Kinnings says LIV set out to 'destroy' the DP World Tour as Korda wraps up Player of the Year

DP World Tour CEO Guy Kinnings told The Scotsman that LIV Golf spent, "so we are told, over $7 billion, with one of their aims being to 'destroy the DP World Tour.'" He said that is why the tour wrote its 2027 membership and invite rules the way it did. The interview landed the same week Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton play Yas Links in their first start since walking away from LIV. On the LPGA side, Nelly Korda locked up Player of the Year on Tuesday without hitting a shot.

Platforms

ShotForge 2.0 came out Tuesday on Unreal Engine, so practice ranges, course play and five new mini-games now run in one app (our story).

Launch monitor buyers also got a reminder that the price on the box isn't the full cost. MyGolfSpy pointed readers back to its review of Rapsodo's $899.99 MLM2X Pro. Out of the box you get 11 metrics. All 15, plus the 30,000-course library and simulated putting, take the $199.99-a-year Core membership, and the 4K Rapsodo Studios courses cost $399.99 a year. FlightScope's Mevo Gen2 is on sale for $1,149, down from $1,299, and FlightScope says it has no recurring fees, ships with eight E6 Connect courses and works with GSPro. Indoor Golf Shop is advertising up to $550 off Mevo Gen2 packages.

Build & Gear

True Temper's Dynamic Gold Flighted iron shafts went on sale Nov. 2. They're built to launch higher in the 4- and 5-iron and lower in the scoring clubs (our story). Bettinardi opened pre-orders for five French Gold Queen B putters at $499.99, each with a firmer Macro Honeycomb face, and they reach stores Nov. 19 (our story).

Former LIV players are already back in their old logos. At Yas Links, Rahm wore a Callaway hat with an Openbank logo on an otherwise unbranded shirt, and Hatton wore a Ping hat and an Adidas shirt. Neither had any Legion XIII gear on.

Courses & Play

Joe Lagowski played the back nine of PurePlay's Kidnappers course on NVisage's $5,500 Neo E. He flagged a speed-units glitch and a heat-map hotkey he wants fixed before early access opens Friday (our story).

Yas Links hosts 70 players and a $9 million purse this week in the first DP World Tour Play-Offs event. The top 50 in the Race to Dubai advance to Dubai. The tour also posted a clip of Min Woo Lee hitting an iron 336 yards off the tee.

Creators

The Internet Invitational's best drama this week happened off the course. On his Hoopin' N Hollerin' podcast, Jason Williams blamed Peter Finch's captaincy for the Blue Team's Day 1 exit. He said Finch stacked his best players in the first four groups and never asked him who he wanted to play with. Finch quote-posted Barstool's clip with "Brother was high then and he's high now," and that drew more than 14,000 likes by Wednesday morning.

In Episode 3, Team Ruffels went up 6-2 on Team Wesley Bryan after the Day 2 scrambles at Buffalo Ridge, and The Duke holed a putt worth $50,000 on the par-3 ninth. The event account says this year's winners get $1.3 million each and a new Tracker boat. Finch also posted a video where he tries cheating against Sean Walsh, and Good Good's road trip reached Tennessee for Day 37.

Swing Lab

Two lessons you can take into the bay tonight. Landon Ashworth chips with one 60-degree wedge: his feet set the height, his wrist hinge sets the distance, and he finishes with a Trackman carry drill (our story). Titleist's Joe Plecker uses three linked swings to find a stock driver speed you can repeat before you try to add any (our story).

The Game

Korda clinched the Rolex Player of the Year award when the deadline for The Annika passed at 5 p.m. ET and neither Jeeno Thitikul nor Miyu Yamashita had entered. It's her second in three years and leaves her one point short of the LPGA Hall of Fame (our story). She won't get the Vare Trophy, though. She and Haeran Ryu will both finish short of the 70-round minimum, which leaves Yamashita in front at 69.47 (our story).

Rahm told reporters in Abu Dhabi that he'd "most likely" accept the penalties Brooks Koepka took to get back on the PGA Tour. He hasn't talked to the tour yet, so for now he's planning a full DP World Tour season (our story). Lee Westwood called himself "unemployed" on The Chipping Forecast. He hasn't signed with LIV 2.0, and he has a Nov. 12 DP World Tour deadline (our story). No Laying Up called the episode "well worth your time," because co-host Eddie Pepperell, a DP World Tour player, kept pressing him.

At the junior level, the Hurricane and Texas junior tours become the Arnold Palmer Junior Golf Tour in 2027. It plans nearly 400 events for ages 8 to 18, starting Jan. 2-3 at ChampionsGate (our story). And Justin Rose plans to keep a promise to play a Masters practice round with Arizona State senior Fifa Laopakdee, who earned his invitation by winning a second straight Asia-Pacific Amateur.

Coming up and why it matters

• Wednesday, Nov. 4: Thirteen singles matches at Shady Oaks decide the Simpson Cup between U.S. and British injured service members and veterans. Great Britain needs 9.5 points to keep the trophy. The U.S. needs 10.
• Thursday, Nov. 5: Eamon Lynch's Golf Channel interview show opens with Jay Monahan (story). Internet Invitational Episode 4, the Day 2 singles, drops at 1 p.m. ET on YouTube.
• Thursday-Sunday, Nov. 5-8: The World Wide Technology Championship at El Cardonal, with 2027 status on the line (course spotlight). Golf Channel carries the Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship from 2 a.m. ET. The LPGA's TOTO Japan Classic moves to Taiheiyo Club Minori with 78 players, no cut and a $2.1 million purse.
• Friday, Nov. 6: PurePlay early access opens (story), and Odyssey's TRTL putters reach retail.
• Sunday, Nov. 8: WTGL debuts with Los Angeles Golf Club against New York Golf Club at 3 p.m. ET on ESPN (preview). Topgolf bays add TGL and WTGL holes the same day.

What to do now

If a launch monitor is on your holiday list, add up five years of ownership before you compare sticker prices. MyGolfSpy puts the MLM2X Pro plus Core at about $2,100 over that stretch. Then set an alarm for Thursday's singles episode.