By Dave Shedloski
It appears as if the new startup golf league headed by Greg Norman is keen on picking off former PGA Tour leadership before it sees if it can lure PGA Tour players.

On Tuesday, LIV Golf Investments, the newly formed company Norman is heading as CEO, added three more names to its leadership team. One in particular stood out: Slugger White, who recently retired from the PGA Tour after 40 years as a rules official and tournament director. White was named vice president of rules & competition management for the fledgling enterprise backed by investors from Saudi Arabia that will oversee a series of 10 new events on the Asian Tour ahead of potentially launching a rival league to the PGA Tour.

White, 72, will be reporting to Ron Cross, LIVs new chief events officer. Cross is a longtime former executive at the PGA Tour whose title as senior vice president of the Presidents Cup and other international events was eliminated in December as part of job cuts the tour made in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Cross’ experience also includes a role with Augusta National Golf Club managing the Asian-Pacific Amateur, the 12th edition of which was held last week in Dubai.

Other new hires that Norman announced on Tuesday include Will Staeger, whose résumé includes work for ESPN and WWE, as chief media officer and Jane MacNeille, tapped as vice president of communications after seven years as head of communications for the Greg Norman Company. The pair will be reporting to Sean Bratches, who previously worked at Liberty Media, a media conglomerate largely responsible to increasing the profile of Formula 1 racing in the U.S., as well as ESPN as executive vice president of sales and marketing.

Said Norman of the new personnel: “As we pursue our goal of enhancing the global golf ecosystem, we are focused on building upon our strong foundation of sustainable growth, and are pleased to welcome Will, Slugger and Jane to the leadership team. Their combined experience and expertise will be invaluable and instrumental, guiding LIV Golf Investments into the future.”

Reached by phone, White said that he and Norman, who have been good friends for some 30 years, “have been talking about this for a while.” It was their friendship, basically, that pulled White out of retirement to do essentially the same job he had at the tour—heading up the rules committee, setting up the golf course and administering rules for the 10 tournaments that LIV is creating as an add-on to the Asian Tour.

White said he is recruiting other rules officials to bolster his staff but doesn’t know yet when his duties will begin. He anticipated that a schedule of the new events could be finalised as early as the end of the month, though no timeline is certain.

“It’s a new chapter,” he said, adding that he had no solid plans for how long he would work for the new tour. “I don’t know when it’s really going to start, but it’s going to be interesting.”

The post ‘It’s a new chapter’: Slugger White tells why he became latest former PGA Tour exec to join Greg Norman’s rival golf league appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Christopher Powers
Any time Jordan Spieth is leading and in the final group on a Sunday, he is the story. Add in the fact that he’s going for his second win in the last nine weeks, and he’s pretty much the only story.

But both Jason Kokrak, who is one shot back after matching Spieth’s third-round 66, and Sergio Garcia (five back, 68), each with a win already in this PGA Tour season, might have something to say about that. Garcia struck first at the Sanderson Farms Championship in October, closing out the tournament with one of the shots of the year on the 72nd hole. Kokrak won two weeks later at the CJ Cup at Shadow Creek, holding off Xander Schauffele, who you may have heard of, with a scintillating final-round 64 in Sin City.

Two pretty impressive victories, some would say, and both Kokrak and Garcia would love another, the former to bolster his fringe Ryder Cup resume and the latter to pick up career win No. 2 at Colonial, 20 years after his first. Two worthy storylines, no doubt. 

But alas, Spieth is in the mix, in his home state, at a course at which he’s already won, with a pair of runner-ups, too. He’s the focus, as he should be. When Spieth is running pure, it’s his world and we are all just living in it. 

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Tom Pennington

Ian Poulter makes a monster move

Speaking of the Ryder Cup, Ian Poulter, a European team staple, is very much on the outside looking in right now. He’s always in captain’s pick territory, of course, but he’s hardly shown much form recently outside of an OK week at the Match Play, which he could get up for no matter how bad he’s playing.

Now that it’s officially Ryder Cup SZN (you’re going to hear this stuff every week until September), perhaps Poults is about to heat up. He certainly did on Saturday, shooting a six-under 64 to skyrocket 25 spots up the leader board. He’ll likely need something similar, or lower, to have a serious chance on Sunday, but the third-round 64 might be something to build on. Any signs of life from now until September and it will be hard for Padraig Harrington to leave him off the squad. 

The end of a (rules) era

You probably didn’t even know it, but two rules legends—Slugger White and Mark Russell —are calling it a career, together, this week. Isn’t that just adorable? The longtime buddies combined for 80 years of service on the PGA Tour:

End of an era at the @CSChallengeFW as Vice Presidents of Rules & Competition Slugger White and Mark Russell work their final event together on the @PGATOUR.

Congrats to both on distinguished careers that combine for over 80 years of service on TOUR. Well done gentlemen. pic.twitter.com/eESGz1byvC

— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) May 29, 2021

As someone who has been watching golf for two decades, this truly does feel like the end of an era. These guys have been a part of our Sundays for years, often because of wacky rules situation that end up making for gripping television. And every time, they both handled it in as professional of a manner as they could have. They are both the embodiment of the term “pro’s pro.” 

“Doesn’t get any better than this,” said White. “Mark and I have been friends for 40 years plus, and that will continue. … It’s kind of a bittersweet thing. But we understand that it’s time to pass the baton and we’ll be just fine. Everything will be good.”

“Same here,” Russell added, “I’ve been coming to Colonial for 40 years and I’ve ran this golf tournament for probably 25 years now, and Slugger and I, we don’t work together very often, but he realized what an awesome event this is, and he would come here and work. We don’t get together very often, but it’s great that he’s been here for so many years with me and certainly going to miss him. But we’ll stay in touch. We’ll hook up from time to time.” 

Thinking about White and Russell hanging out in retirement is filling our hearts with gladness. Just a couple of guys being dudes, talkin’ rules. Actually, we hope for their sake that they have something much more interesting to talk about in retirement than the Rules of Golf.

Erik Compton putts on the 18th hole during the first round of the Charles Schwab Challenge. Tom Pennington

Erik Compton looking for first top-10 in a loooong time

If you missed our story on Erik Compton from Thursday, it’s definitely worth reading now. Compton didn’t light it up on Saturday, but his even-par 70 kept him inside the top 10. Should he stay there on Sunday with a low round, Compton could lock up his first top-10 on the PGA Tour in a very, very long time. 

How long? Compton’s last on tour, a T-10 on the dot, came at the 2015 Humana Challenge in La Quinta, Calif., now known as The American Express. It should be noted that this is only Compton’s third PGA Tour start since 2016, as the 41-year-old has spent the majority of the last six years on the Korn Ferry Tour attempting to get his tour card back. He won’t earn it with a top-10 on Sunday, but it would be his biggest week in pro golf in years, making for arguably the best non-Spieth storyline of the final round.

The post Jordan Spieth on the brink of another ‘W,’ Ian Poulter makes a move and two rules legends call it a career appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.