The LA Sweat

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Tiger made headlines debuting his new brand Sun Day Red in an apparel partnership with TaylorMade Golf. Tiger Woods has been synonymous with Nike for the entirety of his professional career. That is until around the time of the Hero World Challenge where there were rumblings of Tiger and Nike ending their partnership. This week at the Genesis Open, the PGA Event Tiger hosts at Riviera CC, he introduced to the world Sun Day Red (yep, that’s 2 separate words).

Our initial thoughts at LoopGolf are…. eh 🤷🏽‍♂️. Over here at Loop HQ we are fans of the trailblazers of the game & fashion. The Jason Day’s, the Keith Mitchell’s, the Min Woo Lee’s of golf. Although Tiger is the most famous golfer in the history of the sport, we know his personality is to stay reserved; so we understand that not everyone wants to be flashy with their style. Sun Day Red is not BAD by any means; it just feels a little bland and underwhelming. Basically everything Tiger has touched over the course of his career has become iconic in the world of golf and beyond; so we’re not counting out Sun Day Red just yet, but we want to be real with our initial reaction.

The Waste Management Phoenix Open (WMPO) at TPC Scottsdale became a total shit-show this year in many different ways. For those of you interested in data, here’s a couple of stats for you: 54 arrests, 211 ejections, and 653 emergency calls. This isn’t exactly the normal recipe for a PGA Tour sanctioned event, even for the WMO. Billy Horschel, and Zach Johnson were among some of the players who were fed up with the antics of the fans. But they weren’t alone, multiple players over the course of the tournament showed their frustration with how out of control, and down right disrespectful some of the fans have become.

Our initial thoughts, as we mentioned in last weeks edition of The Sweat, we love the WMPO and thought it was a mistake the PGA Tour demoted it from being a signature event. Unfortunately, the fans proved us wrong and the PGA Tour right for the time being. The event treaded a fine line very well in years past, but this years antics went too far. Now it’s up to the Thunderbirds to figure out how to keep it on the rails in the tears to come.

Following a turbulent start to the PGA TOUR season, complete with weather woes and frat bro fiascos, all eyes are now on Tiger Woods and the Riviera Country Club to help get things back on track.

Despite previous events being derailed by fierce winds, relentless rain, and a rowdy crowd more suited for a music festival than a golf course, we're banking on LA to bring the energy without blacking out. The forecast is looking up and we’re sincerely hoping the only drama at the Riv will be the nail-biting finishes on the 18th green.

Prize Money: $20,000,000 purse / $4,000,000 first place payout

How to Watch: Golf Channel / Peacock / CBS / PGA Tour Live

Tiger Woods shot 2 under with one leg last year during his opening round at the Genesis. This year he’s benefiting from teeing off later in the day with warming conditions so we’re thinking the GOAT can shoot even par or better.

At Torrey Pines a few weeks ago, Nicolai Hojgaard averaged 5 birdies or better throughout the tournament. Given the similarities between these two courses (narrow fairways, long rough & challenging greens) we think he’s got a good shot to beat 3.5 birdies.

The Riviera CC is a notoriously hard course to hit fairways which makes this bet super interesting. Xander Schauffele is hitting 80% of greens in regulation which is strongly correlated to hitting a lot of fairways.

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