Eddie Pepperell hits a shot earlier this 12 months on the Dubai Desert Classic.
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Eddie Pepperell has a narrative. Call it an ode to the lower.
Of late, the topic has been a speaking level. In brief, they’ve historically performed professional golf with a cutline, and now it’s being trimmed a bit. On Wednesday, the PGA Tour mentioned it might play eight of its newly named designated occasions subsequent 12 months with out one, and that follows the format of Saudi-backed LIV Golf, which can play all 14 of its occasions this 12 months with all of its golfers taking part in each spherical.
Money talks right here. With no lower, gamers will receives a commission no matter play, and followers and advertisers may have a assure that Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson and everybody else will likely be round for the weekend — and McIlroy mentioned as a lot on Wednesday in his press convention forward of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, although he additionally appropriately famous that cutless occasions have been performed earlier than.
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“If you think of like the four WGCs, you’ve got the three playoff events, you’ve got the CJ Cup, the Zozo, so there’s precedent there for no-cut events,” mentioned McIlroy, a Tour spokesman as a lot as anybody over the previous 12 months. “The solely motive no-cut occasions are an enormous deal is as a result of LIV has come alongside. So there may be precedent for no-cut occasions. There’s been no-cut occasions since I’ve been a member of the Tour and manner past that as properly.
“So, yeah, is there possibly going to be a couple of extra of them? Maybe. That’s nonetheless TBD by the best way. That’s not been determined but. But if we do go down that path, there’s precedent there to argue for no-cut occasions.
“It keeps the stars there for four days. You ask Mastercard or whoever it is to pay 20 million dollars for a golf event, they want to see the stars at the weekend. They want a guarantee that the stars are there. So if that’s what needs to happen, then that’s what happens.”
On Tuesday, a day earlier than the announcement, Xander Schauffele echoed the thought.
“You know, we’re trying to make the best product,” he mentioned. “To reply the lower query, I’m all the time for a lower. Emotionally, I’m for a lower. There is a side of it, I’d say, that’s actually entertaining for some.
“But on the finish of the day, lots of people like and plenty of youngsters like to return see the highest gamers play on the earth. And in the event that they’re not having their greatest, they will nonetheless — in the event that they acquired a baseball sport on Saturday, Timmy can nonetheless come together with his dad and watch Rory tee up on Sunday, it doesn’t matter what occurs.
“I think it’s also an easier package to sell to the sponsors when you tell ’em that 20 of the top 20 players in the world are going to be there Thursday through Sunday. I think that’s an easier package to sell when it comes to sort of what makes the best product.”
All of this has made Pepperell reflective. The Englishman is likely one of the extra considerate execs, and a four-tweet thread on Wednesday was that.
For background, in a four-event stretch in 2018, Pepperell was DQ’d for signing an incorrect scorecard on the BMW International Open and missed the lower on the Irish Open — earlier than ending second on the Scottish Open advert sixth on the Open Championship. Then, the subsequent 12 months, he performed within the WGC-Mexico Championship and the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, each no-cut occasions. You could know the place that is going.
“In mid 2018, I bogeyed the last hole in back to back events in Germany and Ireland to M/C by 1 shot,” Pepperell wrote. “It killed me. I went dwelling, considered s**t, after which got here 2nd on the Scottish Open and (practically) received the Open at Carnoustie (with a hangover..)
“A 12 months on in 2019, thanks partly to these two good performances in Scotland, I recall taking part in poorly in each the WGC’s in Mexico and Memphis, and never caring about something throughout the closing spherical.
“Missing cuts is crucial for development as an expert golfer.
“We may argue that the highest guys who will likely be taking part in the elevated occasions in 2024 have already carried out all their ‘growing’. But you’d be shocked how a lot it means to make a lower when your backs up towards the wall and also you’re struggling. It’s a mini win, and it breeds nice issues.
“So whether or not it’s LIV or now the PGA Tour, as somebody who has performed competitively for years now, eradicating the lower is likely one of the worst issues to occur to the sport within the final 12 months.
“Rant over.”
The query is, is Pepperell universally proper?
We’ll quickly have extra no-cut tournaments to search out out.
