Day 2 Musings From Centurion Club
As LIV Golf prepares to crown its first champion, some observations on what has transpired on and off the course
HEMEL HEMPSTEAD, England — Assorted thoughts on the eve of the final round of the inaugural LIV Golf event:
The team format means a lot more to the players than the rest of us
For all the snickering about the hokey names and the anatomical logos, the tournament-within-the-tournament team competition has captured the fancy of the players. Of course money is a factor: The winning four-man team will split $3 million without having to do any extra work. But professional golf is a lonely existence, and there appears to be genuine camaraderie among the teammates. “I actually felt it on my 17th hole, the first hole of the course,” Charl Schwartzel said following the first round. “I had a 5-footer for bogey, and I knew my score was counting for the team. I was more worried to make it for my team than I was worried for myself. Yeah, we were conscious of it, and you could see the leaderboards.” Over the first two rounds, the best two scores from each team count toward the standings; for Saturday’s final round, three scores will count, so even players who have no chance to win the individual competition have something to grind on.
Dustin Johnson is engaged
Actually, he just got married, but this week the future Hall of Famer appears locked in, although admittedly it can be hard to tell with DJ. During the second round he repeatedly covered the flagstick during an even-par 70 that left him T5, eight shots back of Schwartzel’s lead. Johnson has received little flack for defecting from the PGA Tour, coasting on his reputation as a good ol’ boy who just wants to make birdies, collect cash and have fun. But 19 months removed from his last victory, Johnson (days away from turning 38) is competing with the intensity of a man who has something to prove.
Say what you want about LIV, but the food and drink offerings for fans are A++
The seafood paella might be the best thing I’ve ever tasted at a sporting event, and there are a bevy of English beers available for the equivalent of six bucks, or a third of what suds were selling for at the PGA Championship.
I’ll say this about LIV, the food is A++ pic.twitter.com/WNxntKeKMl
— Alan Shipnuck (@AlanShipnuck) June 10, 2022
Jerry Foltz now has the toughest (but best?) job in golf
“Foltzy” was always criminally underused by U.S. networks, and being one of the lead voices for LIV was realistically his only shot to land a tower gig, so you can’t blame the guy for accepting a massive career upgrade. But now he is compelled to offer cheery insights about dozens of players whom even serious fans have never heard of, with nary a bathroom break … or maybe that’s more fun than having to talk about Jon Rahm’s maturation for the thousandth time? One overlooked aspect to the LIV experiment is how good the streaming experience will be for fans who care to tune in. With no corporate sponsors—and the Saudis won’t ever need them from a financial standpoint—the stream is wall-to-wall golf from start to finish.
Schwartzel with a long putter is quite dangerous
He has always had one of the most pleasing swings in golf, but despite his legendary birdie binge to win the 2011 Masters, Schwartzel has long been plagued by maddeningly inconsistent stretches on the greens. Having committed to a long putter early this year, he has looked rock-solid on the tricky greens at Centurion Club. After rounds of 65-66, he leads Hennis Du Plessis by three and is five shots clear of third. At 37, Schwartzel still has plenty left in the tank. He will be a cornerstone of this year’s International Presidents Cup team, provided the PGA Tour softens its hard-line stance and lets LIV players back into the fold. That intrigue will be the story of the summer. In the meantime, LIV has a champion to crown. One more day, and the first chapter of this controversial venture will be in the books.