Golf is a complicated partner

The Open Championship heads to Royal Birkdale Thursday. Birkdale is a seaside links closest to Liverpool, an hour and half from Manchester, and due south of Blackpool. Northwest England. Zooming out, it’s the final major of the season. Rory went back-to-back at Augusta. Brit Aaron Rai stole the PGA, and Wyndham pillaged Shinnecock to grab a second US Open. For everyone else, the Open is the last chance to hoist a big trophy.

Professional Golf is still completely stuck in a LIV-PGA malaise. This weekend will do little to change that, and for some, represents the end of the Serious Season. Sure, we can pretend to invest in the Fedex Cup Playoff, but after this, it’s all downhill until next spring. Consider what’s in the rearview:

Objectively, we’re both so close and so far away (golf writing). We have an appetizer Open Championship before St. Andrews next year. LIV could very well be in a coffin by 2027. The PGA’s proposed changes officially take hold in 2028. I’m ready to ingest Links Golf this weekend, and then I’ll promptly return to processing structural changes coming to the PGA in two years and ignoring fundraising efforts from LIV’s CEO on CNBC. In between, I need a new driver, woods, a mallet putter. I need to fix casting issues in the impact zone. I’m committed to working the ball both ways of the tee because I can’t actually find my pull cut. I’ve been Heads-Up putting for six months, but that won’t last. Anyone still reading? Great. There’s a failing penny-stock shaft company (Newton Golf) that restructured their debt into non-pref equity last week. They on-shore carbon fiber manufacturing in Missouri (9000sq ft facility). If you’ve made it this far, and have ideas how to convert their production capabilities into anything that supports AI or robotics supply chains, please reach out to my banker so we can put together a hostile bid. I haven’t played actual golf in two months.