The average golfer needs a few holes to get going. And Full Swing, the new series premiering February 15 from the creators of the Netflix hit Formula 1: Drive to Survive, is also off to a slow start. It begins by profiling the friendship and rivalry of young superstars Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas. The episode, "Frenemies," traces the life of a professional golfer and the decline that comes with it, showing the couple in the cabin of a private jet, drinking beer and joking with each other. They are competitive, but the rivalry feels overshadowed by the camaraderie. These guys are too well behaved to make interesting television.
But in the fourth episode, which focuses on a few lesser names, the show really starts to find the flag. Not all players come from a wealthy background; For those struggling to make a living at gambling, the stakes are higher. What appears in the eight episodes is the incredible quirk of the sport: certain victory can surprisingly turn into painful defeat, and a player's destiny changes with each stroke. Fractions of an inch can alter entire results and lives.
Stars: Rory McIlroyIan Poulter, Dustin Johnson
The stunning defeat of Chilean Mito Pereira in the 2022 PGA Championship, after starting the final round ahead by three shots, is relived in excruciating detail. His collapse on the final hole is much harder to witness with Full Swing focusing his cameras on his friends and wife, who can barely watch. The show also captures the fragile and enigmatic Brooks Koepka, who rose to the top and won four majors, but whose game was completely lost and irretrievable to him in 2022. And it paints an intimate and tender portrait of Tony Finau, one of the PGA players. The few colored players on the Tour.
The focus then shifts from personal rivalries to global tensions. When Netflix first greenlit the show, before the start of the 2022 season, the producers could not have anticipated a year with such turmoil: The PGA Tour was, and remains, embroiled in a legal and existential battle with LIV Golf. , the new league backed by Saudi Arabia. LIV was paying golfers upfront, more than $200 million, according to some reports, to attract the likes of Dustin Johnson, Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia, and Phil Mickelson.
Full Swing had access to Johnson and Poulter. Both refused to answer questions on camera about the Saudi kingdom's policy; we also see his reluctance to address similar queries in numerous LIV press conferences. When finally put to the test, both say joining LIV was a decision they made for their families. “Make more money and work less,” says Johnson. "Who wouldn't do that?" Divisions among millionaires rarely make for good drama, but it feels juicy to see the evil between the players who joined LIV and those who chose the "legacy," as they say, of staying on the PGA Tour.
A pervasive question during each of the Full Swing episodes is who will join LIV next and what it will mean for the future of professional golf. It's especially funny when Matt Fitzpatrick, a small Englishman who probably wasn't on LIV's radar, wins the US Open in spectacular fashion. Inevitably, he must be asked if he has been contacted by LIV and will join if offered a contract.
Comments
Post a Comment