This I did not see coming. After that commanding performance at the Scottish Open last week, Rory McIlroy was, hands down, the man to watch at Royal Liverpool this week. You look at the odds, how players have been performing, local favourites, and place your friendly wagers, and my money has been entirely on the Ulsterman to win the 2023 Open Championship.
And I stand by that speculation at the time this is being written, just post the second round of the Open. However, there is one man in the fray who might turn the tables on that bet. And as strange as it may appear to betting men, I’m actively rooting for Shubhankar Sharma to do precisely that. Two rounds to go, and our man is one of five players within five shots of the lead held by Brian Harman, who seems as taken aback by his own performance, as are most commentators. Harman is a world-class player and almost always in the mix, but he’s had little success on links courses. And links courses are precisely the kind of layouts with the weather to boot, which can make short work of a big lead. Not wishing that on Harman lest you think I’m that petty. May the best man win!
There was no doubt about who that was for fans who watched McIlroy trounce local lad Robert McIntyre, to win the Scottish Open last week. It wasn’t just that he won: it was how he did it, trailing by a shot with two holes to go on the final day. On a typical windswept links day at the Renaissance Club at North Berwick, McIlroy had to muster his entire arsenal of specialty shots, the pick of which was undoubtedly a 205-yard 2-iron drilled low beneath the strong headwind into the green on the 72nd hole. McIlroy made the 11-foot putt to win by one stroke. “That’s probably going to be up there amongst the best shots I’ll hit in my career,” he said later, adding that it was, “…obviously a big confidence boost heading into the Open next week.” It was his first win in Scotland.
At the presser then, McIlroy didn’t pull any punches. And that included questions about more than just his game preparedness. “If LIV Golf was the last place to play golf on earth, I would retire. That’s how I feel about it,” he said responding to questions regarding recent revelations from the initial framework agreement between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which bankrolls LIV Golf.
Apparently, a ‘Best of Both Worlds,’ presentation given by PIF’s financial advisors — PCP Capital Partners — before the agreement was signed, included proposals for McIlroy and Tiger Woods to own LIV teams and play in as many as ten LIV events in a year, as well as for PIF’s governor, Yasir al-Rumayyan to become a member of the R&A and Augusta National. Now while the case for Rumayyan getting a seat at the table in the R&A (or the USGA for that matter) is legit and may well see fruition, the bit about Tiger and Rory is almost certainly beyond the realm of possibility. While McIlroy has been very vocal about his thoughts, post news of the merger (or takeover, if you prefer), Tiger has not said a word. But it’s no speculation that Tiger can’t play ten events a year, on any tour, anymore.
The PIF presentation also outlined a reorganisation of the PGA Tour, which presently operates as a tax-exempt nonprofit. Currently, the tour’s sponsors, which include NBC, ESPN, and Paramount Global, bankroll the tour’s operating costs and payments to players. Under the new proposal, once the PGA Tour recouped costs, “excess profits” would be paid out via a royalty to a new PIF-owned media company, the presentation said. The PGA Tour brought in revenue of $1.6 billion in 2021, with the bulk coming from media rights, according to the group’s most recent filing. Meanwhile, the drama over the merger carries on, this time in the US Senate. Turns out that the merger isn’t a done deal until just yet.
What has become clear over the past few weeks, even to the merger’s biggest adversaries like McIlroy, is that the financial pressure faced by the PGA Tour due to legal entanglements with the LIV Tour was unsustainable. That coupled with the existential threat of star players moving to LIV triggering an exodus of sponsors meant that the PGA Tour faced a battle of survival in which burying the hatchet was the only viable course of action.
As things stand now, it’s hard not to speculate on the possibility of the deal being nixed by the order of the Senate subcommittee or the Justice Department. In that situation, it’s almost certain that PGA Tour members —barring a few — will move en masse to LIV Golf. Looks like either way, for the PGA Tour as we’ve known it…the end is nigh.
For now, though, let’s get our heads back in the game. At this stage, I’m seriously conflicted: Rory deserves to win, Sharma… I don’t want to say anything lest I jinx his chances, and Harman, well, he’s the dependable, consistent, low-profile, polite kind of player who rarely enters the spotlight. The last time someone like that won the Open Championship was exactly 20 years ago. And Ben Curtis was an American too. Promises to be an exciting final round.