From today's SGS, via Michael Wolf aka BamaBearcat:

Masters Fun Fact: Augusta National almost had a 15 story tall radio tower on the property. Before Bobby Jones acquired the Berkman family estate, the property was briefly owned by Perry Stoltz. Stoltz was in the process of developing a string of resorts across the SE United States when he acquired the Augusta land. Each resort would have included a golf course and 15 story hotel with a large radio tower on top. Stoltz’s plan was to link together the towers at each resort to create one of the countries first radio networks. 

Hey everyone, after listening to the latest podcast where they were talking about old courses that used to host the Honda got me thinking, what are some courses from the past you would want to see back on tour? Could be good, bad, crazy, wacky, or all of the above haha. I wasn't a huge golf course fan back in the day so my opinions are pretty limited, but feel free to chime in!

https://x.com/mattracquet/status/2025970938014003309?s=20

Thought this was a great post, about the loss of variety in professional tennis driven by a combination of technology and playing surface homogenization. Don't really have a ton to add except that it feels like every part of this applies to the PGA Tour and professional golf.

Sorry to overlay this with a new post, but here's the latest iteration (with enhancements!).

https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/john.cusick/viz/PGA_Signature_Events/Summary

The AON's are outperforming the Sponsors through 2 events.

https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/john.cusick/viz/PGA_Signature_Events/Summary

If there's a better way to post this, please let me know.

Lastly, thanks for the shoutout on the pod PJ!

It is a good thing the Tour's schedule changed. Puerto Vallarta is on lockdown over some major cartel activity. Vidanta has been between Riv and Palm Beach the last 2-3 years.

A question for Joseph LaMagna, or anyone else who can break down analytics. What were some key analytics for Morikawa that made him able to win at Pebble this year? This could be against the field this year, or compared to his own play from past years.

Fascinating survey and extremely cool project that the TFE Coop was able to pull together. Would be fascinating to see if types of survey takers tended to rate certain tiers/players differently - thinking do the current pros give their fellow players more/less slack in ranking someone like Brooks or Spieth, versus the broadcasters or caddies.

Was there a clear grouping of folks who took either the “Big Hall” or “Small Hall” approach with tier rankings (voting for more players in tiers 1/2, fewer up top, or more of an even spread)?

What is more likely moving forward?

AK wins a major

AK on the 2027 Ryder Cup Team

AK on lunch with the boys

Taking the challenge from last week's SGS podcast, this is draft 1 of the tracker to show Which Sig Event Group plays best: The (Top 4 of the) AON Swing 5 or the Sponsor Exemptions.

https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/john.cusick/viz/PGA_Signature_Events/EventPeformance#1

As time permits, I'll enhance. I have ideas, but they will have to wait until the weekend. I'll also take suggestions for enhancements.

Notes: This is not built for a phone display.

Datasource: https://www.pgatour.com/

WM Sunday was the first round this year where I really paid attention to the broadcast and I have to say that the CBS team in this configuration is honestly great. Knowledgeable, humorous, and worth listening to. Dottie & Colt do a fantastic job. Going to try and enjoy the next two weekends until the switch to NBC and the ramshackle production they call a golf broadcast. Not to say anyone on the NBC team doesn't try or care, but they are hamstrung by 'the legendary Tom Roy.'

It's been a busy few days for the LPGA. After Sunday's final round cancellation and the ensuing uproar, Craig Kessler sent a note to players yesterday apologizing for the mess. He also went on a mini apology tour offering more insight into the what led to the decision to shorten the event. We knew the honeymoon period for Kessler would end at some point, but boy did it come to a screeching halt.

Matthew and I will certainly be discussing the note to players and Craig's additional comments on the next episode of The Mixed Bag. I have some questions for the FEGC community here in the meantime...

It's hard to outdo Mollie in terms of miscommunication and unseriousness. Do you think Sunday was equal to the Solheim Cup debacle?

If you're a casual LPGA fan, did Sunday make you less likely to tune in and/or get invested in the league?

Do you put part of the blame for the situation on the players who were vocal about not wanting to play in the conditions?

LIV got OWGR points for the top 10 finishers in tournaments with a SoF that resembles a DP World or KFT event.

If Brian Rolapp is a true psychopath, he will offer a PGA Tour card to the top individual LIV player. He's in the business of making it up as he goes, let's see how far he's willing to go.

Huge upset tonight with Jupe taking down the atl. Still a ton of complaints about the sim being fade bias and wedges going longer than reality. Also next week is Luke Clayton and Neal Shipley for the bay and Tony for LAGC. Seems like the bay cleaned house after the frogs smacked them last week. The inability for them to put out official rosters is hilarious. TGL has to be the most unserious thing in golf right now even with liv existing. Highlight of the night was JT icing kis at the very end and Derrick Stanford telling kis to just go ahead and putt because they’re trying to get off the air.

1. Frogs 2. Drive 3. NYGC 4. LAGC 5. Jupe 6. Bay

I doubt that anyone actually knows the details since Strategic Sports Group (the other "SGS") isn't required to disclose details of their investment or their operations.

Let's say a player is given equity in 2025, with an 8yr vesting period. Assume it's $5,000,000 ($5M) of equity, and the PGA Tour says that it's current market value is $5,000,000,000 ($5B).

In a normal business, the options for the equity owner would be:

1. After 8yrs, the equity would be vested and they could sell it assuming the market value of the company is up and there is a market available to sell the equity.
2. After 8yrs (or at any time), the company may offer to buy back the equity from the person, with some assumptions of the increased value of the company.
3. At some point, the original company (A) gets aquired by another company (B), and they are compensated for the vested equity, and potentially given new equity in Company B for the value of the unvested equity.

I'm curious what some of you golf-insiders might have heard about how this equity is being pitched to the players?

• Since this is a Private Equity investment by SGS, is there an expectation that PGA Tour Enterprises is eventually sold to another entity, hence an equity event occurs?
• Does SGS eventually plan to buyout all of the PGA Tour?
• I doubt the plan is to create an IPO for the PGA Tour, as sports leagues are typically not public (ever?), and they aren't a 12 month entity so reporting quarterly earnings would be odd (albeit not impossible)
• Is there some sort of equity-to-pension equation being pitched to them?Does that become like an accelerated pension redemption schedule?

Just curious if anyone has heard anything about his it's actually supposed to work.

Pending confirmation from everyone's favorite Twitter account, we are back! Is this a shot across the bow to announce the day before Brooksie's return? I miss villains with excellent short games, and I, for one, welcome them all back with open arms.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7004122/2026/01/28/golf-liv-pga-patrick-reed-contract-suspension/