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"This just in... Sung Jae signs deal with NASA to play in new space tour with events on mars and neptune." - @willwilcoxgolf (aka Sung Jae's caddie) on X in response to rumors around potentially joining LIV.
A late entry in Top 10 Golf Tweets of the Year thanks to the spacesuit image follow-up.
Scottie wins PGA Tour Player of the Year
EASTER EGGS FOR CHRISTMAS??
Scottie Scheffler won his fourth consecutive PGA Tour Player of the Year award and Nike absolutely cooked with their video celebrating the win.
Go check it out if you haven't seen it already but it goes way beyond just tugging at the heart strings—as the video ends with a quick pan of a baby onesie and the family stockings before the fourth trophy is placed on the fireplace and an end title card proclaiming "The More the Merrier".
As @teeupkickswithchris breaks down in his IG post, this thing was PACKED with easter eggs. Obviously there's the ones above and a bunch of plugs for upcoming Nike product strewn about.
But you also see a couple toy police cars pulling over an SUV alluding to his now infamous arrest.
And my favorite has to be the ravioli ornament on the tree that Chris thinks is an ode to his Masters dinner menu but astute followers may remember this was also the dish Scottie was making when he broke the wine glass, cut his hand, and missed a few tournaments because of it.
What's the PGA Tour up to?
THE TRADEMARK NERDS HAVE BEEN WORKING HARD
The trademark sleuths are some of the more impressive online busy-bodies around. Have you ever tried to use TESS, the online trademark search engine, before? It's like a half step away from Dewey Decimal system here. Zero organizational help, zero tutorials on how to read it, and zero clarity around what I'm even looking at.
All that to say, these people not only can actually read this @#** thing, but they can also operate with the precision of a neurosurgeon and track down the goings on of individual entities like the PGA Tour.
As I type this, I now realize that you could probably build an AI agent in about ten seconds that could automatically crawl and alert you for this type of information but that pretty much kills this whole joke I've got running so we'll press on.
The trademark nerds have uncovered some pretty cool PGA Tour news this year. The first was the tweet above from Sean Zak saying that the new slogan for the Tour is a direct shot at LIV with "Where the Best Belong". Rumors are swirling that Brooks Koepka is angling to come back and if the PGA wanted to just end this all right now, they should take the public suggestions around immediately reinstating him as a multiple Major winner. Game over for LIV.
Elsewhere, the PGA Tour appears to be getting into the golf nostalgia game with reports that they've filed a trademark to bring back the "Wonderful World of Golf" series which featured 1v1 matches of the world's best at premier golfing locations like Pebble Beach etc.
And finally, they filed for PGA Tour RISE listed under “Goods and Services” which also includes: “Downloadable video game software; Downloadable video game programs; Recorded video game software; Video game cartridges and discs; Video game cassettes.” So the 2k series could be in trouble...
Look at these smiles!
RORY V. SCOTTIE: DELIVERED
More than The Match, more than TGL, more than the Skins Game—the Golf Channel Games delivered a pretty compelling and joy-filled evening of golf. The key difference to me was that it felt like the pros genuinely enjoyed the evening and the variety of games allowed them to loosen up a bit from the standard, regulation-style play.
The clips from the Wednesday broadcast are circulating around but I think one of the best encapsulations of the evening was the fastest scramble competition where Team Rory completed a par 4 in 28 seconds. I mean look at these guys—how about those smiles!
And the other gem to come out of the evening was the revelation of a new nickname for Kaptain Keegan. All hail the "King of Exhibition Golf". A name he gave himself after some electric moments at the Golf Channel Games and a dominant victory at the Skins Game.
A WWII artillery shell finally has its day
HITTIN BOMBS AT ROYAL LIVERPOOL
Some explosive news out of Royal Liverpool this week—an unexploded artillery shell was found on the course.
"We’ve been undertaking some drainage work on the golf course and came across what appears to be an unexploded artillery shell," said the Course Secretary... how English of them.
While the footage above was pretty sweet, the more interesting piece to this was a Forbes article that detailed the temporary rules agreed upon by the club when the course was turned into a military base in WWII.
- Players were encouraged to collect bomb and shrapnel fragments to prevent damage to mowing equipment. (The WWII equivalent of "fix your divot marks.")
- During competition, if gunfire occurred or bombs were falling, players could take cover without penalty for ceasing play. (Only golfers would take live gunfire and still be concerned about sandbaggers adding strokes to their round.)
- The locations of delayed-action bombs were marked by red flags at a reasonable—but not guaranteed—safe distance. (Lawyers got involved on this one.)
- Shrapnel or bomb fragments within one club length of a ball in a bunker or fairway could be moved without penalty, and no penalty would be incurred if the ball moved during removal. (Fallen leaves... bomb fragments... same-same.)
- A ball moved during enemy action could be replaced, or if destroyed, dropped no closer to the hole without penalty. (<Seconds after their ball is obliterated by a bomb> "I wouldn't worry, looks like the heavy stuff isn't coming down for a while still.")
- A ball lying in a crater could be dropped on the same line, no closer to the hole, without penalty. (Ground under—eventual—repair?)
- A player whose swing was affected by a simultaneous bomb explosion could replay the shot from the same spot, incurring a one-stroke penalty. (After all these rules, a poor guy getting spooked out of his swing by a bomb falling STILL GETS ASSESSED A PENALTY STROKE?! We golfers are an insane breed.)
