Welcome! Where are you, you ask. I call this Weekend 9. Think of it as a place to warm up for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We will have thoughts. We will have tips. We’ll have tweets. But only nine in all, though sometimes perhaps more and sometimes perhaps less. As for who I am? The paragraphs below tell part of the story. I can be reached at nick.piastowski@golf.com.
I couldn’t get gas in golf.
It’s not that I wouldn’t want to, and I won’t go any further with that thought. But physically I couldn’t. I already have trouble hitting, chipping and putting legitimately, so any nefarious moves wouldn’t be that hard to catch. With my swing, there is a likely chance that a deliberate hook thought will somehow discover a flushed iron shot.
But then there are the pluses.
Who miss fairways and greens during a round – and who can also usually hit targets on request.
A friend and I were thinking about this last weekend when we were talking about the gambling scandal that has rocked the NBA. To quickly recap that, Miami Heat’s Terry Rozier has been accused of providing non-public information about his plans to leave a March 2023 game early to a friend, who then sold it to gamblers for approximately $100,000. The story made us wonder if something similar could happen in pro golf.
If you don’t think this would be the case, there’s hope for you: the PGA Tour has done it before guarantees are promoted for suspicious bets, and in the case of the NBA, the number of bets coming in on Rozier raised alarms. And there’s also the idea that golfers hold themselves to a high standard. The game, the thinking goes, is bigger than any bet.
Or is that naivety?
And think of the lower levels of pro golf, where financially breaking even is ambitious.
I also wonder how easily a fan can influence a golf outcome. The game is (mostly) quiet. One well-timed shout and a tee shot goes left – and a hole bet is collected. Sure, the fan would probably start up, but that’s nothing a few thousand dollars can’t alleviate. A few years ago, Rory McIlroy talked about that a bit after a fan screamed during a Max Homa putt.
“It’s a bit of a slippery slope,” McIlroy said, “because I don’t think there’s another sport – maybe basketball and you can sit on the court, but it’s a different environment – where people can really influence the game here.
“As long as there is proper monitoring and as long as measures are taken to prevent things like what happened to Max Homa from happening. Because we are all in favor of people having a good time here and being able to tie something to an outcome, as long as they don’t feel like they can come here and influence that outcome. That’s important.”
McIlroy is there. You should be able to bet on him, both in and out of a tournament. And trust that things will be fair.
Of course, the NBA thought so too.
Let’s see if we can find eight more items for weekend 9.
One takeaway from the week that was
2. This week, PGA Tour Champions president Miller Brady made a series of media appearances following the release of the 50-and-over circuit’s 2026 schedule, and he said his tour is ready for a player who becomes age eligible on Dec. 30.
Tiger Forest.
“We are well prepared,” Brady said on Golf Channel. “We have been doing some whiteboarding over the past year in preparation for Tiger turning 50, and if and when he plays, our tournaments will be prepared.”
If he plays, it will be fascinating to see the amount of interest.
The question is: will he ever play anywhere again?
Another takeaway from the week that was
3. Also this week, the Grant Thornton Invitational announced its field for the mixed team event, which gives me another opportunity in this space to ask whether we’ll get a Ryder Cup/Presidents Cup/Solheim Cup-style mixed team event.
Americans versus Euros. Americans versus internationals. Americans versus the world. Scottie-Nelly vs. Rory-Jeeno. Sounds good.
Another takeaway from the week that was
4. You won’t find a better overview of the changes coming to St. Andrews than the one in the video belowby GOLF’s Sean Zak.
The last takeaway of the week that was
5. I’m hooked on the clips I’ve seen from Barstool’s Internet invitation. I’m thinking about taking the time to look at everything. And my 17 year old nephew has that too.
It succeeds in character development. That’s something pro golf needs to think about.
One takeaway for the weekend
6. With the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund involved in pro golf through LIV Golf and a deal with the PGA Tour still being negotiated, news of the PIF is notable, and several media outlets have reported on its future strategy this week. In a story written by the Business Times I found this interesting:
The fund is still figuring out exactly how it will approach international investments, the people said. After the review is completed, allocations to global deals may increase slightly as portfolio companies are expected to become more active as they look to expand abroad, she added.
Since its inception, the PIF has created around 100 companies in sectors ranging from tourism to AI. The aim is to focus on growing businesses in six key areas outlined this week by Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan, in what he called a “sneak peek” of the investment strategy.
The plan will rely on consolidation to create more companies capable of raising their own financing and attracting foreign investment, people familiar with the matter said.
You can read the whole story here.
A golf story that interests me
7. The Instagram account @timtagolfs interests me. (And a hat tip to that Daniel Polce from my golf spy writing about it for the first time.)
Basically, it documents how Tim Ta quit his job as an Esports gamer to take up golf. The latest message can be found below.
A Halloween costume that interests me
8. The Halloween costume below it’s great.
A dog toy that interests me
9. Herewrites Dai Poole of pethelpful.com about a golf club set – for your dog.
What wave is on TV this weekend?
10. Let’s do 10 items! Here’s a look at golf on TV this weekend:
– Saturday
9:30 PM (Friday) – 2:30 AM ET: Maybank Championship Third Round, Golf Channel
7 a.m. ET: Rolex HotelPlanner Tour Series Grand Final, Third Round, Golf Channel
12:00 PM – 4:00 PM ET: Hong Kong Open Third Round, Golf Channel
– Sunday
9:30 PM (Saturday) – 1:30 AM ET: Maybank Championship Final Round, Golf Channel
5:30 AM – 10:30 AM ET: Rolex HotelPlanner Tour Series Grand Final Final Round, Golf Channel
10:30am – 2:30pm ET: Hong Kong Open final round, Golf Channel
What you email me
11. Let’s do 11 items! This thought was emailed to me recently. It was a response to the story about golfing in a Washington prison, which you can read here.
I recently saw the video on YouTube about the club and it touched me. I’ve never been to prison, but I understand what the sport can do. I lost both of my legs in June 2020 due to a bacterial infection that almost took my life. As my health improved and after a year I was able to get a prosthesis and began the difficult process of getting back on my feet, as they would say.
During the strenuous journey of physiotherapy, golf was suggested for balance. I was never much of a golfer – I went maybe 3-4 times a year with a few friends – so I started with a limited skill set. I started with just hitting the driving range 1-2 times a week, which turned into 5-6 times a week. I “stood” there for hours that first summer, working on my balance. The next summer I stood still in one place without moving. It was huge in terms of balance as a bilateral transtibial amputee. This is not a note to brag about myself; this is to say that golf was the thing to help me. I actually related to the prisoners in terms of focus and drive to want to get better, not just in golf, but in life. I don’t have any tattoos, but people see my legs before they see me. I’m now shooting in my mid-forties for nine holes and I’ll continue to work on it.
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