How could LIV Golf leave their greatest recruiting tool of all until now? Shorts

Golf Digest Middle East — Sun, 04 Sep 2022 15:47:49 +0000

By Tod Leonard
Millions in guaranteed contracts. Private jets. Five-star hotels. Caddies treated like royalty. It’s all attractive, sure. But the shorts? How could LIV Golf leave out what might have been its most valuable recruiting tool of all?

CEO Greg Norman posted on LIV’s Twitter account on Friday that his golfers would be allowed to wear shorts during competition, starting with the second round on Saturday in the event outside of Boston.

We jest about the incentive, of course, but shorts have been a subject of debate for a number of years in men’s golf. Women have sported shorts in tournaments for decades, but they’ve been banned on the men’s side since, well, the days of Old Tom Morris.

PGA Tour players often wear shorts in practice rounds and pro-ams, but not on tournament days. For some, it has seemed like an archaic tradition, considering the swampy heat the players face at much of the nation’s summer tour venues. Caddies are spared and have been wearing shorts on tour since 1999. Why not their bosses? And Phil Mickelson has basically made a cottage industry over his muscular calves.

Mickelson got to display them on Saturday and was among 19 of the 48 players to go bare-legged on a rather pleasant 78-degree September day in Bolton.

“I think this is a long time coming in the game of golf,” Mickelson said after his round of two-under 68 — only his second effort in the 60s since joining LIV. “I think it just takes a disruptor like LIV to get things done. I have a lot of friends on tour and I hope for their sake the tour follows. It feels good. It’s more comfortable.”

Mickelson was asked if he had influence on the decision. “I might have given input,” he replied.

Shorts on tour? What say you, Tiger and Rory?

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PGA Championship: Players taking advantage of new shorts policy during practice round

Golf Digest Middle East — Tue, 08 Aug 2017 06:08:06 +0000

By Joel Beall
In February, the PGA of America announced that competitors would be permitted to wear shorts during practice rounds at all member and major championships under the organization’s umbrella, including this week’s PGA Championship. Though the European Tour introduced a similar policy in January 2016, its introduction in the United States remains novel. (While the USGA does allow shorts in some competitions, it implements the PGA Tour’s ban at the U.S. Open.)

During Monday’s practice round at Quail Hollow, the players took advantage of this new exception, letting their legs breathe in the Carolina humidity:

Surprisingly, it wasn’t just the young guys that were in on the action. Many veterans — most notably, 40-year-old Paul Casey and 38-year-old William McGirt — took advantage of the relaxed dress code.

But not all players took the offer up. And thank God for that; not sure the world is ready to see John Daly is pineapple-spotted shorts.

The damnedest thing is, the weather’s not exactly uncomfortable in Charlotte. If anything — with the weekly forecast littered with rain and windy — it’s the type of environment where pants seem apropos.

So the next time your friend wears slacks to the course in warm weather, shower him with ridicule. He might aspire to look the part, but — as Monday proved — when given the chance, most players will ditch their trousers for shorts in two winks of a coal miner’s eye.

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How could LIV Golf leave their greatest recruiting tool of all until now? Shorts

PGA Championship: Players taking advantage of new shorts policy during practice round