Team Golf, its that Simple

I’ve got the solution to bring team golf to the PGA tour and it doesn’t involve a submarine ride with Yassir and El Tigre! LIV has a kernel of a great idea with team golf but they muddle it by trying to include individual golf alongside of it. If it’s confusing to watch for me, the avid golf fan, I can’t even imagine what a casual tuning in must think. Let me lay out my fever dream of a team event series for you.

The PGA tour has 39 events not counting the Fed Ex playoff series or the fall series. Subtract the 4 majors and The Player and were down to 34. Of those several are, charitably, who-gives-a-fuck events. We take 9 of them and turn them into the team series events. It boosts ratings, adds fan interest and gives these events an identity.

We already have The Zurich Classic in New Orleans. We also take Mexico, Palm Beaches, Puerto Rico, Myrtle Beach, The John Deere, the Barracuda, add a kick-off event in Arizona and The Wyndam Classic is our finals event. That’s 9. I have mentioned a couple alternate field events. I think they should be moved to their own weekend but that’s getting too far ahead for these purposes.

Like any sports league let’s begin at inception with the expansion draft. 20 teams of 8 players each. That’s 160 players total will compromise the league. Selecting from the Fed-Ex top 200 Of those players, 2 will be selected from the top 50, 3 from 51-125 and 3 from 126-200. That leaves room for adds, drops, injuries, non-performance, and dare I say TRADES!? The drafters should be retired players or, if they can sell the teams rights before the draft, owners.

Ok, each team has their 8, how do they compete? There 8 regular-season events total, each player must play in 4 of the events. This gives some intrigue to the line-ups for each event. Does a team try to jump out to an early lead with their stars and hold-on for the playoffs? Is there a go-to pairing or to borrow a team from hockey does a captain shuffle the lines to create a spark?  The 4 event mandate also means each player only plays in 50% of the series, that lightens their burden. In each event that means 80 players, 20 foursomes, 20 teams. A made for TV product. We make these 3 day events, Ryder Cup format. Foursomes, four-ball, singles on the final day. Points are scored the same way as the Ryder cup with full and half points and team points count both for the individual event win and cumulatively for the team championship, Formula 1 style.

For the final event, the Wyndam right before the Fed-Ex Cup Playoffs, the top 10 teams (and ties, in golf there’s always ties) make that event. All 8 players on the team compete to crown the overall team golf champion. Will a team be so far ahead they’re uncatchable? Will 2 points separate the top 8? Seems like the beauty of team sports to me. A team could even win the Wyndam event and lose the championship.   

So there is it, a yearly team golf competition that can be played concurrently with the PGA tour season. Someone get me Jay, Rory, and the mules on the horn. Or Hell, just make me commissioner, couldn’t do much worse. Until next time, 4&3 – The Starter.