This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

The upstart golf organization, LIV golf, which is based in Saudi Arabia and financed by that country’s government, took a new step this week.

It bought a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal to tout its aims to build golf.

Now, anyone who knows me, knows I am skeptic of the Saudi attempt to use golf “to sportswash” its terrible human rights reputation.

Though I wasn’t alive then, the Saudi action reminds me of what I have heard about Adolph Hitler’s attempt to shift attention from his effort to kill an entire race of people – the Jews – by holding an Olympics in Germany.

It didn’t work for Hitler.  I hope it doesn’t work for the Saudis.

Now, in the spirit of full disclosure, here is a straight-forward summary of what the full-page ad said:

• “Golf may be steeped in centuries-old tradition.

• “We are not here to leave that behind.  But what if it were time for golf to evolve, to energize the game?

• “To create new opportunities and build new traditions on top of the old.

• “With new competitions, shotgun starts, smaller fields, and unrelenting action.  With teams to roof for.  For colors to wear.  Rivalries to relish in.

• “A game not to be confined to one continent.  But to be played in all corners of the globe.

• “We believe golf is a force for good.  That is why we want to supercharge the game we love.

• “To grow the game.  For those of us who already live for golf and some of us who are just getting started.

• “This is LIV golf.”

I could quarrel with those statements, but in a pluralistic society – ours, not the Saudis — you can say what you want to say without fear of punishment.  Perhaps disagreement; not punishment.

A couple days ago, the PGA Tour, under the threat of the LIV Golf enterprise, with its $600 billion (yes, billion!) war chest, took several actions to change the way it operates.

Here, based on reporting from Golfweek’s on-line magazine, is a summary of the changes.

“CROMWELL, Conn. — The PGA Tour is planning some radical changes in the face of an effort by the Saudi-funded LIV Golf series to poach its top players.  The moves include a significant reduction in the number of members who are fully exempt each season and the addition of a lucrative three-stop series of international events for top performers.  And all of that means more changes to the oft-tweaked FedEx Cup.

“Under the current system governing the FedEx Cup, the top 125 finishers in the season-long points race qualified for the first playoff event, with the top 70 in the standings progressing to the second event and, finally, the top 30 making the elite Tour Championship, where the winner receives $18 million from a $75 million bonus pool.

“Four sources have confirmed to Golfweek the details of some imminent major changes.  Starting at the end of the 2022-2023 season, only the top 70 players in FedEx Cup points will qualify for the first playoff tournament, the FedEx St. Jude Championship.  The top 50 in the standings will move onward to the BMW Championship one week later, with the traditional top 30 players progressing on to the Tour Championship at East Lake.

“In addition, the 50 players who qualify for the BMW Championship will also earn berths in a lucrative three-event series to be held overseas in the fall of 2023.  Those events are expected to be staged in Asia, Europe and the Middle East in consecutive weeks with purses of at least $20 million each.

“In addition to the three new fall events, five existing PGA Tour events will be re-categorized with boosted purses.  Those are the three invitationals — the Genesis Invitational, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and the Memorial Tournament — along with the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, and the Sentry Tournament of Champions, which will again become the season-opening event.

“Only the 70 players who earn a berth in the playoffs will secure their playing privileges for the following season, which will begin in January 2024, when the PGA Tour moves away from the current wrap-around season and returns to one based on the calendar year. The rest jockey in the fall series events.

“Under the new system, players who finish outside the top 70 and fail to qualify for the playoffs will compete in a series of domestic Tour events during the Fall that will determine their status and priority for the following season.  

“The intent of the changes is to bestow greater reward on top performers on the PGA Tour, many of whom have been approached by LIV Golf with guaranteed offers, and reduce the number of members who can retain playing status despite unimpressive results.”

So, there you have it.  Both sides in this debate over the future of professional golf – the contender, LIV Golf, and the current standard-bearer, the PGA Tour – have upped the ante.

No one knows where the competition will end.  Of course, I don’t.  But what I do hope is that golf emerges from this kerfuffle stronger than ever.  For me, no problem in the sense that I am rank amateur golfer.  But I do enjoy watching golf competitions by professionals.

And this footnote, another of my biases:  That’s why, for me, LIV Golf is not competitive golf.  It is a series of exhibitions where golfers will get paid no matter how they play.  Could be fun to watch for some, but not for me.