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The upstart, Saudi-backed LIV Golf Tour finally got under way this weekend with the league's first event being held in London, England.
Everything associated with this event has turned the golfing world absolutely upside down.
The business model for the new LIV Tour seems focused on an attempt to poach as many big names away from the PGA tour as possible.
To accomplish their goal, LIV Tour officials have offered massive monetary contracts to established PGA stars, some exceeding the $100 million mark. Dustin Johnson took the bait, so did Phil Mickelson.
By the middle of this week, yet more names came to the forefront as news broke that Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed would also be committing to the new league.
With other big-name golfers considering the same, the PGA Tour has been left reeling.
Rory McIlroy is one of the current PGA stars who has continued to pledge his allegiance to the PGA Tour. He has had several close friends, however, who have recently resigned from the PGA Tour in order to join the new LIV golf league.
The recent happenings have caused McIlroy to express his disappointment that fellow golfers would abandon the PGA Tour and join a tour associated with the Saudi Arabia government.
His concerns resulted in a bold statement made during this week's PGA Tour news conference.
"Any decision you make in your life that's purely for money, usually doesn't end up going the right way," McIlroy said.
Central Counties tourney
The Central Counties individual and team championship was held last weekend at Belles Springs Golf Club near Lock Haven.
I was fortunate to be one of over 100 local golfers who traveled to Clinton County in order to compete in the two-day, 36-hole event. The weather was absolutely beautiful. and the course was in top-notch condition as Belles Springs captured the team title over second-place Park Hills.
The individual title was won by Belles Springs' member Trent Miller, a 15-time club champion.
Miller put in an impressive performance by scoring a 7-under 65, on Saturday followed by a 69 on Sunday. Miller's 36-hole total of 134 set a scoring record for the Central Counties Individual, a tournament first contested in 1924.
Sinking Valley's Andrew Ferguson also had a great tournament, turning in scores of 72 and 69, to secure second place, while Park Hills' Todd Homan finished in third with scores of 70-74, 144.
25 years ago
During the second week of June in 1997, Huntingdon's Ed Strickler captured the Central Counties Individual title.
The 1997 event was held at Iron Masters Country Club and was decided when Strickler defeated Indiana's Dave Myers in a playoff. (The win was Strickler's ninth of a record 11 Central Counties individual titles).
Ken Love covers local golf for the Mirror. He can be reached at gltr777.