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This is Defector, a new sports blog and media company. We made this place together, we own it together, we run it together. Without access, without favor, without discretion, and without interference.

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Sports

Lauren Theisen

A List Of All The Ways Fans Heckle Accused Cheater Patrick Reed

Cameron Smith Would Be The PGA Tour’s First Reason To Worry

Staff Writer
Find me on Signal @DefectorChris.19

Chris Thompson

A sign asking LIV Golf spectators to be quiet.

Several LIV Golf Pros Eat Shit In Federal Court

PGA Tour Antitrust Lawsuit Forces  Silly Battle Lines On Matter Of Whether LIV Golf Sucks Ass

A Perplexing Afternoon At The Saudi-Funded Golf Tournament In Trump’s Backyard

LIV Incursion Fades Away In Satisfying Open Championship

Ray Ratto

Tiger Woods Lit Up The Saudi Golf League For All The Wrong Reasons

David Roth

Washington Commanders coach Ron Rivera staring very intensely at new quarterback Carson Wentz, but The Distraction logo has been superimposed over Wentz's face.

Podcasts

Endurance Basketball, Dystopian Golf, And The Plight Of The Sacrificial Mensch

Phil Mickelson tees off on the third (and final) day of the inaugural LIV Golf event.

The Saudi Golf League’s Big Bet Is On Gravity

Tom Ley

What Does Getting Banned From PGA Tour Events Actually Mean For The Saudi Golf Fellas?

Samer Kalaf

A very haggard Phil Mickelson at the LIV Golf draft on June 7.

We Need A Couple Of You To Subscribe So That This Photo Of A Haggard Phil Mickelson Is Worth It

Laura Wagner

The Saudi Golf League’s Opening Press Conference Sure Went Well

Shane Ryan is the author of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hachettebooks.com/titles/shane-ryan/the-cup-they-couldnt-lose/9780306874390/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Cup They Couldn&#8217;t Lose</a>, the story of the modern Ryder Cup, which came out on May 10. He lives in Durham, NC, and his writing appears in Golf Digest, Paste Magazine, and elsewhere. Previously, he wrote on Defector about&nbsp;<a href="https://defector.com/online-quiz-league-is-the-future-of-competitive-trivia/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Online Quiz League</a>. He also runs Apocalypse Sports Trivia, which you can join by contacting him on&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/ShaneRyanHere" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Twitter</a>.

Shane Ryan

Golfers Tony Jacklin and Seve Ballesteros (right) celebrate the victory of the European team in the Ryder Cup in 1987.

Book Excerpts That Don't Suck

The Mysteries Of Seve Ballesteros, And The Ryder Cup Loss That Changed Everything

Patrick Beverley yelling at a teammate, for a change, during a February Timberwolves game against the Cavaliers.

Patrick Beverley Is Coming For Everyone, Eventually, With Pablo Torre

Patrick Redford

Former Australian golfer Greg Norman, Chief Executive of LIV Golf, looks on during a press conference for the forthcoming LIV Golf event at The Centurion Club in St Albans, north of London, on May 11, 2022. - Greg Norman said on May 10, 2022, he has been given an extra $2billion (£1.6 billion) in funding from Saudi Arabia to build his breakaway LIV series of 54-hole events into a full league by 2024. (Photo by GLYN KIRK / AFP) (Photo by GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images)

LIV Golf’s Greg Norman On Murder Of Jamal Khashoggi: “We’ve All Made Mistakes”

Dan McQuade was a founding member of Defector. He died in January 2026.

Dan McQuade

Arnold Palmer celebrates two video game characters getting it on

This 1989 Arnold Palmer Video Game Was Shockingly Horny

Phil Mickelson Sure Loves To Gamble, Possibly To His Own Detriment

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Charles P. Pierce is a writer at Esquire and the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976. He lives near Boston with his wife but no longer his three children.
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Charles P. Pierce

Tiger Woods celebrates on the eighteenth green after winning the 1997 Masters tournament at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, on April 13 1997. Woods finished with a record eighteen-under-par. / AFP PHOTO / Timothy A. CLARY (Photo credit should read TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)

Tiger Woods, But Not Me, 25 Years Later

Tiger Woods Is Back, And Just In Time

Donald Trump walks very normally towards a helicopter at Trump National Golf Club in November of 2020.

Politics

Former President Of The United States: “It Went CLANK Into The Hole”

AL MUROOJ, SAUDI ARABIA - FEBRUARY 01: Phil Mickelson of The USA during a practice round prior to the PIF Saudi International at Royal Greens Golf &amp; Country Club on February 01, 2022 in Al Murooj, Saudi Arabia. (Photo by Oisin Keniry/Getty Images)

Phil Mickelson Really Stepped In It

KAEC, SAUDI ARABIA - FEBRUARY 04: Bryson DeChambeau of the USA plays his tee shot on the 17th hole during Day One of the Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club on February 04, 2021 in King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia. (Photo by Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)

The Saudi-Financed Golf League Appears To Have Collapsed

AL MUROOJ, SAUDI ARABIA - FEBRUARY 05: Phil Mickelson of The USA tees off the second hole during day three of the PIF Saudi International at Royal Greens Golf &amp; Country Club on February 05, 2022 in Al Murooj, Saudi Arabia. (Photo by Oisin Keniry/Getty Images)

I Promise You There’s No Way I Can Properly Prepare You For This Phil Mickelson Quote

Justin Ellis

Brooks Koepka Would Like To See The Manager

Jordan Spieth Nearly Puts Ball In Hole, Self In Lake