Premier Golf League Latest: Players And Agents Convene At Riviera; Phil Predicts He’ll Have Decision By The Players
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Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson walk by the 13th hole home where a PGL meet-and-greet was held.
Buzz on and off the Riviera Country Club grounds included continued discussion about the proposed Premier Golf League.
As Eamon Lynch reported for Golfweek, a Tuesday gathering was attended by most player agents and seven prominent players, allowing for potential PGL targets to hear the group’s pitch.
I can report that among the seven attendees were Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, Justin Rose, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed. They heard a presentation from Premier League backers inside the 13th hole-adjacent home of asset manager Ahmed Tayeb and his wife, art collector Cherine Magrabi-Tayeb.
On site rumors were flying that Mickelson was ready to reach a decision on the proposed league last week. Since he’d almost assuredly be a founding team captain and a major draw even as he nears 50, Mickelson’s verdict could make or break the proposed Tour.
When asked at Torrey Pines he was “intrigued,” before playing in Saudi Arabia with league officials in that week’s pro-am. Asked after missing the Genesis Invitational cut where he stood, Mickelson told those of us assembled he was “not really ready to talk about” his position.
“I’m going to play Bay Hill and Players, I’m going to guess by the Players I’m going to have a pretty good opinion. I would guess. I’m not going to promise that. I’ll probably have an opinion by then.”
Besides Tiger Woods, who reported his team was looking into the proposed league and could have financial incentives to join it, other players interviewed would not rule out the league and two likely candidates for founding captain status in the proposed team portion were expansive with their thoughts.
“The concept is very good,” said the eventual Genesis winner Adam Scott when I discussed it with him Tuesday of tournament week. “Professional golf on the PGA Tour is in a very good place. There are a lot of opportunities for professionals to play. However, I feel like having some sort of premier tour, would be better for the game of golf almost as a whole and a way to follow the top players and it could have a positive impact on the game.”
Scott said he had not engaged in direct conversations with the league but wanted to learn more.
Justin Rose confirmed that his agent, Mark Steinberg, has been running interference for him with the league founders. The 2013 U.S. Open champion attended last week’s private gathering and discussed his largely positive views on the league concept while reiterating multiple times that he needs questions answered. As for joining the league, Rose is “hedging for sure with this thing right now” and hopes a resolution comes soon.
“I think it needs to come to a head shortly, otherwise it becomes too much noise for noise sake,” he said Friday. “There’s obviously a lot of incentives for guys to want to be interested in it. And it’s a redistribution of all the economics that are involved in golf.”
Rose was referring to an increasingly problematic notion facing the PGA Tour. Namely, that top players see tournaments continually added where purses are funded by the same media rights pool that also funds lesser events. Meanwhile, the people who do sell tickets, aren’t paid for the attention and tournament income they deliver.
“Format wise it’s about seeing the top players playing against each other more regularly. I think we’d all like to see that but it’s often not as simple as that. There’s 100’s of questions that need to be answered, which don’t seem to be getting answered very quickly.”
One of Rose’s primary questions involves venues. The group’s documents pledge to take events to the best courses in the world and list several ambitious sites, including last week’s Genesis host, Riviera Country Club. But the combination of modern day tournament needs and a reduced number of classic courses capable of testing the world’s best, could be a limiting factor.
“Venue quality is one of the most important things,” Rose said. “Whether the purse is $8 million or $9 million, that’s not how I’m choosing my schedule.
“When I hosted the British Masters, golf course was everything for me so I think that’s a huge thing. Now we’re talking about 18 brand new events, the talk is the best golf courses around the world. I’d like to see a list.”
Rose is, however, bullish on many elements of the proposed schedule as an “international player” who is torn with the “loyalty question” of wanting to support both the PGA Tour and European Tour.
“The attractive thing is the schedule,” Rose said of the proposed January to September schedule. “I always feel for me, taking time off and trying to play the European Tour as well, I don’t play much on the PGA Tour in October, November, December, January and I wake up 2000 points behind. You’re always playing catch up in the season long race, so to have something that was a bit more easy as an International player, would fit me better.”
Rose plays 24 weeks a year and says the 18-plus-4 majors notion balances out with the likelihood of more international travel.
“You could argue three rounds, trims wear and tear. It’s a bit more international travel, and might be more wear and tear on the body. So for me, it washes out.”
But others? Say, Tiger Woods?
“Tiger for example, that’s a lot. Some guys will have to weigh that up.”
Rose is struggling seeing how things unfold in terms of player commitments
“I don’t see a situation where eight guys go, or four go. It’d be an all or none situation, and I don’t know how it gets to that point and I don’t even know if that point is good.”
“It’s interesting, and lot of pressure with that too,” he said. “You’ve got to pick and choose your team every day. If you’re going to do it, you want to be one of the guys involved in the ownership structure. Again, many questions about how it would operate, what the value would be. I don’t understand the economics behind the franchise model. Yet.”
