On Tuesday, July 11, 2023 the Chief Operating Officer of the PGA Tour, Ron Price, and independent director on the Policy Board, Jimmy Dunne, went to Room SH-216 in the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington, DC. They were called there by the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. The topic: The PGA-LIV Deal: Implications for the Future of Golf and Saudi Arabia's Influence in the United States.
The hearing was a significant moment in the professional game. It's certainly not common that the leaders of a major professional sports organization are called to testify before Senators about their business dealings. But these are certainly not common times in elite golf.
Just five weeks ago, we found out about the... let's call it agreement to work on an agreement(?) between the PGA Tour and LIV. The news was dropped on us like a piano falling out of an upper floor apartment: hard, fast, and with a loud noise comprised of many different notes, sounds, and bangs.
It was first reported as a merger; we later found out it wasn't actually a merger. It was reported that all litigation between the PGA Tour and LIV would be dropped. It was reported that an agreement was made between these two organizations about their operations and co-existence in the future with regard to operations. What this agreement actually is was just a "hey, we're better off working together for the overall betterment of the professional game" accord. (Now, the involved parties are actually working on a formal agreement.)
Players didn't know it was coming. Many on the PGA Tour were (are) rightfully displeased (at a minimum) with the news. LIV players (not rightfully) took a victory lap.
The golf world was shocked. Twitter was chirping with takes from anyone who has even a slight interest in golf, a smart phone, and the ability to type 280 characters.
Casual fans, journalists, recreational golfers, and those who follow the game (and Twitter bots) seemed split on whether this agreement was good for the professional game.
Five weeks later, in the Hart Senate Building, Senators on the Subcommittee who participated in the hearing also seemed divided, but on whether Congress should even be involved in this, and if so, what the appropriate level of involvement should be.
There is a lot of divisiveness in the professional game right now. And it's probably never a great thing for the professional game for its leaders (or at least those who decide to honor the Senate's request) to appear before a subcommittee of the Homeland Security Committee.
But those are all issues, affairs, and concerns of the professional game.
While that hearing was occurring on Capitol Hill, I went to the golf course: the true arena of the game. The place where us mere mortals of the game actually pay to play.
The place where I stepped up to the first tee and topped the hell of out my iron shot. The ball bounced off the tee marker in front of me and then bounced back in to the weeds directly to the left of me. (That's a true story, that's how my round started on Tuesday.)
The place where my foursome shared a laugh at that... misfortune.
The place where I am convinced I hit every single tree on one golf hole.
The place where the beverage cart couldn't come soon enough. The place where when it did come, our foursome cracked an ice cold domestic and all toasted to the game.
The place where everyone in the group can empathize with the difficulty and challenge of hitting a stationary white ball, then (hopefully) finding it, and then hitting it again.
The place where, no matter how they themselves are playing, cheer on great shots and birdies from the others in their group.
The place where that one good shot or one good swing convinces us that "yeah, I can kind of play this game."
The place where we celebrate our little victories and agonize over our small defeats with a beverage on the patio after the round as the sunsets.
The place where, regardless of if we shot our personal best or our personal worst, we look up tee time openings for tomorrow.
That is golf.
While the future of the professional game is being negotiated in board rooms and debated in Washington, DC, golf itself is much more than the professional game. The game of golf we know will be there for us.
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