3 minute read
SPORTS & MORE
WHERE HAVE SOME OF THE PRO GOLFERS GONE?
R2023 Season
March 12 - American Brass
Ralph Morrow
... a veteran sports columnist, says the only sport he doesn’t follow is cricket. That leaves plenty of others to fill his time.
ralphmoro1936 @gmail.com
The other day, I was flipping through the index on my television set and popped onto a LIV golf tournament. I stayed for a while and went back a few more times the next few days. There were several golfers whom I hadn’t seen on the PGA channels for a few months. Actually, I hadn’t thought of most of the LIV golfers.
If you’ll recall, a year or so ago, the rich constituency, backed by Saudi Arabia, started up their own LIV golf league and a string of tournaments to compete with the PGA. The multimillion-dollar paydays for golfers who left the PGA and joined LIV were astronomical. (The PGA ruled that the golfers couldn’t play under both umbrellas.)
Each LIV tournament winner receives $4 million, while the lastplace finisher in a field of 48 gets $120,000. Team winners split $3 million. The top player at season’s end earns $18 million.
This year, LIV has a nearly full schedule of tournaments. The reasons you didn’t hear of LIV last season were that most of their tournaments were held in Europe or Asia and they had no TV coverage. This year, they’re televised and have some humorous announcers, including David Feherty. He and the other announcers, with whom I am not familiar, have an objective to entertain as well as to inform.
The scoring is similar to what we’re used to, but not completely. Of course, there’s the individual scoring that tells who wins. But there are also payments to the best of four-man teams. Captains select teams of several golfers, then further reduce it to four players who are designated as their teams. They even have names such as Crushers, 4Aces, Fireballs, Rippers, Smash, Majestiques and so on. You’ll recognize team members because they’ll be wearing similar shirts. The captain has the authority to change the members of his four-man team between each round. Also, LIV tournaments are only three days, or 54 holes of golf, rather than the PGA’s 72 holes over four days.
LIV players whom I recognized included Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Charles Howell III, Paul Casey, Taylor Gooch, Matthew Wolff, Graeme McDowell, Abraham Ancer, Marc Leishman, Patrick Read, Ian Poulter, Bubba Watson, Brooks Koepka, Charl Schwartzel, Bryson DeChambeau, Pat Perry, Harold Varner, Kevin Na and Cameron Smith.
I believe I had seen each player’s name mentioned previously with LIV. So there were no surprises last week.
The LIV viewership on the CW network has grown from its first tournament of the season, which drew a dismal number of viewers. At the recent tournament in Mexico, total viewership was listed as an average of 3.2 million total viewers. The Los Angeles market had more than 40,000 viewers on Saturday. In Chicago, the figure was 12,000, according to Deadline. Out of the top 10 markets, the worst showing was Philadelphia (5,900 Saturday and 3,500 Sunday) and Washington, D.C. (2,100 and 3,400).
As Deadline reported, eight of the CBS-owned CW affiliates declined to air LIV tournaments.
However, LIV officials have reported that whenever CW stations do not telecast the tournaments, other non-CW channels have picked them up.
The Scoreboard
Shannon And Ailee Briggs
This Week In Keys Sports
Senior/Freshman
Key West Wrestling
It isn’t too often that two athletes from the same team bring home runnerup medals from the state finals in an individual sport such as wrestling. But when those athletes have the last name Briggs, the odds become significantly greater. Teammates and sisters Shannon and Ailee Briggs did just that last week, taking their rightful place on their respective podiums and making Conch history with their FHSAA 1A second place medals, capping off a stellar inaugural season for Lady Conchs wrestling.
“As a coach I couldn’t be any prouder of both of them,” coach Chaz Jimenez said of the sisters.
For their dedication, leadership, and amazing accomplishments, Shannon and Ailee Briggs are this week’s Keys Weekly Athletes of the Week.
“Ailee is determined to be great, and is extremely dedicated to her craft. She is a talented wrestler, but it is her heart and work ethic that sets her apart. Shannon is a great leader and has become the glue that binds our program together. She never quits and has a true heart of a champion.”
By:
