after your round and tell you you're being docked two shots. “But props to him. He came out and played a really nice round of golf today, and that takes a lot of grit to be able to come out and do that. So I was impressed.” The Open
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Matt Fitzpatrick thinks gambling is “definitely an issue” that’s affecting how fans behave at golf tournaments: “Yeah, it's a great question because you just look at all the messages people get -- footballers, tennis players, you name it, everyone's getting messages of, oh, you missed that penalty; you cost me this. Oh, you didn't make a birdie; cost me this. “I've had my fair share. I would say every golfer that's played a professional tournament has had a message of abuse from someone that is related to gambling. I mean, you could see it this week. You go and type in a player's name who maybe isn't playing well, maybe someone who's favored to play well, you type the name into Twitter and you'll just see their name followed by abuse after abuse after abuse. “It's difficult because I've had 20 quid on England to win the World Cup, but at the same time, if it doesn't come in, I'm not going to send a message to Harry Kane and be like, why did you play rubbish? There's obviously individuals that have that problem. “I don't know, obviously I don't condone gambling in the slightest. It doesn't -- it's not really for me. It's a thing that me and my mate do every World Cup and Euros, that's it. “For me, it's definitely becoming a problem and the issue is, particularly in golf, it would be very easy to influence a bet, whether it's you're shouting on someone's backswing, shouting on a putting stroke. It's really easy. Obviously that is really hard to monitor, but it is definitely an issue.” Matt Fitzpatrick The Open
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Rory McIlroy say the Genesis Scottish Open is the blueprint for how to elevate National Opens, but he hopes with the new PGA Tour system that the open nature of the events isn’t effected. “Yeah, so I think since this event has been co-sanctioned, it really has went from strength-to-strength. You look at the quality of the field this week, you get a great sponsor like Genesis on board. They have kept making improvements to the golf course and the facilities each and every year. “So I think for like these strong National Opens, this, to me, is the blueprint of what it can be and what can happen. Yeah, I think this is a perfect -- it's a perfect lead-in to The Open Championship. You know, I've thought could the Canadian Open become co-sanctioned, as well, leading into the U.S. Open as well. That could be interesting, as well, trying to build out this series of National Opens that have a bit more meaning behind them. “Yeah, I don't know how that fits into the Track 1 and Track 2 and all that stuff. But I see this event and I see how well it's done over these past few years, and I definitely I feel like it's the blueprint for a lot of the other National Opens.” He followed up with: “We've got to be careful with that because then these National Opens lose the fabric of what they are, right. So that's -- you can't call yourself a National Open anymore if it's a closed off tournament and there's a certain number much guys. “I think these events need to be treated differently than, you know, the Travelers Championship or RBC Heritage or whatever else that are going to be in the Champions Series. These tournaments need to have -- there's a little bit more nuance with these tournaments for sure.” Rory McIlroy DP World Tour PGA TOUR Genesis Scottish Open
Flushing It471,402 Aufrufe • vor 10 Tagen
Keegan Bradley was asked about the treatment of Wyndham Clark by the New York fans at last week’s US Open: “I think that golf is in the process of leaving just the golf world, where people are coming to tournaments that are sports fans and that's how, you know, people in New York cheer on the Knicks or the Giants or whatever. And they're coming to tournaments and they're sports fans, and they're golfers, but I think that we're entering a time where the game is really growing in popularity. I think people are coming to golf tournaments to have a good time. “I found it a little surprising, considering Wyndham's American, and at the U.S. Open, but Scottie Scheffler's a really popular player going for the Grand Slam. Unfortunate, but hey, I mean, Wyndham won, so he handled it really well. I think it's just, we're in an interesting time here where golf is really taking off and we're seeing a different group of people coming to these tournaments.” PGA TOUR TravelersChamp
Flushing It777,204 Aufrufe • vor 24 Tagen
Since Covid, golf has become increasingly more mainstream. Scottie Scheffler was asked ahead of the Travelers Championship how he feels about the impact it’s had on the game: “Yeah, I think it's great for golf to become more mainstream. I think you see, especially since COVID, there's been a tremendous growth in the amount of people that are playing golf. “I think it's the greatest game in the world. You learn a lot about life. I met some of my best friends in the whole world playing golf. So for people getting involved in the sport I think is tremendous. “Like I said, getting to spend four hours with somebody outside hanging out playing a game is something that's pretty rare in the busyness I think that we live in today. So getting out taking some time with your buddies and going to play golf is one of the most fun things you can do. Especially when you start playing, you learn a lot about life and how to handle things and it's a challenging game as well, so overall I think it's just a great sport for anybody to get involved in.” PGA TOUR TravelersChamp
Flushing It538,913 Aufrufe • vor 24 Tagen
Scottie Scheffler explains why playing too many events in a row can mentally drain players and referred to Tiger Woods always playing a limited schedule: “I think when you look at this sport it's unique in a sense of like the amount of time we spend in front of people throughout a week. Like for me to play four days of tournament golf, from the moment I step out on to the driving range if we're playing at a four hour pace that's over five hours, five and a half hours if you include this part of my day, where we're in front of people. And doing that four days in a row in a mental sport I think can take a toll on you. “I think that's why you see a guy like Tiger can only play so many events because I think mentally the challenge of just being in front of people for that long and being on and what it takes in toward to compete week in week out takes a lot out of you mentally. So for me playing more than three weeks in a row is extraordinarily difficult. I can't handle much more than that. “When you look at the season now I think it, for family time it's great to have an off-season as well, just for us for me to be able to be at home with my family is important. As far as the cadence goes, yeah, I definitely have a cadence that I prefer when it comes to scheduling and there are definitely risks cramming a bunch of tournaments into little windows just because it's hard to play that many tournaments in a row. It's hard to be on for that many times. It's hard to get yelled at that many times in a row throughout a round of golf. It just is. That's why for me three weeks in a row is kind of my max.” PGA TOUR TravelersChamp
Flushing It447,887 Aufrufe • vor 24 Tagen
Brooks Koepka reacts to the situation: “I just felt terrible for, I believe her name is Shay, so from all the reports you've got she's okay, thankfully. So that's all that matters, as long as she's okay, I know she's probably a little scared and I just felt for her at the time. So it's unfortunate, it shouldn't have happened, but as long as she's okay, no, nothing crazy happened to her, then it will be okay.” Brooks Koepka PGA TOUR
Flushing It2,517,464 Aufrufe • vor 3 Monaten
Executives hit the market with LIV Golf 2.0 last week, framing it as “built by the players, for the players.” It has an emphasis on player ownership, an increased schedule utilising national opens, but reduced purses. The schedule consists of 10 team events, and 8-10 national opens, with 5 “team majors” and 5 “team signature events”. The “majors” are to be played on 5 continents in line with the most successful events: Australia, South Africa, UK, Hong Kong and Mexico. And the signature events are to be hosted predominantly in the US, around the 4 major championships. The purse sizes is fluid and dependent on the new investors. From an extensive amount of sourcing, I expect them to be $15 million for 5 events and $10 million for the rest. With a potential weighting that distributes more money at the top of the leaderboard. A well placed LIV Golf source said: “We are very confident future purses will be above DP World Tour levels and player take home will be in line with the PGA Tour.” From sourcing within player ranks, the purse sizes are, obviously, one of the most important factors impacting their commitment. Several players suggested to me if the purses fall in line with the DP World Tour they probably wouldn’t stay. But at $10-$15 million it’s a different proposition. More clarity is needed though on both LIV Golf’s future and the new structure of the PGA Tour to get a better picture. I’ve spoken directly to at least a dozen players who told me they are fully committed to LIV Golf, and if it exists, they will be there. Bryson DeChambeau is leading that charge and it’s understating it to say he’s committed. He desperately wants LIV Golf to succeed and to build a global golf league that’s built for the 21st century. He’s thinking long term and his enthusiasm is truly infectious. But a big question is what will Jon Rahm do? It’s difficult to get any real feel of it as he didn’t do media outside press conferences. But he did answer my question on whether he was taking a similar role to Bryson in trying to secure investment and he replied, “I am not, no.” The full quote is on my timeline. I was told, however, that Jon had encouraged other players to avoid reading the media because of the amount of misinformation. There was also a Legion XIII hospitality area, where the GM, Jeff Koski, was hosting current and potential future partners while offering Imperial Gran Reserva, the Rioja that Jon served at his 2024 Masters Champions Dinner. The players will be given equity in the league itself or team franchises to encourage them to stay, further committing those taking this option to the success of the league’s future. The majority of the media rights will be returned to the players. Giving them the opportunity to build their own online brands on socials and sign personal partnerships. The size of the fields is unclear at this stage, but the shotgun start will continue, so the possibility of adding 2 more expansion teams to take the league to 15 franchises (60 players) would likely be top end. I fully expect them to utilise the Asian Tour pathways to fill many of the open spots, especially if players leave. That would help further appease the OWGR concerns and increase the ability to build their own stars. But sources were also confident they could attract established names with potential equity in the league. Multiple sources indicated that Fox Sports are ready to sign a new deal with LIV Golf as soon as the league is ready. LIV Golf are also working with networks on a potential broadcast model that incorporates TV viewership with YouTube and social media in an attempt to unlock revenue streams across digital IP. I’ve spent several days going back and forth through notes and transcripts, sourcing information the best I can. I think even in these early stages as they take LIV Golf 2.0 to market this is as fair and accurate of a representation as I can offer. Let me know your thoughts in the comments 👍
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Brooks Koepka has spent the last 2 Signature Events waiting at the course as the first alternate for a potential spot in the field, but it didn’t come. He explained his motivation to do that ahead of the Myrtle Beach Classic: “So, listen, the way I look at it is I'm itching to get in, but I'm accepting of where I'm at, and I understand that there's prices to pay for coming back, and I'm willing to accept those and whatever I have to do. “I knew this year was going to be challenging to even get in them. I kind of thought maybe by around U.S. Open, but to know that I'm kind of knocking on the door already is a good thing. Just the answer to everything is play better, and you're in.” Then he followed up by talking about the opportunity this week in the opposite field event: “Yeah, no, it's a great opportunity. I think the stretch that I've got, I've got three in a row here. Hopefully I can improve on my position, my standing and see where it's at. Like I said, good golf takes care of everything else, and hopefully will be in them soon enough.” Brooks starts the first leg a of triple header with the PGA Championship next week and then the CJ Cup Byron Nelson. He’ll be looking for a good run to help qualify for the remaining Signature Events of the season and the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Brooks Koepka PGA TOUR
Flushing It1,274,801 Aufrufe • vor 2 Monaten
Scottie Scheffler explains his decision to skip next week’s Signature Event at the Truist Championship: “Yeah, my schedule for me always operates on kind of a cadence. Like I typically don't love playing the week before a major. The Tour right now's in a great position. It's nice to have so many tournaments that are really good and, I mean, people always ask me about what's my favorite tournament out here and it's always hard to say because we get treated so well at all the tournaments. There's really not a tournament that I played that I haven't liked. There's not a tournament that I wouldn't want to go back to. If I had it my way I would play every single week out here. “But just the nature of our sport and the demand on our time and everything it's not really possible. I have to set up my schedule in certain type of cadence. And for me, playing three, four weeks in a row is a challenge. Like, if y'all were to walk with me each day of the tournament and to see what we have to do in order to play one week, having to do that four weeks in a row would -- I wouldn't be able to perform my best. So when I show up at a tournament I want to be able to give it my best and I have to set up my schedule in a certain way and, you know, the chips kind of fall where they do.” Scottie tees it up tomorrow at the Cadillac Championship alongside Cameron Young at Trump Doral. PGA TOUR Cadillac Championship
Flushing It1,405,989 Aufrufe • vor 2 Monaten
Didn’t think I’d ever see a “shirts off” celebration in women’s golf 😂
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Several current LIV players are playing a co-sanctioned PGA Tour event this week for the first time. Ahead of the Genesis Scottish Open, Brooks Koepka was asked if he’d like to see more of it: “I'm not a part of those conversations, so I don't know.” He went on to say: “I don't have an opinion either way. I'm more focused on myself. I think that's the one thing I think I've learned through all of this is if I can just focus on myself and be the best golfer, best father, husband, whatever, I'm doing more than I want to do right now, and being present with them and play good golf. I feel like that's all that matters to me. What happens to everybody else, I'm not so concerned with.” Brooks Koepka DP World Tour PGA TOUR Genesis Scottish Open
Flushing It132,464 Aufrufe • vor 10 Tagen
Bryson DeChambeau has taken a prominent role in trying to secure investment for LIV Golf since the PIF withdrew funding. So, how does the league’s other main star, Jon Rahm, feel about that, and is he taking a similar role? “I am not, no. “I said it in Spanish; I don't know how to translate it to English. It would be more of a stay-in-your-lane type situation as it goes to me. I know nothing about business. I'm never going to claim to know anything about business, and if I was in a business pitch, I would not know the first thing to say. My job is to play golf, and I'll say it's is hard enough as it is, especially this week. “But if any player who knows what they're doing is willing to do certain things like that, I think it can only help. To have insight from a player on a meeting like that can help, and I'm open for any suggestions possible, but I would also say I don't have the free time that Bryson has to be flying around the country to attend meetings with three little ones and one on the way. Even if I wanted to, I don't know if I could do it.” Jon Rahm Rodriguez LIV Golf
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Anthony Kim has been nominated for Best Comeback Athlete at the ESPYS after his dramatic win over Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm at LIV Golf Adelaide. AK was away from the sport for more than a decade to claim his first victory in 16 years. It’s not just the comeback story of the year, it’s one of the best sporting comebacks ever after everything he’s been through. You can vote for AK at the link below: Anthony Kim 4Aces GC
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I travelled to Valderrama last week fully expecting to write LIV Golf’s obituary. There were rumours of essential vendors pulling the plug, and from the outside, it appeared as though the uncertainty had escalated to near fatal levels. But when I arrived on pro am day, it was the same as it ever was. The range was bustling with high profile business leaders anxiously waiting to tackle Valderrama’s challenge. And players were preparing for another $30 million tournament. However, under the surface, it’s still far from “business as usual.” The fate of LIV Golf was described to me by a senior player as “incredibly simple. We need funding. If we don’t get it, it’s over. If we do, then we get to work on building the future.” That certainly is a simple way of looking at it. But trying to piece together how a cash strapped sports league can continue when it’s currently owned by a sovereign wealth fund that’s cut the billions of dollars in investment is not that easy. The future is being described by executives as “LIV Golf 2.0,” and they are fortunate enough that the lavish spending of the previous leadership means they already have a talent pool of stars to draw large crowds around the globe, attracting 6 figure attendances twice this year. They also have the infrastructure and the IP. Now they just need someone to invest. This leaves a big question. What does the PIF want in return? Nobody within the league is sure of the answer, but there’s likely just 2 options. The PIF either take pennies on the dollar for selling ownership, or they bankrupt the organisation and risk a high profile PR disaster that comes with voiding so many massive contracts. It’s difficult to see them risking bankruptcy. Especially when they could have pulled the plug in Mexico City and have committed to showcasing events until the end of the season. So it’s more likely they just walk away, exonerating themselves of the extensive burden to creditors. This leaves another big question. Who would take on a business that has been haemorrhaging cash every quarter for 4 years? While on a range walk ahead of the pro am day, I asked this question 2 major players in the business industry. Both of them suggested private equity firms are always looking for opportunities to take on distressed assets they can purchase for virtually nothing. “Someone will see value and believe they can turn it around. They always do. Live sport is hot right now.” I’m not in private equity, but it’s not too hard to see how a global sports league that’s had billions of dollars poured in from the start would be an attractive proposition if offered for a discounted $250-350 million investment. Especially when one of the biggest stars in the sport, Bryson DeChambeau, is fully committed and leading the charge. Scott O’Neil, Chris Heck and the other executives were hired to turn the business around and stop the cash burn. They began working on LIV Golf 2.0 during the 2025 off season, but with the PIF pulling funding, that’s now just on a greatly accelerated timeline. Once LIV Golf Andalucia finishes, the league faces a 7 week break in their schedule where executives will be hitting the market in an attempt to secure investment. They appear bullish on how it will go, but it won’t be an easy task. With PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp set to speak after a board meeting at the Travelers Championship, and several LIV Golf players competing in events on other tours, there is bound to plenty of speculation. The next 7 weeks are probably going to be the most important in the history of LIV Golf.
Flushing It487,730 Aufrufe • vor 1 Monat