At a Valhalla PGA, memories of Tiger making history

LOUISVILLE,  KY. —  This is bluegrass country. The way the rain has been falling it’s wet grass country. They’re playing another PGA Championship here at Valhalla, a place named for the great hall in  Norse mythology where the souls of heroes slain in battle went.

Which has nothing to do with saving par but certainly captures one’s attention.

In a few days, we’ll be concentrating on who is able to capture the tournament, and yes as expected the favorites are Scottie Scheffler, first in the world rankings, and McIlroy, first in last weekend’s Wells Fargo event.

But now we deal once more with someone who also was No. 1 in the world, who also won the Wells Fargo and no less won the PGA Championship right here on the wet Kentucky bluegrass, Tiger Woods. 

Yes, golf can be slow. Or can be boring, but golf may be the only sport where yesterday’s legends go on playing. What else are they going to do? Retire and play golf for fun? Might as well do it for millions. 

Not that Tiger, after winning 82 PGA Tour tournaments, needs the money. His contract with Nike was dissolved. He now has his own clothing line, Sun Day Red. Clever, huh?

What Tiger needs is the competition. And companionship, camaraderie, the laughter, the satisfaction. His thoughts, “I still can hit the thing.” And he can, if at age 48, after the surgeries, not as he once could.

But while we wait for the names to be posted on the leaderboard, cognizant when the 106th concludes Sunday evening, let’s listen to Tiger’s comments in the media tent Tuesday. 

Indeed he’s entered this time. Former PGA champions have lifetime invitations  Yet, his past is what’s important, rather than the future. Woods won the PGA Championship four times, one fewer than the remarkable Walter Hagen, who won it in the 1920s  when it was at match play.

Of Tiger’s four, perhaps the most memorable, was at Valhalla in 2000 — the third of his four major victories that year.  He was locked into the closing holes with Bob May, who had faced Tiger in southern California when they were amateurs. The PGA Championship was in August, in the suburbs of Louisville while the weather was hot.

“I just remember the pressure that I felt, the chance, an opportunity to do something that Ben Hogan did in 1953. The summer was a whirlwind,” said Woods. “I was playing well, then coming into this event, being able to play with Jack (Nicklaus) in his last PGA championship. Jack played with Gene Sarazen in his last PGA. Just the connection with all that.”

Woods and May tied at the end of 72 holes, and Tiger won a 3-hole playoff. History had been achieved. He had three majors.

Golf war is over; Saudis won, of course

There are two inescapable rules in life: Everything is negotiable. Money counts.

And so has pro golf become yet another toy in the multi-billion dollar repository of Saudi Arabia. 

The game has been sold to the oil sheiks. And please don’t whisper the word hypocrite, even though the guy who was permitted to remain in control of the PGA Tour concedes we outlanders will do exactly this.

The Scots gave us golf back in the 16th Century. The Saudis, in something called the Public Investment Fund (a clever name for a very private and restricted nation), bought it back over the weekend.

Don’t believe flagsticks were included.

For the past few weeks, the LIV Tour has been making life miserable and golf purses very expensive for the PGA and DP (British) tours, stealing top names (such as Brooks Koepka who won the PGA Championship three weeks ago) and stealing attention.

The whole LIV (read Saudi) plan was to force the PGA and DP tours to merge with poor little (oops, rich little). To no one’s surprise, it worked.

Because the people who back LIV have crude oil pumping on their property, they likewise have a wretched, terrifying record on human rights and gender equality.  

And oh yeah, they’re accused of financing and formulating the 9-11 attacks — the Golf Channels’ Brandel Chamblee unflinchingly refers to the Saudi regime as “murderous dictators.”

But problems in golf had to be corrected, and so after secret meetings that started in London, apparently the problems have been. No more infighting. 

And now Yasir Al-Rumayyn; governor of the Saudi state entity bankrolling LIV, will become chairman of the new organization.

Sure, relatives and friends of those who perished in the 9-11 attacks protested the new agreement, but golf is going to do well. Additionally, Donald Trump, who owns courses on which LIV tournaments will be played, is delighted.

Not that the golfers were pleased with the new arrangements, particularly since they weren’t told about them until a meeting Tuesday afternoon following practice rounds at the Canadian Open.

One golfer said he only learned about the merger through Twitter, hours after it had been announced in the media.

Observers say the Saudi involvement is a reflection of “sport washing,” an attempt to improve the country’s negative image by holding events or investing in soccer teams, such as the Premier League’s Newcastle franchise, which had a winning year.

Tiger Woods reportedly was offered $300-$500 million to join LIV, but he and Rory McIlroy stayed loyal to the PGA Tour. Then again they had bankrolls almost as large as a Saudi prince.

Those players who did jump from the PGA Tour were given lifetime suspensions, but — here’s where the hypocritical comment of PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan comes into play — the probability is they’ll be welcomed back.

The war between Tours is over. It’s hard to say whether golf is no longer a loser, but unquestionably Saudi Arabia is the winner.

Money always counts.